Queer Traps Still Set to Mental Tests

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 376, 9 June 1928, Page 28

Queer Traps Still Set to Mental Tests

U.S. Army Continues its Search for Intelligence 493 FAIL IN TWO MONTHS

The United States Army has returned to the intelligence tests made famous during the World War, when recruits, to show their value to the | army, were called upon to put an ‘x” in a circle if a canoe happened to be bigger than a battleship or to say whether King Henry VIII. had been married. Ever since the Armistice the army has been working on a system that will enable it to prevent the enlistment of those who hwe to be returned to civil life before the expiration of their term of service because they are misfits in a military establishment. At the end of two months figures released by the War Department indicate that almost one-half of those who applied for enlistment during that period were rejected, most of them for physical reasons, but 493 for their failure to pass the intelligence examinations after they had been passed by the doctor. There are two tests prescribed for all applicants. The first is a literacy test, the purpose of which is to determine the applicant’s ability to read the English language, write, carry out instructions, and at the same time to gain some idea as to the extent of his vocabulary. The second test, given by the medical officer, is a verbal phychological examination, the purpose of which is to learn something of the applicant’s personal history, physical and moral, as well as to discover any mental disorders that may exist. Simple Sentences In giving the first test, which is written, ten applicants are examined at once. In order that there may be no “cribbing,” the examiner uses forms listed from “A” to “J,” different as to content, but all so similar as to make the examinations relatively equivalent. Each form comprises, first, forty-five j simple definitive sentences, each with five words at the end, one of which will correctly complete the statement. The applicant is required to underscore the right word. Following the fortyfive statements, there is a sentence to be copied. The purpose of this, of ! course, is to test the applicant’s accuracy of observation. Finally, there are three simple questions asked, the answer to which the applicant must write. By way of illustration, the applicant may find a statement as follows: To tap is to laugh—sleep—hit—bite—-

rest.” He must underscore the word required to make the statement correct. As an example of the three simple questions asked, the following serves as representative: “Do five and two make nine?” The applicant must write his answer either “yes” or “no.” If the applicant makes a score at thirty-six on this test, he is credited with the mental age of 10 years, which is considered satisfactory, and he is passed on to the medical officer for further examination. In the event of an applicant’s failure to make a passing mark on the first test, and if his general intelligence seems good, he is allowed to take a special oral and performance test.. This is resorted to chiefly in the case of foreign applicants who canSiead and speak the English language wen enough to warrant their being taken into the army, but who cannot read well enough to enable them to understand the sentences in the regular test, which is an abbreviated form of the Stamford revision of the BinetSimon tests, and embraces the mental ages of 10 and 12 years. The foregoing part of the oral and performance test is adapted to the mental age of 10 years. If that is passed satisfactorily another section of the same test, for the mental age of 12 years, is given. This Is considerably more complicated than the preceding one. Instead of giving the four digits in reserve order the applicant gets five, with which he must deal as in the preceding test. These are fob lowed by dissected sentences. For instance: “For the started an we country early at hour,” which the applicant must arrange so as to make sense, using all the words but no more. The words are written entirely in capitals, ir: order that no clue may be given as to which is the first word of the sentence. The examiner then reads five of the well-known fables of literature, and asks the applicant what is the lesson taught by each. Next a number o£ pictures are shown. As each is presented, the applicant is asked to tel* in his own words the story which the picture portrays. Finally, five series of three nouns each are given, with some point of similarity linking the three names in each series, and the applicant is asked in what wav they :Ve alike. Of the 493 rejections during the first two months’ operation of the new tests 243 failed in the purely educational test, 89 flunked the second, which deals with the applicant's general adaptability, and 161 were unable to show the mental ability of a 10-year-old.