What is the main purpose for developing the general aptitude test?
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Assessing the Potential for Success
© Veer Gauge people's potential with aptitude tests. We all know how important it is to hire the right person for a job. Someone who doesn't have the right skills for a position, or who isn't a good fit with the corporate culture, often ends up being replaced. Then you need to fill the position again, and turnover costs and lost opportunities can be significant. To make better hiring decisions and avoid high job turnover rates, organizations often use ability testing. Companies also use these tests for promoting and training. The goal is to get the right people, with the right skills, in the right jobs. Traditionally, the process for assessing current or prospective workers has been subjective. Managers use their feelings, observations, judgments, and life experiences to evaluate candidates. For example, when you interview someone, you try to be objective – but you know that your personal beliefs and values often keep you from being totally objective. So, how can you be more "scientific" about evaluating people? Psychological testing offers a way to go beyond the subjective – and find a more objective way to assess someone's personal attributes. Even then, subjectivity is still part of the process, but that's not always a bad thing. It would be unwise to completely ignore our perceptions and feelings about others. However, our perceptions can benefit from a little objectivity. Ability TestingUnder the larger umbrella of psychological tests, ability tests assess what a person is capable of doing. Abilities are then further broken down into two areas:
Much of our recruitment and development assessment focuses on achievement. What education does the candidate have? What skills do they possess? What training have they completed? What have they accomplished? What is their performance record? Understanding a person's development potential for the future, however, offers some exciting opportunities to find the best candidates for your organization's long-term well-being. Tip:Clearly, aptitude and achievement are not completely independent of each other. For example, if a child is an accomplished athlete, they probably have athletic aptitude. It's important to remember that ability tests measure current behavior, and that behavior is influenced by past experiences. Current behavior also reflects a person's unique and natural traits, potential, and limitations. This is where aptitude plays an important role. Interest Versus AptitudeInterest and aptitude are not the same thing. You may be interested in auto mechanics, but if you have low manual dexterity, then you're unlikely to show much aptitude for it. So you have a low potential for success. On the other hand, a high aptitude for a certain hobby or profession also doesn't guarantee success. A person generally has to be interested in something to be motivated to do it well. When using aptitude tests, it's important to remember that both interest and aptitude are necessary conditions for successful performance. Neither is sufficient on its own. Benefits of Aptitude TestingThe following are some of the strengths of aptitude tests:
Potential Problems of Aptitude Testing
The best way to reduce the chance of problems with aptitude tests is to use them as only one part of your overall hiring and promoting process. These tests, by themselves, cannot show a person's potential. You need a balanced approach to your recruitment and development systems. Get the Free Newsletter!Learn new career skills every week, plus get a bonus Be a Successful Manager Checklist, free! Read our Privacy Policy Choosing an Aptitude TestThere are many aptitude tests for many types of skills. The best way to choose a test is to first consider what you want to determine. Do you want to test general vocational aptitude, specific professional aptitude, or intelligence? Once you know what you're seeking, investigate the options available. We've listed some common aptitude tests below.
One of the best sources of information on aptitude testing, and other types of testing, is the Buros Institute of Mental Measurements. They publish the Mental Measurements Yearbook, and you can also purchase reviews of specific tests. Tip:The O*NET Resource Center (sponsored in part by the U.S. Department of Labor/Employment and Training Administration) offers two guides for good testing practices. Key PointsAptitude tests help reveal the natural talents, strengths, and limitations that we all have. The process of assessing people is very complex and involves many different factors. Organizations are increasingly using aptitude testing to improve their recruitment and development processes. When you test people's aptitudes, you look beyond what they've done in the past – and you assess what they have the potential to achieve in the future. You must first understand what you want to accomplish with your testing process, then find the appropriate test. By researching and carefully choosing your tests, and combining them with other assessment methods, you can improve your hiring and promoting process. That will increase the chances of matching the right people with the right jobs. What is the purpose of the aptitude test?An aptitude test is a way for employers to assess a candidate's abilities through a variety of different testing formats. Aptitude tests will test your ability to perform tasks and react to situations at work. This includes problem-solving, prioritisation and numerical skills, amongst other things.
What is the purpose of aptitude test in education?An aptitude test is designed to assess what a person is capable of doing or to predict what a person is able to learn or do given the right education and instruction. It represents a person's level of competency to perform a certain type of task.
What is the purpose of the aptitude test in divergent?Each year, all 16 year old's are required to take an Aptitude Test. The purpose of the test is to discover a disposition towards one of the five traits of the five factions (below). It provides a good indication of what faction a person should choose based on his/her predominant characteristic.
What is on a general aptitude test?It focuses on testing a student's general ability for learning through measuring the following: reading comprehension ability. ability to recognize logical relations. ability to solve problems based on basic mathematical concepts.
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