Gender Difference in the Scholastic Achievement Test (SAT) among School Adolescents

Abstract

The paper examined gender difference in the Scholastic Achievement Test (SAT) among senior secondary school adolescents using the physical science of physics in three (3) separate papers. The paper attempted to ascertain whether gender difference accounts for the score differential observed in the Scholastic Achievement Test (SAT). The study adopted a field experiment and a sample size of 410 respondents consisting of 208 males and 202 females respectively. The correlation matrix of the three (3) papers was performed and the two (2) hypotheses were tested with the quintessential Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) at 0.05 level of significance. The results showed that the gap between males and females widened from one paper to the other with males performing better than females in physics. It was therefore recommended that some motivational strategies should be adopted to stir up female adolescents in physics and other physical sciences as a way of enhancing their career prospects in science-related disciplines.