Engineering and science positioning tests in Flanders: powerful predictors for study success?

A new battery of positioning tests for Science and Engineering was broadly implemented in Flanders in the summer of 2013. The goal of the non-mandatory and non-binding positioning test is to allow future students, with a clear choice for engineering or science, to position themselves with respect to the required prior knowledge and skills and to stimulate students to participate in a remediation program if necessary. For each engineering or science bachelor under study, a specific positioning test was designed. The composition of the test varies among different bachelors, as each bachelor requires specific prior knowledge and skills. For example, the positioning test for the bachelor of engineering science measures the ability of future students to solve scientific problems and compares a student’s mathematical skills with the required prior knowledge. The positioning test for the bachelor of engineering technology and science (mathematics, physics, informatics on the one hand, chemistry, biochemistry, biology, geology and geography on the other hand) additionally tests the academic potential of the future student (such as academic literacy, logic reasoning). The positioning tests were organized during the summer of 2013 and drew 859 (engineering science), 183 (science), and 62 (engineering technology) participants across four Flemish universities. For the different bachelors, our goal is to relate the study success in the first year to the score on the positioning test. Moreover, we analyze why the predictive power of the positioning tests and its different components is not equal for the bachelors under study. Additionally, the predictive power of the positioning test is compared to other predictors such as overall score in secondary education, math score in secondary education, number of hours of math in secondary education, and gender. To this end we analyzed the results of the positioning test, and the study success in the first year January (1st semester), June (2nd semester), and September (after second chance) for the three bachelor programs under investigation. The study leads to the following conclusions: • Most students with a very low score (<6/20) obtain very bad results in any of the bachelor programs. It is difficult to remediate their prior knowledge deficiency on top of a regular study program. • Passing the positioning test is no guarantee for study success. Other features such as motivation, study effort, study method, and stress-handling are important. • Designing one single positioning test to predict study success in any science and engineering bachelor is a Utopian dream, some commonalities among the tests are however desirable.

ISBN:9782873520120

Jaar van publicatie:2015

Toegankelijkheid:Open