A comparative examination of the 2013 musical aptitude test scores of music education students and their 1st academic year GPAs

Abstract

In Turkey, BA degree Music education programs accept students according to their Musical Aptitude Test scores in addition to the Transition to Higher Education Examination (YGS) scores due to the fact that music requires special talent. Musical Aptitude tests are prepared and applied by the Music Departments of universities. The Musical Aptitude Test that is used in Music Education BA program in Uludag University consists of two parts. The first part aims to determine the readiness level of the candidates in terms of music theory and ear training and serves as an elimination exam. The second part of the exam, on the other hand, intends to evaluate the musical talents of instrument and voice, and is used as a selection exam. Within this context, it is expected that students' success on the musical aptitude test has a significant impact on their GPAs. The relation between those two scores is thought to be crucial to obtain the data to determine validity of the test especially when the purpose of the test is considered. For this reason, students' GPAs, Ear Training and Musical Literacy I-II, Major Performance I-II, Solo Vocal Training I-II class average grades and 2013 Musical Aptitude test scores are analyzed comparatively. Positive correlation is sustained between the musical aptitude test scores and first year GPAs of the students as a result of descriptive analysis. Moreover, the results show that Musical Aptitude test applied in 2013 has a high degree of validity. (C) 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer-review under responsibility of Academic World Education and Research Center.