The relationships of certain educational and experience background factors to successful or unsuccessful completion of the CPS examination by new candidates in 1978

The problem of this study was to determine the relationships among certain background factors of Certified Professional Secretary (CPS) candidates and success on the 1978 CPS examination. The back-ground factors included the frequency with which certain secretarial duties were performed by new candidates, the overall ratings of candidates by their past and present employers, and the educational levels of the candidates. Successful and unsuccessful candidates were compared on those background factors.

In 1979, Kathryn Snodgrass performed a study involving 2,074 experienced secretaries who were approved to take the 1978 CPS examination. That study identified 354 candidates who passed zero, one, five, or six parts of the 1978 examination. Of those candidates, 100 who passed five or six parts of the examination and 100 who passed one or no parts of the examination were compared in the current study.

Information needed for the study was collected from the application forms and employer's evaluation forms completed by and for 200 secretaries involved in this study. Average task performance frequencies were determined, and t-tests were used to study the relationships among success on the examination and the frequency with which certain duties were performed, the educational level of the candidate, and the employers' overall ratings of the candidate.

The frequency of performance of the duties of originating written communications, making travel arrangements, gathering research materials for reports and/or speeches, preparing for meetings and keeping notes and minutes at meetings, and obtaining information from and supplying information to other offices, considered independently, were found not to be related to success on the 1978 CPS examination. The employers' overall ratings of the secretary were also found not to be related to success on the examination.

The frequency of performance of the duties of supervising other employees and receiving and placing telephone calls were found to be related to success on the examination. The secretary's level of education was also related to successful completion of the examination.