Most chosen general qualifications exam board in England.

  • About AQA

  • Centre Services

  • Join Us

  • Contact Us

AQA
  • Subjects
  • Qualifications
  • Professional Development
  • Exams Admin
  • Services
  • Search
  • Subjects

  • Qualifications

  • Professional Development

  • Exams Admin

  • Services

  • About AQA

  • Centre Services

  • Join Us

  • Contact Us

  • Log in

Subjects

  • Accounting

  • Art and Design

  • Biology

  • Business

  • Chemistry

  • Computer Science

  • Dance

  • Design and Technology

  • Drama

  • Economics

  • English

  • Food preparation and Nutrition

  • French

  • Geography

  • German

  • History

  • Law

  • Mathematics

  • Media Studies

  • Music

  • Physical Education

  • Physics

  • Politics

  • Psychology

  • Religious Studies

  • Science

  • Sociology

  • Spanish

  • All subjects

GCSEs

  • Biology (8461)

  • Chemistry (8462)

  • Combined Science: Trilogy (8464)

  • English Language (8700)

  • English Literature (8702)

  • Geography (8035)

  • History (8145)

  • Mathematics (8300)

  • See all GCSEs

AS and A-levels

  • Biology (7401)

  • Business (7131)

  • Chemistry (7404)

  • Geography (7037)

  • History (7041)

  • Physics (7407)

  • Psychology (7181)

  • Sociology (7191)

  • See all AS and A-Levels

Other qualifications

  • Applied Generals

  • AQA Certificate Mathematics

  • Entry Level Certificates

  • Project Qualifications

  • Unit Award Scheme

  • All qualifications

Our training

  • Course finder

  • About our training

  • Online training

  • Face-to-face training

  • In-school training

  • Inside assessment

Courses by theme

  • Effective exam prep

  • Exams officers

  • Getting started

  • Unit Award Scheme

Courses by subject

  • English

  • Mathematics

  • Science

  • Languages

  • Design and Technology

  • Physical Education

  • Geography

  • History

  • All professional development

Dates

  • Dates and timetables

  • Key dates

Non-exam assessment (NEA)

  • NEA, coursework and controlled assessment

  • Deadlines for non-exam assessment

  • Record forms

  • Submit marks

Exams

  • Entries

  • Entry fees

  • Exams guidance

  • Question papers and stationery

  • Access arrangements

  • Special consideration

Results

  • Results days

  • Results slips

  • Grade boundaries

  • Results statistics

  • Post-results services

  • Exam certificates

  • All Exams Admin

Assessment Services

  • Centre Services

  • Associate Extranet

  • Become an associate

Products

  • All About Maths

  • Alpha Plus

  • Data Insights

  • Exampro

  • Project Q

  • Stride Maths

  • Testbase

  • Unit Award Scheme

News and Insights

  • AQI research and insight

  • News

  • Inside exams podcast

AQA
  • Become an examiner
  • Switch to AQA
  • Contact Us
  • Join us
  • Terms and conditions
  • Accessibility
  • Modern slavery statement
  • Privacy notice
  • Cookie notice
  • X
  • LinkedIn
  • Youtube

©AQA 2025 | Company number: 03644723 | Registered office: Devas Street, Manchester, M15 6EX | AQA is not responsible for the content of external sites

AQA Education has obtained an injunction preventing interference with public examinations. This notice is to alert you to the injunction, so that you are aware of it and can make submissions about it if you wish to do so.

  1. Home
  2. About Us
  3. Our Research
  4. Research Library
  5. Sex differences in objective test performance

Sex differences in objective test performance

Share this page

  • WhatsApp
  • LinkedIn
  • X
  • Facebook
Sex differences in objective test performance

Sex differences in objective test performance

01 Jun 1982

Sex differences in objective test performance

By Roger Murphy

Abstract

The choice of techniques used in making educational assessments may have a crucial influence on the relative performance of various groups of individuals. It has, for example, been suggested that males may obtain better results when objective (multiple-choice) tests are employed rather than other methods of assessment. This particular possibility is explored in relation to a selection of 16 GCE examinations, which were selected for the investigation because they all included both objective tests and other methods of assessment in their overall schemes of assessment.

The results from the majority of these examinations supported the hypothesis that males perform better, in relation to females, on objective tests than they do on other forms of assessment. The influence of different levels of written language skills on the performance of males and females on certain non-objective forms of assessment is put forward as a possible explanation for these results. The implications of the findings for those wanting to avoid bias, when constructing schemes of assessment, are also discussed.

How to cite

Murphy, R. (1982). Sex differences in objective test performance, British Journal of Educational Psychology, Vol. 52 Iss. 2.

Keywords

  • Gender
  • Bias