Predicting College and Graduate School Success From Tests of Fluid Intelligence, Knowledge, and Grit

• In Event: Poster Session 4
  In Poster Session: Research From the Field of Higher Education Outcomes Assessment

Abstract

We aimed to investigate the relative contribution of intelligence-as-process (fluid intelligence) measures and intelligence-as-knowledge (crystallized intelligence) on academic achievement. Based on the propositions of adult intelligence theories (i.e., Cattell’s Investment Theory, Ackerman’s PPIK Theory) and the existing literature, we hypothesized that knowledge-based assessment tools would be better predictors of college and graduate school success than ability-based assessments. For the undergraduate sample of 132 students, dominance analysis revealed that scores from a knowledge test explained greater variance in undergraduate CGPA than scores from a reasoning test. We found a similar result for the graduate sample comprising 114 students. Undergraduate GPA, indicative of domain-specific knowledge, explained greatest variance in first-year graduate CGPA, whereas scores from a reasoning test explained almost no variance.

Authors

• Ipek Mete, Yildirim Beyazit University - Ankara

• Yonca Toker, Middle East Technical Universi