Master Admission Exam Results Analysis

1. Master Admission Exam Results Analysis Narmin jarchalova Tahmina imanova Murad muradov Elmin ibrahimov ADA

2. Problem description Hypothesis testing & recommendations Regression Concluding remarks Road Map

3. Problem description Do males perform better than females? Which question types are females’ favorite? Do students graduating from Russian Sector score more than the Azerbaijani Sector Students? Are even question banks more difficult than odd? Does your educational background affect your test results?

4. Methodology Quantitative analysis Deductive research method Unit of analysis: master applicant’s result in Logic Excel program Independent variables: student’s gender, language of instruction, educational background, test bank category Level of significance = 0.05 Dependent variable: exam results Source: SSAC, 2011 1st tour Master exam results in Logic

5. Limitations Goals Time scope of data To give insight for further research by specialists in educational science Absence of student-by-student on their university affiliation Lack of qualitative analysis due to technical character of the paper and time constraints

6. Question types Type 1 Numerical Məhsulun maya dəyərinin 40%-ni xammal qiyməti təşkil edir. Xammal qiyməti 50% artarsa, yeni maya dəyərinin neçə faizini xammal qiyməti təşkil edər? Type 2 Problems arı – neştər; ilan – ? Type 3 Word pattern Type 4 Figures Type 5 Charts Type 6 Numerical pattern 123=9, 96=9, 48=5, 911=? Type 7 Graphical pattern

7. Statistics on Gender’s Performance

8. Hypothesis 1 – Males vs. Females H0: μm-μf≤0; H1: μm-μf≥0 Males perform better than females 50 Sample size for each gender Hypothesis test results F test Do not reject α = 0.05 σ = σ t test Reject α = 0.05 H0: μm–μf> 0

9. Test results

10. Regression 1 – Role of gender 50 Sample size for each gender 0.03 R2 2.1 X 33.6 Y = ― Gender: Males 1 Females 2 Exam result

11. Regression 2 – Role of educational background Identified specialties Humanities Economics Technical 0.08 R2 1.97 X 26.9 Y = + Specialty: Humanities 1 Economics 2 Technical 3 Exam result

12. Hypothesis 1: Implications Males choose mostly technical courses, because of their future work plans, that’s why they pass logic tests better than females Males choose technical occupations because they are initially better at math and math-related subjects

13. Hypothesis 2: Number type questions H0: μm-μf≥0; H1: μm-μf≤0 Males perform better in number type questions Sample size for each sector 50 Hypothesis test results F test Reject α = 0.05 σ ≠σ

14. Test results

15. Hypothesis 3 – Figure type questions Females are doing better than males in figure type questions H0: μm-μf≤0; H1: μm-μf≥0 Sample size for each sector 50 Hypothesis test results F test Do Not Reject α = 0.05 σ =σ

16. Test results

17. These differences might be related to gender differences in reasoning: males are prone to abstract thinking, while females feel more comfortable performing tangible tasks Implications for hypotheses 2&3 This problem can be investigated in deep by psychologists and might have far-reaching implications for educational methodology

18. Hypothesis 4 – Azerbaijani and Russian sectors H0: μaz-μru≤0; H1:μaz-μru≥0 Azerbaijani Sector performs better than the Russian Sample size for each sector 50 Hypothesis test results F test Reject α = 0.05 σ ≠ σ

19. Test results

20. Implications Though observed means suggest that Azerbaijani sector performs better, the significance 0f this difference is not very high and doesn’t hold at 5-% level Relatively low performance of Russian sector might be correlated with lower contest among its students than in Azerbaijani sector; hence allocation of places might be revised

21. Hypothesis 3 – odd versus even test variants H0: μ A,C-μ B,D≤0; H1:μA,C-Μb,d≥0 QB “A” and “C” are harder than “B” and “D” Sample size for each sector 50 Hypothesis test results F test Do Not Reject α = 0.05 σ =σ

22. Test results

23. Hypothesis 5: Implications The difference exists , but it is significant at 10-% level, and it should be examined throughout several years in order to confirm any dependency In case its existence is established, it may be caused by the difference in the tests’ sequence; if more difficult ones are in the beginning (and the test sequence indeed differs according to a variant), they can take more time and thus students show worse results

24. OECD education ranking

25. Concluding remarks Introducing quantitative courses for humanitarian students To check the quality of education at humanitarian universities and learn why their students end up scoring less than their technical counterparts To develop analytical skills by introducing essay questions into master exams To analyze gender choices in education

26. Any questions or comments?

27. Thank You for Attention!