The recognition that medical practitioners require more than simply a high level of academic ability to function successfully in their profession, together with a sharp increase in the number of academically qualified applicants to medical courses, has led to new ways of selecting medical students. Consequently the selection of students into the high-stakes course of medicine has become an area of considerable interest and research activity. The issues involved in selection are now prominent in the medical and medical education literature published in the UK, the USA, Australia, New Zealand and Canada, and in some European countries. At the same time as the introduction of new selection procedures, and independently of it, due to advances in pedagogy the nature of the medical curriculum has also changed. Changes have been characterised by the use of problem-based learning, and an emphasis on self-directed learning, as well as an increase in interaction between the students in classes and between students and their teachers. The recognition that problemsolving, communication and interaction skills in the courses, in addition to the requisite intellectual capacity, would enhance performance as practitioners, has reinforced the need for students to be selected on a different set of attributes from those used previously. In Australia, changes in the way in which medical students are selected were initiated by the University of Newcastle in the early 1990s, with the introduction of some tests of cognitive skills and an interview. Over the following ten years, the other Australian undergraduate medical schools followed suit and a three-component selection process developed in an attempt to differentiate among the high calibre applicants to medical courses, by identifying additional important skills and attributes. The three components are the academic score, results on an aptitude test and results on a selection interview. Two of the nine undergraduate medical schools chose not to use a selection interview. The focus of this thesis is on evaluating the new selection processes and investigating the consequences of the admission of school-leaver applicants into undergraduate medical courses, where the Tertiary Entrance Rank (TER) is the academic criterion for determining suitability to undertake tertiary studies. Each undergraduate medical school has developed its own unique way to operationalise the selection of its students. However, the use of the Undergraduate Medicine and Health Sciences Admissions Test (UMAT), which developed out of the University of Newcastle’s test of cognitive skills, and the conduct of an interview for a select group of applicants are common to these practices. The implementation of the new selection processes has not been without its critics, mainly from within the medical profession. This thesis studies the issues which underlie the three components of selection (the TER, the UMAT and a selection interview) and uses as a case study the particular process used to select students into the six year undergraduate medical course at The University of Western Australia (UWA). The UWA selection process involves applicants passing a threshold score on each of the three components and then being ranked by a mechanism which combines the three scores with equal weight. This is a compensatory system in which applicants can compensate for a score near the threshold on one component by high scores on the other two components. This study showed that the resultant cohort is eclectic in its characteristics, with the full range of scores (above the threshold) in each component being represented. Both qualitative and quantitative methods of data collection were used to address the issues surrounding the way in which medical students are selected and the outcomes of such processes. First, semi-structured interviews were held with different groups of stakeholders, including the staff at secondary schools which prepare the students for tertiary entrance; academic and administrative staff at The University of Western Australia (UWA); academic and administrative staff at other Australian universities; and senior staff at the major teaching hospitals in Western Australia. Secondly, quantitative studies on UWA data addressed the predictive validity of the components of selection; inter-rater reliability and the internal consistency of the data sets from the selection interview; and the attrition rate in the course. Outcomes from the research showed that in general, the reactions from stakeholders have been positive. Importantly, academic levels amongst medical students and recent graduates do not appear to have been eroded by the new process, in which the academic threshold has been lowered. The UMAT is a contentious national test which has had its validity as a selection instrument questioned. A recent construct and content validity study on the UMAT (Mercer and Chiavaroli, 2006) has gone some way towards settling some of these issues, but the question of predictive validity has yet to be addressed adequately. The existence of commercially available preparation courses has been controversial because of the equity issues involved for those applicants who for some reason do not have access to such courses. The selection interview, one of the three components of selection, conducted by the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences at UWA, whilst attracting criticism from some for appearing stilted and overly prescriptive, was judged to be robust and rigorous by many of those directly involved in its implementation. Furthermore a high proportion of medical students were judged by their teachers to have good communication skills, which is a positive outcome for future members of the profession. A study to quantify reliability indices for the UWA selection interviews indicated high levels of inter-rater reliability and internal consistency of the ratings data produced. The predictive validity study conducted as part of this study showed the two major predictors of course outcomes at UWA to be the TER and female gender. The TER predicts outcomes in the knowledge-based units across the course and in some clinically-based units in the later years. However, the interview score (in particular the Communication Skills component) and scores on the first section of UMAT (Logical reasoning and problem solving) also predict outcomes in some of the clinically-based units. The results of these studies are encouraging to those who believe that the new selection process, whilst imperfect, has gone some way towards solving the problems attached to selection based solely on academic merit. The question now becomes how to improve further on the selection of medical students and to do so in an evidence-based way. The characteristics to be included in selection remain controversial. The rigorous assessment of such characteristics needs to be addressed in the longer term and will be an evolving issue, as the medical curriculum and the nature of the profession also continue to change.

The purpose of this paper was to investigate whether or not the use of a biographical inventory would be a feasible and viable adjunctive means of making more accurate predictions of student success in programs of upper-division and graduate study in speech pathology and audiology. During the past years, biographical inventories have been found to be predictive of creativity, performance as a military officer, performance in varied occupations, and academic performance. It was hypothesized that a biographical inventory could be developed which, when used in conjunction with the existing academic predictors of Grade Point Average and Graduate Records Examination scores, would add to the established selection instruments. As a means of identifying and distinguishing among several levels of competency of students, a student evaluation form was constructed and validated. Items cores from a 257 item biographical inventory were correlated with scores obtained from the student evaluation form and a 52 item biographical inventory for speech pathology and audiology students was developed. Admissions criteria data, student evaluation form scores and biographical inventory scores were placed in two step-wise multiple regression equations and analyzed statistically. Results indicate that biographical factors appear to be of importance to undergraduate success in programs of speech and hearing therapy. Student success in the more rigorous programs of graduate study appears to depend much more on academic ability. Disparate results indicate that the use of a biographical inventory as an adjunctive academic predictor should be approached with caution until further studies can be conducted.

Thesis (MBA)--Stellenbosch University, 2005. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Business schools, businesses and prospective students will benefit from an indication of prospective MBA students’ likelihood of success in their studies. This study examines the relationship between GMAT and SHL selection tests and performance of students at the University of Stellenbosch Business School. The aim is to establish the feasibility of using models derived from the selection tests in order to identify students who are unlikely to succeed. It was found that variables analyzed in GMAT and SHL numeric and verbal tests as well as the SHL OPQ 32-test correlate significantly with weighted average marks on the MBA programme. Significant correlations were also found between GMAT and SHL numeric and verbal tests and the marks obtained in subjects with high failure rates. Different variables correlate significantly with weighted average marks depending on the mode of study. Said correlations were however found to be too weak to build a model to predict, with accuracy, the performance of a student based solely on the results of selection tests. Adding the subject Computer Literacy strengthens the models to the extent that discriminant analysis can identify many of the students whom would be expected to fail. Prediction efficiency of discriminant models is however not high enough to allow its sole use as basis for exclusion of prospective students. Linear models could not predict any of the students who failed to achieve a weighted average mark of 50% or above. Linear regression models could however explain 27.8% to 52.6% of variability in weighted averaged depending on the method of study and selection test taken. Linear regression and discriminant models can thus be used as part of a judgement based selection process or as a basis for the provision of guidance to individuals, it is however not suitable for use as sole measure in admissions decisions. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Besigheidskole, besighede en voornemende studente sal baat vind indien hul ‘n indikasie kan kry van die waarskynlikheid van ‘n voornemende student se sukses. Die studie ondersoek die verhouding tussen GMAT en SHL toetse en prestasie van studente aan die Universiteit van Stellenbosch Bestuurskool. Die doel was om vas te stel of dit wesenlik is om modelle, wat van die toelatingstoetse afgelei is, te gebruik om studente wat waarskynlik nie sal slaag nie, te identifiseer. Daar is gevind dat veranderlikes in die GMAT en SHL numeriese en verbale toelatingstoetse sowel as die SHL OPQ32 toets wesenlik korreleer met die geweegde gemiddelde punt vir die MBA program. Wesenlike korrelasies is ook tussen GMAT en SHL numeriese en verbale toelatingstoetse en die punte behaal in vakke met hoeë druipsyfers gevind. Verskillende veranderlikes korreleer op ‘n wesenlike vlak met geweegde gemiddelde punte afhangende van die metode van onderrig. Bogenoemde korrelasies is egter nie sterk genoeg om ‘n model te bou, suiwer gebaseer op toelatingstoetse, wat met akkuraatheid die prestasie van ‘n student kan voorspel nie. Deur die vak Rekenaargeletterdheid by te voeg kan die model sodanig versterk word dat diskriminante analise baie van die studente wat sou druip, kon identifiseer. Die voorspellings effektiwiteit is egter nie hoog genoeg om diskriminante modelle as enigste basis vir die weiering van studente te gebruik nie. Lineêre regressie modelle kon nie enige van die studente wat gedruip het identifiseer nie. 27.8% tot 52.6% van ‘n variansie in geweegde gemiddelde punt kan egter deur lineêre regressie modelle voorspel word, afhangende van die metode van onderrig en toelatingstoets wat geskryf is. Lineêre en diskriminante modelle kan gebruik word as deel van ‘n oordeel gebaseerde keuringsproses of as basis vir die voorsiening van raad aan individue. Dit is egter nie geskik vir gebruik as enigste keuringsmaatstaf nie.

This thesis presents content-related and construct-related validity evidence for science sub-tests within Student Selection Test (SST) in Turkey via underlying the content, cognitive processes, item characteristics, factorial structure, and group differences based on high school type. A total number of 126,245 students were present in the research from six type of school in the data of SST 2006. Reliability Analysis, Item Analysis, Principle Component Analysis (PCA) and one-way ANOVA have been carried out to evaluate the content-related and construct-related evidence of validity of SST. SPSS and ITEMAN programs were used to conduct the above-mentioned analyses. According to the results of content analysis, science items in the SST 2006 found to be measuring various cognitive processes under knowledge, understanding and problem solving cognitive domains. Those items loaded under three factors according to PCA findings which were measuring very close dimensions. Moreover, a threat to validity was detected via one-way ANOVA due to significant mean difference across high school types.

The purpose of the present study is to compare ability estimations obtained from computerized adaptive testing (CAT) procedure with the paper and pencil test administration results of Student Selection Examination (SSE) science subtest considering different ability estimation methods and test termination rules. There are two phases in the present study. In the first phase, a post-hoc simulation was conducted to find out relationships between examinee ability levels estimated by CAT and paper and pencil test versions of the SSE. Maximum Likelihood Estimation and Expected A Posteriori were used as ability estimation method. Test termination rules were standard error threshold and fixed number of items. Second phase was actualized by implementing a CAT administration to a group of examinees to investigate performance of CAT administration in an environment other than simulated administration. Findings of post-hoc simulations indicated CAT could be implemented by using Expected A Posteriori estimation method with standard error threshold value of 0.30 or higher for SSE. Correlation between ability estimates obtained by CAT and real SSE was found to be 0.95. Mean of number of items given to examinees by CAT is 18.4. Correlation between live CAT and real SSE ability estimations was 0.74. Number of items used for CAT administration is approximately 50% of the items in paper and pencil SSE science subtest. Results indicated that CAT for SSE science subtest provided ability estimations with higher reliability with fewer items compared to paper and pencil format.

Dalarna University aspires to improve the student admittance process as it strives to ensure efficient use of public funds. The aim of Dalarna University in the student admittance process is to admit candidates that are likely to be successful in their studies. There have been two selection procedures for the Business Intelligence and Data Science programmes: the default procedure, which selects from all eligible candidates randomly, and the motivation letter procedure in which the university bases their selection on a motivation letter that each eligible candidate must provide. it is of interest whether the motivation letter procedure outperforms the default procedure as a selection instrument. For that, it is needed to analyse student data. Student data is stored in foremost two national databases: NyaWebben and Ladok. These databases are not conducive for analysis. The main objective of this researchis to create a data template that can store data from these systems and can also be used to analyse student data in order to evaluate the performances of the selection instruments. To demonstrate the usability of the data template, we formulated two demonstration questions that relate to the performance of the selection instruments that we tentatively tried to answer: 1) Do the motivation letter intakes show a higher degree completion rate and strength of degree completion than the default intakes? 2) How do the assigned motivation letter scores relate to degree completion rate and strength of degree completion? Firstly, we identified which variables were to be extracted from NyaWebben and Ladok and established what KPIs would serve as the working indicators used to analyse the performances of the selection instruments. From a literature review, we deduced that degree completion and strength of degree completion were the KPIs that considered the overarching perspectives of universities, students, the labourmarket, and the government on what constitutes a favourable educational outcome. After that, we employed a manual extraction method to store the data in a spreadsheet; our data template of choice. We then build multiple interfaces and automation procedures for increased efficiency and ease of use. The data template was made analysis-ready through data cleaning, categorisation, and formatting of the data. We furthermore conducted a usability test to assess the ease of use of our data template and the results were positive. We learned that there are still too few data points because of an insufficiently long follow-up time, even when considering only first semester completion, to conclusively answer the demonstration questions and that our results were not statistically significant. The demonstration questions can therefore only be answered in time once more student intakes are added to the data template. However, we found that the implications of the data template are manyfold, since we considered a wide range of variables, including those outside the scope of the demonstration questions, that are ready to be analysed via our data template.

In developing countries, there is a great demand for university education. In order to select students to universities a standardized test score is used. In Turkey, the Student Selection Test (SST) have important role in admission to universities. However, there is very limited knowledge about what SST mathematics sections actually measures. The main purpose of the present study is to evaluate the content of the mathematics subtest of the SST in line with mathematical cognitive skills and eventually provide construct related evidence for dimensionality of the test items. Within this framework, it is aimed to cross validate the mathematics subtest across gender groups, school types and two consecutive years. Also relations among mathematical abilities are investigated. This study is first in investigating what is measured by SST Mathematics sections and analyzing construct validity by testing several nested confirmatory factor models. Comparison of fit indices of five competitive models showed three-factor model has better fit indices in which Basic Computation Ability, Advanced Computation Ability and Geometry Ability is measured. It is concluded that problem solving items are not measuring a different process, but measures some sort of computation ability. There is a problem related to the content of the mathematics subtests of the SST in line with mathematical cognitive skills. Higher order cognitive skills are not measured properly. Three-factor model is tested about the invariance of the factors across gender, school types and years. It is concluded that invariant factor structure indicates that SST mathematics section is operating similarly for subgroups and years. The relations among mathematical abilities on three-factor model are investigated by item mapping and structural equation models. It is seen that Basic Computation Ability is a prerequisite to acquire Geometry Ability and Advanced Computation Ability.

Student selection test in Turkey compose of two parts. The purpose of the first part is to assess students&rsquo / higher order thinking skills like analytical thinking, interpretation and reasoning about elementary school curriculum and 9th grade curricula objectives. On the other hand, second part of the test aims to assess students&rsquo / higher order thinking skills given in the high school curriculum. The main aim of this thesis is to analyze to what extend 2006, 2007 and 2008 student selection tests biology items assess higher order cognitive skills. In accordance with this purpose, elementary and high school curriculum and the appropriateness of the questions in the student selection test with the educational objectives of the curriculum are examined. In addition, dimensions of 2006, 2007, and 2008 SST biology items are examined by Exploratory Component Analysis and Confirmatory Component Analysis techniques. The result of those analysis revealed that SST biology items mostly focus on remembering skill and fail to assess higher order thinking skills. Additionally, there is not any consistency among 2006, 2007, and 2008 SSTs biology items in terms of dimensions which means there is not any construct in biology subtests of SSTs. The other aim of the present study is to identify how much academic and non-academic factors explain the biology achievement. While for academic factors reading comprehension, mathematics, physics, and chemistry achievements of students are used, age, gender, and school type are used for non-academic factors. Findings of the research revealed that academic factors, especially chemistry achievement, have significant affect on biology achievement. In terms of non-academic factors, graduating from selecting high school has important role for biology achievement. Additionally, older students and girls tend to have higher grades in biology.

Nursing colleges face a high failure rate among first and second year nursing students. Appropriate selection criteria should help to recruit and select the best suitable candidates who will endure the requirements of the comprehensive four-year nursing diploma course and finally graduate. The input should be equal to the throughput. The purpose of this study was to explore and describe the extent to which selection criteria were a determinant or predictive factor of nursing students’ academic performance and success at a nursing colleges in Gauteng Province. A triangulated research design method was used for data collection, presentation, and analysis. The research population consisted of first and second year student nurses registered in public nursing college. Random sampling was opted for at the nursing college selected as research site. During the empirical phase in 2015, 280 questionnaires were distributed. The findings of the study indicated that there is a weak linear relation between academic qualification and academic performance, yet further analysis showed that there is a significant relationship between Bachelor’s degree holders and their academic achievement when admitted at nursing colleges. / Health Studies / M.A. (Health Studies)

Student selection is particularly challenging in South Africa. Heterogeneous educational backgrounds require that it is necessary to assess prospective students' potential rather than their current abilities that crystallised from inadequate school education. Dynamic assessment assesses learning potential versus traditional psychometric measures, which are static measures of cognitive ability, measuring what a person has already learned. The aim was to determine the predictive validity of a selection battery. The following predictors were included in the study; matric results, Potential Index Battery, LPCAT, bridging course status and gender. The results confirmed that static measures of intelligence and matric results showed lower predictive validity than learning potential tests. The learning potential measure appeared to be a more valid predictor of academic performance and is suitable to include in a selection battery. Gender and bridging course factors did not reflect significant differences in academic performance. There were indications that students perform better in successive years of study, once they have adjusted to tertiary education. / Industrial and Organisational Psychology / M. Comm. (Industrial and Organisational Psychology)