Abstract
Since gaining independence, with the restructuring and the democratisation of the Malaysian educational system, many students were sent overseas, either through government or private sponsorships. As a consequence, there is a need to choose the right candidates for overseas education. Any policy would need to address the problem at the pre-university level; the main factors identified in this study were the language issue, the possession of scientific cognitive skills and the entry- knowledge in the subjects to be studied. A post-test observation approach was chosen for the study. A test instrument was designed and developed for the study entitled ’Cognitive Skills for the Sciences’ (CSS) Test. Test administration took place in September 1991 with 156 students from three institutions. A follow-up study on their academic performance in universities was performed. In addition, observations on classroom interaction was made to establish it’s possible effect on the development of higher cognitive skills and questionnaires were used to elicit students’ opinion and perception on factors related to their study experiences. The Spearman-rho correlation test was performed to identify the relationships between the O-level English, O-level science, A-level science, CSS Test and first year university examination achievement. The results suggest very weak associations between the variables; A-level results, O-level English achievement and the CSS Test scores with first year university’s achievement for the three science subjects (Physics, Chemistry and Biology). The classroom interaction observation showed different frequencies of higher and lower level interaction for the different science subjects. The survey implies that students’ experience in a new environment may affect their perception, mostly on their English capability, the teaching style and their approach toward science learning, and less on study problems related to external factors.