1. The Army Alpha and Beta Intelligence Tests

2. Criticism

3. References

4. Further reading

The Army General Classification Test (AGCT) has a long history that runs parallel with research and means for attempting the assessment of intelligence or other abilities.^[1]

As with other measurement attempts, the AGCT ran into controversy during the era of the Vietnam War.^[3][4] Yet, the requirement did not abate, leading to improvements in the application and use of the standard testing methodology.

The modern variant of this test is the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) that was first administered in 1960.^[5]

Many high IQ societies, such as Mensa, can map their entrance requirements to early AGCT scores.^[6] The AGCT was of interest to researchers due to the broad nature of the testee domain (1.75 million men took the original test). The Triple Nine Society accepts a minimum qualifying score of 157 (raw) for membership in its ranks, but only if the test was taken prior to 1976. Also, the TNS accepts a minimum qualifying score of 74 from the similar Naval General Classification Test (NGCT), but only from the years 1954–1977.^[7]

A composite score derived from elements of the Army ASVAB is called "General Technical", usually abbreviated "GT", and if you scored 136 or higher before prior to 1980 Mensa will accept the result as proof of being in the 98th percentile.

The Army Alpha and Beta Intelligence Tests

Robert Yerkes and a committee of six representatives developed two intelligence tests; the Army Alpha test and the Army Beta test to help the United States Military screen incoming soldiers for "intellectual deficiencies, psychopathic tendencies, nervous intangibility, and inadequate self-control".^[9] The Alpha test was a verbal test for literate recruits and was divided into eight test categories, which included: following oral directions, arithmetical problems, practical judgments, synonyms and antonyms, disarranged sentences, number series completion, analogies and information,^[10] whereas the Beta test was a nonverbal test used for testing illiterate or non-English speaking recruits. The Beta test did not require those being tested to use written language, but rather the examinees completed tasks by using visual aids.^[11] The Beta Intelligence test was divided into seven subtests, which included: "Test 1- assessed the ability of army recruits to trace the path of a maze; Test 2- assessed the ability of cube analysis; Test 3-assessed the ability of pattern analysis using an X-O series; Test 4- assessed the ability of coding digits with symbols; Test 5- assessed the ability of number checking; Test 6-assessed the ability of pictorial completion; and Test 7- assessed the ability of geometrical construction".

Overall, the Army Alpha and the Army Beta tests were designed to find the mental age of military recruits and to assess incoming recruits for success in the US Military by testing one's ability to understand language, to perform reasoning with semantic and quantitative relationships, to make practical judgments, to infer rules and regulations, and to recall general information.^[12] The Army Alpha and the Army Beta tests were heavily criticized for being biased and for not predicting the actual success of incoming soldiers. Nevertheless, Robert Yerkes's innovations in standardized testing and the use of psychometrics to calculate those standardized tests are still seen in intelligence testing today.^[9]

Criticism

• The Mismeasure of Man by Stephen Jay Gould

References

Further reading

• {{cite |last=Tuddenham |first=Read D. |title=Soldier intelligence in World Wars I and II |journal=American Psychologist |volume=3 |number=2 |pages=54–56 |date=1948 |doi=10.1037/h0054962 |pmid=18911933 |ref=harv}}

• International Cooperative Ataxia Rating Scale
• International Cooperative Biodiversity Groups
• International Co-ordination Meeting of Youth Organizations
• International Copper Study Group
• International co-productions
• International co-productions of Sesame Street
• International Coptic Union
• International coptic Union
• International Copyright Acts
• International copyright agreements
• International Coral Reef Initiative
• International Corporate Accountability Roundtable
• International Corporation
• International Correspondence Schools
• International Cost Engineering Council
• International Cotton Association
• International Council for Control of Iodine Deficiency Disorders
• International Council for Game and Wildlife Conservation
• International Council for Scientific and Technical Information
• International Council of Bird Preservation
• International Council of Chemical Associations
• International Council of Christian Churches
• International Council of Communication Design
• International Council of Jurists
• International Council of Management Consulting Institutes