Dr. Kazim Malik defines Aptitude Testing, describes its types and accuracy, and answers questions like what are Aptitude Tests used for, why take psychometric tests, what are psychometric tests used for, and who will decide which test is to be performed. He also advises the aspirants to consult professionals for testing and not to fall prey to websites, warning that it might be dangerous to give our entire life details to an unknown server.
Every person is fascinating to know about the purpose of his life. Many people have goals, missions and objectives of their life from childhood school days. Some are unable to decide even after half of their life passes away. There are different ways to explore what a person can do or for what he has born for. For selection of career, it is indeed detrimental to know the hidden talent in every individual. There are many ways to establish the choices a person makes for selecting his career like family profession, area specific careers or peer pressure. But the best way to decide it is with aptitude testing.
Aptitude test is a useful tool for career counselling as it helps an individual identify his natural strengths and abilities. This type of test measures an individual’s potential areas such as reasoning, problem-solving, creativity and thinking pattern. These assessments can provide insight into a person’s ability to decide that in which areas he or she can make success and can help guide them towards careers that are well-suited to their abilities and interests.
WHAT IS APTITUDE TEST?
Aptitude test is a scientific tool design for a particular purpose. For career counselling, it measures the individual’s capabilities, aptitude and skills. It helps you navigate the best options for courses and streams. It allows you to trust your instincts and follow the most suitable career option for you.
In case of a considerable amount of confusion, make wise choices and appear for this aptitude test. When we are unable to decide which profession will suit us most, aptitude test will precisely help to navigate the future path of our choice. A majority of the aptitude tests design especially for identifying cognitive abilities on which we decide the intelligence of students i.e. I Q.
WHAT ARE APTITUDE TESTS USED FOR?
Aptitude tests are used for a variety of purposes, including career counselling, employee selection, behavioural issues, marital match and workplace adjustment. They can help individuals identify their natural abilities and strengths and make more informed decisions about their educational and career paths. Employers also use aptitude tests to evaluate job candidates and make informed hiring decisions.
TYPES OF APTITUDE TESTS
There are different types of aptitude tests, including verbal reasoning, numerical reasoning, abstract reasoning, spatial reasoning, mechanical reasoning, and personality tests. Each type of test measures a different set of abilities and skills. MIT (Multiple Intelligence Test), Interest Inventory, Adjustment Inventory are another test which gives us understanding of child interests in different streams of career, his ability to cope up with different life pressures and anxieties as well as his mental abilities.
DBDA is a commonly used test by career counsellor for measuring mechanical, numerical, psychomotor, verbal, spatial and reasoning abilities of a child. This test may administer at the age 15 -16 year when the student is in SSC.
ACCURACYOF APTITUDE TESTS
The accuracy of aptitude tests depends on a variety of factors, including the quality of the test, the conditions under which it is administered, and the individual taking the test. While aptitude tests can be a useful tool for assessing natural abilities and potential, they should be used in conjunction with other information, such as education and work experience, to make informed decisions about educational and career paths. They are just like a blood test which gives exact condition of a patient.
Student’s mental attitude is also important for accuracy of test. Utmost care has been taken for the preparation of these tests. Complete data has to be analysed to define the objectives of tests. They are designed by psychologists, social scientists and statisticians under supervision of an expert team of professionals.
WHY TAKE THE PSYCHOMETRIC TEST?
The aptitude test for career counselling is one of the most favourable options if you feel confused, troubled or uncertain about choosing a stream or career. A psychometric test is an ideal option to let yourself assess your abilities and gain feedback. Such tests answer your questions and help you browse the most suitable choices for you.
When a child passes SSC exam, he has to choose the streams in 10 +2 like Science, Humanities and Commerce. Here we can guide him through aptitude testing. Multiple Intelligence test helps him to explore his abilities in different intelligences like linguistic, mathematical, musical, interpersonal, intra personal and visual abilities. We are more or less a mixture of genetics and the environment. Aptitude testing guides us to our hidden talent and to explore the personality aspects which are usually hidden.
WHAT ARE PSYCHOMETRIC TESTS USED FOR?
Psychometric tests are used for a variety of purposes, including employee selection, career counselling, educational placement, and psychological assessment. They can help individuals identify their strengths and weaknesses, make more informed decisions about their education and career paths, and help employers make more informed hiring decisions. We also conduct these tests to find out depression, anxiety or any personality disorders. Some tests are useful in finding out learning disability of any type in students.
In academic environment, testing proves to be very useful in deciding the curriculum goals and fixing the learning parameters of a particular age student.
WHO WILL DECIDE WHICH TEST HAS TO BE PERFORMED?
It is decided by an expert clinical psychologist after collecting basic information from a student. Once instruction has been given, the child is free to use paper and pen to mark his choices and no involvement of parent or teacher is considered. The environment for the test should be student friendly. Many tests are time bound and need to be finishedat a particular time only, which gives idea about accuracy and time management of the students.
LAST WORD
If you google, you may find a number of online tests available either free or on payment and they have a number of questions to ask. Depending on responses, they use software coding to predict career choices or personality types. But this is dangerous. It is like horoscope; you get every morning new instructions to follow.
Our advice is always consult professionals for testing. And don’t show your results to everyone who cannot interpret or misinterpret the results.
Testing is one aspect and interpreting the findings is another aspect of counselling. And don’t fall prey to any online websites because they don’t know your background nor do they have any idea about your family, your area of residence, the situation in a country, type of professions going ahead in future. So, it might be dangerous to give our entire life details to an unknown server.
[Dr. Kazim Malik is a Career Counsellor based in Mumbai. Email: [email protected]]