IQ tests should be used to select students for university, says government's adviser

IQ-style tests are more reliable than A-levels in predicting how well a student will do at university, according to research published yesterday.

The tests are believed by academics to give working-class youngsters - whose A-level results may have suffered because of poor schooling - an even chance of entering university.

Professor Steven Schwartz, the head of the Government's task force on university admissions, is to recommend in his final report to ministers in the new year that universities use the tests with A-level results to choose candidates. The aim is to increase the number of working-class students.

The findings were announced two days before annual university performance tables are to be published. The statistics are expected to confirm a large gap between the percentage of working-class studentsat elite research universities and those joining the former polytechnics.

Dr Robert Harding, from the University of Cambridge Local Examination Syndicate that devised the 90-minute test, said yesterday: "That the numbers taking it [the test] have increased fourfold this year shows that increasing numbers of people think it is a useful thing to do."

Researchers monitored the university exam results of the first students to sit the IQ-style tests to gain entrance to university two years ago.

Dr Harding said that the tests were a better predictor of success than A-levels or interviews.