Test of General Academic Prerequisites

The Test of General Academic Prerequisites is an important part of the National Comparative Exams. For a university, the deciding factor is not the extent to which an applicant has mastered the basics of a given field of study, but rather the extent to which the applicant is able to master learning itself. This can be determined by a test of academic prerequisites. Applicants with certain (confirmed) academic prerequisites display extensive and realisable academic potential.

This is what the Test of General Academic Prerequisites (GAP) attempts to measure. Unlike tests concerned with the knowledge of a subject, the GAP result is much less affected by the type and quality of school or whether the applicant had a good or bad teacher in the given subject.

This test is different from subject tests or tests of “general knowledge”. Developed by Scio, it is derived from the GRE (Graduate Record Examinations, see www.ets.org) test model, which has been used in graduate school admissions in the United States since 1966.The Test of General Academic Prerequisites does not measure the applicant’s level of knowledge, but rather the ability and skill that determine whether a person can successfully study at a university. The GAP test determines the various operational, combinational, comprehension and other abilities which directly shape the learning process:
* work with text (precise comprehension, vocabulary, relationships within a text, ability to differentiate meanings)
* work with information (speed of orientation, selection, precise evaluation, combining)
* logical consideration (precise comprehension, work with several conditions, conveyance of given conditions to new relationships)
* work with quantities (variables, operations, functions, graphic expression of quantities)

ections of GAP test

The GAP test has three separate sections – verbal, analytical and quantitative.

Verbal

In the verbal section, it is primarily concerned with how well the applicant comprehends language, or rather information, and his or her ability to use language not only in its broadest extent, but also with the greatest possible precision.

Analytical

The analytical section of the test is always partially linguistic (interpretation of the text in a problem) but in these tasks and in combinational tasks (which present concrete relationships which the applicant combines and according to which solves the problems) the applicant’s level of logical thought is examined.

Quantitative

The third part of the GAP test is the section dedicated to quantitative ability. This section, as its name indicates, is primarily concerned with mathematical operations and requires a certain amount of basic knowledge (e.g. knowledge of percentages, the rule of proportion, addition of fractions, the Pythagorean Theorem). Such knowledge represents the mandatory skills that should be possessed by a person with basic education and it is thus assumed that applicants possess this knowledge.

For completeness sake, the Test of General Academic Prerequisites has been used for university admissions in the Czech Republic since 1998 and the number of universities that use this test is growing year by year.

Criticism

Some students doubt the validity of the Test of General Academic Prerequisites, others consider it unjust, because it does not test the student’s knowledge of usual high school subjects or his intended field of university studies [citation|url=http://www.mup.cz/new_files/Rennes.PDF|title=Criticism by students] . This position is also supported by some academia members, who prefer to prepare their own tests and employees of the Czech school system [citation|url=http://www.upol.cz/fileadmin/zuparchiv/XVI/cislo27.pdf|title=Criticism by academic members] .

References

See also

National Comparative Exams

Scio, educational testing and assessment, Czech Republic

External links

* [http://www.scio.cz/ Scio]