Tests

The test development teams for the various tests are drawn from a pool of experts from various institutions and core disciplinary areas. As expense is a major consideration, the tests are of the ‘pencil-and-paper’ type: no costly interview or prolonged contact is demanded. The Admissions Project has developed an approach to testing which, while based on specifications drawn from extensive analysis of the target situation across a range of faculties, incorporates a combination of teaching, modelling, and practice elements and opportunities within the tests (except the MACH test). The AARP develops and administers 4 different paper and pencil tests:


 The Placement Test in English for Educational Purposes (PTEEP)

This is a test of academic literacy and basic numeracy. The PTEEP is not an achievement test and is syllabus free. In other words, it will not provide information on what students have covered in any specific discipline area. This kind of information is better provided by examinations such as the school-leaving examination.

The following are among the criteria used in the design of these tests:

§ a theme or topic is chosen which will be new to candidates
§ this theme must be interesting, non-controversial, complex, and teachable
§ a variety of texts must be available
§ the topic must allow for progressively more complex tasks to be developed
§ tasks must as far as possible be modelled or mediated
§ the tests are based on the specifications as outlined below. A certain amount of `leakage' is inevitable, i.e. the skills overlap with each other to some extent.
§ The test development team for the PTEEP is drawn from a number of institutions and disciplinary areas

The PTEEP test specifications include:

§ Understanding basic numerical concepts expressed in text/numerical manipulations (comparisons, e.g. greater than, smaller than, percentages, basic fractions (e.g. half of, more than double), basic chronological references, sequencing, basic computations
§ Extrapolation and application (e.g. drawing conclusions/applying insights derived from texts, seeing trends)
§ Inference: (understanding ideas/information in a text, implied but not explicitly stated).
§ Separating the essential from the non–essential (e.g. main idea from supporting detail, statement from example, fact from opinion, proposition from its argument, classifying and categorising.
§ Detailed reading for meaning, at sentence level and at discourse level
§ Understanding the communicative function of sentences with or without explicit indicators, such as definition, exemplification, exhortation, argument/persuasion
§ Knowledge of visually encoded forms of information representation (graphs, tables, diagrams, maps, flow-charts)
§ Understanding metaphorical expression
§ Understanding text genre (including audience, purpose etc.)
§ Vocabulary: ‘unknown’ vocabulary (deriving meanings from context); ‘known’ vocabulary (i.e. no context provided; spelling as it impacts meaning
§ Syntax: understanding the syntactical basis of the language
§ Understanding relations between parts of text (e.g. through devices of cohesion such as pronoun reference, particularly demonstratives, referring to statements/propositions or ‘entities’, and/or by recognising indicators in discourse, especially for introducing, developing, transition and conclusion of ideas, and signalling relations between phenomena).
§ Skimming and scanning (e.g. using macro features of text such as headings, illustrations) to get gist of passage, locating particular pieces of information
§ Understanding the importance of ‘own voice’ (including ‘ownership’ of ideas) and/or creativity of thought and expression.

 The Mathematics Achievement Test (MACH)

This test has been designed to determine the level of Mathematical competency of students. Unlike the Comprehension Test, the Achievement Test relies heavily on prior mathematical knowledge and skills. Its chief purpose has been to identify the Mathematical “gaps” that may have arisen through students’ differential exposure to quality Mathematics teaching and learning.An advantage that this test has over the matriculation examination, however, is that it can be written earlier, and can be used as a basis for early offers. This is particularly useful in situations where applicants do not have reliable trial-Matric results. It is also useful in diagnosing areas of weakness, and identifying areas which have not been covered at school.



 The Mathematics Comprehension Test (MCOM)

This test has been designed to minimise the effect of prior learning in Mathematics, thereby enabling all students to demonstrate their ability to learn and apply Mathematical knowledge. This is achieved by using topics that fall outside the scope of the school syllabus and, therefore, are unlikely to have been taught in a formal setting, and by using text that serves as a guide to answering increasingly complex questions.

The following criteria are used in the design of the MCOM:

§ mathematical topics are chosen that are not taught in the secondary school syllabus
§ candidates are supplied with the necessary rules and procedures (i.e. `teaching' is provided)
§ questions are graded and sequenced carefully to provide a learning experience in which the working out of an answer depends on understanding built up through answering previous questions, but not on the actual answers themselves
§ the impact of the language used is carefully assessed.



 The Reasoning Test (SRT)

This test was originally designed for use amongst applicants to Health Sciences Faculties countrywide. It was particularly intended for use with applicants who had not had prior or recent exposure to school-based Mathematics, or for Faculties who did not require applicants to have Mathematics as an entry-requirement to Health Sciences study. The approach of the test deliberately downplays the role that school-based Mathematics and Science might play in candidates’ being able to respond to questions. Candidates are instead provided with guided approaches to answering questions. The aim of these guided approaches is to assist candidates to follow the logic and evidence-based reasoning that is required of them if they are to successfully answer questions in the test. Currently, the broadened application of the test is being developed, so that a writer pool wider than Health Sciences can be catered for.

The RT accordingly assesses students’ ability to identify appropriate evidence to support a claim or an argument; critique assumptions and thinking which underlie argument; understand the nature of tentative and conclusive reasoning; be able to see relationships between phenomena; and understand the concept of “chance”.