The Relation of Psychological Test Scores to Academic Bias

S ummary . On entering the Sixth Form, English schoolboys choose between Arts and Science subjects. Effectively, this choice commits them to one career field or the other. The present research is aimed to discover whether psychological tests reflect the academic bias of such boys towards Arts or Science subjects; and whether they give any indication of boys' aptitude for specialised work at university and in research. A battery of conventional psychological tests was given to a sample of 315 15 and 16‐year‐old schoolboys, drawn from five schools. These boys had just finished the G.C.E. ‘O’ level examination, and stood a good chance of reaching university. Results show that the tests used do reflect academic bias surprisingly well. On the other hand, there are signs that the relation of tests scores to aptitude for university and research work will prove to be complex. Some of the most gifted young Science specialists, for example, have scores which bear no relation to the trend of results in the sample as a whole. The implications of these and other findings are discussed

Aptitude · Developmental psychology · Relation (database) · Sample (material) · Test (biology) · The arts · Career Development and Diversity · Education, Achievement, and Giftedness · Medical Education and Admissions · Psychology · Social Psychology