Most formal student admission systems of Higher Education Institutions, tend to primarily assess academic achievement in specific domains and cognitive abilities. Some Institutions are recently and more and more make use for example of a psychometric entrance Test (PET) administered and weighed for university, college and medical school admissions. These kind of tests are used as above other admission tools, because they are less affected by differences in applicants’ backgrounds or other subjective factors.
In general, students who also receive high scores are more successful in their academic studies than students who receive low scores.
Can anyone please tell me or let me know of specific tests or instruments that they or their Institutions use or know of when evaluating students for admission requirements? How successful is these tests or instruments wrt the increase of pass rates and throughput ratios as well as to lower drop-out and failure rates?
Hi,
In my university and other local universities, these are placement tests, and interviews aiming at evaluating the students academically, and personally.
We use the results of the Vietnamese national exam to select students. Each discipline can have their own choice on the group of subjects' result based on the characteristics and the objectives of the academic programme. For example, some may choose maths, physics and chemistry. Others can select history, literature and English.
Thank you very much Alvin, Aida and Huong for your input and answers. Much appreciated.
Looking forward to receive more input and some answers and or suggestions
In the Gulf Region, Most HIEs opt for using some standardized /bench marked tests (placement tests) to classify students according
to their performance in English, Math and IT.
Servaas, I have a PhD candidate who has developed a measuring instrument to predict the success of first-year Economics entrants. Her work will be published soon.
Thanks Johan. Looking forward to read about it. Please keep me informed.
Regards.
Similar to one of your previous responders, on our bridging course (pre-degree) we apply English and Maths placement tests, then we interview students so that we can get a picture of who they are, why they wish to come here, and what their aspirations are. We do not get it right all the time (and sometimes life gets in their way), but by and large we end up with a reasonably robust cohort. I also inserted 2-3 psychometric questions in our Maths test and it is interesting to see who can nail these.
Cheers.
Hi Servaas, I think different countries and institutions develop varieties of tests for placement/admission purposes because of variations in curriculum and objectives. In Nigeria, we use JAMB test which is a derivative of Aptitude and is Criterion referenced test
Thanks Phil, Ruby and Felix for your input.
Although your answers differ from each other, it is still interesting to hear your unique situations.
Best regards,
Servaas
In our university, incoming college students are required to take an admission tests, and if they pass the exam they will undergo an interview to know their talents and skills
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