Personality tests attempt to measure an individual's personal traits scientifically.

Some standardized personality tests consist of lists of personal questions requiring

yes or no answers. The answers can be analysed for various characteristics. For
example, a person might score high in social introversion, which would indicate a
strong preference for being alone. Such a person might find scientific research more
satisfying as a career than teaching science in a classroom.

Another type of personality test, the projective test, requires individuals to tell
what certain images mean to them. In a Rorschach test, for example, a person
describes what he or she sees in a number of standardized inkblots. A trained
counsellor can often recognize behavioural tendencies in these descriptions.
Psychologists use personality tests as clues for further study of an individual. They
do not regard them as conclusive evidence about the individual's personality.

Most personality tests are less reliable and less valid than the other kinds of tests
discussed here. Some people criticize their use as an invasion of privacy.

How to take a test

Knowing how to take tests does not increase anyone's learning ability or
achievement. But it does help a person avoid losing points unnecessarily. Experts in
testing offer the following suggestions:

1. Get all the experience you can in taking tests. The ability to take tests improves
with practice.

2. Cramming before a test is better than no study at all. But a careful review spread
over several days is better than cramming.

3. Be sure you understand the directions at the beginning of a test. Otherwise, you
may get a lower score than you deserve because you failed to follow certain
instructions.

4. Answer the questions that are easy for you, and then go back to the hard ones.

5. If there is no penalty for guessing, answer every question. If there is a penalty,

you may still gain points by guessing some answers. On a multiple-choice question,
for example, you may know enough about the subject to eliminate some answers. If
so, your chance of guessing the correct answer improves considerably.

Interpreting test scores

There are several points to keep in mind about test scores. First, a test reflects only
a sample of a person's skill or knowledge, not everything about an individual. A test
score can tell only how well the person performed on one particular test on one
particular day.

Second, a score on a standardized test compares one person's performance with

the performance of others. Such a comparison may provide useful information if all
the people taking the test are alike in some important way. Most standardized tests
give scores for persons of the same age or in the same class.

Third, every test score is an estimate rather than a precise measurement. To

remind people of this, some scores are reported as bands rather than as a single
number. The bands show the range in which a person's actual ability probably lies.

Testing often has far-reaching effects, and so it receives much attention from
educators and social scientists. Criticism has been directed both at the limitations of
tests and at their influence.

Some educators believe multiple-choice tests penalize a student who has an expert
knowledge of a subject. Such a student may see flaws in the answer generally
accepted as correct. Other critics say that standardized tests discriminate against
disadvantaged and minority groups. These students may be unfamiliar with words,
terms, and concepts used in the tests. To give these students an equal chance,
educators have tried to prepare culture-fair or culture-free tests. Such tests might
consist of pictures, symbols, and nonsense syllables that are equally unfamiliar to
everyone taking the test. This type of test reduces the influence of cultural
background on performance. Tests that use no words at all are called nonverbal
tests.

The general effect of testing on education has also caused concern. Standardized
tests sometimes lag behind educational thought and practice. If tests do not
measure the content of new syllabuses, they may fail to encourage educational
progress.

Many educators believe there is at least some truth in criticisms of tests. But they
also know that testing is necessary in teaching. Tests can determine whether one
method of teaching works better than another. Tests can also tell a teacher what
help a student needs most. No better way has been found to determine how much
students have learned, what they seem able to learn, and how quickly they might
learn it.
A personality test aims to describe aspects of a person's character that remain stable throughout
that person's lifetime, the individual's character pattern of behavior, thoughts, and feelings. An
early model of personality was posited by Greek philosopher/physician Hippocrates. The 20th
century heralded a new interest in defining and identifying separate personality types, in close
correlation with the emergence of the field of psychology. As such, several distinct tests
emerged; some attempt to identify specific characteristics, while others attempt to identify
personality as a whole.
Scoring
Personality tests can be scored using a dimensional (normative) or a typological (ipsative)
approach. Dimensional approaches such as the Big 5 describe personality as a set of continuous
dimensions on which individuals differ.
Typological approaches such as the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (r) describe opposing
categories of functioning where individuals differ. Normative responses for each category can be
graphed as bell curves (normal curves), implying that some aspects of personality are better than
others. Ipsative test responses offer two equally "good" responses between which an individual
must choose. Such responses (e.g., on the MBTI) would result in bi-modal graphs for each
category, rather than bell curves.
Personality tests such as the Strength Deployment Inventory (r), which assesses motivation, or
purpose, of behavior, rather than the behavior itself, combine a dimensional and typological
approach as described here. Three continuums of motivation are combined to yield 7 distinct
types.
Many, but by no means all, psychological researchers believe that the dimensional approach is
more accurate, although as judged by the popularity of the Myers-Briggs tool, typological
approaches have substantial appeal as a self-development tool.
Few personality tests accurately predict behavior in a specific context. For example, with some
of the five factor model tests, only one of the five factors is significantly correlated with job
performance.[citation needed]
Emotive tests can become prey to unreliable results as most people strive to pick the answer they
feel the best fitting of an ideal character and therefore not their personal response.

Personality is a term which is used to describe behavior. It is generally defined as an individual's

characteristic patterns of thinking, feeling and acting across a wide range of situations. In other words,
what makes people unique?
Personality tests focus on aspects of our preferences and developed habits. The importance of an
individual's personal qualities and manner in which they interact with others is increasingly recognized. As
a result the use of psychometric or psychological tests has grown enormously in the last few decades, so
much so that if you apply for a job in a medium to large organization, the chances are three to one that
you will be required to take a psychometric test at some stage during the selection process.