We report measurements of the circular polarization correlation parameterP3 for the excitation of the 4s′[1/2]j=1 state in Ar by 40 eV electrons and for the excitation of the Kr 5s[3/2]J=1 state by 30 eV electrons at electron scattering angles up to 50°. The measured Ar data are compared to predictions of a distorted wave Born approximation (DWBA). The agreement is in general not very good with theory predictingP3 values considerably larger than the measured values in the regime of small scattering angles. In Kr, where the measured data are compared to theoretical predictions from a DWBA, a first-order many-body theory (FOMBT) and a relativistic distorted wave theory (RDW), the level of agreement between experiment and theory is somewhat better. The measuredP3 parameters in conjunction with the previously measured linear coherence parametersP1 undP2 under the same scattering conditions yield the total polarizationPtot+ which is a measure for the level of coherence in the excitation process. In both cases studied here, we found values of eliminatePtot+ that were consistent with a fully coherent excitation process.