General Aptitude Test Battery: what is it and how is it used?

How is the General Aptitude Test Battery used? Let's take a look at the characteristics of this test.

Adolescence is, for the vast majority, a critical time in our lives. It is the time to think about what you want to be when you grow up, since in two or three years you have to make an (almost) definitive decision.

Although everyone has their own life aspirations, it is sometimes very difficult to make up one's mind. That is why there are tests that allow us to orient ourselves occupationally, being one of them the General Aptitude Test Battery.

This instrument has proved useful in helping people who still do not know what to do with their lives and, depending on their strengths, allows them to give advice. Let's take a closer look at how it does this.

General Aptitude Test Battery - what is it?

The General Aptitude Test Battery (GATB) is a questionnaire that measures the aptitude of individuals. a questionnaire that measures a person's aptitudes and, depending on which ones and, depending on what you are best at, it is recommended that you train in one type of profession or another. This type of test is used in the field of career guidance and is especially useful for adolescents who have not yet decided on their future career.

The most modern version of this questionnaire comprises 12 subtests, which measure 9 factors or aptitudes. These subtests are: name comparison, calculation speed, three-dimensional space, vocabulary, tool matching, arithmetic reasoning, shape matching, scratching, peg placement, peg turning, assembly and disassembly.

According to the model behind this test battery, the idea of aptitude is. something you have innately. That is, while education can increase knowledge by learning content, people are already innately more skilled at tasks that are related to one aspect or another. The General Aptitude Test Battery, taking this into account, measures what people are good at, regardless of how much they know.

For example, if you administer this test battery to a subject and see that he or she has high scores on tests measuring numerical aptitude, you can assume that the person is going to be good at disciplines such as mathematics, physics, and chemistry. It is possible that he/she has not done anything related to these subjects for years, but the fact that he/she has numerical aptitude indicates that he/she will have a great facility, instinctively, to understand these disciplines.

Historical background

The origins of these tests date back to the last century, to the time of World War II. The USES (United States Employment Service) was engaged in constructing about 100 tests to measure different aptitudes whose purpose was to measure different aptitudes that seemed to be related to the degree of success in certain professions. These first tests took into account aspects such as arithmetic, vocabulary, orientation in space...

After conducting several studies and evaluating the data obtained, by means of factorial analysis, up to 9 independent factors were established.each one of them related to several professions. Subsequently, perfecting both the test items and the test design, we proceeded to develop the final version of the General Aptitude Test Battery.

This instrument was already a breakthrough at the time, since it allowed for the allowed us to orient people according to their strengths in a relatively short period of time, about two and a half hours. It is for this reason that this questionnaire has been widely used since 1945.

What skills do these tests measure?

As already mentioned, the origins of this instrument date back to the last century and, when the definitive version was obtained after using factor analysis, the following 9 aptitudes were established.

1. General intelligence (G)

General intelligence is understood as the ability to be able to learn anything in any context.. That is, having the ability to grasp or understand instructions and fundamental principles.

Within this ability would be the ability to reason and make judgments.

Verbal (V)

Verbal aptitude is the ability to understand the meaning of words and to make appropriate use of them.

This ability is fundamental to language, when formulating it, orally or in writing, as well as understanding the relationships between the words one hears or reads. that one hears or reads.

Numerical (N) 3.

Ability to perform arithmetic operations quickly and safely. It is a basic aptitude to be able to adequately understand mathematics and other disciplines in which numerical symbols are used.

4. Spatial (S)

Spatial aptitude refers to the ability to visualize geometrical shapes and to be able to to visualize geometric shapes and to be able to understand their representation both dimensionally and three-dimensionally..

It is also important to recognize the relationship between an object and its movement in space.

5. Perception of shapes (P)

Shape perception is related to being able to perceive details of objects, as well as being able to make visual comparisons between objects and observe small differences in terms of shape, shading, length, width...

6. Office perception (Q)

Office perception refers to the ability to perceive verbal and numeric detailsobserving important differences in content or errors that need to be corrected.

7. Motor coordination (K)

Ability to coordinate the movement of the eyes with that of the limbs, hands and fingers. Ability to execute safe and precise movements.

8. Manual dexterity (M)

Ability to handle hands with ease and dexterity, performing movements such as placing objects or turning them in a precise manner..

9. Finger dexterity (F)

Ability to handle small objects with the fingers, quickly and safely.

What are its uses?

There are several uses for this questionnaire, although it should be noted that all of them are related to the world of work. It is usually used to guide adolescents who, at the end of their compulsory studies, do not know what to continue studying or what to do. who, at the end of their compulsory studies, do not know what to continue studying or what to do, this tool being a clue as to where they could dedicate themselves.

The general intelligence aptitude, being an indicator of a person's ability to learn regardless of context and content, can be used to determine whether an adolescent should continue with studies at the end of secondary school or should opt to train for jobs that require less study. Tests that address verbal and numerical aptitude also serve as useful indicators for this purpose.

However, if the person has already decided to study something at the end of compulsory education, this questionnaire can be used to help him or her choose a particular field or profession.

However, it is not only for those who have not yet studied a career. It is also used to select those employees who have the most suitable aptitudes for the type of job for which they are applying. for the type of work for which they are applying or, once they are in the company, to place them in departments where they can Excel in a particular skill.

For example, if you are looking for a job in a factory, it is expected that the employer will look for candidates who possess skills related to the operation of machinery, such as motor coordination, manual dexterity and digital dexterity.

Critiques

As with virtually any test, the General Aptitude Test Battery is not without its critics. The subtests that comprise it, especially those that measure perceptual aspects, do not appear to have sufficient construct validity, in terms of convergent do not have sufficient construct validity in terms of convergent validity.. However, it should be noted that the subtests dedicated to measuring more cognitive aspects are solidly valid.

Another criticism is related to the mainstay of this questionnaire: the aptitudes. Some researchers argue that the aptitudes proposed in the general battery of aptitude tests are too closely correlated, which could mean that what the different subtests of this instrument measure is the same.

Finally, one of the criticisms it has received is related to the race of the subjects in the United States. Se ha visto que las personas blancas obtenían puntuaciones mucho más altas que las personas afroamericanas, seguramente debido a que el cuestionario no esté exento de ítems que se hayan formulado de forma no independiente a la cultura de estos dos grupos étnicos.

Referencias bibliográficas:

• Hartigan, J. A., & Wigdor, A. K. (Eds.). (1989). Fairness in employment testing: Validity generalization, minority issues, and the General Aptitude Test Battery. Washington, DC: National Academy of Sciences.
• Jaeger, R. M., Linn, R. L., & Tesh, A. S. (1989). Appendix A: A synthesis of research on some psychometric properties of the GATB. In J. A. Hartigan & A. K. Wigdor (Eds.), Fairness in employment testing: Validity generalization, minority issues, and the General Aptitude Test Battery (pp. 303-324). Washington, DC: National Academy of Sciences.
• Keesling, J. W. (1985). [Review of the USES General Aptitude Test Battery]. In J. V. Mitchell, Jr. (Ed.), The ninth mental measurements yearbook (pp. 1644-1647). Lincoln, NE: Buros Institute of Mental Measurements.
• Kirnan, J. P., & Geisinger, K. F. (1984). General Aptitude Test Battery. In J. Hogan & R. Hogan (Eds.), Business and industry testing: Current practices and test reviews (pp. 140-157). Austin, TX: Pro-Ed.