College Entrance Examination Scores Research Articles

Modeling cognitive adaptation: A longitudinal investigation of the impact of individual differences and coping on college adjustment and performance.

Drawing on cognitive adaptation theory, optimism, psychological control, and self-esteem were explored as longitudinal predictors of adjustment to college in a sample of 672 freshmen. Although a direct effect of optimism on adjustment was found, most of the predicted effects were mediated by coping methods. Controlling for initial positive and negative mood, the beneficial effects of optimism, control, and self-esteem on adjustment were mediated by the nonuse of avoidance coping, greater use of active coping, and greater seeking of social support. Alternative models of the causal relations among these variables did not fit the data as well as the a priori mediational model. The results of a 2-year follow-up indicated that self-esteem and control predicted greater motivation and higher grades, controlling for college entrance exam scores. Implications for cognitive adaptation theory and for interventions with populations under stress are discussed.

Modeling cognitive adaptation: a longitudinal investigation of the impact of individual differences and coping on college adjustment and performance.

Drawing on cognitive adaptation theory, optimism, psychological control, and self-esteem were explored as longitudinal predictors of adjustment to college in a sample of 672 freshmen. Although a direct effect of optimism on adjustment was found, most of the predicted effects were mediated by coping methods. Controlling for initial positive and negative mood, the beneficial effects of optimism, control, and self-esteem on adjustment were mediated by the nonuse of avoidance coping, greater use of active coping, and greater seeking of social support. Alternative models of the causal relations among these variables did not fit the data as well as the a priori mediational model. The results of a 2-year follow-up indicated that self-esteem and control predicted greater motivation and higher grades, controlling for college entrance exam scores. Implications for cognitive adaptation theory and for interventions with populations under stress are discussed.

Teacher Unions and Black Students' Scores on College Entrance Exams

Using data from the National Assessment of Economic Education survey, this paper examines the influence of teachers' unions and students' race on college entrance examination scores. An “education production function” is estimated for a sample of white and black high school seniors. The model accounts for variations in school distrits and student inputs and controls for the self‐selection nature of taking an entrance exam. The results indicate that students in unionized schools score higher on the SAT than like students in nonunion schools, ceteris paribus. Black students who attend unionized schools are estimated to score 13.11 percent above the black SAT mean. These findings suggest a positive productivity effect of collective bargaining for teachers which significantly benefits minority students.

Factors Influencing the Decisions of Academically Talented Black Students to Attend College

Recently, college administrators, social research institutes, politicians, and civic leaders have expressed concern about the decrease in the number of Blacks who apply to college. Prominent among the reasons given for the drop in applications and acceptance of Blacks by colleges are: rapidly expanding tuition costs, a shift in student financial assistance from grants to low-interest loans, an increase in the number of minority households below the poverty level, a deemphasis on affirmative action as a mechanism for ensuring equal employment opportunities, continued differential between Black and white high school students' academic preparation and performance, comparatively lower black college entrance examination scores, and a shift in the national mood concerning the importance and means of promoting social equality.1 According to the authors cited here, these factors serve as powerful determinants of students' decisions to attend or not to attend college. The authors also maintain that these factors have a negative impact on the ability of colleges to correct historical recruitment and admissions inequi-

The impact of living group social climate on student academic performance

The relationship between living group social climate and freshman scholastic achievement was examined in 36 fraternity groups and 18 male residence hall groups. Certain aspects of a living group's social environment, as measured by the subscales of the University Residence Environment Scale (Moos and Gerst, 1974), were significantly correlated with the freshman members' level of achievement (after controlling for high school grades and college entrance exam scores). Among fraternity groups, freshman achievement was higher in groups that emphasizedacademic achievement and competition, and lower in groups that emphasizedstudent influence. Among residence hall groups, freshman achievement was lower in groups that emphasizedtraditional social orientation. The results suggest that student living groups can affect the academic performance of their freshman members.

The Validity of the Four Subscales of the Inventory of Learning Processes for a Sample of Filipino Freshman College Students

The college entrance examination scores and first-year college grade point averages of 123 Liberal Arts and Science students at a Filipino university were related to their responses to each of the four subscales of the Inventory of Learning Processes: (a) Deep Processing; (b) Elaborative Processing; (c) Fact Retention; and (d) Methodical Study. The results indicate that the Elaborative Processing subtest was valid in predicting achievement at the college entrance level. The data suggest that the constructs of Elaborative Processing and Deep Processing may become even more closely related to college grades. No evidence was found for the independent influence on achievement of study methods which emphasised either fact retention or a methodical approach.

Field Independence as a Predictor of Filipino University Engineering Grades

The Hidden Figures Test (HFT) (Fitzgerald and Hunt, 1977) was found to correlate 0.32 with the grades of 186 first year engineering students at a Filipino university. When this measure of field independence was added to these students' National College Entrance Examination scores, a small but significant improvement in prediction of these grades was noted. It was suggested that quick, easily administered and scored, non-verbal group tests such as the HFT may be useful to assist selection of students for science and engineering courses in developing countries where the need for manpower planning is not matched by the number of measuring instruments available.

The Validity of Traditional Cognitive Measures and of Scales of the Study Attitudes and Methods Survey in the Prediction of the Academic Success of Educational Opportunity Program Students

For a sample of approximately 100 Educational Opportunity Program (EOP) university students who had been admitted to a special summer preparedness program at a major metropolitan campus in the California State University College system, validity coefficients of traditional cognitive measures and of the scales of the Study Attitudes and Methods Survey (SAMS) were calculated with respect to each of three criterion measures of academic success. The most valid predictor was the Comprehensive Tests of Basic Skills, (Reading Vocabulary) measure, although high school grade point average and college entrance examination scores yielded statistically significant validity coefficients. In two of three stepwise multiple regression analyses, the SAMS—Academic Drive-Conformity and SAMS— Alienation scales provided the second and third greatest proportions of statistically reliable variance to the prediction of the academic criterion measure in question.

The Association of College Performance with High School Grades and College Entrance Test Scores

This paper attempts to identify some of the variables associated with performance of undergraduate business students with the possibility that the results might be used to establish some quantifiable criteria for admissions and counseling purposes. It is revealed that both high school grades and college entrance examination scores are directly associated with college performance. However, it appears reasonable to believe that college entrance examination scores are more significant and important in influencing the variation in college performance than are high school grades.

AMOUNT AND DISTRIBUTION OF STUDY IN A PERSONALIZED INSTRUCTION COURSE AND IN A LECTURE COURSE1

The rapid proliferation of courses based on Keller's Personalized System of Instruction (PSI) calls for a prompt evaluation of the relative costs involved in PSI and more traditional forms of college instruction. To determine the cost in student time required by a course taught with PSI relative to lecture, students did their studying in a special Study Center where course materials could be used but not removed. Students in the PSI section spent an average of about 50% more time in the Study Center (46 hr) than did students in the lecture section (30 hr), but that difference was made up by the lecture students spending an average of 20 hr attending lectures. Thus, total preparation time was about the same. PSI students scored slightly higher on common course exams, and while college entrance exam scores correlated highly with course exam scores, Study Center time was reliably related to course exam score only for PSI students. An analysis of the study records of individual students revealed that PSI produced fairly regular patterns of study by all students, while lecture students varied greatly in their patterns.

Relative Academic Achievement and Stabilometer Performance

Abstract To examine the relationship between performance on a selected motor skill and academic achievement and academic capacity, 80 male college students were tested on the stabilometer. When the group was dichotomized on the basis of college grade point average and college entrance examination scores, there was no difference in motor performance between the sub-groups. Grade point averages and college entrance examination scores were converted to Z scores. Each subject was designated as an overachiever if his grade point Z score was higher than his college entrance examination Z score and an underachiever if his grade point Z score was lower than his college entrance Z score. Motor performance of the overachievers was significantly better than that of the underachievers. It was suggested that the motive to succeed in testing situations might be a more general characteristic than either intelligence or motor ability.

Only and Intermediate Children in the Senior High School

However, the studies reported by Campbell (1) contain little that is conclusive regarding the moot question. The number of subjects is conspicuously small in all investigations: For example, one writer studied thirty-four only distributed from the kindergar ten to the sixth grade. Furthermore, the studies are of restricted value also because adequate control groups were not employed. The following is a case in point. Fenton (3) studied 512 university students of whom sev enty-three had been only children. Interest ing and suggestive were his results from the Woodworth Psychoneurotic Inventory, al though the only and the control groups were not strictly comparable. Many of the studies are of limited value since they have dealt solely with young or very young children. Campbell (2) pointed out that nearly all re cent studies deal with children of less than high school age. Among these was the writ er's study of only of age five (6). On ratings of courtesy, truthfulness, self-con trol, initiative, orderliness, co-operation, and dependability, the number of only reaching or exceeding the median of the con trol group was greater than 50 per cent. Throughout, the results of this study posited superior social adjustment for only of age five. What the adjustment of these might be at adolescence remains a matter of speculation. Campbell insists that personality difficulties are likely to become acute during those ages when are severing home relations and attempting to establish social or economic in dependence. It seems evident that if family position has any influence upon personality adjustment this influence will be best observed at an age more mature than the kindergarten level. Campbell gave the Bernreuter Per sonality Inventory and Cason's Annoyance test to 200 college men and women. Only and intermediate were paired accord ing to: high school grades, college entrance examination scores, sex, and class in the uni versity. Slightly greater atypicality was ex hibited by the only subjects than by the intermediates, but in no comparison was the critical ratio significant. Moreover, the only child group was slightly more variable than the control group. Since this study dealt with college stu dents, the present writer was led to make an investigation of high school students to ascer tain whether Campbell's conclusions concern ing personality development applied to younger subjects. In addition, the writer planned a more comprehensive study than any reported thus far, attempting to relate per sonality development to factors such as: health, socio-economic status, mental ability, and developmental history.