Complete Book Of Intelligence test
Specific Aptitude Tests
In the somewhat complex area of psychometric testing. the terminology and procedures involved are sometimes misunderstood or misinterpreted.
The word 'aptitude' is often misused to mean ability or achievement, and in the context of psychometric testing aptitude may be regarded as just another way of referring to specific ability. There is, however, a subtle technical difference between the three words 'achievement', 'ability' and 'aptitude', which can be distinguished as follows:
Achievement – what you have accomplished in the past.
Ability -- what Youare Able to do demonstrate in the present.
Aptitude – how quickly or easily you will be able to learn in the future.
Psychometric tests can be broadly divided into two main categories:
1. Tests of maximum performance, such as ability or aptitude.
2. Tests of typical performance, such as personality or interest.
An ability test is designed to measure maximum performance and potential in a number of areas. These abilities can be measured separately, or combined to give an assessment of overall general ability. Often tests are constructed so that they relate to a specific job or skill and assess things such as perceptual speed or mechanical reasoning.
Examples of ability tests are; general intelligence tests (1Q tests), knowledge-based attainment tests and aptitude tests, which test the ability to use knowledge.
Ability is a very general term which can be applied to many different types of specific ability. There are, in fact, over 50 different human abilities, although these fall within the following four main categories:
1. Cognitive reasoning – verbal, numerical, abstract, perceptual, spatial, mechanical. A very broad and general definition of the word "cognition' is: knowing, perceiving and thinking. It is studied by psychologists because it reveals the extent of a person's ability to think.
2. Psychomotor- eye and hand coordination.
3. Sensory- hearing, touch, sense, smell, sight.
4. Physical – stamina and strength.
There are nine different types of aptitude, which may be summarised as follows:
1. General learning- leam and understand, reason and make judgements, c.g. how well we achieve at school.
2. Verbal aptitude - general lexical skills; understanding words and using them effectively.
3. Numerical aptitude - general mathematical skills; working with numbers quickly and accurately.
4. Spatial aptitude - understanding geometric forms; the understanding and identification of patterns and their meaning, e.g. understanding how to construct a flat-pack piece of fumiture from a set of instructions.
5. Form perception – studying and perceiving details in objects and/or graphic material. Making visual comparisons between shapes, e.g. inspecting an object under a microscope in a laboratory; quality inspection of goods in a factory.
6. Clerical perception – reading, analysing and obtaining details from written data or tabulated material, e.g. proof reading, analysing reports.
7. Motor coordination - cye and hand coordination. Making rapid movement response quickly and accurately, c.g. actually being able to assemble the flat pack piece of furniture once you have understood how it should be done; being able to operate a keyboard quickly and accurately; sporting skills.
8. Finger dexterity – manipulating small objects quickly and accurately, e.g. playing a piano, sewing.
9. Manual dexterity - the skill of being able to work with your hands, c.g. painting and decorating, building things, operating machinery.
In the case of most aptitude tests there is usually a set time limit which must be strictly adhered to in order for the test to be valid, and there is usually an average score which has been standardised in comparison with a group of people who have taken the same test.
When taken under these conditions there may be up to five levels of test performance expressed in percentage terms in comparison with the average score established:
1. Top 10%of population- extremely high degree of aptitude.
2. Top one-third (excluding top 10%) - high degree of aptitude.
3. A score obtained by one-third of the population - average degree of aptitude.
4. Lowest one-third - below average.
5. Lowest 10%- minimal aptitude.
The tests that follow are divided into three main sections: verbal aptitude, numerical aptitude and technical aptitude. Several spatial aptitude tests are included in subsequent chapters, specifically Chapter 3 (Logical reasoning) and Chapter 4 (Creativity).
Because they have been newly compiled for this book, the tests have not been standardised in comparison to scores obtained by other groups. Nevertheless there is a guide to assessing your performance at the end of each test, and because the tests relate to specific aptitudes, the results will give you the opportunity to identify your own particular strengths and weaknesses.
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