Comparative Validity of the Career Ability Placement Survey (CAPS) and the General Aptitude Test Battery (GATB) for Predicting High School Course Marks

Abstract

Comparative validity data for the Career Ability Placement Survey (CAPS) and the General Aptitude Test Battery (GATB) relative to predicting course marks are presented for a sample of ninth grade students. In general, the pattern of correlations between school marks and conceptually similar tests in the CAPS and GATB was highly similar as would be expected. In 23 of the 35 matches involving similar scales within the CAPS and GATB the validity coefficients relative to criteria of marks in different courses were higher for the CAPS subtests than for the GATB subtests. The results suggested that the CAPS is a viable alternative to the GATB, especially whenever consideration of testing time is an important factor.