The individual to be tested should be shown the page on which he is to work, for not more than twenty seconds, and should then be shown the two examples appearing on the title page under the printed instructions, “Make under each number the mark which should be there.” The examiner should then compare his key and the digits appearing in the sample series and should write in the proper spaces the appropriate symbols. The idea of getting the symbol from a key will be emphasized and made clear if the examiner at each point moves his finger or pencil from the digit in the example to the digit in the key, then to the symbol in the key and back to the empty space beneath the digit in the example. When all the spaces of the example have been filled (this should be done very slowly at first and then more rapidly toward the end of the example), the examiner should open the booklet, supply a pencil, and say, “Now! Go ahead! Put them in! Hurry up!”

Exactly two and one half minutes (150 seconds) should be allowed from the time the examiner says, “Go ahead,” to the time he calls, “Stop!” All papers should be closed immediately and handed to the examiner.

Directions for Scoring the Test.

The score in this test is the number of symbols correctly supplied. Marking the errors is very much simplified by the use of the stencils furnished with each package of test booklets. The number of symbols correctly written should be recorded at the end of each line in the test and the total for all lines should be entered in the lower right-hand corner of the title page of the booklet.

Character of the Test.

This test may be given to any individuals or groups of persons who can read and understand the arabic numerals. The directions furnished herewith are for the measurement of a group rather than of an individual, although with very slight modifications in instructions the test leaflet may be employed in an individual psychological examination. The title page of the leaflet contains fairly complete directions and three samples of the number series to be completed. Persons who read English readily will have a distinct advantage over those who must depend upon oral instructions, but experience has shown that, even with individuals who do not understand the English language, it is possible to demonstrate on a blackboard, using the sample exercises, with sufficient clearness to enable foreign language-speaking candidates to grasp the idea of the work to be done. No comparisons should be made, however, between results obtained by oral demonstration and results obtained through the use of the instructions printed below, without making allowances for the differences in method of administration.

The Number Relation Series test is so difficult to understand that it is hardly worth while to employ this test with children below ten years of age or with adults whose mental capacity is not equal to or better than that of the ten-year-old school child. The method of marking the test is quite simple when one is supplied with the stencil which is furnished with each package of test blanks. The present form of the test is somewhat different from those used elsewhere and it is difficult to say just what phases of intellectual or mathematical ability are measured by it. The Army intelligence tests included a number relation series test, so arranged that the last two numbers in each series must always be supplied by the person tested. Dr. Agnes Rogers, in her study of the prognostication of mathematical ability, employed a test which is very closely related to the one given here. Her results seem to show that this form of test is a splendid measure of mathematical capacity in high school pupils.

It is probable that this test will have very little usefulness in the selection of employees in general, but that it may be found valuable in discovering within an organization persons whose mathematical aptitude would make them very useful in positions where the handling of figures is an important part of the employee’s duty. In schools the chief value of the test will probably be in assisting in the diagnosis of special mathematical ability or lack of ability among pupils entering high school. As a game for social amusement, it is not probable that this test will be highly popular, except among those who are mathematically inclined.

Directions for Giving the Test.

Having supplied each candidate with writing materials the examiner should announce as follows:

“I am going to distribute to you copies of a test which is intended to measure certain special mental capacities. I shall pass it to you with that side up which contains the directions. Do not turn it over or examine the 20 problems which are to be solved. Write your name where it says ‘Name’ and fill in the other blanks on the title page.”

The blanks should be distributed, taking care that each candidate receives the blank right side up and that no candidate turns it over before the command is given to begin work. When names, ages, and other identifying pieces of information have been entered the examiner should ask the candidates to look at the directions carefully while he reads them aloud.

“The other side of this sheet has 20 series of figures, one or more of the figures from each series being left out. You are to look carefully at each series, to study out what kind of a series it is and then to write on the dotted lines those numbers which have been omitted. Look at the following samples.

“In Sample A each number is obtained from the previous number by adding 2 to it; therefore, 12 should be the number between 10 and 14. In Sample B, each number is obtained from the next previous number by subtracting 1 less than was subtracted from the number before it—that is, 5 is subtracted from 16 to obtain 11, 4 is subtracted from 11 to obtain 7, 3 should then be subtracted from 7 to obtain a 4 which is to be entered on the blank. In Sample C, every other number is a 2 and therefore the second blank space should contain a 2. Between the 2’s appear numbers, each one of which is one more than the one which preceded it. On the first blank in Sample C there should be a 1 in order to carry out this scheme.”

“You will be allowed four minutes in which to complete the 16 series. Begin with the first and complete as many as you possibly can. Ready! Go!” At the end of four minutes after saying “Go” the examiner should call “Stop! Time up! Give me your papers.” All papers should be collected at once.

Unusual care will need to be taken in giving this test to avoid variations in the directions used with the different groups examined. In order to maintain absolutely comparable test conditions, no variations from the language and routine given above should be allowed.

Directions for Scoring the Test.

The score in this test is the number of series correctly completed regardless of the number of blanks in the series. The maximum score obtainable will therefore be 16 points. The stencil furnished with each set of test leaflets will make it very simple to count the number of series correctly completed. A convenient way of indicating that a series is not correctly completed is to cross out the serial number of that series. To indicate that the series was not attempted one might draw a circle around the serial number of that series. The final score should be entered on the title page of the leaflet in the lower right-hand corner.

It should be borne in mind that the type of ability measured by the above scores is not necessarily a true indication of the general efficiency of the possessor.

Mentimeter No. 10
ADDITION TESTS

Character of the Tests.

This Mentimeter is composed of two parts, one of them measuring the difficulty of the addition problems which a candidate can solve, and being therefore a fairly good test of intelligence, the other measuring the speed at which one can add fairly easy problems and therefore having less relations to intellectual ability.

Teachers in school furnish the children with certain information and knowledge or guide their pupils to the sources from which this information and knowledge may be obtained. In Addition, this information takes the form of “2 and 2 make 4,” “9 and 5 make 14” and such sums. The instruction also involves such things as how to carry in addition, how to add when a decimal point enters into the calculation, and all such problems. The teacher also undertakes a somewhat different task, which is the review and drilling of the pupils in order to make the combinations which have been explained automatic in the minds of the children. It is not sufficient for John to know that “3 and 5 are 8,” but he must be able to write or say “8” without any hesitation whatever when 3 and 5 are to be added.

In order to test the extent to which teachers have explained addition, one would measure the pupils with a test which increased in difficulty from the first problems to the last, undertaking to determine how difficult a problem can be solved. In order to test the rapidity with which the pupils have learned in their drill exercises to make the different combinations, one would measure the speed with which they can make the simple combinations. The first addition test which is given on page 175 measures the extent of the information which the candidate has gained, while the second measures the speed which the candidate has developed by drilling upon addition problems.

Teachers in the public schools will undoubtedly wish to measure both the speed with which their pupils do simple problems as a result of drill, and the difficulty of the problems which the child can solve correctly as a result of instruction. Of course the test for difficulty of problems solved is not absolutely independent of the effect of drill, although it is relatively much less dependent upon drill than is the other test.

In industrial organizations the first test given will probably be found most useful, while in social groups the greatest amount of entertainment will probably be obtained from the second test. The reliability of the results from the first test is very much higher than the reliability of the results from the second test, for in the second case a difference of one second in time allowed may make as much as one or two points difference in the score obtained.

As with all of the other tests listed in this series of “Tests for Non-English-Speaking Persons,” the Addition tests will bring more satisfactory results, with much greater economy of time, if they are administered as group tests. They are here described, however, as tests for individual candidates in order that they may be given to foreign language-speaking candidates without any other apparatus than that furnished by the test booklets themselves. Any teacher or employer who has a number of persons to be examined should prepare a blackboard or wall chart on which to exhibit an enlarged copy of the examples used in the introduction. By placing this at the front of the room in full view of all candidates, the pantomimic instructions here described may be used for non-English-speaking candidates, or simple verbal explanations may supplement them for English-speaking persons.

Directions for Giving Mentimeter 10a.

The examiner, after securing from the candidate his name, address, age, and other pertinent information, should turn the examination leaflet and exhibit, for ten or fifteen seconds, the addition tests which are to be solved. The leaflet should then be turned over to the title page again and attention should be called to the examples appearing on the middle of this page under the heading “Add.” The examiner should point to the first example

and placing his pencil on the lower 2 and then upon the upper 2 should seem to hesitate for an instant and then write 4 underneath the line. Looking at the second example

he should place his pencil on the 3 and then on the 5 and, with only an instant’s hesitation, should write 18. Similarly, looking at the third example,

he should place his pencil first on the 6, then on the 5, then on the 3, and write a 4 underneath the line; then place his pencil on the 1 and then upon the two 2’s in order and write 6 at the left of the 4. With this explanation the examination booklet should be opened and a pencil supplied to the candidate with the instructions “Go ahead! Add them all!”

Four minutes’ time should be allowed for this test. At the end of the four minutes the examiner should call “Time up” and take the paper.

Directions for Scoring Mentimeter 10a.

The score in this test is the number of problems correctly solved. No credit should be given for any problem unless each digit in the answer is present, correct, and in its right place.

Directions for Giving Mentimeter 10b.

The examiner should open the booklet and demonstrate to the candidate, for ten seconds, with just what nature of test he is to be confronted. Then, after securing the necessary identifying information, the examiner should point to the problems on the title page under the word “Add.” Pointing to the 1 in the first example and then to the 2, he should write 3 under the line. Pointing to the 4 and then to the 5, in the second example, he should write 9 under the line. Pointing to the 4 and then to the 7 in the third example he should write 11 under the line, and should then pass his pencil and the opened booklet to the candidate with the instruction, “Go ahead! Add them up!”

The most important point in this test is to make absolutely certain that exactly thirty seconds (no more and no less) is allowed from the time the examiner supplies the candidate with a pencil until the time he calls “Stop!” Unless this time is kept absolutely uniform the results of the test will be hardly worth considering. Whether the candidate begins work or not, the time should be calculated from the instant he receives his pencil and the opened booklet.

Directions for Scoring Mentimeter 10b.

The score in this test is the number of correct answers obtained in thirty seconds. Unless an answer is absolutely correct, it should have no credit. If an answer is only partially finished when time is called, it should not be credited as being the correct answer unless it is sufficiently complete in both digits to prove that the right answer had been obtained.

In connection with these tests of ability in addition, a few additional words should be said to make somewhat clearer the differences between educational tests and tests of intelligence. There is, of course, no sharp line to be drawn between these two types of tests. Mentimeter No. 10b may be classified very certainly as an educational test because it involves primarily the element of speed in simple additions which is not an accurate index of intellectual capacity but depends almost altogether upon specific drill. Improvement in ability to make a score in Mentimeter No. 10a will come much more slowly than in the case of the speed test in addition. Before a child can make progress sufficient to carry him from problem 5 to problem 6 in Mentimeter 10a, he must be instructed in the mysteries of adding zero to the sum of two other numbers. Before he can make progress from problem 6 to problem 7 he must learn to put down the 2 under the right-hand column of figures and carry the 1 to the next column and add it with the digits printed there. Each additional problem that he solves involves some new elements of arithmetic knowledge which can be learned only by careful study and one at a time.

In the speed test a larger score does not indicate ability to do anything more difficult or to understand anything more complicated, but merely more rapid doing of the things which are already fully understood. In the other test, however, a larger score indicates greater comprehension of more difficult situations and therefore an intellectual capacity which is of greater magnitude.

The primary purpose of the Mentimeter tests is to measure intellectual capacity rather than school training. For this reason very few tests which may be classified as primarily educational have been included. Where they have been inserted, they have been arranged to measure the ability of the person to do more difficult tasks rather than his ability to do simple tasks more rapidly.

Character of the Test.

This test is planned as an individual examination to be given to any candidate who understands the English language. The test is borrowed directly from the Binet series and was used as a group test in the first form of the Alpha examination in the United States Army.

The usefulness of this test is probably limited to the selection of candidates for very simple mechanical operations and to the classification of pupils in the schoolroom. It might be employed as one of a series of tests in the selection of telephone operators, but its use in such a case is probably more obvious than practical.

Directions for Giving the Test.

The candidate should be seated comfortably in a quiet place and should be instructed to listen carefully. The examiner should fill out the blanks at the top of the title page, recording only such facts as seem to be necessary. The examiner should then repeat the following formula:

“I am going to read to you sixteen series of numbers. The first series will be very short and the last series will be quite long. When I have read a series I want you to repeat all of the numbers it contained. I shall read them slowly so that you can be sure to get them. Listen very carefully and try not to forget any number. Do not repeat any number until I have finished the whole series and stopped speaking.”

The examiner should announce each time just how many numbers will appear in the series. The digits should be read at the rate of one per second, taking care to avoid any rhythmic grouping of the numbers. The examiner should look up expectantly as soon as he has finished reading a series. No intimation should be given a candidate as to whether or not he is being successful. The first series should be read as follows:

“The First Series contains two numbers which are, 5, 6.” As soon as the candidate has repeated these numbers the examiner should say:

“The Second Series contains two numbers which are, 2, 7.”

Directions for Scoring the Test.

The examiner should keep on the test leaflet, out of the sight of the candidate, a notation of exactly which series cause failure. Misplacement of any digit in the series should count as an error and bring no credit for that series. The total score obtained by counting the number of series in which each number was correctly repeated in its right order should be written in the lower right-hand corner of the title page of the leaflet.

Mentimeter No. 12
REPEATING NUMBERS BACKWARD

Character of the Test.

This test can only be given as an individual examination and to people who understand spoken English. The presence of other people in the room where the test is being given is frequently the cause of low scores.

This test is borrowed bodily from the Binet series, in which it has won a distinct place for itself as a useful measure of the ability to think about symbols and abstract ideas.

This test will be of little value as an entertainment feature but will be useful to the public school teacher, or to the employer who wishes to have a brief but fairly accurate test to apply to individual people whom he may be considering for positions of responsibility. The reliability of the test is unusually high for an examination taking no more time than is required for this.

Directions for Giving the Test.

The examiner should read the following instructions clearly:

“I have twelve lists of numbers to read to you. I want you to listen carefully as I read each list, and when I say ‘Now’ you are to repeat the same numbers backward, that is, in the reverse order. For example, if I should read the numbers, 3, 4, 5, when I said ‘Now’ you should repeat them 5, 4, 3. If I read 9, 8, 7, you should say 7, 8, 9. You are to say the same numbers I read, but you are to say them just backward from the way I read them.”

The examiner should read each series very distinctly and at the rate of one digit per second. About five seconds before the reading of each series the examiner should call the candidate’s attention by saying, “Now listen to this set.” Allow two seconds after reading the last digit of each series before saying “Now,” or, “Now say them backward.” If the candidate has not begun to repeat the digits within thirty seconds the examiner should say “Now try this set” and should read the next list to him.

Directions for Scoring the Test.

The score in this test is the number of series repeated backward without error. Any misplacement in the order of the digits should be considered an error and no credit should be given for that series. The examiner will need to keep a record of just which series were correctly repeated, and will need to keep this record from the view of the candidate being examined, at least until after the examination is complete.