Factors Related to Performance on the GRE Advanced Psychology Test

Abstract

Academic factors, such as GPA, do contribute to GRE-P performance, but SAT scores contribute more, so is GRE-P a measure of achievement?The advanced Psychology test of the Graduate Record Examlnatron (GRE-P) IS a standardized test often used In conslderrng an applrcant for admlssron Into a graduate program In psychology Published research usrng thls test (Ewen 1969, Mehrabran, 1969 Strlcker & Huber 1967) has been dlrected at rdentlfylng ~t s ablllty to predrct success In graduate school Howlever, llttle emphasls has been placed on determ~nlng the factors that contribute slgnrflcantly to performance on the GRE-P Itself Although past studles were concerned wlth the predlctlve valldlty of the tests, statlstlcs on academlc factors that mrght Influence GRE-P performance were also Included The Mehrablan (1969) study rncluded overall undergraduate grade-pornt average (GPA-U) The Strlcker & Huber (1967) and Ewen (1 969) studles also Included grade-polnt average for psychology courses (GPA-P), and the Ewen study also added the number of psychology courses completed at the tlme of testing The relatlonshrp between the GRE-P and GPA-U was nonslgnlflcant In all three studles, r = 18 In the Mehrablan study, r = .23 In the Strlcker and Huber study, and r = -03 In the Ewen study The relatronshlp between GRE-P and GPA-P was no better, r = 13 In the Strlcker and Huber study and r = 01 In the Ewen study Furthermore, Ewen reported a nonsrgnlf~cant lelatronshlp between theGRE-Pand the number of psychology courses completed r = 30 The lack of slgnlfrcant flndlngs In these studles may be the result of a restricted range problem (Dawes, 1975) In that the subjects In these studies were graduate school applrcants (Mehrabran, 1969) or graduate students (Ewen, 1969, Strlcker & Huber, 1967 Furthermore, the fact that the students came from different undergraduate lnstrtutlons makes rt somewhat drfflcult to make meaningful comparisons among students In terms of GPA-U and GPA-P (Ewen, 1969) The fact that no relatlonshlp could be found between the GRE-P and these academlc factors 1s lntrrgulng rnasmuch as the GRE-P 1s deslgned to assess undergraduate achievement In psychology Even ~f the relatlonshlp between GPA-U and GRE-P IS low, one might expect a somewhat stronger relatronshlp between GRE-P and factors dlrectly related to the subject materlal such as GPA-P and the number of psychology courses completed The present study rnvestlgated the relat~onshrp between the GRE-P and previously studled faotors, GPA-U, GPA-P, and the number of semester hours completed In psychology (HRS-P) In addltlon, the student's overall SAT score was considered These past studles have found a s~gnlflcant relatlonshlp between GRE-P and overall GRE score and because few of the students in our sample had taken the GRE, we decided to include their overall SAT score in our analysis. In addition, we were interested in determining how predictive SAT performance might be for the GRE-P test.As noted, previous studies have used only graduate students or applicants to g...

Using Undergraduate Factors to Predict Psychology Graduate Record Examination Scores

“…Nowaczyk and Frey (1982) suggested that these nonsignificant findings may have been due t o two methodological limitations. T h e three studies just mentioned examined overall undergraduate grade point average (GPA-U) a n d found n o significant relationship between GPA-U and GRE-P. T h e variables of grade point average for psychology courses (GPA-P) and t h e number of psychology course hours (HRS-P) completed before taking the GRE-P were also not significantly correlated with GRE-1'.…”

“…In addition to determining the variables that affect GRE-P, Nowaczyk and Frey (1982) proposed two models (an Indirect model and a DirecdIndirect model) of how the variables of SAT, GPA-U, GPA-P, and HRS-P interact to affect CiRE-P. Assuming that these variables can be causally ordered (i.e., S A T can affect GPA-U, GPA-P, and GRE-P and that variables GPA-U, GPA-P, and HRS-P can affect GRE-P, but not vice versa), Nowaczyk and Frey tested the relative merits of the Indirect and Direct/Indirect models.…”

“…

Scholastic Aptitude Test ( S A T ) scores and undergraduate academic factors were examined for their prediction o f performance on the Graduate Record Examination Subject Test in Psychology (GRE-P)

. Nowaczyk and Frey (1982) suggested that these nonsignificant findings may have been due t o two methodological limitations. Further analyses revealed that SAT performance affects GRE-P performance directly and indirectly through academic factors.

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