Tests For Selection And Training
The Thomas TST System is an example of the very latest and most advanced normative aptitude tests available.
History
Early versions of the TST were constructed in the mid 80’s because ‘Government departments’, that are large consumers of tests for selection and training wanted new tests that were renewable resources.
They did not want to produce a “one-off” set of tests that would have to be rewritten every few years- or more seriously, whenever test security might be compromised by any one of a number of possible circumstances, including loss, illegal copying, or over use.
They specified that any future forms of tests, or improvements to existing versions, were to be made available in a very short time and at minimum cost, once the basic development work was complete.
This specification requires that new ways of producing tests had to be devised in Britain, because every test in operation at that time was constructed on “one off” principles.
In summary the approach was to use theory to define the tests that could be renewed at short notice, and to use computers to make the task possible.
Hence with sponsorship from the government of Britain, thousands of people were tested and the tests were standardized.
And the results…
This was tested in 3 different age groups. When they were tested in the age bracket- upto16 years, it was found that the scores had a wide variation (approximately 75%). Again the same was tested between the age group 16 to 18 years and the results were say 95%. This was further tested between the age group 18 years and above and it was found that it was around 96%. The results did not vary even when tested in the age group upto 50 years. This goes to show that an individual reaches his level of fluid intelligence around the age of 16 to 18 years.
Fluid Intelligence – the ability to respond to new situations.
Crystallized intelligence – the ability to respond to routine or repetitive situations
Thomas TST-Tests for Selection & Training
Thomas TST (Tests for Selection and Training) are normative tests that measure the FLUID INTELLIGENCE of people. Fluid Intelligence is the innate ability of an individual to reason and solve problems - ‘on-the-spot’, a skill NOT dependent on one’s past experience. Fluid Intelligence involves short-term memory, abstract thinking, creativity and reaction time. The objective of the Tests for Selection and Training (TST) is to measure the ability of the person to absorb and respond positively to training programmes.
Thomas TST are normative in nature and hence they may be used to compare individuals in the same norm group. They are among the very few ever designed to satisfy the needs of equal opportunity policies in selection and training. TST do not measure knowledge or experience, but they do measure mental flexibility or ‘mental horsepower’ in the five areas tested. They also give a broad-brush assessment of the person compared with a variety of ‘norm’ graphs.
These tests were developed from a very detailed analysis of the difficulties which arise in learning different tasks. They have a low entry level, but are capable of measuring the highest levels of ability. They indicate both the speed and accuracy that an individual brings to bear in learning new skills.
Thus Thomas TST are an indicator of ABILITY. And when linked to Compatibility enables organisations to strategically benchmark the entire human resource.
What Does a TST Indicate?
TSTs maintain all the positive attributes of traditional IQ assessments. Whereas IQ is an education-based indicator, TSTs have been developed specifically for the workplace and are able to assess the fluid intelligence and indicate learning ability.
The TST system is relevant to work roles at all levels.
The test has been constructed to incorporate maximum equal opportunity levels. The TST system also has one of the most comprehensive software driven narrative reports in the marketplace.
Various performance models from research studies have been translated into test constructions using algorithms or logical rules.
The theory behind the TST series enables the tests to function reliably and with validity within the limits of difficulty determined for the candidates and they present as equitable a context as possible to employees and applicants alike. The five tests are Reasoning, Number Speed and Accuracy, Feature Detection, Orientation and Working Memory.
Thomas TST is a battery of five tests to ascertain how quickly and accurately a person will learn new things at work in both formal and informal learning environment.
q Feature Detection: Measures how quickly and accurately people can do simple checking tasks in their head. This is a speed of coding and perception task that will discriminate between those who can match features of letters (alphabets) mentally to detect similarity and differences, relevant aspect of symbols. Assesses,
· Perceptual speed
· Literacy
· Error/accuracy
q Reasoning: Determines how good is a person at reasoning (verbal).
Tests the power to make inferences. In other words the ability to reason from information provided and to draw correct conclusions. It also tests the fluency of verbal reasoning skills and the ability to comprehend simple sentences. Assesses,
· Deductive reasoning
· Holding of information
q Number Speed and Accuracy: Looks at one’s capabilities in number crunching. In other words, it measures how quickly and accurately one can carry out simple number tasks in his/her head.
This test is designed to bring out efficient performance on elementary numerics and on being able to remember the results of simple calculations. Assesses,
· Mental agility
· Number skills
· Concentration
q Working Memory: Determines how quickly and accurately people can carry out simple memory tasks in head.
This test is designed for those who work in jobs with high mental workload, such as computer use, navigation and learning tasks requiring knowledge of sequences and where substantial attention and concentration for long periods are essential. Assesses,
· Information retention
· Deductive logic
· Attention span
q Orientation: Measures how quickly people can turn shapes around in their heads.
This test is used to assess the ability to remember and to transform shapes mentally. Assesses,
· Spatial measure (awareness)
· Technical logic
· Problem solving
Benefits of Thomas TST
· Increases performance by ensuring the optimum fluid intelligence level for a specific job (high or low) level
· Reduces induction, training and development costs by assessing the ability to learn
· Saves management time and cost Longest test in the battery takes just five minutes to complete
· Inexpensive to use; pay as you go system - no license fee
· Enhances effective benchmarking of people/performance criteria thus emulating excellence
· Test reports easy to understand, written in business language, aimed at line management
· Normative test proven and independently validated over 10 years
The TST System Assesses
· Ability to learn
· Mental agility
· Concentration levels
· Speed and accuracy
· Number skills
· Deductive logic
· Mechanical/technical logic
· Verbal reasoning
· Ability to retain information
· Literacy
· Mental visualization
What does Thomas TST reveal?
Managers need to uncover, not just what employees or potential employees know but what they can do. Here are few examples that Thomas TST will reveal which education and vocational qualifications cannot:
· Can the person think on his/her feet?
· Can the person take in information and arrive at a logical conclusion?
· Can the person negotiate?
· Can the person cope with high levels of concentration and a high mental workload?
· Is he/she a good problem solver?
· How comfortable is he/she in manipulating and interacting with numbers?
· Does the person have a high level of mental agility?
· Can the person learn complex tasks and procedures?
· Is the person good at interpreting diagrams and shapes?
· Will the person require a mentor until performance is satisfactory?
· Whether training needs to be imparted at a slow pace with careful explanation?
· Is he/she too bright to get bored and take risks with our assets?
Construct of the Tests
· The Tests for Selection and Training consists of five tests that include Reasoning, Feature Detection, Number speed and Accuracy, Working Memory and Spatial Orientation.
· The tests are very simple and they are very easy to understand and answer.
· Each test has a specific time limit ranging between 3 to 5 minutes.
· The tests consist of around 50 to 72 questions each.
· Candidates are assessed for their speed and accuracy when answering the tests.
When to use Thomas TST
Thomas TST helps organisations take better decisions in areas of:
Recruitment – Select the candidates who have high level of trainability.
Assessments & Succession Planning – Promote people with potential to perform.
Training & Development – Very effective when used along with Benchmarking, identifies people with high levels of trainability.
MIRD Analysis
Employers already know whether or not employees are competent in their present role: what they need is a predictor of their likely future capability in order to avoid the expensive mistake of promoting those who will then be out of their depth. Thomas PPA and TST are two complementary systems that play a significant part in enabling organisations to reach higher levels of efficiency by ensuring that employees are behaviourally and mentally suited to their work. This in turn raises profits by reducing waste, targeting training budgets more effectively and increasing retention rates through developing employees within their levels of competence.
MIRD (Maintain, Invest, Re-align, Divest) analysis helps organisations to identify whether employees have behavioural compatibility vis-à-vis the job requirements and also do they have the required level of ability. MIRD draws data from Thomas PPA-HJA & Thomas TST and helps organisations to identify whom to Maintain, where to Invest, whom to Re-align, and where to Divest.
For further enquiries contact
or 04023372770
From India, Hyderabad
68The Thomas TST System is an example of the very latest and most advanced normative aptitude tests available.
History
Early versions of the TST were constructed in the mid 80’s because ‘Government departments’, that are large consumers of tests for selection and training wanted new tests that were renewable resources.
They did not want to produce a “one-off” set of tests that would have to be rewritten every few years- or more seriously, whenever test security might be compromised by any one of a number of possible circumstances, including loss, illegal copying, or over use.
They specified that any future forms of tests, or improvements to existing versions, were to be made available in a very short time and at minimum cost, once the basic development work was complete.
This specification requires that new ways of producing tests had to be devised in Britain, because every test in operation at that time was constructed on “one off” principles.
In summary the approach was to use theory to define the tests that could be renewed at short notice, and to use computers to make the task possible.
Hence with sponsorship from the government of Britain, thousands of people were tested and the tests were standardized.
And the results…
This was tested in 3 different age groups. When they were tested in the age bracket- upto16 years, it was found that the scores had a wide variation (approximately 75%). Again the same was tested between the age group 16 to 18 years and the results were say 95%. This was further tested between the age group 18 years and above and it was found that it was around 96%. The results did not vary even when tested in the age group upto 50 years. This goes to show that an individual reaches his level of fluid intelligence around the age of 16 to 18 years.
Fluid Intelligence – the ability to respond to new situations.
Crystallized intelligence – the ability to respond to routine or repetitive situations
Thomas TST-Tests for Selection & Training
Thomas TST (Tests for Selection and Training) are normative tests that measure the FLUID INTELLIGENCE of people. Fluid Intelligence is the innate ability of an individual to reason and solve problems - ‘on-the-spot’, a skill NOT dependent on one’s past experience. Fluid Intelligence involves short-term memory, abstract thinking, creativity and reaction time. The objective of the Tests for Selection and Training (TST) is to measure the ability of the person to absorb and respond positively to training programmes.
Thomas TST are normative in nature and hence they may be used to compare individuals in the same norm group. They are among the very few ever designed to satisfy the needs of equal opportunity policies in selection and training. TST do not measure knowledge or experience, but they do measure mental flexibility or ‘mental horsepower’ in the five areas tested. They also give a broad-brush assessment of the person compared with a variety of ‘norm’ graphs.
These tests were developed from a very detailed analysis of the difficulties which arise in learning different tasks. They have a low entry level, but are capable of measuring the highest levels of ability. They indicate both the speed and accuracy that an individual brings to bear in learning new skills.
Thus Thomas TST are an indicator of ABILITY. And when linked to Compatibility enables organisations to strategically benchmark the entire human resource.
What Does a TST Indicate?
TSTs maintain all the positive attributes of traditional IQ assessments. Whereas IQ is an education-based indicator, TSTs have been developed specifically for the workplace and are able to assess the fluid intelligence and indicate learning ability.
The TST system is relevant to work roles at all levels.
The test has been constructed to incorporate maximum equal opportunity levels. The TST system also has one of the most comprehensive software driven narrative reports in the marketplace.
Various performance models from research studies have been translated into test constructions using algorithms or logical rules.
The theory behind the TST series enables the tests to function reliably and with validity within the limits of difficulty determined for the candidates and they present as equitable a context as possible to employees and applicants alike. The five tests are Reasoning, Number Speed and Accuracy, Feature Detection, Orientation and Working Memory.
Thomas TST is a battery of five tests to ascertain how quickly and accurately a person will learn new things at work in both formal and informal learning environment.
q Feature Detection: Measures how quickly and accurately people can do simple checking tasks in their head. This is a speed of coding and perception task that will discriminate between those who can match features of letters (alphabets) mentally to detect similarity and differences, relevant aspect of symbols. Assesses,
· Perceptual speed
· Literacy
· Error/accuracy
q Reasoning: Determines how good is a person at reasoning (verbal).
Tests the power to make inferences. In other words the ability to reason from information provided and to draw correct conclusions. It also tests the fluency of verbal reasoning skills and the ability to comprehend simple sentences. Assesses,
· Deductive reasoning
· Holding of information
q Number Speed and Accuracy: Looks at one’s capabilities in number crunching. In other words, it measures how quickly and accurately one can carry out simple number tasks in his/her head.
This test is designed to bring out efficient performance on elementary numerics and on being able to remember the results of simple calculations. Assesses,
· Mental agility
· Number skills
· Concentration
q Working Memory: Determines how quickly and accurately people can carry out simple memory tasks in head.
This test is designed for those who work in jobs with high mental workload, such as computer use, navigation and learning tasks requiring knowledge of sequences and where substantial attention and concentration for long periods are essential. Assesses,
· Information retention
· Deductive logic
· Attention span
q Orientation: Measures how quickly people can turn shapes around in their heads.
This test is used to assess the ability to remember and to transform shapes mentally. Assesses,
· Spatial measure (awareness)
· Technical logic
· Problem solving
Benefits of Thomas TST
· Increases performance by ensuring the optimum fluid intelligence level for a specific job (high or low) level
· Reduces induction, training and development costs by assessing the ability to learn
· Saves management time and cost Longest test in the battery takes just five minutes to complete
· Inexpensive to use; pay as you go system - no license fee
· Enhances effective benchmarking of people/performance criteria thus emulating excellence
· Test reports easy to understand, written in business language, aimed at line management
· Normative test proven and independently validated over 10 years
The TST System Assesses
· Ability to learn
· Mental agility
· Concentration levels
· Speed and accuracy
· Number skills
· Deductive logic
· Mechanical/technical logic
· Verbal reasoning
· Ability to retain information
· Literacy
· Mental visualization
What does Thomas TST reveal?
Managers need to uncover, not just what employees or potential employees know but what they can do. Here are few examples that Thomas TST will reveal which education and vocational qualifications cannot:
· Can the person think on his/her feet?
· Can the person take in information and arrive at a logical conclusion?
· Can the person negotiate?
· Can the person cope with high levels of concentration and a high mental workload?
· Is he/she a good problem solver?
· How comfortable is he/she in manipulating and interacting with numbers?
· Does the person have a high level of mental agility?
· Can the person learn complex tasks and procedures?
· Is the person good at interpreting diagrams and shapes?
· Will the person require a mentor until performance is satisfactory?
· Whether training needs to be imparted at a slow pace with careful explanation?
· Is he/she too bright to get bored and take risks with our assets?
Construct of the Tests
· The Tests for Selection and Training consists of five tests that include Reasoning, Feature Detection, Number speed and Accuracy, Working Memory and Spatial Orientation.
· The tests are very simple and they are very easy to understand and answer.
· Each test has a specific time limit ranging between 3 to 5 minutes.
· The tests consist of around 50 to 72 questions each.
· Candidates are assessed for their speed and accuracy when answering the tests.
When to use Thomas TST
Thomas TST helps organisations take better decisions in areas of:
Recruitment – Select the candidates who have high level of trainability.
Assessments & Succession Planning – Promote people with potential to perform.
Training & Development – Very effective when used along with Benchmarking, identifies people with high levels of trainability.
MIRD Analysis
Employers already know whether or not employees are competent in their present role: what they need is a predictor of their likely future capability in order to avoid the expensive mistake of promoting those who will then be out of their depth. Thomas PPA and TST are two complementary systems that play a significant part in enabling organisations to reach higher levels of efficiency by ensuring that employees are behaviourally and mentally suited to their work. This in turn raises profits by reducing waste, targeting training budgets more effectively and increasing retention rates through developing employees within their levels of competence.
MIRD (Maintain, Invest, Re-align, Divest) analysis helps organisations to identify whether employees have behavioural compatibility vis-à-vis the job requirements and also do they have the required level of ability. MIRD draws data from Thomas PPA-HJA & Thomas TST and helps organisations to identify whom to Maintain, where to Invest, whom to Re-align, and where to Divest.
For further enquiries contact
From India, Hyderabad
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