Test development is a complicated process that demands examining various factors, one of them being writing items of varying difficulty. It is important to use items of a different range of difficulty to ensure that the test results accurately indicate the test-taker's abilities. Therefore, the factors affecting item difficulty should be defined,…

Introduction: Reading comprehension is an important skill in the fast pace global society in which we now live. However, reading comprehension is a rather complex process that involves the dynamic interaction of cognitive and metacognitive skills. Method: In the present study, we investigated whether a newly-developed text inconsistency detection…

The research is created to investigate the prediction of admission criteria for medical student achievement in chemistry in Saudi Arabia. It examines if the General Aptitude Test (GAT), the Scholastic Achievement Admission Test (SAAT), and English competence, can to a certain extent predict and foretell students' achievement in the chemistry. The…

Admission criteria can be used to predict Saudi student performance in college, but significant differences across several studies exists. This study explores the predictive power of admission criteria for college assignment using King Saud bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences as a model. Scores from high school and standardized tests were…

The study is designed to examine the predictive power of Saudi-admission criteria for student performance in an introductory biology course. It focuses on the second semester at King Saud bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences. The study addresses whether the General Aptitude test (GAT), the Scholastic Achievement Admission Test (SAAT), and…

Despite the claim by several researchers that variability in performance may complicate the identification of "at-risk" children, variability in the academic performance of young children remains an undervalued area of research. The goal of this study is to examine the predictive validity for future scores and the score stability of two…

This study investigates the effects of socioeconomic status and schooling on the academic attainment of a cohort of students at a single medical school (N = 240). Partial least squares structural equation modelling was used to explore how students' summative assessment scores over 4 years of medical school were affected by: attainment in secondary…

This article examines a government attempt to impose testing of 4-year-olds as a baseline against which to "hold primary schools accountable" for children's subsequent progress. It examines the various forms of baseline testing in this experiment and analyses the misleading claims made for the "predictive validity" of baseline…

The aim of this study was to evaluate the predictive validity of a two-step admissions procedure that included a cognitive ability test followed by multiple mini-interviews (MMIs) used to assess non-cognitive skills, compared to grade-based admissions relative to subsequent drop-out rates and academic achievement after one and two years of study.…

The first-year grade point average (FYGPA) is the predominant measure of student success in most studies on university admission. Previous cognitive achievements measured with high school grades or standardized tests have been found to be the strongest predictors of FYGPA. For this reason, standardized tests measuring cognitive achievement are…

This article is concerned with developing a measure of general academic ability (GAA) for high school graduates who apply to colleges, as well as with the identification of optimal weights of the GAA indicators in a linear combination that yields a composite score with maximal reliability and maximal predictive validity, employing the framework of…

Graduate studies, and in particular doctoral ones, pursue the development of scientific researchers able to make original contributions in a specific area of knowledge. However, attrition rates indicate that achieving this goal is not easy. The available evidence indicates that there are behavioral factors, positive and negative, that influence…

Diagnostic information is a centrepiece of educational decision making. Far-reaching decisions like placements within multi-tiered school systems may have a huge long-term impact on the achieved level of education. Therefore, such decisions should be substantiated or complemented by objective and prognostically valid information. To this end, we…

Irrespective of the grading system, grades are the most valid instrument for predicting educational success. Previous studies have shown that criterion-referenced compulsory school grades are multidimensional, reflecting subject-specific dimensions and a common grade dimension, both of which contribute to the predictive validity of grades. This…

The purpose of this study was to determine whether a standardized test of music aptitude developed for American children yields results, which may have valid interpretation when used with 5-year-old Korean children. The specific questions regarding the Primary Measures of Music Audiation (PMMA) norms were: (1) Does PMMA when used with 5-year-old…