CHAPTER 19
Scholastic Aptitude, Career Interests, Attitudes, and Personality Tests
ITEMS
1. For which of the following cases is an assessment of scholastic aptitude most likely to predict a
student’s success?
(a) A student has never studied a second language and wants to begin now.
(b) A student has studied algebra and geometry and wants to study calculus.
(c) A student transfers to a new school and the student’s educational records are incomplete.
2. Aptitude tests measure a person’s future performance.
(a) True
(b) False
3. Aptitude tests usually predict a student’s performance when the school uses the same
instructional approach each year.
(a) True
(b) False
4. One way that aptitude tests differ from achievement tests is that they tend to assess the student’s
ability to use procedural knowledge.
(a) True
(b) False
5. An achievement test is more dependent on specific subject-matter content than an aptitude test.
(a) True
(b) False
6. Why are aptitude tests useful predictors of a student’s future academic success?
(a) Intelligence remains fairly stable throughout one’s life.
(b) Students maintain the same level of performance from year to year.
(c) The conditions under which students learn remain essentially the same from year to year.
7. If a student’s socioeconomic level and family group remain stable over a long time period, the
student’s aptitude scores are likely to be very similar over this time interval.
(a) True
(b) False
8. An aptitude test is administered twice with a time interval between administrations. For which
interval will the correlation between the scores on the two occasions be lowest?
(a) one week
(b) one month
(c) one year
9. On the average, scores from an unreliable aptitude test will be lower than scores from a reliable
aptitude test.
(a) True
(b) False
10. On March 1, Sally was administered the Otis-Lennon School Ability Test and attained a score of
113. On March 28 she was administered the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children and
attained a score of 102. What is probably the major factor in this difference in Sally’s scores?
(a) The time difference between March 1 and March 28
(b) Error of measurement in the two tests
(c) The difference in the content of the tests
(d) The fact that one is a group test and the other an individual test
11. What is an omnibus aptitude test?
(a) A test that assesses broad intellectual skills.
(b) A test that assesses one very specific kind of intellectual skill.
(c) A test that assesses several specific intellectual skills but reports only one score.
(d) A test that tries to identify almost all of a student’s intellectual strengths and weaknesses.
12. How would a performance task that also requires the understanding of English be classified using
the Otis-Lennon School Ability definitions?
(a) multiple aptitude
(b) nonverbal
(c) verbal
(d) reasoning
13. A scholastic aptitude test that contains items that assess several different specific abilities and that
provides scores for each ability assessed is a(n)
(a) omnibus aptitude test.
(b) two-score aptitude test.
(c) multiple aptitude test.
(d) profile aptitude test.
14. A major use of multiple aptitude tests is to provide information that can be used for career
planning.
(a) True
(b) False
15. The Otis-Lennon School Ability Test is an example of
(a) a multiple-aptitude test.
(b) an omnibus aptitude test.
(c) a two-score aptitude test.
16. The Differential Aptitude Tests is an example of a(n)
(a) individually administered multiple-aptitude test.
(b) individually administered omnibus test.
(c) group administered multiple aptitude test.
(d) group administered omnibus test.
17. Which of the following is an inappropriate use of a reading readiness test?
(a) Grouping students for instructional purposes
(b) Predicting a student’s success in instruction
(c) Determining a student’s capacity to read
18. Which of the following reports a Verbal, Nonverbal, and Composite score?
(a) Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children
(b) Stanford-Binet Intelligence Test
(c) Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-IV
19. Which of the following can be used to assess children below age five?
(a) Otis-Lennon School Ability Test
(b) Stanford-Binet Intelligence Test
(c) Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-IV
20. The Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children emphasizes the process of problem-solving rather
than the solution to the problem.
(a) True
(b) False
21. Which of the following would the Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children classify as
belonging to the Simultaneous Processing Scale?
(a) Face recognition
(b) Hand movements
(c) Riddles
(d) Arithmetic
22. Which assessment procedure is used to obtain information about how an individual is coping with
age-related daily living skills?
(a) Adaptive behavior scales
(b) Attitude inventories
(c) Individual intelligence scales
(d) Personality tests
23. Adaptive behavior assessment is accomplished through computer adaptive testing.
(a) True
(b) False
Questions 24, 25, and 26 refer to the directions below.
Read each numbered statement and decide which concept it illustrates. Mark your
answer sheet:
A — if the statement illustrates achievement
B — if the statement illustrates aptitude
C — if the statement illustrates attitude
D — if the statement illustrates interest
E — if the statement illustrates values
24. The stalemate between the Congress and the President over the national budget leading to the
closure of certain federal government offices for several days is undesirable.
25. When asked to join his peers in extra-curricular sports, Robertson told his teacher that he prefers
indoor games to outdoor games.
26. At the end of the marking period, the teacher’s assessment showed that Jennifer could correctly
spell eighty percent of the words she taught the class.
27. Which of the following interest inventories is developed using activity-similarity rationale?
(a) Kuder Occupational Interest Survey
(b) Ohio Vocational Interest Survey
(c) Strong Vocational Interest Bank
28. When you are helping a student decide what career to explore, you should place almost exclusive
weight on the student’s career interest inventory scores.
(a) True
(b) False
Question 29 refers to the information below.
Judy’s high school record indicates the following for the first three years:
Science grades: C+ Scholastic aptitude test: 115
Math grades: B- Career interest results: 1. medical doctor
English grades: A+ 2. writer
Social Studies grades: A
29. Judy says she thinks she should become a medical doctor. Is her high school record consistent
with this expressed interest?
(a) Yes
(b) No
30. What are manifested interests?
(a) Interests a student expresses to you when asked directly.
(b) Interests you infer by analyzing responses to an interest inventory.
(c) Interest you infer from watching a student select activities to engage in.
31. Which of the following is most likely to describe the activities listed on an empirically-keyed
interest inventory item?
(a) Activities that practicing teachers like very much but which people in general do not.
(b) Activities that research shows are common to all persons.
(c) Activities that fit a theoretical model about how personality and interests are related.
32. The content of most current interest inventories is based upon
(a) the ability of the person to work.
(b) the likes and dislikes of job titles.
(c) lists of work activities.
33. Why do the publishers of the Strong Interest Inventory report scores in terms of separate male and
female norms?
(a) Because females consistently outperform males in most professions
(b) Because males dominate most occupations
(c) Because males and females show differences in their strength of interests in
various activities
(d) Because they want to keep the status quo in career interests
34. A major limitation of the use of attitude scales is that
(a) attitudes are learned and could be unlearned.
(b) responses are easily faked.
(c) different ways are used in constructing the various scales.
35. What is affective saliency with regard to attitude assessment?
(a) Whether a student holds a positive or negative attitude.
(b) Whether a student becomes highly emotional with respect to an attitude.
(c) Whether a student has strong feelings associated with the attitude.
36. Projective personality assessment techniques assume that a person’s innermost unconscious
feelings will be revealed when the person interprets a vague picture or stimulus.
(a) True
(b) False
37. Self-report personality inventories are also known as structured personality assessment
techniques.
(a) True
(b) False
38. A private high school wants to use a test as one of its admission requirements. Which type of test
would be recommended if the main purpose of the test is to predict a candidate’s overall academic
performance?
(a) assessment of general scholastic aptitude
(b) assessment of specific achievement in mathematics, English, reading, science, and social
studies
(c) assessment of specific aptitudes such as algebra aptitude, music aptitude, and so on.
39. Personality tests have little usefulness as classroom assessment tools.
(a) True
(b) False
CHAPTER 19
Answers and Classification of Items