TES POTENSIAKADEMIK

( ACADEMIC APTITUDETEST) :
INDONESIA' S EXPERIENCE

by

Sumadi Suryabrata

D OKUM ENTASI BAPPENAS

As,* /sM/'oo(/re
l@g-.DJ .?.9-
rengger| ...41 =..9.

The Overseas Tralnlng Offlce

National Development Plannlng Agencles
Government of Indonesia
(BAPPENAS)
November, 1988
 TES POTEI{SI AKADEUTK (ACADEHIC APTITUDE TES?):
I N D O N E S I A , SE X P E R I E N C E x )

he Jr r

Sunadi Suryabrata

INTRODUCTIObI

A- Baekqround

The Repubiic of Indonesia is an island country of one

iruncireci and ser;enty nillion people; the f ifth largesi eount,ry in
the worid- It, proclaiuaed its inciepencience in f945. As wii,h many
cieveloping eounE,ries, rapid acivances in eciueacion, t,echnology,
comnerce, agricuit,ural and inciustr.ial produetion have occurred
since inciepencience, and particularly in the iast twenty-five

In order to nainiain, continue, and acceierace these

advances, ever larger number of highly trained professionals are
neecied in ieaCership, acininisllstion.. and inplementaticn
positions, notably in the higher eciucai,ion secior- In response to
ihis need Incionesia has been senciing government employees and
university faculty nembers abroaci for advaneed training in
graciuate programs. in recent years, hundrecis of graciuate si,ucients
per year have been sent abroad- It is anticipatecj that the nuraber
will increase into thousanrjs in the upeoming years.

Llp lo present there have been no eentralizeci government

policies or procedures for the selection, preparaiion, piacement
processing, and nonii,oring of the overseas studenis. Ministries
and government agenc ies have acted inciepencient ly in these
undertakings, As a result, s€lection procedures anci scandards
across minisiries and agencies, and even within ministries or
agencies, from year to year, have been uneven. |iany of the
snaller ministri-es and aE:encies have harcily been abie to sponsor
advanced study prog:rans. The systen is ineif icieni,, anc resulcs
have been mixeci -

Presenteci at the NAFSA conference in iiashington D-C on

liay 30, lgBB
 A najor concern is that foreign language proficiency,
particularly English, has emerged as a maior criterion
f or selection. This st,ate of aff airs nay be unf air t'o those
enployees who are stationed in. small cities and remote places,
with no opportunity to naintain or inprove their foreign language
proficienly. In many cases, potential eandidates have b e e n out of
college for several years, thus reducing the usefulness of
college grades as a Predictor of graduate suecess. Further, t h e r e
has been no selebtion device applicable fairly to all candidates
for use in naking decisions as to whether or not candidate is
potent, ial l:r su it ab le f or graciuate irain ing . Thus it sTas urgent
that a deviee that could be used for such decj-sion-nakin$ be made
availabie - The mosr appropriate cievice to neet the need wouid be
a kind of aeadenic aptitude rest in Bahasa lncionesia (Indonesian
ianguaEre ) .

Overseas TrainrnP Office

In response to the conciiiions described here and other

related needs, the G o v e r n m e n t o f I n c i o n e s i a e s t a b l i s h e d a new Unit
in the National Developnent P l a n n i n g A g e n c y ( B A P P E N A S)' carled
for Overseas T r a i n i n g ( I { S C O T ) and j-ts
National Comnitree
operational Unj.t. Overseas Training Off ice (0TO).

The central purposes for which NSCOT and OT0 were set uP
were:
/1\
\+,/ the formulation of nationaL po1icies on overseas
training;

\4.,' the provision of guidance on training priorities and

needs to i-nternational and bilateral funding a g e n c i e s;

(3) the provision of assistance to national development

agencies in defining and achieving thei-r overseas
training obiectives; and

(4) the inplernentation of overseas training programs-

For these purPoses, the NSCOT perforns the poliey functions

and the OTO the staff functions. As the staff arm of NSCOT, the
OT0 needs to identify and analyze training issues which go beyond
the problens of any single or particular proiect. For exanpie,
the OTO nust be concerned with the slze and quality of the
national pool of candidates of overseas training; it eannot be
eontent nerely to fill the P1aces in a single proiect.

z
 For this reason, the 0TO has developed a new t,est in Bahasa
Indonesia to measure acadenic aptitude; organized a foreign
language training systenn which can be used by nany proiects, and
developed cross-cultura] orientation progirans which can help
candidat,es prepare for nore effective study in many countries-

T
@
a.r Prrtenqi Aizederni lr

Tes Poiensi Ahadenik (academic aptitucie t,est) or TPA was

developed and prociuced f or the f i-rst tine in late 1985. The
first set, i.e., Form 1, was first adninistered nationally on
Novenrber 30, 1985 to 944 candidates. Sinee then, TPA has gained
recognition fron many parties, public as well as private,
national as well as international. Six sets of tets, Forn 1-
Forn 6, have b e e n d e v e l o p e d . T h e l a s t F o r m w a s a d n i n i s i ' e r ed on
Harch 26, 19BB to 3,139 c a n d i d a t e s - B a s i c a l } y , o n a r e g u l a r
schedule, the test is adninistered' t w i e e a y e a r l h o w e v e r , t o
cater for requests from aEiencies w h i c h n e e d t h e s e r v i c e o u t s i d e
the regular schedule, addj-tional sPecially arranged test
adninistra+-ions are also p r o v i d e d .

Fron August 1985 up to t,he present a cycle of activities'

starting with test development, followed by test printing, test
administration, test scoring, and e n d i n g w ith reporting test
results, have been the nnajor task of the T e s t ing and Selection
Unit of OT0. Another major task of the U n i t h as been ltena bank
cieveiopnent.

During the sane period three packages of technieal

assistance have been devoted to the developnent a n d i r n provenent
of TPA. Dr. Danie1 J. Hueller fron Indi-ana liniversity s erved as
the first foreign consultant in Aqgust, 1985. H e c o n t tibuted
nany i-nportant ideas and concepts to the designing of T P A Forn 1-
He came for the second tine in June 1986, to review the test and
provide reconmendations for improving it- The third p a c k a g e of
technical assistanee was provided by Dr. Janes E. Haxey fron t h e
Anerican CoIlege Testing/University of Iowa, who catne in August,
1986. His reconmendations contained two maior parts, i-e-, the
improvement of TPA ( including test equating) and the
institutionallzation of TPA-

Dr - tlueller and Dr. Haxey have contributed the Anerican

perspective of testing and selection. It was decided that, in
addition to this, another perspective be added to the context'
Ideally the new perspective should eome fron eountries with
eonditions sinilar to those of Indonesia. It was thus decided to
conduct t\ comparative study on "test developnent and test
managenerrt systens" in ASEAN member countries. Seven testing
institutions, two in Hanila, two j-n Bangkok, one in Kuala tunpur;
and two in Singapore, were visited in early 1987. Results of
t h i s s t u d y h a v e a d d e d s o m e " A S E A Nf l a v o r " to the TPA.
 To secure validity of the TPA a validity,study in Indonesia
and another one i-n the. United Stales were also c o n d u c t ed'

The activities during the three year perj-od ciescribed

brief 1 y h e r e h a v e c o n t r i b u ' u e d t o t h e p r e s e n t c o n d i t i o n s of TPA,
which will be presented in the following Sections'

II TEST DEVELOPHENT

A- Preoaratorv Phase

In August 1985 a t,eam of measurement Psychologtsts, both

Anerican a n d I n d o n e s i a n , w a s r e t a i n e d a s c o n s u l t a n t s t o t ' h e O T0-
The j o b w a s t o d e v e l o p a p l a n i o r t h e c o n s t r u c t i o n o f a n a d v a n c ed
ievel acacienic a p t i t u d e t ' e s t i n B a h a s a I n d o n e s i a , w h i c h w o u l d be
aDDroDriat,e as a d e v i c e f o r s e l e c i , i n g c a n d i c i a t e s f o r g r a d u a t e
=l"av- i The tean's j o b w a s d i p l o n a t i - c a s w e l l a s t e c h n i c a l . T h e
f ocal- p o i n t of the d i p i o n a t i c n i s s i o n w a s t o e x p l o r e i ' h e
possibility and feasibility o f d e v e l o p i n g t h e a f o r e - m e n t i o n e d
test- Inportant officials in sone governnent ninistries and non-
ninisterial agencies, especialIy t h o s e m i n i s t r i e s a n d a gencies
with active selection and p r e p a r a t i o n p r o g i r a n s o f t h e i r o n n' lrere
visited. The p u r p o s e s of 1hese v i s i t s w e r e : ( 1 ) t o a s s es the
1eve1 of support for the p r o j e c t , ( 2 ) t o f i n d o u t w h a t k ind of
test each ninistry or agency thought m o s t a p p r o p r i a t e , a n d (3) to
learl about the existing selection a n d Preparation p r o g r a m s .

In order to earry out the technical nission, psychology

facuLties at the country's leading universities, especially
measurenent psychologists, were visited. AIso v i s i t e d were Sone
nenbers of the Indonesian " m e a s u r e m e n t connunity". T h e r.ationale
and tentative plans for the test construction were described'
Suggestions were solicited, and both moral and behavioral suPPort
were requested,

Specifications for test conponents were listed and a tine

line for developing a kind of testing enterprise over a five-year
period was specified- Resources necessary for such an endeavor
were itenized, including personnel, housing, supplies, and
equipnent for test construction, test duplication ' test
adninistration, scoring, iten analysis, data processin$, and iten
banking.

Test Construction

Based on the diseussions during the visits and suggestj-ons

extended by some o f t h e v i s i t e d p e r s o n s , a tentative test
specification was drawn. T h e t e s t s p e c i f i c a t i o n t h e n was
presented j-n two seninars: one in Yogyakarta and the other in
Jaharta, attended by measurenent psychologists and menbers of t'he
Indonesian "neasurenent comnunity". Based on the discussions in
the seminars some nodificalions were nade, resulting in a nore or
less firn test speclfication.

Fron this test specification, the first Form of the TPA was
constructed- To d e v e l o p n e w s e t s o f T P A t h e T e sting and Selection
Unit of OT0 p r o e e e d s t h r o u g h t h e f o l l o w i n g s t e p s : (1) reviewing
and revj-sinEi test specif iation, ( 2 ) i t e n w r i t i n g , (3) iten
review, ( 4 ) test try-out, ( 5 ) iten a n a l v s i - s , ( 6 ) i i e n b anking,
and ( ? ) compilai,ion oi j - t e n s into t i r e i i n a l f o r u n o f t h e t e s t,.

So far, i,est specifications have needed only ninor revision-

Until enpirical evicience s u b s t a n t i ates the need for change, the
test specifications will be retained a s such. Itern writing has
been done by menbers of the Testing a n d S e l e c t i o n U n i t . B e g i n n i n g
rrith Forn 5, a p o r t i o n of the non-verbal i t e n s w e r e d e v e l o p e d b y
an architect fron Gadjah Mada U n i v e r s i t y . T h e a r c h i t e c t i s
expected to contribute all the non-verbaf itens for future Forms.

It was originally planned that iten review would be done by

a p a n e l experts fron Yogyakarta, B a n d u n g , a n d J a k a r t a . Due to
some technical and budgetary reasons, h o w e v e r , s o f a r t h e iten
review has been sinplified, done by t h e s t a f f o f t h e T e s t i n g and
Seiection Unit -

For trying oui, the test, the Testing and seleeiion unit did
not arrange a special test adninistration, rather it p u t the
ii,ems to be tried out i-n the test Forms adninistered to the
candidates taking the TPA. By so doing it has been not neeessary
for the OTO to bear the cost of test try-outs.

Since the OTO does not have the equipnent for scoring the
answer sheets, conducting iten analysis, and perforning data
processing, so far the scoring, iten analysis, and data
proeessing have been done by the Conputer Scienee Center,
University of Indonesia. It is Planned that eventually the OTO
should have its own optical scanner and data Proeessing
equipnent.

Based on the results of iten analyses item selection has

been condueted. Two paraneters, nanely, iten difficulty Jevel p
and item discrirnination index r bis have been used in the Process
of it,en selection. ,The selected (good) itens then have been Put
in the iten bank. Until now itern banking has been done manually,
sinee there is no equipment available yet for conputerized iten
banking.

For test security reasctns, conpilation of items j-nto the

final forn of the TPA has beeh done by the Chairnan of Testing
and Selection Unit.

5
 The activities described in this Test Developnent section
have resulted in t,he present characi,eristics of t,he TPA, whi:ch
will be presenied in the next section.

III. TEST CHARACTERISTICS

Based on the activiries ciescribed in Section i] and data

coliecled and p r o c e s s e d up to t he present, the test
charact,eristics of the TPA are as f ol-lows.

A" TEST BLUE-PRINT

The test biue-print of TPA remains alnost unchanged fron the

.f irst ciesign. The test stil] consist,s of three sublests, i -e . ,
(a) verbal, (b) quantirative, and (c) reasoning. This concept,
that is, that acadenic aptiiude consisis of three main abilities
is substanriated by the results of faetor analysis, which will be
described later. A resune of rest specification (test blue-print)
is presented in Table I.

ITEH STATISTICS

The test Potensj- Akademik has been developed based on the

classical test theory or true-score urode]. This nodel- takes into
account two parameters. i. e. . iten difficulty level p and
discrinrination inciex r it ( in TPA's case r bis ) . T h e c o n p l e t,e
average of p level p and average of discrimination index i Uis of
each of the five sets of TPA, Forn 1 - Forn 5 and t,heir
respective cornponents are presented in Table II

Considering the average of p leve] Fs the first forn, Forn

L, with F e g u a l s to .56, is a somewhat easy t e s t , w h i l e F o r m 2,
Forna 3, f orn 4 , and Form 5 w i t h p of .4L, - 4 4 , - 4 2 , a n d . 4 5
respectively are a litt1e difficult tests.
 TABLE

BLUEPRI}IT OF THE TES POTE}ISI AKADEHIK

SUBTEST SECTIONS NU},IBEROF TIHE

ITEHS ALLO}IED

I. VOCABULARY 25
.II- SYNONYM-ANTONYH 25
V E R B A LA B I L I T Y I I I . VERBAL ANALOGIES 25
rv. 15
READINGCOMPREHET'ISION

60 HINUTES

COUPUTATION ?q
I.
otr.
II. N U H B E RS E R I E S
II SUANTITATIVE 1II. SUANTITATIVE
Dq.
ABITITY COHPARISON
IV. I I O R DP R O B L E M 1q

90 60 MINUTES

I. F O R H A LL O G I C A L
REASONING l_J

II. ANALYTICAL R E A S O N I N G
III. REASONING III. SPATIAL REASONING x) 15
ABILITY IV. A B S T R A C TR E A S O N I N GX ) 2 5

70 60 I,IINUTES

TOTAL 250 180 MINUTES

-a
HOURS.

x) NON-VERBAL.
 TABLE II

AVERAGE OF D I F F I C U L T Y LEVELS AND AVERAGE OF D I S C R I H I N A T I O N

I N D I C E S O F T P A F O R H 1 , F O R H 2 , F O R H 3 , FORH 4 AND F O R H 5

FORM SUBSTEST P
blS

Verbal .43 .49

Quant ilai ive .70 .65
Reasoning .56 ..+z
c-')
Total .56

Verbal .46 .36

.44 ?E
Quantitative
Reasoning .31
qA
Total - 4-L

VerbaI .41 .31

Quan-uitat ive .+o .41
.45 ?R
Reasoning
Total .44 .36

4 Verbal .38 -JD

.44 aa
Quantitative
ReasoninE; .44 aq.
Total .42 .37

VerbaI .46 .JJ

Quantitat ive .38 .31

Reasoning .50 :37
Total .45 .34

A test with a diffieulty level in the ranEle of .40 to .50 wi}l

produee a score distribution which is slightly positively skewed
and this kind of distribution neets our need for selecting the
upper p a r t o f t h e d i s t r i b u t i o n .
r1 TEST STATISTICS

Test rel-iability and test validity are two essential

characteristics of any test- Therefore, they are always the
nain concern of testing organi-zations and .prof essional-
organizations - A group of professionals in the OTO have been
trying to work hard so that TPA satisfies the technical
standard with regard to test reliability and test validity.

Teqt
@
Rel i nhi I i irz

Professional stanciarcis require that when tests are used

to nake decisions about as TPA is,
individuals, it is
i-nportant that test reliability high (preferablv
be very -g0
or above ) . This is since reliabiiity
understandable is
directly related lo error of neasurenent . The relationship of
reliabilit,y and error of measurement can be depicted as

=SDV1-r
J- {-

where SE = standard error of rneasurernent

M
SD standrad deviation of test scores

test reliability
{-+

It would be clear fron this relationship that the higher the

test reliability, the }ower the error of measurement will
be, which neans the less will be the risk of naking, nistakes
in a deeision based on the test seores -

The coefficients of reliability of TPA Forn 1 - Forn 5

are presented in Table III -
 TABLE III

C O E F F I C I E N T SO F R E L I A B I L I T Y O F T P A
F O R H 1 , F O R H 2 , F O R H 3 , F O R H 4 , A N D F O R } ' I5

SET OF N U H B E RO F VERB SUANT TOTAL

^rrn ?Fnm^

FORH 1 944 .78 oq RA

FORM 2 1206 .82 o? Rq

FORH3 L7?,3 .82 .94 . J.t

FORH3 .78 o4 Gq

(usA)
F O R H4 1491 -t6 .88 g4
FORU5 2241 Rq .BB g4

Coefficients of reliability of forn L, Form 2, and Form 3 for

the total test were not conputed, However, they can be esti-nated
fron the coeffieients of reliability of their respective
subtests, and nost likely the figures will be over .90. This
argument is substantiated by the results of a stuciy using
Indonesian graciuate students studying in the United States. It
can be observed in Table III that the eoefficient of reliability
for the total test is -95, well over .90. From data presented in
Table III it can be concluded then, that the TPA, fron the test
reliability perspective, satisfies the reguirenent of a good
test.

2- Test Validiiv

Test validi-ty indicates the extend tc which the test

neasures what it is purported to neasure. Traditionally, there
are three approaches for tneasuring test validity, that is, (a)
based on content, (b) based on criterion, and (c) based on
construct.

a. Content validitv

Content validition basically is done through professional

judgment regarding the validity of test concept and test itens -
Validity of the concept of TPA was secured through professionaf
senninars in late 1985. Content validities of test itens had been
achieved through iten reviews, conciucted after iten writing had
been conpleted

10
 vCr r4 iu 9 ! f fv r e
r ri n n - p orlv J U . s 9qul - o d rvrqqt r ul : ui Y d i f r r

Validity based on a criterion, usually cal-led critetion-

relai,ed validiiy, is comnonly regarcied as the nost importartt. In
this regard one usually has a problen in deciding what would be
the criterion for test validition. Ideally, the criterion shouid
be future perfornance or, -for the TPA's case, academic
perfornrance at the graduate leve1, i.e-, GPA. If this kind of
criterion is not avaitable then one usually uses anoiher
neasuring lnstrunent ciesigrred io measure the same psychorogical
consi,ruct. At the nonent GPAs are not avaiiable for raost of ihe
subjeccs who have rai<.en the TPA- It was ciecicied for the interin
that scores on the GRE would be used as criteria with an argument
that the GRE is also designed to measure acadenic aptitude, BS
does TPA.

Scores on the GRE were available fron 81 subjects preparing

themselves for applying for admj-ssions to graduate schools in
t,he United States, and f ron 7A Incionesian E;raduate student,s
siudying in various universii, j-es in the United States in 1987.
Vaiiciity coefficients of each subtest of the TPA and the total
iest using GRE scores as criteria are presented in Table IV.

TABLE IV

B E T } I E E NT P A ( F O R M 3 ) A N D G R E
CORRETATION

TEST ?

( lnd N = 8 1) ( U S A' l ( = 7 0)

VERBAL .49 eq
SUANTITATIVE .57 .84
REASONING 9q _72
TOTAL .58 .72

The correlation of total scores on the TPA and total scores

on the GRE for subjects preparing thenselves for further study in
the United Stated was -58. This correlation is fairly high. It
means that the TPA and the GRE have approximately 34 "t in connon
with regard to measuring academic aptitude. With regard to
Indonesian graduate students studying in the United States, the
correlation was even higher, i.e-, .72, and the coefficient of
deteraiination was -52. The proportion of varianc'e in common
between TPA and GRE f or t,his Eiroup was approxinately 52 7".

11
 Considering that the GRE is a well established test which is
wicieiy used as a cievice for selecting candiciates of graduate
'
schools stucients, the result,s of this analysis are very
encouraging.

Data on graduate cummulatj.ve GPA were available only for

Incionesian graduaLe students studying in t,he United States in
1987. Correlation of each subt,est of TPA and cunrnulat,ive GPA was
conputed. Liltewise, the eorrelation between TPA tota] scores and
eumtnulati'.re GPA was al-so cornputed. For conparison purposes
coefficienf;s of correlations bet,ween GPAs anC scores on GRE
subt,ests and GRE tot.al were also conputed. The resul-ts of these
computations are presenied in Table V.

TABLE v

CORRELATIONS BET1,iEEN GPA AND SCORESON TPA SUBTESTS.. TPA TOTAL

S C O R E S ,S C O R E SO N G R E S U B T E S T S ,A N D G R E T O T A L S C O R E S

TPA and cPA GRE and GPA

TEST TEST

VERBAL .28 VERBAL .20

SUANTIT. ,1
SUANTIT. ?q
REASON. .30 REASON. _41
TOTAL ?a TOTAL qR

It can be observed that the pattern of correlations between

TPA and cummulative GPA is not too different fron the pattern of
correlations between GRE and cunnulative GPA. The GRE total
seores correlated sornewhat higher with GPA than the TPA tota1,
yet both corxelations are statistically significant at .01 alpha
leveI. It appears that TPA and GRE ate. both f airly good
predictors of cummulative GPA.

12
 Construet Validitv

To test whether or not the concept of TPA (which i.s content-

wise valid) is en5:irically valid, factor anafyses were conducted
using data on Forn 2. Resul-ts of the anall'ses are presented in
Table VI . It is obvious t,hat, the Verbal Subt,est measures a
single ability and it was interpreted that the ability is verbal
ability. Likewise, the Suant,iraiive Subtest also neasures only
nyrF ehi I i tw
4 v L l L e J 5 and it was interprel-ed that the ability is
quant'itaiive abiiiiv. Interprecaciion of -"he result of analyses
on tire Reasoning Subtest is rather tricky. The Eigen value of
factor B was still greater than f.00 (a linnit to stop facioring),
but, it can be observed in Table VI, the algebraic signs of R1
anC RZ are positive, while the algebraic si€ins of R3 and R4 are
negative. These different signs seens due to the fact that R1 and
R2 are verbal tests, nhereas R3 and R4 are non-verbal tests. It
seens that verbal reasoning is different fron non-verbal
reasoning. It was interpreied then ihat, the Reasoning $ubtest
neasures reasoninE, ability.

1Q
 TABLE VI
FACTORLOADINGOF TPA
/ I ? Nv .P\ . M
.
? \
4
\r t

VERBAL

F A C T O RL O A D I N G
TEST

V1 . 7B7B .0208
vz .7476 .0023
v3 .748L .0023
V4 .7434 .0019

EIGEN VALUE 2.L757 .0045

QUANTITATIVE

F A C T O RL O A D I N G
TEST

81 _6 7 9 9 .0531
v.t .6120 -u9{tz
q qra
83 .7949
Q4 .5787 .0401

EIGEN VALUE 1.8035 13r1

REASOT{IlIG

F A C T O RL O A D I N G
TEST

R1 -bral- .4839
at 4 ?Cn
DE RqQQ .4610
R4 -DIOl-

1 e,ntt
EIGEN VALUE L - O ' L L
1 NQOA

TOTAL

F A C T O RL O A D I N G
TEST

'70i4
VT -6037
r.tm
t4r .8688 , ' 7 ' , 7r !4
.ua

RT .852t .3256

EIGEN VALUE ? 11RR 5477

AA
L1
 Factor loadings on the total test indicate that the test as
a r.rhole measures one factor, and it was interprei,ed that t,his
factor is acadenic aptitude.

Fron these data and the foregoing discussions it is elear

that the construct of academic aptitude consisting of three sub
abilities, namely (a) verbal abili-ty, (b) quantitative ability,
and (c) reasoning ability, is empirically substantiai,eri; and it
is also clear that TPA neasures this construct.

IV. TEST USAGE

When TPA was acirninistered for the f irst tine in Novenber

1985, the main intended purpose was to test the t,est- However,
the response and enthusiasn of ninistries and other agencies
participating in the testing activities was well beyond
expectations - Fort,y eight organizations, consisting of 15
m'inistries, three non-ninisterial ageneies, and 22 universities,
sent a total 944 persons to take the test. This ehanged the
purpose of test,ing activities greatly toward using the TPA as a
selection device for €raduate school candidates - Since then the
interest in using the TPA as a seleetion device has been
increasing steadily. Some instituti.ons even use TPA as a
selection device for reeruiting new enployees, with the idea that
t,hese employees wil-l be sent abroad for further study in the
future -

Initially the TPA was seheduled tr: be adninistered twice a

year. However, there have always been requests for adninistering
the TPA outside of the regular schedule. The Overseas Training
Ofiice has responded to these reguests positively, and
adninisters the test on requested. This has added sone to the
workload of the OTO, especially the Testing and Selection Unit
and Division I. The cycle of aetivities which inclucies candidate
regist,ration, test adninistration, scoring of answer sheets, and
reporting of test results occurs more frequently-

A Test Acinninistration

Up to the present the TPA has been adninistered by the

Institute of International Eduiation (IIE) on a eontract basis-
The Overseas Training Of f ice is responsible f or candidai,e
registration, assignment of a test center for eaeh eandidate,
preparation of candidate rosters, and preparation of test
materials (test booklets, answer sheets, test manuals), while IIE
is responsible for the distribution of test naterials to test
centers, test adninistrat,ion, retrieval of test materials, and
returning the test naterials to the OTO.

1q
 The nunber of candidates taking the TPA has been increasing
steadily. T h e ' n u m ber was 944 in Novenber 1985; it increased to
1,206 for J u n e 1 9 8 6 t e s t i n g a n d ! , 7 ? ' 3 f o r D e c e n b e r 1986 test,inEi-
The figure decreased t o 1 , 4 9 1 f o r H a r c h 1 9 8 7 t e s t i ng but iunped
up lol Z,ZBO and 3 , 1 3 9 f o r O c t o b e r 1 9 8 7 a n d Harch 1988
adaninistrations respectively. I t i s a n t i c i p a t e d t ,hat nany Dore
candidates will take the t , e s t i n t h e f u t u r e . U p t o the present
alnost fifteen thousand candidates h a v e r e g i s t e r e d to take the
TPA, and over twelve and a half t h o u s a n d a c t u a l l y t o o k the test.
Details of the number of candidates r e g i s t e r i n g a n d t a king the
test is presented in Table V I L ( s e e p a g e t 7 a n d 1 8 ) .

B. S"orirrE and Analvsis

Since the OT0 does not have the necessary eguiprnent for
scoring .and analysis, test scoring, iten analysis, and other data
p"o."==it g have been done by the C o n p u t e r S c ience Center '
University of Indonesia in Jakarta. Scoring h a s b e e n d o n e using
an optical ssanner (tlestinghouse). Iten analyses a n d o t h e r data
p r o c e s s i n g h a v e b e e n d o n e u s i n g S P S S-

so far, this arrangement has been working very well- It

would be better, holrever, if OTO eventually owns t'he n e c e s s a r y
equipnent -

C. ReportinP Test Results

After test administrations IIE returns test books and answer

sheets t o t , h e O T O . I t w a s m e n tioned earlier that test scoring,
iten a n a l y s i s , a n d d a t a p r o c e s s i n g a r e d o n e by the Conputer
Science C e n t e r , U n i v e r s i t y o f I n d o n e s i a , b a s e d o n OT0's reguests'

For each candi:date, four standard scores are rePorted, i.e',

scores on Verbal, Quantitative and Reasoning subtests, and the
score on the Total t e s t . T h e s u b t e s t s e a c h h a s a n e a n o f 50 and
a standard deviation o f 1 0 , w h i l e t h e T o t a l t e s t ' h a s a m ean of
500 and a standard deviation o f 1 0 0 . U p t o t h e p r e s e n f, the
reports provided by OT0 consist o n l y o f g r o u p r e p o r t s , i - e -, a
list of scores j - s sent to the r e s p e c t i v e a g e n e y p a r t i c i p a t i n g i n
the testing program. It is planned that, it the future, in
addition to the g r o u p reports i n d i v i d u a l r e P o r t s w i l l a l s o b e
providetl; in the future each candidate w i l l r e c e i v e h i s o r h e r
score.

D. Use of test results

The test results are generally used as a criterion for

naking decisins regarding the probability of success a e a n d i d a te

16
has if he or she is given the opportunity to study at a graduate
level. The Overseas Training O f f i c e u s e s s cores on the TPA as a
selection criterion for those w h o r r i l l b e a w a r d e d s c h o l arships
nanaged by the 0T0. For other p a r t i c i p a t i n g o r g a n i z a t i o n s the OT0
supplies information, i.e., the four s c o r e s a n d w h a t t h e y nean'
Decisions are left entirely to the agencies c o n c e r n e d '

TABLE VII
NUMBEROF CANDIDATESTAKING TES POTENSI AKADEI{IK
(Novenber 1985 - Harch lgBB)

No. Date of testing Number of candidates lnstitut ion

Registered Showed up

1. Novenber 30, 1985x 1 toQ 944

2- Hay 6, lgBE B B Univ. ofBengkulu
3. February ZT, lgBG 129 109 IUP, CPIS, HiN.
of Env j-ronent,
Min.of Health,
NGO, Hin. of
Labor Force,
Heson, Hin. of
Finance, Hin-of
Edueation and
Culture, Hin-of
Public tlorks,
Agency for
National Survey
and ilapping
4 - ltay 28, 1986 183 180 Nat-Dev.Plann-
ing Ag.
5. June 28, 1986x 1,561 1,206
e? 7B Hin.of Finance,
6- September 25, lgBB
Cabinet
Seeretariat
7 - Deceurber 6, 1986x 2,237 1,723
B. December LZ, 1986 24 2t Nat.Dev.Plann-
ing Ag.
9. January 31, 1gB7 64 Hin - of
-79 Agricultural
10. Harch 7, 1987x 1,805 1,491
11. April 10, 1987 I B Nat. Dev. Plann-
ing Ag.
LZ. June 25, 1987 2t9 208 Hin-of Finance
13. July 16, 1gB7 7 7 Graduate Prog.
UI
L4. August 4, 1987 4 Nat.Dev.Plann-
ing Ag.

17
 TABLE VII (COHTINUED)

No Date of testing Nunber of candidates Inst itut ion

Registered Showed up

15. 0ctober 3, 1987x , all 2,260

16. October L7, 1987
127 Hin. of
Enviroment Aff.
AOA Nat.Dev.Plann-
L7. November 15, 1987 7L2
ing Ag.
1 8 . D e c e u n b e r5 , 1987 I.J Hin. of
Agr icu fture
t 2 Private Univ.
19. January B, lgBB
34 t'[in. of Labor
2A. January 9, 1988 J/
Force
127 New Zealand
2L. January L4, l9BB
Enbassy
19BB CR 34 New Ze a l a n d
2Z- January lg,
Enbassy
t2 Zealand
?,3. February 6, 1-gBB JL New
Embassy
24. February 18, 19BB 22 Nat.Dev.Plann-
ing
154 t28 Christian Univ
25. Harch 18, lgBS
of Ind.
AAq 1?q
26. Harch 26, 19BBx U S e e e
"
U S L v e
"

Total 14, BB8 IZ, OOJ

r c R e g uI a r

V. TES -POTENSIAKADEHIK IN PERSPECTIVE

presented in this paper indieate that

The arguments and data
d a t a c o l l e c t e d s o f a r a l s o p r ove
TPA is indeed a good test. The
that the TPA is a fairly good predj-ctor of graduate GPA; as yet
evidence is needed to establish a solid proof that
nore enpirical
of Eiraduate s t u d v s u c c e s s ' For this
the TPA is a Eiood Predictor
purpose a -t*ti.ai tV study us |ng I n d o n e s i a n g r a d u a t e students
studying in-courrt.'-'y is now underway'

18
 It was also noted in the previous section that the interest
for using the TPA has been increasing steadity. This phenonenon
p r e s e n t s m o r e c h a l l e n g e s t o t h e O T O . S o n n es o c i a l i s s u e s , s u c h a s
test fairness, and equity of opportunj-ty night arise soon, and
the 0T0 s h o u l d b e r e a d y t o r e s p o n d t o t h l s t y p e o f i s s u e s .

One thing that should be sought is the possibilitv for the

TPA t o c o n t r i b u t e t o t h e p r o m o t i o n o f i n t e r n a t i o n a l c o o p eration
and exchanE;e. H a n y o t h e r c o u n t r i e s a r e u n d o u b t e d l y a t v arious
stages o f p l a n n i n g o r p r e p a r i n g a n d a d n i n i s t e r i n g s i m i l a r tests;
a forum like this panel and this conference is an excellent way
to exchange infornation and experience, which hopefully will lead
to cooperative research proiects

19