Right way of assessing ability, aptitude and personality

However there are some specific areas where psychometric assessment has huge roles to play. These are:

a) For knowing whether an individual fits in a particular role

b) For designing and implementation of a knowledge center

c) As a tool in the career development programmes

d) For the personal growth of the individuals

Categories of psychometric assessment: There are three types of psychometric tests and these are:

1. Test of ability

2. Test of aptitude

3. Test of personality

Test of ability: This test measures the ability of a person to grasp a new skill needed for a new job. It also lets the employers know the following:

a) What a particular employee is capable to learn

b) What he will be able to learn in the future.

The broad skills that are checked by this test are:

• Verbal Test

• Numerical Reasoning Test

Test of aptitude: Aptitude tests are mostly job specific and therefore the names of these tests are almost always similar to the job titles. These tests can either be general or specific. For example, a General Ability Test is a combination of four tests:

• Numerical ability

• Verbal ability

• Spatial ability

• Non-verbal ability

However, these tests are also used for finding specific abilities and also general abilities. If you are applying for a job interview, the aptitude test will be taken to see your mental reasoning ability.

Test of personality: This is another important part of the psychometric assessment. Here a questionnaire with multiple choice answers is provided to the people. They need to choose possible right answers. Here you would not get any right or wrong answer. However on the basis of these answers the personality of the individual is judged. Another tool used for personality test is Emotional Intelligence. This is used to find whether an individual possesses good emotional competency. If you are asked to go for Emotional Intelligence Test then after that you would know the following:

a) What emotions are most common in you and how can you manage them

b) How can you use feelings to guide your actions as well as your thought process

c) How can you use your emotions to motivate yourself as well as others