Selection of Swedish Scholastic Aptitude Test Takers as a Function ofSocioeconomic Background and Ability. Evaluation through Follow-Up

摘要

The present study is part of project which aims at studying recruitment to highereducation in Sweden. The Swedish Scholastic Aptitude Test (SweSAT) plays an important part in the admission to this educational level and therefore it is natural to start the project by examining the function of this test. In the present study we will confine ourselves to the process of self-selection to the SweSAT among individuals from different socioeconomic groups. The strength of the self-selection is measured by the difference between the SweSAT takers and the others within each socioeconomic group on grades from compulsory school, achievement tests and intelligence tests. According to all variables studied the test takers constitute a positively selected group within all socioeconomic groups. The strongest selection effects are found within group III and the weakest ones in group I. However, due to great social differences in the total sample the test takers from group III still obtain lower means on all variables studied than do the test takers from group I.