A Longitudinal Study on the Chemical Knowledge of Prospective University Students

Many universities face the challenge that high dropout rates (e.g. ~ 30 % in chemistry in Germany) are observed in higher education. Accordingly, the college readiness of prospective students is doubted. In this context this article focuses on the content-specific and cognitive characteristic as part of the college readiness. Within four years we examined the responses from more than 500 prospective students who participated in a content-specific prior knowledge test in chemistry. Overall, we found that content-specific prior knowledge test and average Abitur grade (final highschool grade) remained almost constant. In addition, a low correlation between the content-specific knowledge and the average Abitur grade was found. Finally, only deficits and strengths in individual subject areas of chemistry could be identified throughout the years, which are presented in this article as examples.