From: hollombe@polymath.tti.com (The Polymath)
Subject: Re: Reply to previous comments on Mega Test
Organization: The Cat Factory
Date: Thu, 1 Oct 1992 22:32:10 GMT

This is showing signs of degenerating into another "'Tis!", "'Tisn't!"
thread and my schedule is heating up too much to continue with the long
posts.  I expect this will be my last comment on the matter.

In article <01GPB9V0087Q8WW234@ccfvx3.draper.com> skh@draper.com (Kjeld Hvatum) writes:
}>From: hollombe@polymath.tti.com (The Polymath)
} 
}>The SAT is not an intelligence test, nor does ETS claim it to be. (In
}>fact, they've gone to considerable trouble to distance themselves from
}>intelligence testing).
} 
}>The fact that it correlates positively with intelligence test scores at
}>its high end is a statistical artifact which has been discussed here
}>before. 
} 
}What do you mean by "high end"?  Above 1000, 1500, or what?
}In the range 1000-1600, for example, you'd be on thin ice claiming
}the correlation is merely an artifact.

All right, I guess I do have to rehash this. ~sigh~

The SAT is a predictor of academic success, as measured by likelihood of
graduation.  It works by testing for the presence of certain knowledge and
skills necessary to such success.  A low score on the SAT merely indicates
a lack of said knowledge and skills.  It says _nothing_ about _why_ they
are lacking.  To pose an extreme example, someone who never learned to
read could do no better than random on the SAT verbal, even if they were a
genius.

On the other hand, a prerequisite to acquiring sufficient knowledge and
skills to score at the high end of the SAT is to be intelligent in the
first place.  Thus, SAT scores do correlate with general intelligence
scores at the high end. _That_ is the statistical artifact.  In no way
does it make the SAT a test of general intelligence.

}>Accepting only one answer is
}>appropriate _for their purposes_, but not for general intelligence
}>testing.
} 
}Oh, so many of the group-administered, paper-and-pencil, IQ tests
}are not appropriate?  Perhaps you simply mean to say "not as
}good"?

If they accept only one answer for questions that have multiple correct
answers, yes.  Since nearly all of these are multiple choice tests whose
instructions include the admonition to choose the best available answer,
the problem seldom arises.

}On the other hand, you're right to some degree - the answers are slowly
}leaking out.  But I'd like to see the life of the test extended.  It
}has certainly produced a lot of interesting data. 

Has it?  Where is this data published?

}>Why do you think Mensa requires results from _proctored_ exams?
} 
}Because their by-law requires it, according to their supervisory
}psychologist, and that was probably put into place before the
}wide-spread use high-end tests like the LAIT, Mega, Titan, etc.  And, by
}the way, at Mensa's cutoff level, I agree with their policy.  It's too
}close to the bottom of the Mega test, requiring relatively few correct
}answers, which might be too easily obtained.

This begs the question.  Why do you think their bylaws were so written?
If they're no longer appropriate, why haven't they been changed?  Isn't
that why Mensa _has_ a Supervisory Psychologist?

}Incidentally, if you quote Mensa as an authority, why do they
}accept the SAT while they've stopped accepting the ACT?  As
}the Princeton Review, they too have come to the conclusion that
}the new ACT is not sufficiently similar to an intelligence test,
}while the SAT *still* is.

See explanation above.

}>IMHO, the Mega Test is what it began as:  A self administered test in a
}>popular news stand magazine.  Granted, it's more difficult than most
}>and you have to send it in to get the "official" score.  Put that
}>score on your resume and you'll be laughed at.
} 
}And, for the same reason, I wouldn't put a Wechsler IQ score on my resume,
}at least not for the jobs that would interest me. 

As I said before, a Wechsler score standing alone has little meaning in
any case.  It must be considered in the context of all the knowledge
gained in a clinical relationship.

Here's a parting thought to consider:

I've never completed a calculus course.  My chalkboard is currently
covered with equations in my attempt to derive the answer to one of the
Megatest questions.  Some of my mathematician friends assure me such an
answer exists (of course, _I_ won't ask them what it is).  If I succeed,
am I more intelligent than a degreed mathematician who learned in a class
the technique I had to re-invent from first principles?  How can the test
score account for this? (I say it can't).


The Polymath (aka: Jerry Hollombe, M.A., CDP, aka: hollombe@polymath.tti.com)
Head Robot Wrangler at Citicorp                   Turn the rascals out!
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Santa Monica, CA  90405
Newsgroups: rec.org.mensa