The Relationship Between Tests, Course Placement, and the Academic Performance of College Freshmen

Standardized and basic skills placement tesh are used routinely as indicators of academic ability and potential in academic advising. By analyzing the relationship between test scores and the academic performance patterns of more than 1,800 freshmen attending an urban public university, the authors found that basic skills placement tesh measured academic preparation more accurately than did the American College Test (ACT). However, standardized and locally developed placement tests predicted academic performance with only low to moderate reliability. In particular, the tests tended to underestimate both the academic preparation and the likelihood of satisfactory academic performance of female and non-White students.