Tests of a Prior Marksmanship Knowledge Predictor Test

Abstract

The research sought to determine whether performance on a prior knowledge test of marksmanship added any predictive power beyond that from simply asking Soldiers if they have experience shooting outside of a military context (e.g., hunting). We tested the relationship between marksmanship prior knowledge and the shooting performance of 54 students across three classes of the Army Squad Designated Marksmanship (SDM) Course and 184 Soldiers during Infantry One Station Unit Training (OSUT) on the Basic Rifle Marksmanship (BRM) qualification course of fire. We found that prior knowledge did significantly predict marksmanship performance beyond any effects of prior shooting experience outside of the military in both the SDM and BRM groups. However, the effect size for BRM was too small to be useful for effective instructional grouping for BRM.