Academic Achievement of Turkish Selective Schools in National Exams of HSEE and UEE with Respect to Test Types and Gender

Abstract

There are two main exams in Turkish educational system. One is at the end of middle school for entrance to selective high schools and the other is after high school to enter universities. Both exams are compulsory, both have four subtests (mathematics, natural sciences, Turkish and social sciences) and all the questions have to be from the shared curriculum. In this study high school entrance exam (HSEE) and university entrance exam (UEE) results of 34,479 students in 570 schools of three selective school types (Anatolian High Schools, Science High Schools and Anatolian Teacher Training High Schools) were compared to test the effectiveness of the types of school concerned with respect to academic achievement as determined by four subtests of HSEE and UEE. The relationship (correlation) and the difference (mean) between achievement levels for school types, for subtests and for gender were investigated. Correlations between HSEE and UEE-1 scores were the highest in Anatolian high schools for three subtests. One-way Anova and post hoc Scheffe test results showed there is significant difference in mean scores among school types. As for mean differences, Anatolian High Schools scored better than the other two school types. School type and focus on a subtest are related, and exam achievement of girls in science high schools is higher than achievement of boys.