Aptitude Assessment

How the tests are administered

You will be asked to do a wide variety of tasks during your testing, such as assembling blocks, remembering numbers, solving puzzles, and listening to simple tunes. Paper and pencil tests are kept to a minimum. About half of our tests are given individually by a trained test administrator; the rest are given using audio-visual equipment.

How our tests are different

Many people ask how our testing differs from other kinds of tests people take to help them make decisions about education and work. Personality tests, interest questionnaires, and IQ testing are all familiar concepts to many people.

Have questions about learning differences? See here.

Interest and personality tests

One important difference is that our tests do not consist of answering self-perception questions or filling out forms. It is too easy to answer an attitude, perception, or interest question depending on your mood or opinion, or as you feel it ought to be answered. Even if approached sincerely, a personality test or interest questionnaire's results are based solely on how you feel about yourself, not on how well you actually can do a particular task.

Two people can be interested in engineering, but which of them has the necessary abilities to become a satisfied and productive engineer? Our testing would be able to provide that information.

IQ testing

Unlike an IQ score, which is of limited value in career selection, your aptitude test results form a pattern, showing your various strengths and weaknesses. Two people can have identical IQ scores but very different aptitude patterns.

Aptitudes remain stable throughout your life

Aptitudes are not interests, and unlike aptitudes, interests can change. It is unlikely that you would have the same interests at age thirty that you did when you were sixteen. You would, however, have the same aptitudes at any age. Aptitudes are natural abilities, and our research has shown that a person's scores remain fairly stable throughout his or her life.