Predictive validity of the Slovene Matura exam for academic achievement in humanities and social sciences

Matura is a Slovene national examination, which all the students take after successfully completing secondary education. The Matura has two major functions; it is a high school final examination and a selection instrument for University. The goal of the study was to investigate the predictive validity of Matura for predicting academic success in study programmes in the area of humanities and social sciences. Predictive validity was studied both from the traditional correlational perspective and from the multilevel regression perspective. Additionally, we checked for possible differences in predictive validity between study programmes. According to the expectations, the Matura score was a relatively strong and robust predictor of later academic achievement, even after controlling for the high school overall grade. The results support the use of Matura scores in selection of candidates for undergraduate studies in humanities and social sciences.