Predictive Efficacy of Utme, Ist And Utme Plus on Degree Students’ Cumulative Grade Points Average: A Case Study of College of Education, Agbor, Nigeria

This study examined the predictive efficacy of UTME, IST (Institution Selection Test)  and UTME PLUS on degree students’ first year cumulative grade points average (CGPA) in the College of Education, Agbor. The study employed correlation and Ex-post facto designs.  Ex-post facto was adopted since there was no manipulation of variables.  312 students from eight departments were randomly selected from 520 students that were admitted into degree programme of the College in 2012/2013 session.  The students’ data regarding their scores in UTME, IST, UTME PLUS and their first year CGPA were collected from the degree unit of the College. Using Multiple Regression Analysis, it was found that there was no significant relationship between students UTME scores and their first year CGPA (F1, 312 = 0.520; p>0.05).  It was also found that there was a significant but low relationship between students’ scores in Institution Selection Test (IST) and their CGPA (F1, 312 = 6.552; P<0.05) while the relationship between the students’ scores in UTME PLUS and their CGPA was not significant (F1 312 = 2.646; P> 0.05). It was recommended among others that the selection tests examined especially UTME be improved upon through proper content analysis and judicious monitoring and supervision in order to enhance their credibility.