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A Study of the Validity of the Restructured GRE Aptitude Tests for Predicting First-Year Performance in Graduate Study GREB GRE

Author(s):
Wilson, Kenneth M.
Publication Year:
1982
Report Number:
RR-82-34
Source:
ETS Research Report
Document Type:
Report
Page Count:
60
Subject/Key Words:
Graduate Record Examinations Board, Aptitude Tests, Grade Prediction, Graduate Record Examinations (GRE), Graduate Study, Test Validity, Validity Studies

Abstract

Following the end of the academic year 1978-1979, over 100 graduate departments from 36 graduate schools supplied first-year graduate GPA for first-time graduate students who entered in fall 1978, after having taken the restructured version of the GRE Aptitude (General) Test that was introduced in October 1977. A new measure of analytical ability was included. Departmental samples were very small: 51 of 100 samples had Ns ranging in the 5-9 range and 91 had Ns less than 20. This is a report of findings regarding the criterion-related validity of verbal, quantitative, and analytical validity of scores on the restructured test, based on pooled, within-department correlation matrices for eight disciplinary groupings: English, education, history, and sociology (treated as primarily verbal in emphasis) and chemistry, mathematics, computer sciences, and economics (treated as primarily quantitative in emphasis). The study also explored the usefulness of the self-reported undergraduate GPA as a research surrogate for the transcript-based UGPA and examined the comparative validity of scores on the restructured tests for men and women, and minority and nonminority subgroups.

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