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The effectiveness of various types of admission test to university studies is intensively discussed in the Czech Republic and abroad. Some universities in the Czech Republic accept students on the basis of their own subject-specific specialized knowledge tests; others follow the results of tests of general study abilities. In some study programs, the admission tests are abandoned at all and the students are selected according to their study results at secondary schools.
Until 2015/2016, Faculty of Science of Charles University (Prague, Czech Republic) used a combination of two different admission tests into biological study programs - the knowledge test in biology and the test of general study prerequisites. Since 2016/2017, only the knowledge test in biology has been used.
The aim of this paper is to evaluate the relation between the students’ results in both types of tests and their subsequent study results in the bachelor study. The results of students from five years of admission examinations (2009/2010 - 2014/2015; n = 1662) and their overall study average in the first year of bachelor study were compared. There was a statistically significant but weak correlation between the students’ scores in the general study prerequisites test and their study average in the first year (Pearson r = -0.095; p <0.01). The scores in the biology admission test correlated with the study average moderately (Pearson r = - 0.426; p <0.01) and this correlation was even stronger than if the scores in both tests were pooled (Pearson r = - 0.357; p <0.01). The results of the admission test in biology quite well reflected the later student outcome of the state bachelor's examination (one-way ANOVA; p <0.01), while in the case of the general study prerequisites this relation was not significant (one-way ANOVA; p> 0.1).
Based on on our results, the knowledge tests in biology seem to be more reliable in selecting prospective students than the general study abilities tests or the combination of both tests.

This research was financially supported by the Charles University project UNCE/HUM/024 “Centrum didaktického výzkumu v přírodních vědách, matematice a jejich mezioborových souvislostech”.

Keywords: effectiveness of admission tests, study results, bachelor study.