An investigation of the effects of selected variables on the Graduate Management Admission Test scores of African American examinees

The purposes of this study were to develop a profile of African-American Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT) examinees and to identify major predictors of GMAT performance for these students.;Multiple regression and t-test analyses were used in this study; GMAT records of 1,500 randomly-selected African-American examinees provided the data. Dependent variables were GMAT verbal (GMATV), GMAT quantitative (GMATQ), and GMAT total (GMATT) scores. Independent variables were age, sex, undergraduate grade point average (GPA), undergraduate major, exam preparation method, and racial composition of the students' undergraduate institutions.;Mean undergraduate GPA was 2.64 (standard deviation =.41); mean age was 28.02 (standard deviation = 5.96). The largest percentage of examinees in each profiled category was as follows: 78% graduated from predominantly white institutions (PWI's), 22% from historically black colleges and universities (HBCU's); 50% had been business majors; 87% were planning to earn MBA's; 27% had worked more than seven years; and 56% were female.;Students with higher GPA's had higher GMAT scores. Males had higher GMATQ and GMATT. Social and physical science majors had higher GMATQ and GMATT scores, humanities majors had higher GMATV scores, and business majors had lower GMATV scores than other majors.;Students from PWI's received higher GMATV, GMATQ, and GMATT scores than students from HBCU's. This finding is probably a result of student differences rather than of institutional differences, as PWI's generally require from applicants evidence of higher levels of academic ability (higher GPA's and admissions test scores) than do HBCU's. Also at PWI's, younger students had higher GMAT scores than older ones.;Students who used a commercial preparation book had higher GMAT scores than other students, but HBCU students who attended a formal coaching course had lower GMATV scores than other students. Determining why specific examinees chose specific preparation methods was impossible, as was controlling for amount or quality of preparation method. Hence, definitive conclusions regarding preparation methods cannot be offered.;HBCU students had higher GPA's and were more likely to have been undergraduate business majors. PWI students were more likely to have enrolled in coaching courses and to have been social science majors.