Testing your child's aptitude

An aptitude test helps to know where your child's interests lie when it comes to career choices after he graduates from high school. Friday speaks to two experts in education and two students who have undergone an aptitude test

Once upon a time, surnames were supposed to announce the job profile of the family. And so, when the children grew up, they did not go scouting around for careers to pursue. They just joined the family trade.

Things are a lot more complex today. Despite the examples that we can all quote of a doctor's son becoming a doctor, a lawyer's daughter ditto, with mega advances in every field, even the Smiths, Woods and Carpenters who had their work cut out for them so nicely, today have to ask 'What are the options?' when it comes to making a career choice.

The ultimate reason to pursue any career is, of course, an abiding interest in a profession that could be turned to commercial advantage, something that one can make a living out of and be happy doing. Here we come upon another stumbling block – two actually. How does a person know what his/her abiding interest is and that it will not change before graduation day?

The answer to the first question is the emergence of aptitude tests as a tool to gauge a child's talent and interest, and corroborating it with a personality test that shows a temperament to match.

"We plan a route to every destination we wish to reach, then why should we not do it for an important aspect like our career? says Prof. C F Joseph, education psychologist and trainer attached to the Atlas Institute.

"Failing to plan is planning to fail, after all. It is indeed not possible for any one person to perform a wide variety of occupations with the same proficiency, speed, accuracy, precision and skill.

"Therefore, we have to zoom in on the area of his potential. We all know how difficult it is to work when we are asked to do something we are either unable to, unwilling or uninterested in doing. I think an aptitude test, combined with the results of an Interest Evaluation Test and a Personality Assessment, will lead a student and his family to the right career choices."

Prof. C. F. Joseph uses the Differential Aptitude Test Battery developed by the Psychological Corporation, USA, which is adapted and standardised for Indian students just as certain other countries have adapted it to suit their special circumstances.

The test which includes multiple choice questions takes about five hours of answering. It is usually done over two sessions. On the basis of marks obtained in written tests, which are all multiple-choice tests, a detailed computer-assisted Aptitude Percentile Profile Graph is prepared for each student.

Once the assessment is done by Prof. Joseph, he invites the student along with his/her family for a counselling session.

The DAT gives an idea of the student's strengths and weaknesses in each of these areas in comparison to the rest of the population of their age group all over the world.

That is, it evaluates the student and gives a reliable percentile ranking score graph indicating where he/she would be in the continuum of population in each of the areas that matter in the choice of a broad area of a career.

Simplistically speaking, if a student is found very strong only in language and abstract reasoning ability, then his choices are different from those of a student who is very good in numerical ability and not so good in language skills.

The Flag Test of Personality: Measures factual characteristics such as factual v/s sensitive, lively w/s calm, aggressive v/s passive, gregarious v/s inhibited.

The Strong Interest Inventory (SII) measures areas of interest with relation to occupations, school subjects, professional activities, leisure activities, types of people, preference of activities and personal characteristics.

Once the student and his family can see for themselves the aptitude profile on a graph, a qualified career counsellor can guide them to decide on the broad areas of direction to take.

The next step is to gather information about courses and institutions that offer those and then compare the relative time and cost factors. There are also a huge array of books and websites to educate the candidate on this.

Rajani George, 17
Ex-student, Our Own English High School, Dubai
Rajani, who is preparing to enroll for university after her 12th Standard results, was very enthusiastic about the Kolbe test.

"I have always had an interest in biology. At the same time, I do not see myself working in a laboratory. My parents had left the choice of a career entirely to me and I needed help in deciding. This test validated my gut instincts," says Rajani.

Rajani's father, K.C. George, and mother, Bala, have both seen her through various changing phases. In the eighth and ninth grade Rajani had decided she was going to be a scientist in the field of chemistry.

In the 10th grade, she saw herself as a dedicated psychologist. But, it was her biology teacher who finally shaped her career interest.

Rajani's parents supported her idea of taking an aptitude test. "Most of a child's characteristics are formed by the age of eight. But the interests tend to change. We knew Rajani was interested in biology but we wanted her to take up medicine. Linda Mann opened our eyes to the vast possibilities of a career in biotechnology which, it appears, is the cutting edge thing happening," says Bala.

"Like all Indian parents of our generation, we would have liked Rajani to choose between engineering and medicine," adds father K. C. George, "But we are happy with her current choice. I can see that it will open many more opportunities for her and is probably the best way to harness her entrepreneurial talent."

Would they not have come to the same conclusion with information from the Internet? "I don't think so. The information is all there for anyone who wants it but how authentic is it? We could get lost assimilating the information and it is a time-consuming process too.

"I really am hard-pressed for time and so we are glad that Linda helped us make this decision with the help of the aptitude test. Many parents are unaware of an aptitude test that can help steer the child in the right direction. I know someone who did it all on her own but she also had to take a gap year to do it. I prefer it this way.

"Besides, as parents, we have so many questions that need to be answered by someone who is an expert from the education field. Like the exact nature of the career options that our child is making. It helps to have professional reassurance," concludes George.

"Despite this, you can expect every child today to change his/her career a minimum of seven times in their lifetime," says Linda Mann.

"Sometimes after choosing their subjects, the students feel drawn towards a minor subject and want to make it their major. Therefore, it is necessary that they join a college or university where their credits can be transferred from one course to another and they do not lose time.

"Also, technology is evolving at such a fast pace that it is important every person has the flexibility not to turn out redundant in the field