The Pros And Cons Of General Intelligence Tests

Whether we realize it or not, test scores play a vital role in many people’s self esteem. A person who frequently scores high will be confident that they are very intelligent and will expect others to see them that way. Asimov attested to this when he stated, “All my life I’ve been registering scores like that, so that I have the complacent feeling that I’m highly intelligent, and I expect other people to think that too.” (Asimov, 536). On the other hand, those who score low on tests often write themselves off to be unintelligent. Emphasis on the importance of the ACT or SAT test scores can lead an adolescent to conclude that he or she is not capable of succeeding in college and lead them to not pursue higher education. The tragedy is that we may pass on opportunities because we have labelled ourselves unintelligent based on a test score which is not a true refelection of our

When one speaks of intelligence or how bright another person is, the often quoted figure is the IQ or intelligence quotient. It is the most often used standard of how smart a person is. This paper shall look at what intelligence tests measure, how the IQ tests measure intelligence and interrogate their history. It shall then apply the tests to school policy and hence evaluate their validity.

Most standardized test do not measure emotional or mechanical intelligence, actually a lot of educators argue that standardized test do not measure comprehension or actual intelligence but rather memorization. While others may believe that standardized testing just needs a few improvements, others believe that it is impossible to have a test that measures accurately the capability of a diverse student population. Today’s schooling depends heavily on the test scores from standardized test. Standardized testing should not have so much weight put on them because they have a negative impact on effective education, students’ self-concept, and learning styles.

Additionally, Albert Einstein once said, “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.” There are different forms of intelligence that go beyond what our school system measures. Students are not a unit to be measured, and students cannot be assigned a numerical value to identify their intelligence. Students are diverse—they learn at different speeds, and they learn in different ways. Focusing solely on test scores is hurting our students and deviating away from building our society on success and excellence. Critics are slowly realizing the problems associated with standardized tests—they create anxiety, they are extremely biased, and they do not measure the ability to think deeply.

This paper discusses the pros and cons of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS-III). First, important definitional, theoretical issues, including the nature of intelligence, a brief history, and pros and cons are discussed. Next, the development, reliability, validity, and assets and limitations of the WAIS-III are examined. This is followed by discussion of the meaning of IQ scores, use of successive level interpretation and cautions and guidelines for administration. Last, subtests, assessing special population groups, short forms, profile forms, and what a

Similarly, many teachers, statewide, feel that these exams that no significant value towards a student’s overall intelligence. According to a survey by both the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Scholastic, of more than ten-thousand public school teachers, this report has found that teachers

Parents push their children to excel in sports and other activities, so why don’t they push them to excel in academics? Students’ View of Intelligence Can Help Grades, an article by Michelle Trudeau, talks heavily on this topic. Trudeau uses Psychologist Carol Dweck’s very compelling and factual arguments in support of this topic.

Utilizing standardized tests as a tool to test the knowledge of students outlines only a small portion of an individual's performance and creativity. The environment of the situation, creates an immense amount of stressors, such as time limits, the anxieties of doing well, or the endless pressures that the test can determine a student's future. Each individual comes with vast amounts of different abilities in which a single test cannot possibly account for all. Although the tests attempt to provide an evaluation of the student’s test taking skills, many students are smart, but it simply doesn’t show on the test due to the unaccountable external forces. In other words, there is an avoidance of the external forces, which limits the student’s proficiency because only the standard reading, math, and writing become strictly tested upon. One external force which hinders performance is that standardized testing evaluates a student’s efficiency only on that particular day, which does not account for other performances throughout the student’s overall growth. Consecutively, the students face frightening outcomes and unrealistic intelligence techniques that regulates a student's

In the beginning of the 20th century, French psychologist Alfred Binet developed an intelligence test to pilot student achievement. Since then, a plethora of tests of similar rigor have emerged throughout the world; however, when looking towards the United States, it is apparent that these tests are in favor. In the United States, standardized tests have been a part of student life for more than 50 years (Fletcher). The problem arises in the sense that these tests are now more pressure-packed and ubiquitous than ever. This can be linked to the fact that in the U.S., students are now taking more standardized tests than ever before.

In the society of today, there are various educators who believe in assessment as proper method to measure the performance of a child in school as well as the overall achievement of a specific school system. The assessment may be presented in the form of verbal, written, or multiple choice, and it usually pertains to certain academic subjects in the school curriculum. Recently, many educators began to issue standardized tests to measure the intelligence of a common student body. (Rudner, 1989) These standardized tests were initially created to reveal the success in institutional school programs, and exhibit the abilities of students today. The standardized tests can reveal the strengths and weaknesses

“Contrary to popular assumptions about standardized testing, the tests do a poor job of measuring student achievement” (Harris 1). Students achievement measures the amount of academic content a student learns in a determined amount of time. Student achievement means more to students and parents than just a test required to take by state. Having standardized testing may not measure the student's academic growth and achievement as well as planned. “They fail to measure such important attributes as creativity and critical thinking skills.” (Harris 1). These attributes are apart of these student. They are attributes that others do not have. Test scores are known to indicate where a student is in their academic achievement, but also indicating what classes they should be placed in the next year for school. The test scores affects not only the students grades but also their school

After leaving high school I furthermore learned that the grading scale can sometimes misrepresent a student because not everyone can succeed in academic subjects. In college I realized this was true because I met people whose abilities went far beyond comprehending factual knowledge. After it all I found there can be two sides of the intelligence coin. One half is that book smart students can but don’t always survive outside of school, yet there are people with concrete skills who are valuable to the working world even after having a rough time in

Over time, the tests were standardized to correspond to a priori conceptions of intelligence by including items that correlated well with school performance. Test items that differentiated between gender

Second, the achievement tests are created to help determine the placements of students in school based on their knowledge and skills. Achievement tests are subdivides in to batteries, single subject, and certification and licensing, government sponsored programs, and individual assessment tests (Hogan, 2007).

one in clinical or school settings. Group achievement tests might also be considered as educational achievement tests, since these instruments are apparently employed in academic settings. On the other hand, individual achievement tests may be an important measurement tool in the diagnosis of learning disability. Not only do these tests render documentation of impaired scholastic performance in crucial areas as reading, writing, and numerical ability, some achievement tests can aid in identifying certain skill deficits relative to learning disabilities. In an ideal manner, individual achievement tests should be used in conjunction with other measurement tools, especially intelligence tests.