Running Head: THE FEMALE UNDERPREDICTION EFFECT 1

The Female Underprediction Effect

There is no doubt that the Female Underprediction Effect is one of the most discussed

problems associated with the gender gap in testing. Unfortunately, widespread college

admission tests SAT and ACT are known to under predict the abilities of females. For

instance, Howard Wainer and Linda Steinberg discovered that males score 33 points higher

on the SAT-Math than females who earn the same grades in the same college math courses

(N.D., 2007, p.1). SAT and ACT results of young women are often lower than their GPA

scores. The gender gap is especially evident in Mathematics, Science Reasoning and all

Physical Sciences. Tests demonstrate that women do better on questions related to the

Humanities and relationships when men show better results on questions about the Physical

Sciences, business and sport. It is interesting that females often outperform males in

academic studies that is not reflected in the results of the tests.

This situation is disturbing because it provokes a lot of negative consequences. The

results of tests are used to determine eligible candidates for scholarships and female

underprediction deprives women of additional educational opportunities that may affect the

quality of education. Moreover, women are often underrepresented in science and technical

fields which are usually considered to be more financially rewarding that spheres dominated

by females (Nelson et al., 1999).

There is no doubt that policy makers should be aware of the situation and take into

account gender bias and the Female Underprediction Effect (Hyde and Kling, 2001). It

should result in elaboration of alternative methods of academic assessment that would be

characterized by lack of gender bias and give females equal opportunities with male

students. In my opinion, it is an important aim that should be reached in a truly democratic

society.

THE FEMALE UNDERPREDICTION EFFECT 2

References

Hyde, J. and K. Kling. (2001). Women, Motivation and Achievement. Psychology of

Women Quarterly December, Vol. 25, No. 4, 364-378.

Nelson, B., R. Aron, and D. Poole. (1999). Underprediction of Female Performance from

Standardized Knowledge Tests: A Further Example from the Knowledge of Geography Test.

A Journal of Research.

N.D. (2007). Gender Bias in College Admissions Tests. Web. 8 Sept. 2012. Retrieved from

http://www.fairtest.org/facts/genderbias.htm