 | The Cavalier daily Friday, April 23, 1971 |  |
First-Year Statistics Shift With Expanded Enrollment
By Steve Grimwood
Cavalier Daily Staff Writer
In conjunction with the recent
expanded enrollment at the University
there has been a marked shift in the
distribution of College Board scores
among the men and women of the
entering class of the College.
From 1965 to 1970, there has been a
9 per cent drop in the number of entering
College students who scored 700 or better on
their Math aptitude tests. Between these same
dates, the number in the 600-699 group has
dropped by 4 percent.
Third In A Series
The slack from the two top groups was
taken up by the increase of members in the
500-599 and 400-499 sections, with the former
gaining 10 percent, while the latter gained
nearly 2 percent.
The distribution of the verbal scores shows
nearly the same trend. From 1965 to 1970, the
700-800 and 600-699 groups lost 1 percent and
6 percent respectively. The two lower groups
once again gained, with each picking up 3 per
cent of the total of the entering college class.
Class ranking of entering high school seniors,
however, took an opposite trend, though not so
sharp as the Board scores.
Between 1966 and 1970, the number of
entering first-year students in the College who
ranked in the top fifth of their high school
graduating class increased by 3 percent. Those
in the third fifth were 1 percent less, while the
fourth fifth gained 1 percent. The remaining 1
percent were unranked students.
Increase In Grades
Though the academic prowess of entering
first year college students has seemingly
dropped, the grades that they achieve after a
year at the University show a marked increase
over the past four years.
Between 1965 and 1969 the percentage of
A's in all the grades given in the College rose
1.5 percent. Correspondingly, the percentage of
B's rose 3.7 percent, while C's and D's dropped
4.9 percent and 2.9 percent respectively. The
percentage of F's dropped 1.5 percent.
Attrition Rate
The academic attrition rate of students in
the College also showed a loss. (No chart
included.) From 1965 to 1969 the percentage
of students suspended for academic reasons
dropped from 4.2 percent to 2.6 percent.
From the figures it would seem that though
recent students do not have as high academic
rating as their predecessors, they are doing a
better job than their predecessors when they
arrive at the University. But, as some faculty
members are quick to point out, it can not be
shown that these recent students are doing
better academic work unless it is first
determined whether the faculty is demanding as
much from each student as it did in the past.
| 1965 | 1966 | 1967 | 1968 | 1969 | 1970 | |
| Verbal | ||||||
| 700-800 | 8% | 9% | 9% | 10% | 8% | 7% |
| 600-699 | 44% | 40% | 41% | 37% | 40% | 38% |
| 500-599 | 42% | 44% | 41% | 44% | 43% | 45% |
| 400-499 | 6% | 7% | 9% | 9% | 9% | 9% |
| Math | ||||||
| 700-800 | 23% | 17% | 17% | 17% | 18% | 14% |
| 600-699 | 51% | 49% | 49% | 51% | 52% | 47% |
| 500-599 | 24% | 31% | 31% | 30% | 27% | 34% |
| 400-499 | 2% | 3% | 3% | 2% | 3% | 5% |
| 1966 | 1967 | 1968 | 1969 | 1970 | |
| Top 1/5 | 62% | 60% | 56% | 60% | 65% |
| Second 1/5 | 28% | 29% | 30% | 27% | 25% |
| Third 1/5 | 8% | 8% | 11% | 7% | 7% |
| Fourth 1/5 | 1% | 1% | 2% | 1% | 2% |
| A | B | C | D | F | |
| 1965-66 | 14.3% | 34.7% | 34.5% | 10.3% | 5.4% |
| 1966-67 | 15.2% | 35.7% | 34.0% | 10.1% | 3.1% |
| 1967-68 | 15.1% | 35.2% | 31.6% | 9.0% | 4.7% |
| 1968-69 | 18.6% | 36.8% | 31.0% | 8.7% | 4.3% |
| The Cavalier daily Friday, April 23, 1971 | |