TY - JOUR
T1 - To Test or Not to Test? The Graduate Record Examinations
T2 - Predictive Validity toward Graduate Study Success on Research Masters’ Programs in a Large European University
AU - Kurysheva, Anastasia
AU - Dilaver, Gönül
AU - Fox, Christine Merie
AU - Kell, Harrison
AU - Kern, Matthias Robert
AU - van Rijen, Harold V.M.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2024 by the authors.
PY - 2024/5
Y1 - 2024/5
N2 - Graduate admissions committees in Europe have a challenging task of selecting students from an increasingly large pool of candidates with diverse application files. Graduate standardized testing can ease the comparison of application files. The purpose of this study was to examine whether the Graduate Record Examinations (GRE) is predictive of several dimensions of graduate success on English-taught research masters’ programs in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics at a large European university. The data from 167 masters’ students were collected. Hierarchical regression analyses were conducted. All GRE scales predicted Graduate Grade Point Average. Individual GRE scales predicted internship grade and supervisors’ assessments of students’ research performance and the content of their research report. None of the individual GRE scales predicted supervisors’ assessments of students’ practical skills, but the three GRE scales taken together improved the explanatory power of the model. The structure and style of students’ research reports was not predicted by the GRE. All relationships were held after accounting for socioeconomic status. Overall, the GRE appeared as a reasonable predictor of graduate study success. Both the benefits and drawbacks of the implementation of the GRE in European masters’ programs are discussed, as well as the legal limitations.
AB - Graduate admissions committees in Europe have a challenging task of selecting students from an increasingly large pool of candidates with diverse application files. Graduate standardized testing can ease the comparison of application files. The purpose of this study was to examine whether the Graduate Record Examinations (GRE) is predictive of several dimensions of graduate success on English-taught research masters’ programs in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics at a large European university. The data from 167 masters’ students were collected. Hierarchical regression analyses were conducted. All GRE scales predicted Graduate Grade Point Average. Individual GRE scales predicted internship grade and supervisors’ assessments of students’ research performance and the content of their research report. None of the individual GRE scales predicted supervisors’ assessments of students’ practical skills, but the three GRE scales taken together improved the explanatory power of the model. The structure and style of students’ research reports was not predicted by the GRE. All relationships were held after accounting for socioeconomic status. Overall, the GRE appeared as a reasonable predictor of graduate study success. Both the benefits and drawbacks of the implementation of the GRE in European masters’ programs are discussed, as well as the legal limitations.
KW - European university
KW - graduate education
KW - Graduate Record Examinations
KW - GRE
KW - internship
KW - research masters’ programs
KW - rubrics
KW - SES
KW - STEM
KW - study success
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85194153104&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3390/educsci14050549
DO - 10.3390/educsci14050549
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85194153104
VL - 14
JO - Education Sciences
JF - Education Sciences
IS - 5
M1 - 549
ER -