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Dropping out of college is often linked to insufficient academic or psychosocial readiness. Therefore, assessing students' readiness, preferably before they begin their first year of college, may help identify those at risk of dropping out. The present study aimed to develop and test a multidimensional measure that assesses psychosocial factors promoting student persistence. The Psychosocial Readiness for College questionnaire (PRCq) aims to assess the readiness of students who have deferred entering college to their twenties and comprises six dimensions: Academic Self-Efficacy, Educational Commitment, Social Comfort, Campus Engagement, Self-Discipline, and Resilience. The PRCq was administered to five cohorts of first-year college students in Israel (N = 7,382). The PRCq demonstrated good psychometric properties, and exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses supported its six dimensions. The PRCq demonstrated measurement invariance across age, gender, SES, first vs. non-first-generation students, and institution type. The PRCq's construct validity was supported by the negligible associations between the scale scores and high-school GPA and pre-college scholastic aptitude test, and the pattern of associations with the Big-5 personality factors. The PRCq's predictive validity was supported by the student dropout rate after one year. Implications for students at risk of dropping out and interventions to decrease this risk are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reports the results of an experiment conducted with ChatGPT to see how its performance compares to human performance on tests that require specific knowledge and skills, such as university admission tests. We chose a general undergraduate admission test and two tests for admission to biomedical programs: the Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT), the Cambridge BioMedical Admission Test (BMAT), and the Italian Medical School Admission Test (IMSAT). In particular, we looked closely at the difference in performance between ChatGPT-4 and its predecessor, ChatGPT-3.5, to assess its evolution. The performance of ChatGPT-4 showed a significant improvement over ChatGPT-3.5 and, compared to real students, was on average within the top 10% in the SAT test, while the score in the IMSAT test granted admission to the two highest ranked Italian medical schools. In addition to the performance analysis, we provide a qualitative analysis of incorrect answers and a classification of three different types of logical and computational errors made by ChatGPT-4, which reveal important weaknesses of the model. This provides insight into the skills needed to use these models effectively despite their weaknesses, and also suggests possible applications of our analysis in the field of education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: In Switzerland, the scholastic aptitude test for medical-school selection takes place in three languages. This study examined the effects of two quasi-experimental interventions that aimed to reduce existing differences in test results between the French- and German-speaking language candidates. Methods: Between 2018 and 2023, the population of applicants to Swiss medical schools consisted of N = 18'824 German- and French-speaking individuals. Based on a quasi-experimental design, we examined the effects of two interventions regarding preparatory material, in these cohorts. The first intervention (2022) consisting of practice trials in baccalaureate schools in the canton of Fribourg enabled French-speaking candidates primarily from the canton of Fribourg to prepare more intensively with official tasks. Practice trials enable future candidates to complete a published test version under original conditions and thus prepare how to approach the real test. The second intervention (2023) released new preparatory material in all languages for one group of tasks for which differences between the language groups were more pronounced than in the other tasks. The test provider offered this material for free download together with existing preparation materials and thereby enabled more intensive preparation. Results: After the first intervention, the initially small to medium-sized mean differences in z-transformed test scores between French-speaking candidates from Fribourg and German-speaking candidates were nearly eliminated (from 0.39 to 0.05). Also for French-speaking candidates from outside of the canton of Fribourg, the mean differences were smaller than before the intervention (0.48 before, 0.39 after first intervention). After the second intervention, particularly the mean differences in test scores between German-speaking and French-speaking candidates from outside of Fribourg were further reduced (to 0.24). Conclusions: The two interventions regarding material for preparing to participate in the aptitude test affected candidates' test scores. They reduced the gap between German- and French-speaking candidates showing that the additional benefits of commercial offers for test preparation are limited. Hence, offering comparable official preparation material to all language groups enhances test fairness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To address the English proficiency of underachieving college students, universities often use in-house language tests. C University lacks specific exams for identification, and relies on students' English performance in the Korean College Scholastic Aptitude Test (CSAT English). This research explores the potential of the TOEIC Bridge, a standardized English proficiency test developed for middle and high school students, to provide an effective, practical measure for screening underachieving students in English. The study investigates the relationship between TOEIC Bridge and CSAT English performance, evaluating the predictive value of TOEIC Bridge on CSAT outcomes. Analyzing data from 418 students, the study identified (1) a moderate correlation between TOEIC Bridge and CSAT English performance, and (2) predictability of CSAT English performance based on TOEIC Bridge, suggesting that TOEIC Bridge can provide a potential tool to identify underachieving students in English. These findings contribute pedagogical insights for tertiary education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scores on cognitive ability tests used in tertiary admissions contexts generally have very limited currency. This can have significant implications for prospective applicants to high‐demand courses which use cognitive tests as part of the selection process. In this paper we present both psychometric and non‐psychometric considerations regarding the score currency of ability tests, using GAMSAT (Graduate Medical School Admissions Test) as an example. We found that GAMSAT scores showed sufficient stability at the cohort level for institutions to be reasonably confident that a test score would continue to provide a valid representation of cognitive ability for up to a 5‐year period. However, candidates' pre‐test preparation will influence whether it is in their interest to re‐sit a test even within an extended currency period. Practitioner points: Cognitive ability tests used in tertiary admissions contexts generally have very limited score currency, typically 1 or 2 years.This limited period of currency means that many candidates may need to re‐sit the test if not initially successful, which can have significant and wide‐ranging implications for both candidates and institutions, especially in terms of diversity and equity.Our research on GAMSAT re‐sit scores suggest that cognitive ability tests with robust equating procedures can have sufficient stability at the cohort level for institutions to be reasonably confident that a test score will continue to provide a valid representation of cognitive ability for up to a 5‐year period.Nonetheless, the variability observed in the scores of some individual candidates means that it may sometimes be in the interests to re‐sit the GAMSAT despite the extended currency; this will be influenced by the extent of personal preparation with which candidates attempt their first sitting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study was aimed at clarifying the position of environment and heredity in scholastic aptitude by investigating the role of family, educational, and economic factors in the scholastic aptitude of ninth-grade students. This applied study adopted a quantitative approach and a descriptive causal- comparative method in terms of data collection. The statistical population of the research included all 1,234,641 students in the ninth grade of the secondary schools in Iran in the academic year of 2020-2021. The sample size contained 11790 students selected through proportionate stratified random sampling. The data were collected using a 64-question Scholastic Aptitude Test and analyzed using descriptive statistics as well as the MANOVA using the SPSS 25 software. The research results showed that among the family factors, the mother's educational level; among the educational factors, the type of school and educational assistance classes; and among the economic factors, the family income, had a significant role in the students' scholastic aptitude (P < 0.05). Moreover, the linear combination of family factors and educational factors does not have a significant role in scholastic aptitude while the linear combination of economic factors has a significant role. In general, among family, economic, and educational factors, economic factors have a more significant role in scholastic aptitude. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The authors consider whether the emotional states of happiness and fear causally affect test performance using a new experiment. The paper aims to discuss this issue. Design/methodology/approach: Happiness and fear are induced with 360-degree videos shown in virtual reality before participants take a test consisting of mathematics scholastic aptitude tests (SAT) questions. Findings: The results show that scores improve by 0.48 standard deviations under the happiness condition, and the effect is particularly large for women (0.75 s.d.). Inducing fear has no effect on test scores. Originality/value: This is one of the first studies to employ virtual reality for emotion induction. It establishes that test scores can be improved by inducing an emotional state of happiness shortly before the test. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the vision and contributions of Roy O. Freedle, the founder of the journal Discourse Processes. Freedle aimed to promote a multidisciplinary approach to the study of text and oral discourse processing, welcoming studies from various fields such as linguistics, psychology, education, sociology, anthropology, computer science, and artificial intelligence. He emphasized the importance of systematic empirical analysis and the inclusion of diverse contexts and populations in discourse research. Freedle also played a significant role in the creation of the Society for Text and Discourse and the publication of the book series Advances in Discourse Processes. His work had a lasting impact on the field of discourse processes and continues to be relevant today. [Extracted from the article]

Despite efforts to increase the number of urban school students from low-income backgrounds who graduate from high school and attend college, success in postsecondary continues to be a pervasive challenge. This study examined a Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness Programs (GEAR UP) high school who had received the intervention program beginning in seventh grade. Findings in the study revealed that there was a significant difference in Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test (PSAT) scores between the intervention and comparison group. GEAR UP students significantly outperformed the comparison group on their composite PSAT score, as well as on mathematics and reading subtests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We use admissions lotteries to estimate the effects of large-scale public preschool in Boston on college-going, college preparation, standardized test scores, and behavioral outcomes. Preschool enrollment boosts college attendance as well as SAT test taking and high school graduation. Preschool also decreases high school disciplinary measures including juvenile incarceration, but has no detectable effect on state achievement test scores. An analysis of subgroups shows that effects on college enrollment, SAT-taking, and disciplinary outcomes are larger for boys than for girls. Our findings illustrate possibilities for large-scale modern, public preschool and highlight the importance of measuring long-term and non–test score outcomes in evaluating the effectiveness of education programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The availability of daily assessment data in a centralized monitoring system at school provides the opportunity to detect unusual scores soon after the assessment is carried out. This paper introduces a model for the detection of unusual scores of individual students to immediately improve performances that deviate from a normal state. Design/methodology/approach: A student's ability, a subject's difficulty level, a student's specific ability in a subject, and the difficulty level of an assessment in a subject are selected as factor effects of a linear ANOVA model. Through analysis of variance, a case study is conducted based on 330 data points of assessment scores of primary grade students retrieved from an international school in Japan. Findings: The actual score is below the lower control limit, which is recognized as an unusual score, and the score can be detected immediately after sitting for an assessment and is beneficial for students to take immediate remedies based on daily assessment. This is demonstrated through a case study. Originality/value: The detection of unusual scores based on a linear model of individual students soon after each assessment benefits from immediate remedy aligns with a daily management concept. The daily assessment data in a school system enable detection based on individual students, subject-wise and assessment-wise to improve student performances in the same academic year. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the study is to investigate trends in academic L1 Swedish and L2 English reading comprehension ability among Swedish adolescents, with a specific focus on 18- to 20-year-olds in the period 2012–2018. The material consists of results from regular tests and anchor tests in the spring administrations of the Swedish Scholastic Assessment Test (SweSAT) 2012–2018, allowing an analysis of trends in reading comprehension ability among a subset of the adolescent population. The results show two highly significant but opposite trends, with a substantial decrease in academic Swedish reading comprehension and an equally substantial increase in academic English reading comprehension. The results are discussed from the perspective of a changing media landscape, and related to results of the PISA-studies as well as to research on extramural English in Swedish society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigated the predictive value of four noncognitive skills (academic skills [e.g. meeting class expectations], commitment [e.g. to the institution], self-management [e.g. academic self-efficacy] and social support [e.g. social connectedness]), and critical thinking for predicting undergraduate academic performance in multiple institutions using multi-level modeling. Results show that in addition to traditional predictors such as high school grade point average (GPA) and SAT (Scholastic Aptitude Test)/ACT (American College Test) scores, noncognitive skills and critical thinking skills predict college GPA. Higher education institutions may consider incorporating measures of noncognitive skills and critical thinking skills into their battery of admissions tools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, the tweets of Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton in the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign are studied and analyzed from a language-based perspective. The tweets are divided into two batches. The first is from the earliest announcement of candidacy until the last announcement of nomination of candidates. The second is between the end of the first interval and the inauguration of Trump. Readability statistics of tweets are computed and the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) words -- subject of much cramming by test takers -- in the tweets are analyzed, as well as Ogden's Simple English words. Some of the readability indexes exhibit minor differences, implying that Clinton's tweets are more readable whereas the other readability indexes are proximate for the candidates. Clinton's use of unique SAT words is found to be denser than Trump's, indicating that employing such words less might be wiser for political campaigns. Simple English analysis does not tell of a noticeable difference. Syntactic Dependency Distance of tweets and Integrative Complexity of tweets were also analyzed but no significant difference for the two candidates was discerned. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We use admissions lotteries to estimate the effects of large-scale public preschool in Boston on college-going, college preparation, standardized test scores, and behavioral outcomes. Preschool enrollment boosts college attendance as well as SAT test taking and high school graduation. Preschool also decreases high school disciplinary measures including juvenile incarceration, but has no detectable effect on state achievement test scores. An analysis of subgroups shows that effects on college enrollment, SAT-taking, and disciplinary outcomes are larger for boys than for girls. Our findings illustrate possibilities for large-scale modern, public preschool and highlight the importance of measuring long-term and non–test score outcomes in evaluating the effectiveness of education programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To evaluate how Advanced Placement (AP) courses affect college-going, we randomly assigned the offer of enrollment into an AP science course to over 1,800 students in twenty-three schools that had not previously offered the course. We find no AP course effects on students' college entrance exam scores (SAT/ACT). As expected, AP course-takers are substantially more likely to take the AP exam than their control group counterparts. At the same time, treatment group students opt out of the exam at very high rates and most do not earn a passing score on the AP exam. Though less precisely estimated, the results also suggest that taking the AP course increases students' aspirations to attend higher-quality colleges but does not lead to enrollment in such institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: In the United States, standardized tests have risen in prevalence, extending their importance from education placement to employment. Attention is crucial to improving testing performance. Past studies have established that acute, coordinative, aerobic exercise improves attention, which is measured by the D2 Attention Test, emotional analysis, reading time, and eye movement tracking. No studies have drawn connections between physical exercise's quantifiable improvement in attention to improvements in standardized tests; therefore, this study would attempt to do so. Methods: This study defines attention to be positively related to reading speed and negatively related to the number of eye drifts. High school students were selected to read and answer two reading passages from an SAT (Scholastic Assessment Test) exam, before and after a short 80% intensity run. Their reading times, facial video, and test scores were recorded. Dlib plots the facial landmark and OpenCV tracks movement of the pupil. Results: Through paired‐samples t‐tests, this study found out that after exercise, subjects displayed increased reading speed and fewer eye drifts, coupled with increased mean scores. Conclusion: Thus, this study demonstrated that running, as an acute, coordinative, aerobic exercise, helps increase the testing performance of the SAT reading section by measuring attention. Future research could focus on including head movement as an attention index, replicate the experiment on different standardized tests or exercises, and conduct natural experiments to better simulate real‐life conditions to increase applicability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Current Max-SAT solvers are able to efficiently compute the optimal value of an input instance but they do not provide any certificate of its validity. In this paper, we present a tool, called MS-Builder, which generates certificates for the Max-SAT problem in the particular form of a sequence of equivalence-preserving transformations. To generate a certificate, MS-Builder iteratively calls a SAT oracle to get a SAT resolution refutation which is handled and adapted into a sound refutation for Max-SAT. In particular, we prove that the size of the computed Max-SAT refutation is linear with respect to the size of the initial refutation if it is semi-read-once, tree-like regular, tree-like or semi-tree-like. Additionally, we propose an extendable tool, called MS-Checker, able to verify the validity of any Max-SAT certificate using Max-SAT inference rules. Both tools are evaluated on the unweighted and weighted benchmark instances of the 2020 Max-SAT Evaluation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, the success of 6,054 college students screened as twice-exceptional (2e; i.e., those with significantly discrepant math vs. reading scores on the ACT [formerly, American College Test] or SAT [formerly, Scholastic Aptitude Test]) was examined based on major selection and type of potential learning disability using a screening technique proposed by McCallum et al. There were no differences in high school grade point average, college grade point average, or first-year retention rates between students screened as 2e who had a major in line with their academic strength versus those who did not (p >.05). However, students screened as 2e based on an exceptionally high math score but a lower reading score yielded statistically significantly higher rates of retention (p <.05) than students screened as 2e with the reverse pattern of scores (i.e., gifted in reading with a potential learning disability in math). Implications for screening 2e students are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

4 To be precise: suppose student A applies to university X only, student B to university X as first choice and to university Y as second choice, and student C to university Y only. From Assumption 1, we can therefore write the student's payoff maximising probability of admission as: HT ht Graph (3)This is the latent probability in a binomial regression model. Naturally, we require (i) HT ht , and (ii) HT ht . [Extracted from the article]

In this study, retention and academic performance of students enrolled in four different versions of a first-year seminar at a large, public 4-year university were compared for a 2-year period. The first-year seminars examined were 3-credit courses with either traditional, global, community engagement, or leadership themes and were essentially required of all first-year, full-time students. Statistical analysis using logistic regression and analysis of covariance were employed to determine whether differences existed. In addition, the variables of gender, race, high school grade point average, American College Testing/Scholastic Aptitude Test scores, type of instructor (full time or part time), and enrollment in a learning community were considered covariates in data analysis. The study revealed no significant differences in first-year to second-year retention rate or in academic performance as measured by college grade point average for the four different versions of the seminar; however, enrollment in a learning community did have significant impact on retention, even after controlling for covariates known to strongly affect retention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Increasing interest and participation in engineering is vital if the United States is to create the larger technological and scientific labor force it needs to meet the challenges of the 21st century. Students' pathways into the different engineering majors provide important information for this effort. Purpose This study addresses which factors across life stages (pre‐high school, high school, and early college) are associated with engineering major choice. The quantitative analysis identifies which demographic characteristics and academic achievement variables are correlated with engineering major choice, whereas the qualitative analysis examines when and why students choose a specific engineering major. Methods: Informed by the life course perspective, this convergent mixed methods research study applies Logit regression and thematic analysis. Data sets include more than 20,000 observations of student‐level academic records (2001–2015) as well as interviews conducted with 20 students at a large, research‐intensive university in the Midwest. Results: Quantitative results indicate that student demographic factors and measures of academic achievement—including passing scores on advanced placement tests, scholastic aptitude test scores, and high school and college first‐year grade point averages—are associated with engineering major choice. Qualitative findings show that across the life stages, the source of social influence in engineering major choice varies; while family and teachers play larger roles before and during high school, peers and university personnel play larger roles in early college. Conclusion: The conceptual model comprehensively synthesizes the key factors associated with engineering major choice, highlighting the importance of demographic factors, academic achievement, social networks, and access to role models from pre‐high school, high school, and early college. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The NMSC subsequently inaugu-rated a parallel scholarship competition in 1964 solely for African American students through a seven million dollar grant from the Ford Foundation: the National Achievement Scholarship (NAS) program (Raynor 1999). In other words, the NMSC labeled an African American student as talented or "bright" in reference to other African American students - not in relation to all students. ARTICLES ARTICLE 1 American society has historically been ambivalent about gifted education, and African American youth have been perennially underrepresented among the gifted (Ackerman 1995; Margolin 1994; Rawlins 2006; Stark 2014; Terzian 2021). As a parallel competition solely for African Americans, the NAS reflected the notion that those students with high ability were not of the same caliber as white students in the NMSC. [Extracted from the article]

We estimate the impact of one of the largest college-to-student outreach efforts in the nation, the College Board's Student Search Service. In an oversubscribed "order," colleges receive contact information of a randomly chosen subset of PSAT and SAT exam takers who opt into the service and meet colleges' search criteria from a larger set of students with identical backgrounds. We find that students who receive outreach enabled by Student Search Service ("licensed") are 23 percent (0.1 percentage point) more likely to apply to the licensing college than students with similar backgrounds who did not receive outreach. Nearly 20 percent of students induced to apply to a college because of the Student Search Service also enroll, increasing the probability of enrolling in the college that licensed their contact information by 22 percent (0.02 percentage point). These impacts are twice as large for traditionally underserved students. Responsiveness to college outreach is larger for racial/ethnic minorities, first-generation students, and low- and moderate-income students. Despite the fact that one additional license changes the specific institution to which students send scores and enroll, we cannot detect changes to the broad types of colleges in which students ultimately enroll. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding why women display less financial literacy than men is crucial for developing policies to reduce gender inequalities and improve women's financial behavior. In a series of studies, we investigate whether the observed gender gap in financial literacy can be identified in nonnumerical contexts, if it can be related to confidence in financial matters, and if it can be attributed to stereotype threat, which posits that inbuilt prejudices about gender and finance undermine performance among women in tasks involving finance. We utilized data from the Swedish Standardized Scholastic Aptitude Test (n = 40,662) to investigate if there is a greater difference in reading comprehension between men and women when reading about topics related to finance. Furthermore, we conducted large-scale online data collection (n = 1989), including a survey on financial vocabulary and an experiment that manipulated the salience of the financial content across conditions when assessing financial literacy. The results show that the observed gender gap in financial literacy is robust also in a nonnumerical financial contexts and that it can not be attributed to a difference in (displayed) confidence. Finally, mediation analysis showed a significant indirect effect of gender on financial literacy through financial anxiety suggesting that a stereotype threat for women in the financial domain contributes to the observed gender gap. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article explores how College Board, the American standardized-testing organization, and ACT move to grow and diversify as the pandemic fuels test-optional admissions trend. Topics include Test-optional and test-blind admissions policies accelerated by the Covid-19 pandemic; and education companies and hiring international specialists to break into the trendy fields of personalized and adaptive learning.

Leisure reading is associated with several important educational and cognitive benefits, and yet fewer and fewer young adults are reading in their free time. To better study what drives leisure reading in undergraduates, we developed the Predictors of Leisure Reading (PoLR) scale. The PoLR investigates key predictors of leisure reading, namely reading motivations, obstacles, attitudes, and interests. We examined the PoLR's ability to predict language skills in 200 undergraduates, both directly and indirectly via exposure to fiction and nonfiction texts. Language skills were measured with a diverse battery of tasks, including items from two sections of the Scholastic Aptitude Test. We found that reading enjoyment predicts better verbal abilities, and this was often explained via exposure to fiction rather than nonfiction. In contrast, participants who reported reading due to extrinsic pressures typically had weaker verbal abilities, often explained by stronger associations with nonfiction. This pattern was observed across the raw correlations and in a series of path analyses. In sum, it was 'reading enjoyment' and 'identifying as a reader' that uniquely predicted better verbal abilities in our undergraduate sample. The importance of these findings is discussed in relation to fostering reading enjoyment throughout the various stages of formal education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]