Do pre-entry tests predict competencies required to excel academically in law school?. An empirical investigation
| Pages | 211-226 |
| Date | 04 April 2016 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/QAE-05-2014-0019 |
| Published date | 04 April 2016 |
| Author | Robert Wamala |
| Subject Matter | Education,Curriculum, instruction & assessment,Educational evaluation/assessment |
Do pre-entry tests predict
competencies required to excel
academically in law school?
An empirical investigation
Robert Wamala
School of Statistics and Planning, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda
Abstract
Purpose – Prospective students of law are required to demonstrate competence in certain disciplines
to attain admission to law school. The grounding in the disciplines is expected to demonstrate
competencies required to excel academically in law school. The purpose of this study is to investigate
the relevance of the law school admission test to predicting the competencies.
Design/methodology/approach – The assessment is based on administrative records of 815
students admitted at Makerere University’s law school on the basis of their performance in the test.
Grades obtained in advanced level (A-Level) of secondary education subjects, namely, literature,
history, divinity and economics, were adopted as a measure of competence in the disciplines. The
outcome of the test was modeled by performance of enrollees in the subject, their characteristics (gender,
nationality, entry scheme and academic qualications at enrollment) and rst-year grade point average
using a quantile regression.
Findings – With the exception of enrollees’ characteristics, no signicant variations in the outcome of
the test were noted in the results between students who did not do the subjects at the A-Level and those
who obtained Grade A (p⬎0.05). Similar ndings in performance were noted between students who
obtained Grade A and those with other grades in the disciplines.
Research limitations/implications – The ndings conrm that admission tests to law school are a
measure of mental rather than educational or academic ability. However, the results may not be applied
to candidates in countries where a bachelor’s degree is a requirement for admission to law school.
Originality/value – The study provides an empirical investigation of whether the admission test to
law school predicts competencies required to excel academically in the undergraduate program.
Keywords Performance, Higher education, Undergraduates, Quality evaluation
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
Prospective students of law are required to possess certain skills that would enable them
excel academically in law school. The requirements for admission to law school in
various academic and/or related institutions demonstrate this argument. For example,
the requirements for admission to law school at the University of Texas (UTSA)
stipulate that enrollees should demonstrate competence in four major areas:
(1) Communication: Writing in English, critical prociency in oral and graphical
communication as well as ability to identify, formulate problems and draw
conclusions.
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
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Pre-entry tests
211
Received 9 May 2014
Accepted 18 August 2015
QualityAssurance in Education
Vol.24 No. 2, 2016
pp.211-226
©Emerald Group Publishing Limited
0968-4883
DOI 10.1108/QAE-05-2014-0019
(2) Conceptual approaches and history of arts: Ability to comprehend factual
concepts and human creativity.
(3) Political and economic dimensions of a society.
(4) Cultural diversity, including nature as well as limits of knowledge and academic
elds (UTSA, 2012).
The guidelines according to the Alabama State Bar, an association of lawyers in the
USA, do not show otherwise with regard to the competencies. Their emphasis is made to
grounding of enrollees in analytical writing, English and literature, political science,
economics and accounting, history, philosophy, logic, scientic methods and public
speaking (Alabama State Bar, 2013). Literature elsewhere (John Hopkins University,
2013;Nalukenge et al. 2014; University of Canterbury, 2013) afrms the relevance of
these disciplines in demonstrating competencies required by prospective students of
law. While the parenting handbook of John Hopkins University stipulates that
competence in the disciplines such as economics, history, political thoughts and
mathematics provides a basis for knowledge in resolving disputes, Nalukenge et al.
(2014) demonstrate that competence in history, divinity and literature predicts academic
achievement in law school. However, the guidelines for admission at the University of
Canterbury stipulate that enrollees with science, mathematics, music or art background
can only succeed in law school if they possess good language and writing skills
(University of Canterbury, 2013). Indeed, a more recent study undertaken in Uganda
documents that competence in literature undertaken at the advanced level (A-Level) of
secondary education has been associated with high academic achievement in law school
(Nalukenge et al., 2014).
Other than the academic achievement, these competencies provide insights into
professional skills required for lawyer effectiveness. In citing Shultz and Zedeck (2003),
Shultz and Zedeck (2011) present writing, speaking, analysis and reasoning,
problem-solving, ability to see the world through the eyes of others and fact-nding as
some of the factors important for lawyer effectiveness. These aspects are to a great
extent in-line with the competencies required by prospective students of law. Therefore,
it would not be a surprise to conclude that grounding in the disciplines associated with
the prociencies of studying law demonstrates competencies required for lawyer
effectiveness.
On one hand, the grounding for these competencies is assumed to be obtained from
enrollees’ prior studies (Nalukenge et al. 2014;Wamala, 2013;UTSA, 2012). On the other
hand, the relevance of prior studies in demonstrating competencies required by
prospective students of law to excel academically is questioned (Emedot, 2011;
Makerere University, 2011). It is from this background therefore that admission tests
were introduced as a measure of assessing the aforementioned competencies among
candidates to law school. Although a pooled index of the academic achievement of
enrollees in their prior studies – usually A-Level of secondary education – is a
requirement for undertaking the test, admission to law school is mainly determined by
the outcome of the test. A questionable aspect, however, is whether the test predicts
competencies required to excel academically in law school. This study provides an
understanding of this issue using the disciplines identied with the aforementioned
competencies of studying law. Particularly, this study investigates whether the
QAE
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