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Results for “APTITUDE TEST”

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At least 217 records · Page 12Linked to original sources
PubMed2003

The utility of Canadian DAT Perceptual Ability and Carving Dexterity scores as predictors of psychomotor performance in first-year operative dentistry.

This study sought to determine if Canadian Dental Aptitude Test Perceptual Ability (PA) and Carving Dexterity (CD) scores have any practical utility as predictors of psychomotor performance. Simple linear regression and multiple regression analyses were performed and prediction intervals plotted. Efforts were made to expand the range of the predictor and dependent variables and to improve the accuracy and consistency and prevent contamination of the dependent variables. Results for both PA and CD varied markedly across years. Weak, but statistically extremely significant, correlations were observed for both PA and CD with specific technique grades and the year-overall pooled data. PA correlations loaded on exams at the start, and CD correlations loaded on exams at the end of the year. Manual average scores exhibited the strongest correlation with year-overall technique grades, but could explain no more than 7.2 percent of observed variance. Prediction intervals for year-end grades spanned at least 38 percentage grade points for both PA and CD. Within the context of the present study, PA and CD scores demonstrated no practical utility as predictors of psychomotor performance.

Aptitude Tests↗
PubMed2002

Predictors of success in dental hygiene education: a six-year review.

The purpose of this study was to examine the predictive reliability of incoming grade point average (GPA), incoming math/science GPA, and Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) scores in predicting success in dental hygiene education. Success in dental hygiene education was defined in terms of Dental Hygiene National Board score (N-BRD) and dental hygiene GPA at graduation (DH-GPA). Academic transcripts and admissions documents of 134 students comprising the Medical College of Georgia dental hygiene classes of 1996-2001 were reviewed. Incoming college GPA (1-GPA), incoming college math/science GPA (MS-GPA), total SAT score (T-SAT), verbal SAT score (V-SAT), math SAT score (M-SAT), N-BRD score, and DH-GPA were documented for each student. A forward, step-wise, multiple linear regression was used to analyze the data. I-GPA was the most significant predictor of success. Analysis showed that DH-GPA was best predicted by both the I-GPA (p < or = .001) and T-SAT (p < or = .004). Only the I-GPA (p < or = .001) was significant in predicting N-BRD scores. Data from this study will be used to evaluate the admissions process in dental hygiene at the Medical College of Georgia.

Achievement↗
PubMed2001

Professional competence in final-year dental undergraduates: assessment of students admitted by individualised selection and through traditional modes.

In 1993, a new admission system was introduced at the Dental School, Karolinska Institutet, Sweden. One-third, and subsequently 60% of the students were admitted through an individualised selection system, and the remainder through traditional modes, using secondary school matriculation scores, or a university standard aptitude test. In this study, professional competence of final year undergraduates, assessed by faculty members, was related to mode of admission. The participating faculty members had tutored the students in the adult comprehensive care clinic for 1-3 semesters. 13 faculty members assessed students from 3 freshman intakes. A specially designed protocol was used, comprising 7 different criteria to be graded on a scale of 1 to 5, and one overall rating on a scale of 1 to 7. The faculty members were also asked to nominate which of the 7 criteria they considered most important for the overall rating: (A) knowledge, (B) initiative, (C) responsibility and judgement, (D) patient contact, (E) clinical skills, (F) co-operative approach and (G) commitment and motivation. Responsibility and judgement (n=11) and knowledge (n=6) were rated as the most important criteria. The evaluation of professional competence using the overall rating as a score shows a better median value (M=5.5) for the individualised group than for the traditional group (M=5.0). There was little or no difference between the 2 groups in median values for the most important 2 criteria, (C and A), but for the individualised group, the interval for the inter-quartile range (IQR) was not only higher, but also more homogeneous. It is concluded that by final year, students originally admitted by individual selection seem to be more professionally competent than classmates admitted on traditional university entrance scores.

Adult↗
PubMed1998

Predicting the admission into medical school of African American college students who have participated in summer academic enrichment programs.

PURPOSE: To identify cognitive and noncognitive variables as predictors of the admission into medical school of African American college students who have participated in summer academic enrichment programs (SAEPs). METHOD: The study sample comprised 309 African American college students who participated in SAEPs at the Medical College of Georgia School of Medicine from 1980 to 1989 and whose educational and occupational statuses were determined by follow-up tracking. A three-step logistic regression was used to analyze the data (with alpha = .05); the criterion variable was admission to medical school. The 17 predictor variables studied were one of two types, cognitive and noncognitive. The cognitive variables were (1) Scholastic Aptitude Test mathematics (SAT-M) score, (2) SAT verbal score, (3) college grade-point average (GPA), (4) college science GPA, (5) SAEP GPA, and (6) SAEP basic science GPA (BSGPA). The noncognitive variables were (1) gender, (2) highest college level at the time of the last SAEP application, (3) type of college attended (historically African American or predominately white), (4) number of SAEPs attended, (5) career aspiration (physician or another health science option) (6) parents who were professionals, (7) parents who were health care role models, (8) evidence of leadership, (9) evidence of community service, (10) evidence of special motivation, and (11) strength of letter of recommendation in the SAEP application. For each student the rating scores for the last four noncognitive variables were determined by averaging the ratings of two judges who reviewed relevant information in each student's file. RESULTS: In step 1, which explained 20% of the admission decision variance, SAT-M score, SAEP BSGPA, and college GPA were the three significant cognitive predictors identified. In step 2, which explained 31% of the variance, the three cognitive predictors identified in step 1 were joined by three noncognitive predictors: career aspiration, type of college, and number of SAEPs attended. In step 3, which explained 29% of the variance, two cognitive variables (SAT-M score and SAEP BSGPA) and two noncognitive variables (career aspiration and strength of recommendation letter) were identified. CONCLUSION: The results support the concept of using both cognitive and noncognitive variables when selecting African American students for pre-medical school SAEPs.

Black or African American↗
PubMed1988

Measuring the accuracy of diagnostic systems.

Diagnostic systems of several kinds are used to distinguish between two classes of events, essentially "signals" and "noise". For them, analysis in terms of the "relative operating characteristic" of signal detection theory provides a precise and valid measure of diagnostic accuracy. It is the only measure available that is uninfluenced by decision biases and prior probabilities, and it places the performances of diverse systems on a common, easily interpreted scale. Representative values of this measure are reported here for systems in medical imaging, materials testing, weather forecasting, information retrieval, polygraph lie detection, and aptitude testing. Though the measure itself is sound, the values obtained from tests of diagnostic systems often require qualification because the test data on which they are based are of unsure quality. A common set of problems in testing is faced in all fields. How well these problems are handled, or can be handled in a given field, determines the degree of confidence that can be placed in a measured value of accuracy. Some fields fare much better than others.

Diagnosis↗
PubMed2006

Cognitive development in schizophrenia: follow-back from the first episode.

Despite consensus that schizophrenia is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by cognitive deficits, objective data documenting the course of cognitive development remain sparse. We conducted a follow-back study of patients ascertained at the time of their initial episode of schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder, and a group of demographically matched healthy volunteers. We obtained school records containing standardized achievement test scores from the 1st through 12th grades, and scholastic aptitude test results from the 11th and 12th grades, and examined the developmental trajectories of cognitive performance with respect to prospective examinations conducted following participants' enrollment in our study. We found significant differences in academic achievement tests as early as the first grade, with scores from participants who would later develop schizophrenia lagging behind their peers by 0.8 to 1.1 grade equivalents. This gap widened resulting in a difference between groups of 1.5 to 1.8 grade equivalents by the 12th grade. In the subset of patients for whom SAT scores were available, we found that WAIS-R Full Scale IQ was 11.5 points lower than predicted from earlier SAT scores, suggesting a substantial decline in cognitive ability accompanying the initial episode of illness. These findings suggest that schizophrenia is marked by substantial cognitive deficits in the first grade, that there may be additional subtle decline preceding the overt onset of psychotic symptoms, and that the initial episode of illness is marked by additional decline. These observations may help advance concepts of premorbid cognitive ability in the schizophrenia syndrome and constrain models of pathophysiology.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1983

Test-retest stability of the Hiskey-Nebraska Test of Learning Aptitude in a sample of hearing-impaired children and adolescents.

The test-retest stability of the Hiskey-Nebraska Test of Learning Aptitude (H-NTLA) was examined in a group of hearing-impaired children and adolescents. Test-retest correlations for subjects retested after approximately 1 year, 3 years, and 5 years were .79, .85, and .62 respectively. These findings are similar to those reported for normal subjects in studies using verbal intelligence measures. In spite of reasonably high test-retest correlations, more than one half of the sample showed a 10-point or greater difference in Learning Quotient between the two evaluations, and more than one third of the sample showed a 15-point or greater difference. These findings demonstrate the necessity of basing important decisions on more than one measure of intelligence.

Adolescent↗