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  Home > JCE Print > Journal of Chemical Education > Issues > 1999  > April  >
Research: Science and Education
Assessing Student Preparation through Placement Tests
Craig McFate and John Olmsted III
California State University, Fullerton, Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, Fullerton, CA 92834-6866
Cover
April 1999
Vol. 76 No. 4
p. 562
Abstract
The chemistry department at California State University, Fullerton, uses a placement test of its own design to assess student readiness to enroll in General Chemistry. This test contains items designed to test cognitive skills more than factual knowledge. We have analyzed the ability of this test to predict student success (defined as passing the first-semester course with a C or better) using data for 845 students from four consecutive semesters. In common with other placement tests, we find a weak but statistically significant correlation between test performance and course grades. More meaningfully, there is a strong correlation (R2 = 0.82) between test score and course success, sufficient to use for counseling purposes. An item analysis was conducted to determine what types of questions provide the best predictability. Six questions from the full set of 25 were identified as strong predictors, on the basis of discrimination indices and coefficients of determination that were more than one standard deviation above the mean values for test items. These questions had little in common except for requiring multistep mathematical operations and formal reasoning.
More Information
*  Citation
 McFate, Craig; Olmsted, John A., III. J. Chem. Educ. 1999 76 562.
*  Keywords
 Chemical Education Research; Teaching / Learning Aids; Teaching/Learning Theory/Practice
*  History
 Created:
Last Updated:		 June 14, 1999
June 23, 2005
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