Tests First Given to Test Tests Now Aid Students to Plan Future

The Kuder Preference Tests and the Aptitude Survey have emerged from the experimental stage. Next week when 250-odd freshmen go through the six-hour ordeal of the Aptitude Survey, they will no longer be mere assistants for the Bureau of Tests, but will take the Survey for their own benefit for the first time.

Ever since the close of the war, the Bureau of Tests has been subjecting willing members of every succeeding Freshman Class to a series of objective tests "given to test the test itself, and not to test the testee." After five years enough data has been gathered on the Aptitude Survey to make it useful in predicting the testee's chances of success in various different fields.

Results Returned

The Kuder Preference Test has already been taken by this year's freshmen, and the results returned to them. These results show what the men think they would prefer to do in later life, while the Aptitude Survey shows what they would be most suited for.

Harry S. Dyer, director of the Bureau of Tests, announced that although these tests now produce reliable results, it will take at least three more years of research before they will be perfected. The Bureau administers these tests exclusively within the college, and draws its own conclusions, taking no results from any other source.

Emphasize Test Research

The Bureau was formed in 1945 primarily for research in perfecting aptitude tests and will continue to concentrate on this aspect. The "Ink-blot" test, given to freshmen last fall, and the Proficiency Test for the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, similar to the Aptitude Survey, are both still in process. These four tests, along with the objective language examinations, have made up the basic pieces of research material for the Bureau of Tests so far, and will continue to keep the Bureau busy in the future.