Admissions Tests
SPA's work on Admissions Tests
One of SPA's objectives is to audit the use of admissions tests, and consider issues relating to their rationale, purpose and validity from higher education (HE) perspectives and issues to do with the costs, manageability and impact on the pre-HE curriculum for schools and colleges with regards to good practice.
To assist with this we have brought together data from the test bodies own websites, admissions tests as declared by Higher Education Institutions (universities and colleges of higher education - HEIs) on UCAS for Course Search for 2011 entry (and deferred entry 2012) plus information from HEIs and their literature/websites. Many are tests that have run for some time but are now brought together in one place. We have attempted to make this information as comprehensive and easy to use as possible, the text used to describe the tests is that provided by the test bodies and HEIs themselves. We have linked the information about tests to the test bodies and HEIs' websites where possible.
The SPA Steering Group asked us to investigate the position with regard to appeals against test results. Meetings were held with the main test bodies and consortia and desk-based research was carried out to establish what appeal mechanisms exist for each of the main UK tests - BMAT, GAMSAT-UK, LNAT, STEP and UKCAT. The outcomes from this exercise are summarised on a new page in this section of the website, under Appeals.
The SPA Steering Group also asked us to explore further with HEIs the rationale behind the use of tests as part of the admissions decision-making process. To broaden our research in this area we produced a questionnaire which asked not only about which specific tests are in use but also more detailed questions around areas including: what additional information is gained from the test result; how test scores are used in conjunction with other factors and whether any weightings are applied; whether any approval mechanism and/ or regular review process for tests is in place.
Institutions using one or more admissions tests were asked to complete the questionnaire and from a total of 64 institutions who have declared the use of one or more admissions tests for 2011 entry to HE, 42 responses were received, a 66% response rate. Thanks are extended to the institutions that responded.
The questionnaire responses are currently being analysed and will appear on a new page in this section of the website soon.
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Reviewed and updated: May 2010