Cognitive and personality test as a predictor of religious education achievement among students of religious program of Islamic schools in Indonesia

Student admission aims at selecting students who can adapt to the school environment and predict students' academic success. The best student admission system is needed to determine the success of religious education in schools that have a religion-based. This paper presents the results of correlation between predictive test study, cognitive and personality tests toward the students’ Islamic achievement in Islamic Subject. This research used a quantitative approach and a survey using three measuring instruments; a learning achievement test, cognitive test, and Big Five Personality test. The subjects of this study were 1396 students from 10 Islamic Senior High Schools conducting religious major program in Indonesia. The results of this study indicate that cognitive tests and personality types are significant predictors of religious education achievement. Specifically, verbal tests and reasoning have been significant predictors of religious education achievement as well. Furthermore, from five dimensions of Big Five Personality, the strongest type of personality, openness to experience and conscientiousness are vigorous predictors of the religious education achievement. Agreeableness, extraversion, and emotional stability, however, do not have a significant influence on religious education achievement. Further research can reach the entire national admission system of state Islamic senior high schools in Indonesia namely Islamic senior high schools Insan Cendekia, which is also a state boarding school in Indonesia.