Aptitude Test Importance

Charles Spearman’s theory (1904) also takes the psychometric approach that there is a general intelligence. Spearman maintains that intelligence is hereditary and an individual is born with their maximum mental ability. This suggests that intelligence cannot be changed or strengthened. The concept of ‘general intelligence’ suggests that an individual has an underlying intelligence, in which their performance in one type of cognitive task is often similar to their performance in another (Boundless 2013). Spearman demonstrated this through the correlations between tests, where individuals who performed well in one test, often performed well in others. This led Spearman to the conclusion that intelligence is defined as a single factor. However, critics refute Spearman’s conclusions, as they argue that one cannot reduce all factors of intelligence to an indefinable “g” (Neisser et al. 1996).

The level of education required to pursue these careers is subjective to the position that is to be held by an individual. This explores the notion of having a lower education, yet being considered a professional. The knowledge learned from another source, begins to question the reason behind why companies are screening individuals based on education. Intelligence stems further than academics-that the means to gain knowledge are available through many sources. An educational institution is not the only method in gaining knowledge. The decision to have students decide what level of education they will go to pursue is a suggestive notion in determining where they may end up in the future. The choice between a college education, or university education, doing a placement, or just entering the work sphere directly become a decision that influences the course of a person's

Students are able to see themselves as individuals with various skills and abilities, and understand that they can make choices about how they wish to move forward

The college admissions test fail to capture the true intelligence possessed by students. According to a theory made by Howard Gardner, there are eight distinct intelligences that humans can have. These are the categories revolving around intelligence: Musical-rhythmic, Visual-spatial, Verbal-linguistic, and Logical-mathematical intelligences. Unfortunately, the ACTs and SATs only gauge the student's ability to answer Verbal-linguistic and Logical-mathematical questions. Thus, the other abilities that students do enthrall are not represented well in these tests.

An anonymous author once stated, “Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.” The same idea holds true when it comes to standardized testing. A student with testing anxiety, dyslexia, poor comprehension, or slow paced thinking skills should not be tested on his or her ability to take a limited subject, timed test. Upon receiving test results, only two outcomes are possible; instead of believing in improvement, students will either become discouraged or set in cruise control (Jouriles, 2014). Along with that, a majority of students will not look to expand their knowledge on the subjects after the tests conclude, being as the tests do not coincide with any of Gardner’s multiple intelligences. Howard Gardner, a Harvard professor believed that humans were comprised of eight distinct intelligences, which allowed them to be stronger and spark interest in some areas over others (McDevitt & Ormrod, 2010). Gardner believed in Linguistic, Logical-Mathematical, Spatial, Musical, Bodily-Kinesthetic, Interpersonal, Intrapersonal, and Naturalist Intelligences, but out of the reading, writing, science, and mathematics that the MCA’s test students on, only one subject area coincides with Gardner’s discovery (McDevitt & Ormrod, 2010). How are students expected to contribute their hard work and effort, when they are being tested on their weaknesses rather than their strengths? Gardner was able to realize the differences between individuals; he saw how much more there was to a human. Unfortunately, test makers have not come to that realization, for they fail to include subjects such as music, art, language, social studies, history, mechanics, and environmental studies. Until standardized test creators make an attempt to obtain a well rounded evaluation of the individual

Students are able to see themselves as individuals with various skills and abilities, and understand that they can make choices about how they wish to move forward

It is not enough to simply say how important it is but also build the proper habits and skills to be successful. First generation students have to break through a barrier in order of lacking knowledge and somehow obtain it.

Intelligence can also be divided into many sub-categories, making it extremely complex and unique for every individual; thus, making it equally as difficult to measure. A Canadian study published in the online journal, Neuron, identified three basic indications of human intelligence: short term memory, reasoning skills, and verbal ability (Dovey par. 3). In light of the latter sentence, the goal of standardized testing is not to determine how well a person can solve general problems or express opinions, but to test how much information an individual is able to memorize throughout their educational life. Tests, specifically the ACT and SAT, ignore a vast amount of electives that could highlight a student’s strengths such as business, art, theology, engineering, music, social studies, and history (Hudlow par. 3). Einstein once said, “Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted” (Batt par. 11). For most, human intelligence counts for something and cannot be defined by a single

I want my students to know that I value their education and success. My students will know that education is their foundation to the future. By being successful in the classroom, the students will go on to be successful in life. Students are like sponges and soak up any and all information provided to them. My overall goal is to make sure that my students know how important their education is because they are our society’s future. The students will grow up to be our future doctors, lawyers, and presidents. The sky is the limit, but in order for them to succeed, their education comes first and

To begin, when speaking of employment opportunities that require modest to eminent levels of complexity, the use of cognitive ability tests is recommended. Now, although this is a recommendation, the tests are also valid for other job types. One of the most alluring conditions of cognitive ability tests is that they are known for validity in a large capacity of organizations and jobs. In all actuality, they are one of few predictors that are available and deemed valid. While these tests are recommended, they are faced with two major concerns. One, the concern of an adverse impact on minorities since scoring is low for this class. Two, the reaction from applicants is typically unfavorable. For this reason, this is one of the most controversial

The Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) is a widely popular method of college admission test. Like many other admissions test it is used to help colleges select students who will be successful in college. Upon reading the source material, however, I began to question the legitimacy of this academic test. In the first article of the source material, titled “Can you Make Yourself Smarter”, the topic of intelligence testing was addressed. The article also mentioned more accurate and effective forms of intelligence testing and the use of intelligence improving games in schools. Upon mentioning schools and effective ways of measuring intelligence I began to wonder whether tests administered in school, like the SAT, were effective in what they are designed to do. These tests hold such great bearings on the academic careers of students I wondered whether the test should be used at all. This lead to the question; should SAT be used to predict college success? In this paper success will be defined mainly though grade point average (GPA). While this is not the only way to define success it is one of the most measurable indicators of success. The first of the two perspectives addressed within this question will be no, the SAT should not be used. Due to the underwhelming amount of support for the opposing yes argument, the other perspective will investigate if the SAT will work if changes were made to it.

1) Competence : help student recognize his or her strengths such as efforts that may be rewarded, which builds self-esteem. 2) Confidence : When the student is confident of his or her decision, someone or group rewards by giving emotional support such as a thumbs up. 3) Connection : Create an emotionally stable class that avoids conflict or easily resolves it. 4) Character: Help build a good character out of the student through conversations about what is right and wrong, for example teaching about caring. 5) Contribution : Help the student become an important member of society by teaching him or her about giving back to the class or society such as volunteering. 6) Coping : Help the student cope in stressful situations through positive thoughts rather than punishing or degrading ones. 7) Control : Help student understand that his or her choices can influence future experiences. Control can help student become a goal-oriented person. Control can also teach student to follow appropriate

Encourages pupils to be problem solvers, decision markers, lifelong learners, and contributing teacher of a changing society.

During the 1930s and 1940s, L. L. Thurstone development method of testing called the Primary Mental Abilities (PMA) test. Until this test was created, intelligence testing was based on general intelligence and yielded one score, the individuals IQ. In contrast to the many general intelligence tests, Thurstone assessed seven abilities in the PMA test: verbal comprehension, word fluency, number (numerical computation), space (spatial visualizing), memory, perceptual speed (speed and accuracy on clerical tasks), and reasoning. Thurstone belief of multiple abilities created a foundation for research to be done on gender differences in mathematical ability, spatial ability, and verbal ability.

Aiken (1998) identified ability as encompassing both aptitude and achievement, in that the ability to do something depends both on what an individual already knows or can do and what one is capable of learning to do. Aptitude has traditionally referred to a person’s capacity to benefit from education or training, but an achievement to the degree of ability already attained. Thus, aptitude tests have been primarily devised to assess potential achievement or to predict future performance in some field of endeavor.