Estimates of the Concurrent Validity of the W.A.I.S. and Normative Distributions for College Freshmen

Predicting Academic Success in College Using the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised

“…These results are not consistent with those of previous literature. For example, studies by Conry and Plant (1965), Dennis (1978), and Wall et al (1962) did find significant differences between correlations of GPA with the Verbal and Performance…”

“…For example, a study by Plant and Lynd (1959) found correlations of .53, .58, and .53 between college freshman GPA and WAIS Full Scale, Verbal Scale, and Performance Scale IQ scores respectively for 161 freshmen. Another similar study (Wall, Marks, Ford, & Ziegler, 1962) found validity coefficients of approximately .30 between first semester college GPA and WAIS Verbal and Full Scale scores and a correlation of .22 between GPA and WAIS Performance Scale scores from a randomly selected sample of 106 first-semester freshmen. These correlations were similar to those found between GPA and three aptitude tests also administered.…”

“…'In many of the studies investigating the ability of WAIS scores to predict college academic success (Conry & Plant, 1965;Dennis, 1978;Plant & Lynd, 1959;Wall et al, 1962), the prediction of college GPA was stronger using the Verbal Scale than the Performance Scale.…”

Wais and Group Test Predictions of an Academic Success Criterion: High School and College

“…The criterion selected for college academic success was the grade point average, on a four point scale, at the end of the freshman year. No attempt was made to divide the sample into groups with different academic majors as was done in the study by Wall et al (1962), nor was any attempt made to predict course grades in any particular subject matter. The criterion measure was the total freshman grade point average (GPA).…”

“…Plant and Lynd (1959) (Thurstone and Thurstone, 1948) and the freshman year grade point average criterion for their 161 subjects, and obtained coefficients ranging from .18 to .46. A more recent study (Wall, Marks, Ford, and Ziegler, 1962) was completed with a random stratified sample of 106 Pennsylvania State University entering freshmen. Wall et al correlated WAIS sub-scale scores and scores from group aptitude tests with first semester grade point average for males and females and for science and non-science majors separately.…”