The results of identical ‘prior knowledge assessment’ (PKA) tests taken by students in the 1996 Mechanical Engineering entry streams of two comparable UK universities (P and Q) are presented and discussed. The work is a development of a previous study carried out with 1992 entrants at university P. Comparisons are made between the performances of the 1992 and 1996 entrants of university P, between the performances of the 1996 intakes at universities P and Q, and between student attainment and staff expectations at university Q. The results are also appraised in relation to the A-level performances of the two groups of students.
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