Predicting Academic Achievement and Counselling for Course Selection: An Examination of the Effectiveness of the Differential Aptitude Tests in Forecasting Year 12 Success

Abstract

There is increasing tendency to use the Differential Aptitude Tests (DAT) for course and career counselling with students in independent schools in Australia. The OAT profile and explanatory notes may also be forwarded to students and/or parents and it is of particular concern that the full explanation of means of interpreting the profile is often not clear to the naive client. Many clients view the profile as a combination of IQ report and predictor of future academic success. To provide professional counsellors with unequivocal evidence to support their explanations to such clients, and as entry to tertiary and to many TAPE courses in Australia, is by academic achievement score, the present study examined the predictive value of the DAT for academic achievement at the end of Year 12. It was concluded that the DAT may have some value in predicting marginal variations in academic achievement, over and above that predicted by measures of general mental ability, but that individual counselling on the nature of the DAT profile is needed to demonstrate to the naive client both the distorting effect of the CSA subtest and the inappropriateness of the view that any of the DAT measures may be seen as predictors of Tertiary Entrance Score.