Effectiveness of discriminant analysis in predicting academic failure through the General ability Test and the Achievement Test in some Saudi universities

Abstract

The present study aimed at detecting factors of student’ academic failure in some Saudi universities using discriminant analysis technique, by focusing on the most important admission criteria used in the prediction of academic failure at the university, namely the General Ability Test (GAT) and the Achievement Test (AT). The sample consisted of (31082) students, (12031) male and (19051) female from King Saud University, Imam Muhammad Ibn Saud Islamic University, Qassim University, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, King Khalid University and King Abdulaziz University. To answer the study questions, One-way ANOVA and Discriminant analysis were used. The results indicated that the performance of  failed  students was less than that of their non-fail peers in both GAT and AT, and that the discriminant  function contributes statistically to the distinction between fail and non-fail students at different colleges. The relative importance of the AT is higher than GAT in all colleges except for Humanities whose students submit their examination for the achievement of the scientific colleges. The results also indicated that males predominate in both GAT and AT in all university faculties, And that the discriminant  function contributes statistically to the distinction between male and female for both fail and non-fail groups at different colleges, And that the relative importance of GAT is higher than AT in all colleges for failed students.