Journal articles on the topic 'Tertiary Entrance Score'

The present study considers the problem of multidimensionality in Tertiary Entrance (TE) scores where a single TE score is the desired goal. Using data from the 1988 cohort of the ACT college system, course scores as assessed by teachers were shown to distinguish performance in a four-dimensional space. TE scores, computed using both a modified multiple regression strategy and the Daley's (1989) Other Course Score scaling method, were shown to be related to, at best, two of the four dimensions. A second phase of the study revealed the presence of multidimensionality in the choices of courses that students made when assembling their college curricula. These dimensions of course choice were subsequently related back to the demographic characteristics of the students and to the two types of TE scores. Conclusions were drawn regarding the dubious validity of assuming that a single TE score carries all the information needed to summarise the performance of secondary school students.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to provide an insight into the relationship between students’ spatial ability and their university entrance score (Australian Tertiary Admissions Rank [ATAR]). The ATAR provides entry into university studies but does not necessary provide a good measure of students’ spatial skills. Spatial abilities are fundamental to success in many design courses. This paper aims to show whether the ATAR is a good predictor of spatial skills and considers the implications of this. Design/methodology/approach Students entering university design courses in architecture were tested three times during their first year using a three-dimensional (3D) Ability Test (3DAT), an online psychometric test of 3D spatial ability. The students’ results in 3DAT were then compared to students’ ATAR scores using a Pearson’s correlation test were also conducted to assess the relationship between ATAR and spatial performance. Findings There was no correlation between ATAR and spatial performance. Therefore, there was no relationship between an individual’s ATAR and their spatial performance upon entering university. Research limitations/implications Participants were required to select their ATAR from ranges, i.e. 71-80, 81-90 and 91-100, which meant their exact ATAR was not recorded. This meant that the participants were clustered, making it difficult to establish a linear relationship that was a true reflection of the population. Practical implications Initiatives to support students entering design courses may be necessary to compensate for the range of spatial skills students possess when entering university because of their school experiences. Social implications Individuals who have strong spatial skills are able to perform spatial problems faster and more efficiently than those with weak spatial skills. High spatial performance has been shown relate to performance in areas such as mathematics science technology and design. Originality/value This paper fulfils the need to better understand the diversity of spatial abilities students have on entering design courses.

There is increasing tendency to use the Differential Aptitude Tests (DAT) for course and career counselling with students in independent schools in Australia. The OAT profile and explanatory notes may also be forwarded to students and/or parents and it is of particular concern that the full explanation of means of interpreting the profile is often not clear to the naive client. Many clients view the profile as a combination of IQ report and predictor of future academic success. To provide professional counsellors with unequivocal evidence to support their explanations to such clients, and as entry to tertiary and to many TAPE courses in Australia, is by academic achievement score, the present study examined the predictive value of the DAT for academic achievement at the end of Year 12. It was concluded that the DAT may have some value in predicting marginal variations in academic achievement, over and above that predicted by measures of general mental ability, but that individual counselling on the nature of the DAT profile is needed to demonstrate to the naive client both the distorting effect of the CSA subtest and the inappropriateness of the view that any of the DAT measures may be seen as predictors of Tertiary Entrance Score.

Sex differences in Higher School Certificate achievement were analysed by adjusting for differential selection. A general ability criterion, favouring neither sex, was developed by modifying the Tertiary Entrance Score (TES). For each course, sex differences in achievement were displayed over eight Key Learning Areas (KLAs). Contrary to many studies based on a more restricted set of courses, it was found that females outperformed males overall. In five KLAs, females outscored males; in two, the results were mixed; and in one (Mathematics) males outscored females. Although the female TES median was 15 marks higher, males performed slightly better at high TES levels. The explanation given was that males tend to specialise in more highly intercorrelated courses than females, which creates variance in their aggregate.

ABSTRACTBackground:Within the emergency department (ED) patient population there is a subset of patients who make frequent visits. This chart review sought to characterize this population and identify strategies to reduce frequent ED visits.Methods:Frequent use at an urban tertiary care centre was defined as 15 or more visits over 1 year. The details of each visit—demographics, entrance complaint, discharge diagnosis, arrival method, Canadian Triage and Acuity Scale (CTAS) score, and length of stay—were analyzed and compared to data from the entire ED population for the same period.Results:Ninety-two patients generated 2,390 ED visits (of 25,523 patients and 44,204 visits). This population was predominantly male (66%) and middle-aged (median 42 years), with no fixed address (27.2%). Patients arrived by ambulance in 59.3% of visits with less acute CTAS scores than the general population. Substance use accounted for 26.9% of entrance complaints. Increased lengths of stay were associated with female gender and abnormal vital signs, whereas shorter stays were associated with no fixed address and substance use (p< 0.05). Admissions were lower than the general population, and women were twice as likely as men to be admitted (p< 0.05). Patients left without being seen in 15.8% of visits.Conclusions:High-frequency ED users are more likely to be male, younger, and marginally housed and to present secondary to substance use. Although admissions among this population are low, the costs associated with these presentations are high. Interventions designed to decrease visits and improve the health of this population appear warranted.

Abstract Research on the consequences of starting in overeducation often focuses on either secondary or tertiary graduates. We focus on both within one country, Germany. While matching and search models imply the improvement of initial overeducation, human capital theory and stigma associated with overeducation predict entrapment. The strongly skill- and occupation-based labour market for the vocationally trained in Germany mitigates the bridge function of overeducation. As the less standardized tertiary system creates more uncertainties, initial overeducation should be more prevalent and should serve as a bridge to better positions. However, depreciation of human capital and the stigma associated with overeducation oppose the bridge function of overeducation here, too. Using data from the German National Educational Panel Study (NEPS), we compare labour market positions of career starters in overeducation with those not in overeducation in subsequent years using propensity score matching. In the fifth year after labour market entrance, the differences in overeducation between initially overeducated and non-overeducated individuals amounts to 38 percentage points for graduates and 28 for vocationally trained persons. In addition, vocationally trained persons starting in overeducation face higher unemployment risks later on. Our findings challenge the assumption of a bridge function in both educational groups.

THIS study examines the relationship between Year 12 students' perceptions of life in Catholic schools and their achievement in the Higher School Certificate (HSC) examination. It investigates whether the quality of school life which students experience differs across Catholic schools and whether it still affects students' achievement in the HSC when school and student background variables are controlled. The study was conducted by surveying 4949 students from 44 Catholic high schools in New South Wales, in May 1990 regarding their perceptions of the quality of school life. Student achievement was measured by their Tertiary Entrance Score at the HSC examination in November 1990. The clear picture which emerges suggests that Catholic schools differ considerably in terms of students' HSC achievement and that the quality of school life which students experience in these schools has a significant impact on their academic achievement over and above student characteristics and background characteristics of the schools.

The study of human bioscience is viewed as a crucial curriculum in allied health. Nevertheless, bioscience (and particularly physiology) is notoriously difficult for undergraduates, particularly academically disadvantaged students. So endemic are the high failure rates (particularly in nursing) that it has come to be known as “the human bioscience problem.” In the present report, we describe the outcomes for individual success in studying first-year human physiology in a subject that emphasises team-based active learning as the major pedagogy for mastering subject learning outcomes. Structural equation modeling was used to develop a model of the impact team learning had on individual performance. Modeling was consistent with the idea that students with similar academic abilities (as determined by tertiary entrance rank) were advantaged (scored higher on individual assessment items) by working in strong teams (teams that scored higher in team-based assessments). Analysis of covariance revealed that students who studied the subject with active learning as the major mode of learning activities outperformed students who studied the subject using the traditional didactic teaching format (lectures and tutorials, P = 0.000). After adjustment for tertiary entrance rank (via analysis of covariance) on two individual tests (the final exam and a late-semester in-class test), individual student grades improved by 8% (95% confidence interval: 6–10%) and 12% (95% confidence interval: 10–14%) when students engaged in team-based active learning. These data quantitatively support the notion that weaker students working in strong teams can overcome their educational disadvantages.

The university entry scores for school leavers admitted to the first year of the Bachelor of Applied Science (Health Information Management) degree at the University of Sydney in 1996 were examined to determine whether the Tertiary Entrance Rank (TER) was a good predictor of academic performance, as measured by grade point average (GPA). The study also examined Higher School Certificate (HSC) results in English and mathematics, and preference selection for the health information management (HIM) course to determine whether any of these had predictive validity. The results showed that TER, HSC English and mathematics scores and preference for the course were all poor predictors of academic performance in the student's first year. Low TER was not associated with low GPA and low scores in English and mathematics were not associated with low GPA. There was no significant difference between the performance of those students who listed the HIM course as their first preference and those who did not. These results suggest that there may be no need to establish a minimum entry level for admission to the HIM course, or for prerequisites in English and mathematics. It may be that multiple criteria are required to predict academic success in this course.

This study applied the many-facet Rasch model to assess learners’ translation ability in an English as a foreign language context. Few attempts have been made in extant research to detect and calibrate rater severity in the domain of translation testing. To fill the research gap, this study documented the process of validating a test of Chinese-to-English sentence translation and modeled raters’ scoring propensity defined by harshness or leniency, expert/novice effects on severity, and concomitant effects on item difficulty. Two hundred twenty-five, third-year senior high school Taiwanese students and six educators from tertiary and secondary educational institutions served as participants. The students’ mean age was 17.80 years ( SD = 1.20, range 17–19). The exam consisted of 10 translation items adapted from two entrance exam tests. The results showed that this subjectively scored performance assessment exhibited robust unidimensionality, thus reliably measuring translation ability free from unmodeled disturbances. Furthermore, discrepancies in ratings between novice and expert raters were also identified and modeled by the many-facet Rasch model. The implications for applying the many-facet Rasch model in translation tests at the tertiary level were discussed.

Aim:In 1988, Brazil implemented profound changes in the organization and financing of its public health system, with the creation of the Unified Health System (Sistema Unico de Saúde – SUS), establishing universal health coverage. The gradual expansion of the health system and entitlements to services has been accompanied by the debate about the appropriate level of government spending and health system efficiency. Design / Research methods: The study uses VRS - output oriented, Dynamic Network SBM DEA model, period 2008-2013, to depict the relationships that take place between diverse levels of care (primary health care/PHC and secondary-tertiary health care/STC). DMUs are Brazilian state capitals, which implement key health policies and assist patients from smaller surrounding municipalities, especially for STC. Inputs are PHC and STC budgets; outputs are their respective services provided and avoidable deaths. The link variable is PHC medical consultation, entrance door to the system and gatekeeper for more complex levels of care. Dynamic model evaluates efficiency across time. Conclusions / findings:Overall performance was 0.86; for PHC, 0.90; for STC, 0.85 (SD=0.15). 8 out of 27 capitals were fully efficient. Capitals increased average scores in both levels of care, but only STC had a positive technological change (frontier shift >1). Link variable behavior denotes a bottleneck between levels of care. Projections onto the frontier enable establish own management diagnosis and goals for financing and development. Originality / value of the article: Network models mimic hierarchically organized health systems. The appliance of results aids health policy.

PURPOSE To evaluate the prevalence of pain and depression, their correlation, and their effect on quality of life in patients with recently diagnosed adenocarcinoma of the pancreas (PC). MATERIALS AND METHODS Cross-sectional pain and psychosocial distress were assessed using validated instruments, including the Memorial Pain Assessment Card (MPAC), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), Hopelessness Scale (BHS), and Functional Living Index-Cancer (FLIC). Patients were evaluated before their first operation for PC or first treatment with chemotherapy at a large tertiary-care cancer center. RESULTS One hundred thirty patients with proven PC were studied: 83 before their operation and 47 before their first chemotherapy treatment. At the time of study entrance, 37% of patients had no pain and an additional 34% had pain that was mild or less severe. Only 29% of patients had moderate, strong, or severe pain. Chemotherapy patients reported significantly more intense pain than did preoperative patients (P = .02). Symptoms of depression were assessed using the BDI and BHS scales. A substantial minority of patients (38%) had BDI scores > or = 15, which suggests high levels of depressive symptoms. There was a significant correlation between increasing pain and depressive symptoms among those who experienced pain. Quality of life was assessed using the Weekly Activity Checklist (WAC) and the FLIC. Compared with patients who had no pain or mild pain, patients with moderate or greater pain had significantly impaired functional activity (P = .03) and poorer quality-of-life scores (P = .02) when compared with those with lesser degrees of pain. There were significant correlations between increasing pain and depression and between pain and depressive symptoms and impaired quality of life and function. CONCLUSION Our results indicate that moderate or severe pain and symptoms of depression are not as prevalent in recently diagnosed PC patients as is generally believed. However, one third have inadequate pain control despite the use of oral analgesics. These patients can be identified by the use of a simple self-report instrument (the MPAC card). Quality of life and function are adversely affected by moderate or greater levels of perceived pain intensity. A simple and rapid assessment is possible and can identify high-risk patients in need of intervention that may improve quality of life.

Evaluating Academic Literacies Course Types This poster represents a mixed methods study conducted at the University of the West Indies (UWI), which seeks to determine the merits of two types of Academic Literacies (AL) courses in promoting successful academic outcomes. Its focus is the first quantitative research phase in which the grade point averages after the first year of study of Social Sciences students successful either in the general purposes Foun1019 ‘Critical Reading and Writing in the Disciplines’ course or in the faculty-specific purposes Foun1013 ‘Critical Reading and Writing in the Social Sciences’ course are compared. The second, qualitative phase will be presented in future publications. This study is a response to an unimplemented recommendation of an external 2018 Quality Assurance Review (QAR) of the UWI, Mona campus, English Language Section, that students successful in the first semester of Foun1019 switch in the second semester to their faculty-specific AL courses. The QAR rationale for the recommended course switch is that the non-faculty-specific nature of the second semester of Foun1019 is academically disadvantageous to students who have shown promise in its first semester. This study is relevant to the debate over the use of general versus disciplinary AL approaches, one publicized by Jordan (1997) and revived by de Chazal (2012) who makes a pedagogical and practical case favouring a general purposes approach. Underlying the study is the premise at the heart of AL courses: that by preparing incoming students, supposed novice writers and readers at the tertiary level of study, these courses serve to maximise their academic performance. Indeed, this is the premise upon which the required pursuit by university students of AL courses is based. This Foun1019 general purposes course, introduced for students from all faculties who fail an English language proficiency entrance test (ELPT), places emphasis in the first semester on developmental reading and writing in English as well as on overcoming writer apprehension. Furthermore, a dual language identity – Standard Jamaican English and Jamaican Creole – is conferred on students. This is because whereas English is Jamaica’s sole official language, Jamaican Creole – which has an English lexicon but distinctly un-English grammar, syntax and phonology – is the first language of most of the students. The work undertaken in the first semester functions as a bridge for students, building their linguistic self-esteem and improving their English language proficiency in order to ease them into what is considered the bona fide AL focus of the second semester: ‘Writing from Sources’. This latter focus is shared with one-semester, faculty-specific purposes AL courses, populated by students who pass or are exempt from the ELPT. These courses seek to respond to the AL development needs of individual faculties’ constituent departments. To do this, they employ as much of a specific purposes AL approach as is possible given the wide range of parent disciplines involved. The Foun1013 course featured in this study, which is pursued by Faculty of Social Sciences students exclusively, falls into this faculty-specific category of UWI AL courses. The Foun1019 and Foun1013 Year 1 student groups being compared have both been certified at the end of their first year of study to possess a satisfactory level of English language proficiency on the basis of attaining passing grades at the end of Semester two in their final and major AL assignment: a 1200-word documented expository essay scored via a common holistic rubric. To ensure further comparability of the two groups, control of the potentially influential independent variables of Socioeconomic Status (SES), Gender, Intellectual Aptitude (as estimated via matriculation qualifications) and other selected variables is accounted for by the multiple regression analysis component of the overall study design. To address the unevenness of the size of the two study populations, that is, the relatively small number (51) of Year 1 Foun1019 Social Sciences students versus the high number (630) of their Foun1013 counterparts, the Tukey test of statistical significance for unequal group sizes will be applied. To assess the groups’ relative academic performance, the official UWI measurement standard, Grade Point Average (GPA), is used. This measurement shows the typical course result of a student for a semester or year, and ultimately determines the quality of degree awarded (for example, First Class Honours, Lower Second Class Honours, Pass). This measurement encompasses nine bands ranging from 0.00-1.29 to 4.00-4.30 points. The points in question represent the numerical value given to letter grades, e.g. C+ (55-59%) = 2.30 points, F2 (40-44%) = 1.30 points. Grade points are determined by multiplying the points earned by the credit weighting of the course, which is based on the duration of the course (whether one or two semesters). Students earn three credits for one-semester courses, and six credits for two-semester ones. 2.00 is the minimum grade point deemed acceptable (University of the West Indies, 2014). The investigation reveals that the overall Year 1 student pass rates for Foun1013 and Foun1019 at the end of the second semester of the 2017/18 academic year were 60.2% (630/1047) and 62.2% (51/82) respectively. Preliminary findings on the GPAs of the passing groups are as follows: 1) Foun1013 students’ GPAs are more widely spread across the band ranges than those of Foun1019 students; 2) The modal band range of the two groups is 2.30-2.99: 42.6% (269/630) of Foun1013 students versus 54.9% (28/51) of Foun1019 students; 3) The GPAs of 41.9% (264/630) of Foun1013 students fall into the four highest band ranges (3.00-4.29) versus 25.5% (13/51) for Foun1019 students; 4) The GPAs of 10.6% (66/630) of the Foun1013 students fall into the 2:00-2:29 (just acceptable) band range versus 15.7% (8/51) for 1019 students; 5) The GPAs of 4.9% (31/630) of Foun1013 students fall into the three lowest band ranges (0.00 -1.99) versus 3.9% (2/51) for Foun1019 students. Thus, overall, the Year 1 Foun1013 specific purposes students outperformed their Foun1019 general counterparts with respect to their higher band ranges, but the modal range of scores for both groups (a low but acceptable one) was the same; in addition, the Foun1019 group had slightly better outcomes in terms of its lower proportion of students with poor GPAs (under 2.0). Therefore, this cross-tabulation of the two groups’ GPAs reveals that student success in the general purposes course is not more highly correlated with Year 1 academic failure than student success in the faculty-specific purposes course, but it may hold implications for the passing grades received. Corresponding results for Year 2, 3 and 4 students, along with these Year 1 results, will be subjected to the finer-grained statistical analysis needed to reach definitive conclusions, while the qualitative phase of the study will use course content analysis and questionnaire and interview data from students and academic staff to seek explanations for the conclusions drawn. References de Chazal, E. (2012). The general-specific debate in EAP: Which case is the most convincing for most contexts? Journal of Second Language Teaching and Research, 2(1), 135–148. http://pops.uclan.ac.uk/index.php/jsltr/article/view/90/37 Jordan, R. R. (1997). English for academic purposes: A guide and resource book for teachers. Cambridge University Press. University of the West Indies. (2014). Grade point average regulations (Internal document). UWI. https://www.uwi.edu/gradingpolicy/docs/regulations.pdf

Abstract Background Health workers are crucial to the successful implementation of infection prevention and control strategies to limit the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 at healthcare facilities. The aim of our study was to determine SARS-CoV-2 infection prevention and control knowledge and attitudes of frontline health workers in four provinces of South Africa as well as explore some elements of health worker and health facility infection prevention and control practices. Methods A cross-sectional study design was utilised. The study population comprised both clinical and non-clinical staff working in casualty departments, outpatient departments, and entrance points of health facilities. A structured self-administered questionnaire was developed using the World Health Organization guidance as the basis for the knowledge questions. COVID-19 protocols were observed during data collection. Results A total of 286 health workers from 47 health facilities at different levels of care participated in the survey. The mean score on the 10 knowledge items was 6.3 (SD = 1.6). Approximately two-thirds of participants (67.4%) answered six or more questions correctly while less than a quarter of all participants (24.1%) managed to score eight or more. A knowledge score of 8 or more was significantly associated with occupational category (being either a medical doctor or nurse), age (< 40 years) and level of hospital (tertiary level). Only half of participants (50.7%) felt adequately prepared to deal with patients with COVD-19 at the time of the survey. The health workers displaying attitudes that would put themselves or others at risk were in the minority. Only 55.6% of participants had received infection prevention and control training. Some participants indicated they did not have access to medical masks (11.8%) and gloves (9.9%) in their departments. Conclusions The attitudes of participants reflected a willingness to engage in appropriate SARS-CoV-2 infection prevention and control practices as well as a commitment to be involved in COVID-19 patient care. Ensuring adequate infection prevention and control training for all staff and universal access to appropriate PPE were identified as key areas that needed to be addressed. Interim and final reports which identified key shortcomings that needed to be addressed were provided to the relevant provincial departments of health.

This article studies to what extent societal processes such as educational expansion, economic modernisation and business cycles have affected the returns to educational certificates of women and men entering the labour market in West Germany. Using longitudinal data, long-term changes in cohort- and period-specific effects on socio-economic status attainment at entry into the labour market are investigated between 1945 and 2008. Analyses demonstrate that the entrants’ average socio-economic prestige scores have clearly risen in the process of modernisation. Despite educational expansion, increasing skill demands for highly qualified graduates resulted in rising rates of returns for the most highly educated entrants across birth cohorts. While educational expansion and economic modernisation have boosted socio-economic returns at entry into the labour market for women from all educational levels, it has not been the case for men with the lowest levels of education. Both educational expansion and rising skill requirements of occupations led to an increasing polarisation of inequality between tertiary educated labour-market entrants and less-qualified school leavers. Educational expansion in West Germany has therefore never exceeded the occupational skill demands at entry into the labour market.<br /><br />Key messages<br /><ul><li>Due to the upgrading of the occupational job structure, human capital investments have not become devaluated in the course of rapid educational expansion across cohorts in Germany.</li><br /><li>The opposite in true: young people who have attained higher education, intermediate general or vocational education in Germany have received even higher job returns to their educational investments at labour-market entry and during their later job career.</li><br /><li>In particular, young qualified German women have benefited from the interrelated changes of educational expansion, sectoral tertiarisation and occupational upgrading.</li><br /><li>German males who have left the school system without any educational certificate or certified vocational training might be called the losers of educational expansion and occupational upgrading. Their job opportunities have worsened drastically in the recent period.</li></ul>