Entrance Exam Scores Research Articles

Balancing excellence and equity in predictive college admissions: insights from the University of the Philippines

ABSTRACT The University of the Philippines (UP) uses high school grades and standardized test scores for predictive admissions, balancing academic performance with affirmative action for underprivileged applicants. Using a novel UP panel dataset, I find that high school grades better predict academic performance, while entrance exam scores reflect background characteristics. Simulations suggest that reducing the weight of standardized exams boosts the qualification rates for public and private school students, but lowers it for science high schools and Metro Manila students. The findings indicate that relying more on grades could enhance both excellence and equity in college admissions.

Entrepreneurial Reluctance: Talent and Firm Creation in China

Abstract This paper examines the correlation between cognitive ability and firm creation. Drawing on administrative college admissions data and firm registration records in China, we investigate who had created firms by their mid-30s. We find a clear pattern of entrepreneurial reluctance: Given the same backgrounds, individuals with higher college entrance exam scores are less likely to create firms. Through an exploration of firm performance, alternative career trajectories, and variations across regions, we propose an explanation: The ability represented by exam scores is useful across occupations, yet higher-scoring individuals are attracted to waged jobs, particularly those of the state sector.

General High School or Vocational High School: School Choice for Students Near the High School Entrance Examination Score Line

The study focuses on exploring the Chinese students’ school choice decisions. In particular, it explores why some students prefer vocational schools over general high schools, even when eligible for the latter. The research also examines how pupils make sense of these dual purposes at the time of choosing. According to this study’s results which were based on in-depth interviews with eight vocational school students, most of them chose these schools because they considered the courses offered there as more important than attending prestigious general high schools. Students choose their schools according to personal feelings and understandings about educational equality and achievement in society. Students' choices reflect their subjective experiences and individual interpretations of social signals regarding educational equity and success. The findings emphasized psychological and structural determinants in selecting schools so as to foster equal learning opportunities among all children regardless of their backgrounds. This study contributes to the understanding of how students navigate the complex landscape of educational options, and how their choices are influenced by broader societal forces.

Investigation of Eighth-Grade Students’ processes of solving skill- based science questions by eye tracking technique

AbstractThe aim of this study was to determine the visual measurement results related to the behavior/processes of solving skill-based science questions of eighth grade students by eye tracking technique. Non-experimental quantitative research method was used in the research and visual measurement results were supported by heat maps and eye splash movements. Nine questions, with difficulty and discrimination indexes calculated, were applied to 56 eighth grade students. Data were collected with a skill-based test, eye tracking device, think-aloud protocols and a perception scale towards next generation science questions. The data obtained from the eye tracking device was examined using Gaze Viewer software and the results were shown as images. The results revealed that visual measurement results differed according to gender and 2023 high schools entrance exam scores. Additionally, negative relationships were found between visual measurement results and students’ practice test scores and their perceptions towards solving next generation science questions. It was determined that average duration of fixation had a significant predictive effect on students’ self-efficacy levels for solving next generation science questions.

Navigating academia: Designing and evaluating a multidimensional recommendation system for university and major selection

AbstractSelecting the right academic major significantly shapes an individual's future career path, making it a longstanding focus of research. The shift to online platforms, accelerated by the challenges posed by the coronavirus pandemic, has transformed counseling and guidance systems. Consequently, developing robust online support systems has become imperative for extending guidance to all students. This article introduces the design, development, and evaluation of “My Future Career,” a multidimensional recommendation system (RS) crafted to aid students in navigating university and academic major selection decisions. The system relies on three key student‐driven parameters: central university entrance exam scores, rankings, and occupational personality types, utilizing cosine similarity and normalized distance to align user and item profiles. Following the system's completion, an assessment was conducted using data from real users, revealing an impressive accuracy (hit rate 100%, precision 88%) in recommendations following the inclusion of contextual post‐filtering features. The findings not only highlight the system's effectiveness but also underscore the positive user experience, as students express contentment with its ease of use and practical utility. The results emphasize the endorsement of expert's regarding the system's consistency (52%), relevance (96%), and acceptance (96%) in providing recommendations.

Factors influencing the selection of outstanding craftsmen in art and design education

The purpose of this research is to explore the influencing factors in the selection of outstanding craftsmen among vocational college art and design students. This paper selected the case studies of art majors and collected data on the school performance of 222 students majoring in art and design. Convenience sampling was used to select the sample, which was grouped based on whether or not they had been selected as school-level outstanding craftsmen. The study compares the mean values of variables such as entrance exam scores, in-school comprehensive assessment scores, volunteer service hours, possession of vocational qualifications, gender, single-child status, party membership, and employment rates between the two groups of students. Interviews were also conducted, and SPSS software was used for the data analysis. The research found significant differences between the student group selected as school-level outstanding craftsmen and the student group not selected as school-level outstanding craftsmen regarding the in-school comprehensive assessment scores, volunteer service hours, gender, and party membership. These findings provide support for further optimizing the selection criteria and offer empirical references for the cultivation path and evaluation system of craftsmanship spirit among art students.

Validity, Reliability, and Fairness Evidence for the JD‐Next Exam

At a time when institutions of higher education are exploring alternatives to traditional admissions testing, institutions are also seeking to better support students and prepare them for academic success. Under such an engaged model, one may seek to measure not just the accumulated knowledge and skills that students would bring to a new academic program but also their ability to grow and learn through the academic program. To help prepare students for law school before they matriculate, the JD‐Next is a fully online, noncredit, 7‐ to 10‐week course to train potential juris doctor students in case reading and analysis skills. This study builds on the work presented for previous JD‐Next cohorts by introducing new scoring and reliability estimation methodologies based on a recent redesign of the assessment for the 2021 cohort, and it presents updated validity and fairness findings using first‐year grades, rather than merely first‐semester grades as in prior cohorts. Results support the claim that the JD‐Next exam is reliable and valid for predicting law school success, providing a statistically significant increase in predictive power over baseline models, including entrance exam scores and grade point averages. In terms of fairness across racial and ethnic groups, smaller score disparities are found with JD‐Next than with traditional admissions assessments, and the assessment is shown to be equally predictive for students from underrepresented minority groups and for first‐generation students. These findings, in conjunction with those from previous research, support the use of the JD‐Next exam for both preparing and admitting future law school students.

The impact of honors education on students’ academic and innovative achievements: a longitudinal study in China (2011–2021)

Honors education has ascended as an integral element within the sphere of global higher education, concentrating on fostering individuals who exhibit creativity and a history of innovative achievements. Despite its widespread adoption, there remains a scarcity of exhaustive longitudinal studies investigating its effects and associated variables. To address this shortcoming, this study deploys rigorous structural equation modeling (SEM) and linear regression analyses to meticulously examine a dataset comprising 319 students, who enrolled over a decade (2011–2021) in a prestigious honors college at a preeminent university in China. The primary objective is to discern the predictive efficacy of Chinese honors education selection criteria on students’ creative and academic accomplishments. This endeavor strives to clarify the complex interplay among students’ creative personalities, academic performance, creative achievements, and standardized college entrance exam scores. The findings emphasize that individuals who exhibit enhanced creative personality traits are predisposed to elevated levels of both innovation and academic attainment (β = 0.170, p = 0.017). Additionally, a significant inverse relationship is observed between general learning aptitude and subsequent academic performance (β = −0.008, p = 0.023), while students pursuing science disciplines demonstrate superior innovation outcomes compared to their liberal arts counterparts (β = 0.125, p = 0.048). Interestingly, neither gender nor general academic prowess exerts significant predictive power over collegiate innovation (β = −0.002, p = 0.134). These empirical insights equip policymakers and scholars with nuanced perspectives on the determinants shaping students’ refined educational experiences, thereby inciting critical discourse concerning the refinement of selection criteria and the imperative of nurturing students’ creative proclivities.

Stress and Cognitive Performance: Evidence from a South Korean Earthquake

Abstract Studies have identified negative effects of cortisol, a stress hormone, on academic performance. Because natural disasters induce community-wide stress, students who experience natural disasters may subsequently perform worse academically. Our study is the first to examine the immediate effects of close exposure to a natural disaster on academic performance. We examine the impact of the 2017 Pohang earthquake in South Korea on college entrance exam scores. The 5.4 magnitude quake occurred one day before the scheduled nationwide college entrance exam date, necessitating its postponement for one week. Several aftershocks occurred during that postponement period. We find that the earthquake decreased the reading test scores of students in the Pohang area by 0.05 standard deviation but had no effect on math test scores. The reading test was administered earlier in the day than the math test, so these findings suggest that students taking exams in post-traumatic situations might be able to perform better after a warm-up testing period. Finally, male students suffered the largest adverse impacts on their reading test scores, with serious implications given the high-stakes nature of the exams.

Effects of Entry Grades on Students' Academic Performance Under Homogeneous Educational Resources.

A minor difference in college entrance examination scores can result in vastly different educational resources in China, so it has been debated whether it is the difference in the student population or the difference in educational resources that causes the difference in medical graduates. We aimed to evaluate the effects of entry grades on students' academic performance under homogeneous educational resources. Students in grade 2016 with 13-point difference in the average admission scores of 2 medicine schools in Sun Yat-sen University were educated in mixed classes and were taught with the same educators during the 5 years of undergraduate period. The grades, graduation, and postgraduate enrollment rates of the students were compared between the two campuses. The average admission scores for Shenzhen Campus (SZC) students are 13 points lower than those of Guangzhou North Campus (GZNC) (613 points vs 626 points). After 5 years of homogeneous education, comparing the GZNC students with the SZC students, there were no significant differences in the average total score (80.2 ± 4.6 vs 80.0 ± 5.6, P = 0.691), the average compulsory course (78.9 ± 3.4 vs 78.4 ± 6.1, P = 0.438), the average core course score (78.8 ± 7.4 vs 78.7 ± 5.0, P=0.860) and the average clerkship score (85.1 ± 7.2 vs 84.6 ± 2.7, P=0.275). However, the completion rate for SZC was higher than for GZNC (93.94% vs 86.27%, P=0.009). There was no statistical difference in postgraduate enrolment between the two institutions (P=0.758). Given the same educational resources, more medical students with lower entrance scores completed their studies and achieved the same percentage of postgraduate acceptance. This finding suggests that a key component of improving the quality of medical higher education in China may be to further rationalize the allocation of high-quality educational resources, rather than to pursuing students with high entrance examination scores.

Chinese University Students' Growth in Critical Thinking: Accounting for School Transition and Selection Effects

Evaluating cognitive ability and skills development in higher education presents challenges because the focal outcome often serves as, or at least is reflected in, selection criteria for college admission decisions. Additionally, the baseline abilities and skills gained from earlier educational experiences impact students' further learning outcomes. To address these challenges, we propose an integrated framework for estimating students' growth that accounts for lasting transition effects and varying selection effects. Using a nationally representative longitudinal sample of Chinese university students, we found that students experienced medium-sized growth (0.67) in critical thinking skills, with a large effect size observed for evaluating the reasoning of an argument, a medium effect size for evaluating argument implications, and no significant growth in evaluating argument credibility. Our estimates of transition effects showed that the impact of earlier education experience on students' critical thinking growth diminished in the college years. After controlling students' socioeconomic status and the college entrance examination scores, we found that the within-university advantage in the college entrance examination served as a factor in explaining the university impacts on students’ critical thinking. Our findings provide rich insights into improving the evaluation of critical thinking skills in Chinese universities, and our illustrative framework can also be applied to similar education contexts.

IMPLEMENTATION OF SIMPLE ADDITIVE WEIGHTING (SAW) IN THE DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEM FOR DETERMINING THE ADMISSION OF NEW STUDENTS TO POLITEKNIK SERUYAN

The determination of new student admissions is a crucial process for every higher education institution. To enhance efficiency and objectivity in decision-making, the implementation of the Simple Additive Weighting (SAW) method has been carried out in the decision support system of Politeknik Seruyan. The SAW method is utilized to calculate and assign weights to relevant criteria in the selection of new prospective students.
 This research elaborates on the implementation process of SAW within the decision support system of Politeknik Seruyan. Data pertaining to prospective students, including entrance exam scores, academic achievements, and other relevant factors, are collected and processed using the SAW method. The outcomes of these calculations provide rankings for prospective students based on their degree of conformity with the criteria established by the polytechnic.
 The results of this research demonstrate that the use of the SAW method in the process of selecting new student admissions has improved efficiency, objectivity, and transparency in decision-making. With the existence of a SAW-based decision support system, Politeknik Seruyan can make more accurate decisions in accepting new students in accordance with the criteria and educational objectives set by the institution.
 The implementation of the SAW method in the decision support system contributes positively to enhancing the quality of new student admissions at Politeknik Seruyan, which, in turn, will impact the development of education and the improvement of student achievements in the future

ANALYSIS OF THE INFLUENCING FACTORS AFFECTING STUDENTS' COLLEGE ENTRANCE EXAMINATION SCORES

The college entrance examination scores are significant for students. In China, the result of the college entrance examination is the only criterion for judging whether a student can enter a university. This study takes some students from China West Normal University to analyze the factors that may influence the scores. Through the statistical analysis of SPSS, it is found that gender is related to the score of college entrance examination, and the place of origin is significantly related to the score of college entrance examination. The causes of the various phenomena are analyzed, and targeted suggestions are put forward to provide valuable references for improving students' performance.

Comprehensive Decision-Making Guide Predicting Colleges Based on User Profile Using Ensemble Machine Learning Model

Abstract: Making the right career decision is very importance for everyone. This paper aims to build a model that can help students to pick right colleges based on their profiles. For approximate prediction we plane build machine learning model in order to provide expected results. The datasets contain details about student (like Entrance Exam Score, 10th score, 12th score, cast etc.) and college (college Name, previous two-year cut-off etc.), for this various algorithm have been used i.e., Ensemble Machine learning, Linear Regression, Neural Network, Random Forest Decision Tree and Data Mining Technique for gathering the relevance data. This will assist student to know in advance if they get a chance to get recognized.

Why Metametonymic Argot in the Publicity Texts of China’s National College Entrance Examination Scores?

After China’s National College Entrance Examination (NCEE) in recent years, some high schools tend to publicize their NCEE scores by QQ groups, WeChat groups, or posters in an implicit manner due to the inconformity of NCEE-score publicity with the present educational policy in China. NCEE-score publicity texts are now presented like a discussion of harvest events such as a harvest of a type of plant or animal. This paper studies how and why such texts occur. It is found that: 1) each text is a metaphorical one, mapping plants, animals or other things onto NCEE testees, 2) each text is a textual configuration by metaphor chains of a harvest of plants, animals or other things, 3) the metaphors in each text are also metonymies, hence metametonymies, 4) all expressions in the text make a metametonymic argot, 5) each text is rich in pragma-rhetorical values. Be that as it may, in the context of maintaining NCEE fairness, NCEE-score publicity texts, however implicit, should not be encouraged despite their cleverness in evading official punishment.

Investigation of Preservice Science Teachers’ Scientific Literacy Skills in terms of Academic Achievement, University Entrance Exam Scores and Grade Level

The first aim of this research is to investigate preservice science teachers’ scientific literacy skills in terms of university entrance exam scores, academic achievement average scores, grade levels and academic achievement levels. And the second one is to determine the predictive power of university entrance exam scores and academic achievement average scores on scientific literacy skills. In line with these listed aims of the research, this study was carried out in survey design of the quantitative paradigm. 154 preservice science teachers constituted the participants of this research. The participants’ skills scores were obtained with “Scientific Literacy Skills Test” and the research hypotheses were tested statistically. Results revealed that participants’ scientific literacy skills differed in favor of upper classes, there was significant but low relationship between their skills and academic achievement average scores. In addition, it was found that participants’ university entrance exam scores did not significantly predict their skills, academic achievement average scores significantly predicted their skills but at a low rate (7%) and there was no significant relationship between their university entrance exam scores and skills. In line with these results, suggestions were made regarding the revision of universities' science teaching programs with the object to advance preservice science teachers' scientific literacy skills.

Predictive analytics study to determine undergraduate students at risk of dropout

In this this work, a study is presented with quantitative variables using machine learning tools to detect undergraduate students at risk of dropping out and the factors associated with this behavior. Clustering algorithms and classification methods were tested to determine the predictive power of several variables regarding the dropout phenomenon on an unbalanced database of 14,495 undergraduate students with a real dropout rate of 8.5% and a retention rate of 91.5%. The usual classification criterion that assigns individuals to a class if their probability of belonging to it is greater than 50% provided accuracies of 13.2% in the dropout prediction and 99.4% in the retention prediction. Among eight classifiers, Random Forest was selected and applied along with Threshold Probability, which allowed us to gradually increase the dropout precision to more than 50%, while maintaining retention and global precisions above 70%. Through this study, it was found that the main variables associated with student dropouts were their academic performance during the early weeks of the first semester, their average grade in the previous academic levels, the previous mathematics score, and the entrance exam score. Other important variables were the number of class hours being taken, student age, funding status of scholarships, English level, and the number of dropped subjects in the early weeks. Given the trade-off between dropout and retention precisions, our results can guide educational institutions to focus on the most appropriate academic support strategies to help students at real risk of dropping out.

Association between the entrance examination score / academic performance and results of Occupational Therapist National Examination -Based on a survey by the Department of Occupational Therapy, Faculty of Rehabilitation, Kobe Gakuin University-

Association between the entrance examination score / academic performance and results of Occupational Therapist National Examination -Based on a survey by the Department of Occupational Therapy, Faculty of Rehabilitation, Kobe Gakuin University-

Do GPAs, Entrance Exams, or Course Grades Predict Outcomes in First Semester Nursing Students?

BackgroundPrevious studies employed varying methods, predictors, and endpoints to determine how to best predict student success. PurposeThis study examined current admission criteria in predicting nursing students' success during two first semester courses. MethodsGrade point averages and Health Education Systems Incorporated entrance exam scores were extracted from student files while pre-nursing pathophysiology grades from electronic gradebooks were used as independent variables. A principal component analysis confirmed three components: Academic performance, logical/mathematical intelligence, and verbal/linguistic intelligence. Multiple regressions were performed using first semester nursing course grades as dependent variables. ResultsA multiple regression using Pharmacology course grades as the dependent variable (R2 = 0.268, p ≤0.001) was more predictive than a regression using Concepts course grades as the dependent variable (R2 = 0.177, p ≤0.001). Bivariate analyses revealed that each independent variable significantly predicted Concepts course grades and all except math and reading scores predicted Pharmacology course grades. ConclusionsPathophysiology was a better predictor of both dependent variables. A high degree of shared variance necessitated bivariate analyses to elucidate the importance of each independent variable. Pharmacology course grades proved better predictors of success by the independent variables than Concepts course grades.

Establishment and Management of an Educational Outcome Cohort at the Keimyung University School of Medicine

An educational outcome cohort has been established at Keimyung University School of Medicine to help make educational policy decisions and improve educational programs based on data. The purpose of the educational outcome cohort is to support educational policy decisions for achieving graduation outcomes smoothly and to accomplish the intended human resources development of the university through objective analyses and regular monitoring, providing continuous feedback. The data collected for the educational outcome cohort include the student identifications of freshmen, entrance exam scores, premedical and medical school grades, titles and forms of student academic research, the results of psychological testing, scholarship recipient lists, volunteer clubs, and so forth. The data are collected using an information utilization agreement approved by the Institutional Review Board, and the collected data are encrypted and stored on a dedicated computer for enhanced personal information security. Proposals to access and utilize the educational outcome cohort data must be discussed and approved by the Educational Outcome Cohort Committee, which decides on the scope and method of utilization. The collected and managed educational outcome cohort data have been used to develop comparative programs to improve students’ competency and to support admission policy decisions through an analysis of the characteristics and performance of medical school students. The establishment and utilization of the educational outcome cohort will play an important role in determining the School of Medicine’s educational policies and suggesting new directions for educational policies in the future.