This study examined whether American College Testing (ACT) scores are a reliable predictor of college success using data on Chicago State University (CSU) graduates. The study used data on all undergraduates who had successfully completed a degree program and graduated in one of nine successive terms between Fall 1990 and Fall 1993 and also had an…

During the past 15 years, considerable attention has been given to a conspicuous longitudinal change in grading patterns in higher education. Commonly referred to as "grade inflation," the phenomenon has been perceived by some as seriously weakening the meaning of grades but by others as reflecting a positive tendency for students to…

The Auto-Regressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA) Models, often referred to as Box-Jenkins models, are regression methods for analyzing sequential dependent observations with large amounts of data. The Box-Jenkins approach, a three-stage procedure consisting of identification, estimation and diagnosis, was used to select the most appropriate…

In this study, students' personality traits were investigated in relation to course grade in an undergraduate management course taught by the same professor and overall college grade point average (GPA). Conscientiousness positively and significantly predicted overall GPA over and beyond other personality traits of agreeableness, extroversion,…

When parents support children in college, does this undermine the incentive to do well? The authors test the hypothesis that parental cash transfers induce college students to commit moral hazard in their studies on a sample of nearly 1300 undergraduates at two Midwestern universities. After controlling for a wide variety of factors influencing…

The relationship between course loads and grade point average (GPA) was studied in 1978-79 for undergraduate students at the College of Shariah of King Abdulaziz University, Saudia Arabia. Three groups of students were compared, based on the number of credit hours earned: 11 or less credit hours, 12 to 17 credit hours, and 18 or more credit hours.…

This study examined the relationship between writing apprehension and academic achievement among undergraduate honors students at the University of Alabama. A total of 75 male honors students completed Daly and Miller's Writing Apprehension Test and self-reported their grade point averages (GPA). The test measured apprehension or anxiety and fear…

Conducted an ex post facto study to test for differences in the quality of university student writing as reflected in years 1 and 2 and again in years 3 and 4. Findings from 30 undergraduate portfolios show no significant differences between early and late samples and no significant relationship between grade point average and writing quality.…

A study of 235 sophomore, junior, and senior business majors found that students with higher levels of reading comprehension and vocabulary had higher cumulative grade point averages, and that 16 percent of students could not read at the first-year college level. Basic skills reading tests administered to entering freshmen may not identify all…

Undergraduate students routinely rated science-related courses such as biopsychology as intimidating and very difficult. Identification of factors that may contribute to success in these types of courses is important in order to help increase performance and interest in these topics. To examine what variables are related to performance, we studied…

The performance of students who persisted or withdrew from courses was compared in a survey of all undergraduate students enrolled at Georgia State University during the spring 1981 quarter. Multivariate analysis was applied to three aspects of withdrawal and performance: course grades, the length of time withdrawing students stayed in the course,…

Information is presented from a study examining the characteristics of Sam Houston State University (SHSU) undergraduate students with respect to their age and grade point average (GPA). It was hypothesized that there was no significant difference between the GPAs of traditional and nontraditional students at SHSU. The 398 individual subjects were…

The study validating the ability of the Test of Standard Written English with junior and master's level students was replicated with one-year cumulative grade point average serving as the criterion variable. Confirmed was the finding that scores, placement, and success in English courses were predictive of the academic success of such students.…

Analysis of the grade point averages (GPA) of more than 5,000 undergraduates shows that graduates of different high schools have significantly different GPAs, partially reflecting neighborhood poverty and education level. Teacher experience had a small effect but teacher/student ratio and teacher education level had no effect on GPA. (SK)

Individual semester-by-semester undergraduate grade point average for each of the eight semesters of the collegiate academic life cycle for five entire student cohorts for the classes of 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, and 2002 at a large, private university in the northeast (N = 12,663) reveal a "check-mark" pattern: students' grades fell in…