Entrance Tests as Predictors of Academic Performance in Army Soldier Applicants: DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.18847/1.12.7

Abstract

The academic performance of the aspiring soldier is the set of indicators of academic subjects, physical preparation and military attitude that he presents within the military training institute, since the product that is intended to be delivered to the Army and society is a disciplined and prepared individual academically, militarily and physically, according to the standards established in the Military Education Model of the Armed Forces and the career plan in military sciences of the University of the Armed Forces - ESPE. In addition, it is necessary to complement this training by instilling the conviction of pursuing a professional and ethical military career. Thus, the proposed objective was to establish the results of the entrance tests that predict the academic performance of aspiring second-year military soldiers, 2018-2020 class, of the Ecuadorian Army Soldiers Training School “Vencedores del Cenepa”. Therefore, this research presents a quantitative approach, with a non-experimental, cross-sectional design and a correlational scope. The averages of the entrance and academic performance tests were used for academic periods and annual cut-off of each aspiring soldier, from the file and database of the Soldiers Training School "Vencedores del Cenepa", for their tabulation in a matrix of Excel predesigned and the subsequent statistical analysis in the SPSS program. Thus, a moderate significant correlation is observed between academic and physical entrance tests with academic performance, a low correlation with the military attitude of would-be soldiers, and no correlation with student desertion. In addition, the entrance tests that moderately predict academic performance and poorly predict military attitudes of would-be soldiers are the academic and physical entrance tests.