Predictability of engineering students’ performance at the University of Engineering and Technology, Peshawar from admission test conducted by educational testing and evaluation agency (ETEA), NWFP, Pakistan

摘要

Introduction Educational Testing and Evaluation Agency (ETEA), NWFP since from its inception (1998) has conducted eight sets of Entrance Test, for the NWFP University of Engineering and Technology (UET) and Medical Colleges of the province. However, no research studies have been conducted to validate these tests in term of predicting future performance of the students. The main purpose of this study is to examine the Predictability of Engineering students’ performance at the University of Engineering and Technology, Peshawar from admission test conducted by Educational Testing and Evaluation Agency (ETEA), NWFP. Method A cohort of 203 engineering students, who were admitted for the four-year programme in different disciplines at University of Engineering and Technology (UET), Peshawar, NWFP in the 2000-2001 academic session, were considered. The association between the predictors (FSc, Entry test scores and overall merit) and the criterion (academic achievements/scores of engineering students from first to final year) were analyzed using appropriate statistical procedures on SPSS-10. Result The data show significant relationship between FSc marks and students scores up to third year at the 0.05 level while relationship between entry test marks and overall merit with students scores up to third year show significant relationship both at the 0.05 and 0.01 level for male and overall students. But for the female students and some engineering disciplines, the result is even more surprising as it shows that there is a negative relationship between the predictor's scores and the academic achievement. This is because analyses were based on comparatively smaller sample sizes of students (female were 7% of the total students only The relationship between Predictors (FSc, Entry test and Overall merit) and final year scores was found negative for male and overall students but it was found significant for female students. Conclusions and suggestions Overall, our findings indicate that there is significant relationship between the Predictors (FSc, ETEA entry test scores and overall merit) and the academic achievement of engineering students. However, development of additional predictors, such as interview or test of non-cognitive domains of the students may improve the accuracy of admission decisions.