[sysk]

I think the point being made is that there are probably predictors which have many orders of magnitude more predictive power (e.g. work experience, education, interview questions, programming exercise, available source code, etc.).

The male gender is probably correlated to programming ability as well due to the fact that there are more male programmers but it's not a very useful predictor.

[marcosdumay]

Predictors for a school to apply? I wouldn't bet on it. None of your suggestions seem fit.

Also, for a job it's probably a better predictor than a resume.

[sysk]

> Predictors for a school to apply?

First, it was suggested that this test should be used for programming job interviews. Second, why would a school who teaches programming care if students had programming ability? If you answer it is because the school wants to maintain a reputation of producing good programmers (hence adding value to the students' resumes), it contradicts your statement that this test is a better predictor than a resume. Otherwise, people would just study algebra instead of going to that school.

[marcosdumay]

The author uses it as a predictor for acceptance at a school.

For the way, he was around the thread explaining that he can train a limited number of people, and that some of them not learning is wasteful and uninspiring.