What does an aptitude test measure?
An aptitude test measures a persons natural abilities or raw talent- -his/her natural tendencies which are applicable to work and learning. An aptitude is the hard-wired potential to learn the skills necessary to perform satisfactorily in a given occupation or activity. We have all taken achievement tests which measure acquired, past learning. In contrast, aptitude tests attempt to predict your ability to learn and perform certain skills in the future. Because aptitudes are potentials, they cannot be measured directly, so in actuality we measure certain basic abilities that research has shown are related to the complex behaviors relevant to various occupational skills. The tasks on an aptitude test are scientifically selected to predict future skills. Psychologists select interesting tasks on aptitude tests that do not obviously appear similar to the skill or ability that is being predicted. In general, when a person catches on quickly to a new activity he probably has an underlying ap
