assisted during data collection and analysis. The writer is especially appreciative of the cooperation which he received from Clair Worthy, Commander of the University of Illinois Army ROTC unit, and his staff. In particular, D. McClelland, W. Hooper, and M. Snoke helped to coordinate the project. E. F. Flanders served as consultant and range safety officer.2 Now at the Educational Testing Service.
Numerous studies have demonstrated that school achievement can be predicted from biographical data. This study was designed to determine whether biographical data contribute anything to the prediction beyond that provided by a battery of ability and achievement tests.The data were obtained from a continuing longitudinal study of academic groy~h initiated at ETS in 1960. As part of this eight-year study, questionnaire and test data were obtained from apprOXimately 5,000 eleventh graders in 17 u. S. public school systems. A year and a half later, test scores and academic standings 'YTere obtained for these students as seniors.The present stud~r includes only the 1,206 boys who i.,ere graduated from academic programs and for whom complete data were available. The objective test predictors were scores for the School and College Ability Test (SCAT), the Sequential Test of Educational Progress (STEP), and a specially designed Test of General Information (TGl).The questionnaire data concerned the students' experiences during the previous year. From a unit weighting of subsets of the 169 questionnaire items, scales were created to measure variables such as Amount of Low Level TV Watching and Level of Occupational Plans.Two types of criteria were examined: (1) scores from the Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test and the College Board English COmposition and American History tests and (2) each student's rank in his graduating class.Multiple regression analysis indicated that biographical information, used as the sole source of predictors, predicted both the objective test criteria and rank in class moderately "Tell. When used in conjunction with objective test scores, hOl,ever, the test scores accounted for practically all the variance in the criteria. Further, factor analysis indicated there were no factors which were corr~on to the biographical variables and the criteria but not common to the objective test predictors and the criteria. Alternative interpretations and implications are discussed.
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