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Did You Know?

The College Board miscalculated the scores of the SAT (a standardized test taken for postsecondary admissions in the United States) for students who had taken the test in October 2005. The results of over 4,000 students were affected by the error. Following a lawsuit, damages totalling $2.85 million were agreed to be paid out to affected students.¹

As we all know, no matter what anyone tells you, grades matter. Marks for classes taken in high school, the grades received on high school leaving exams, the results of independently administered standardized tests, specific university entrance exams, etc. are used to determine acceptance to university. The degree to which a university relies on each of these criteria will differ. For example, in Canada selection is usually based on high school grades, while universities in the United States rely on both high school grades and standardized tests (e.g., ACT, SAT). There is evidence that standardized admission test scores are becoming more important than high school grades in countries that have them, most likely because of grade inflation at many high schools. In other systems the results of leaving examinations (e.g., GCE A-Level exams in England) are the primary determinant for acceptance. Certain programmes of study may have their own admission requirements in addition to these, such as further testing or interviews. On the other hand, in some universities admission is open to all applicants without restrictions based on previous grades or examination results. We could provide more examples but the point here is that the conditions for university acceptance will vary by country and institution. You will have to find out which ones apply to you. In the end, each university selects students in different ways. Emphasis may be put not only on grades but other factors as well such as high school awards, extracurricular activities and application essays, among others.

Did You Know?

In the United States, high school grades and standardized test scores are the primary way postsecondary admissions are determined. Thus, there have been many studies attempting to find out if these scores give any true indication of success once the student is enrolled. Are high school grades and admission test scores good predictors of students’ postsecondary success?

Recent research has verified earlier studies showing that a student’s high school grades give the most accurate assessment of his or her grades at the postsecondary level.^2,3 While there is a relationship between high school success and postgraduate grades, typically students get lower grades during their postsecondary studies than one would predict from their high school marks. In other words, high school grades overestimate later success.

SAT scores are a less accurate predictor of postsecondary grades. It’s interesting that while women score lower on average on SAT than men, their SAT scores underestimate their postsecondary success.⁴ It should also be noted that today’s postsecondary institutions are more ethnically diverse than ever before and while there are minor variations in results between ethnic groups and between students whose first languages differ from English, fundamentally the results are the same regardless of these aspects of student diversity. Each group brings richness to life after high school that is the heart of any university.

The next question that comes to mind is the following: is there any correlation between high school grades or admission test scores and graduation from a postsecondary institution? Research studies have shown that high grades in secondary school and high scores on standardized admission tests are both associated with a higher chance of postsecondary graduation.^2,5 Thus it seems that using high school grades and/or admission test scores is still one of the best ways for admissions officers to select students for entrance to their institution.

It is important to keep in mind, however, that neither high school grades, standardized test scores or other admissions criteria are perfect predictors of postsecondary success even though they can determine whether acceptance to the institution is granted. As mentioned before, many students who did comparatively poorly in high school thrive in the less structured learning environment provided at university. In some cases those who have excelled in high school can fail for similar reasons.