Resumo

DE ANDA PADILLA, Humberto  e  LOPEZ OLMOS, Rafael. Predictability of admission knowledge examinations for high school in the Universidad De La Salle Bajío. Nova scientia [online]. 2010, vol.2, n.4, pp.169-190. ISSN 2007-0705.

The present study determined, as a measure of predictability, the correlation between knowledge examinations taken by students on their entrance to high school at the University De La Salle Bajío and academic performance during the first year of study of the students themselves. Additionally a third variable, the average of the first two years of junior high school, was introduced which together with the knowledge tests scores increased the degree of predictability. We used descriptive statistics and calculated correlation coefficients between scores on the admissions test, overall and by evaluated area and the final grades obtained in each subject at the end of the first and second semester, and the average scores of the whole freshman year. We analyzed the characteristics of the instrument to measure each of the areas that compose it and the possible variations between the equivalent versions applied to two different cohorts of the four different high school campi that constitute the University (2005 and 2006). The research hypothesis stated was that the correlation coefficients between test scores of knowledge and the GPA of freshman year will be at least 0.3. We worked with data of all the students which ended the second semester of high school. Among the results finds were that the average of the first two years of junior high school joined with the scores of the admission tests show a correlation greater than 0.3 with the average of each of the 20 subjects in which the students were enrolled during the first two semesters of school. The highest relationship was reached with the average scores of the 1st and 2nd semester and the one of the first year, with correlation coefficients of r_{1st sem} = 0.57, r_{2nd sem} = 0.58 and r_{1st year} = 0.60; while individually, by area of the admission test, only mathematics shows significance on the performance of students for the same mathematics courses in both semesters, the average of each semester and the whole year in general. Moreover, test scores for admission per year are not significantly different, asserting consistency between the two versions of equivalent admission tests that were used in the two years of the study.

Palavras-chave : Predictive validity; admission test; academic achievement; student performance; high school entrance examinations.

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