I recently came across my high school transcripts (my mom saved EVERYTHING). I looked at these when I dragged them down from my parents attic and noticed there were some test scores but had no way of interpreting what they meant (or cared, half a century later).

I remember the entire Junior (?) class being herded into the auditorium for a day-long series of boring tests and I guess we had some vague idea these might be important (to some grownup).

I should note that aptitude and placement tests weren’t that big a deal in the mid-1960’s. Nothing like the life-or-death weight they’re given today. Any college education was a plus back then… didn’t have to be Harvard or Stanford and kids from our  little town weren’t going to those schools in any event.

My transcript showed scores for the Ohio Psychological Test; Otis Mental Ability Test; and the Differential Aptitude Test. Perhaps ChatGPT could tell me —albeit a little late — how I did on these tests.

These tests and scores are part of a common set of assessments used in mid-20th century American education to evaluate students’ general cognitive abilities, aptitudes, and areas of strength. Here’s a quick overview of each:

1. Ohio Psychological Tests (Score: 84) – This was a general ability or IQ-type test designed to assess a student’s overall intelligence or cognitive ability. The score you received (84) suggests that it likely followed a different scaling or percentile system than what we see today. Without knowing the precise scaling, it’s hard to interpret exactly, but generally, it was intended to gauge mental processing speed, memory, and abstract reasoning.

2. Otis Mental Ability Test (Score: 121) – The Otis test is closer to what we would now call an IQ test, focusing on reasoning and problem-solving abilities. A score of 121 is solidly above average, which would have placed you well above the median, typically in the upper quartile. This test would have been used to identify students with advanced reasoning skills and likely informed educational placement decisions.

3. Differential Aptitude Test (DAT) – This was a common series of subtests measuring specific abilities:

* Verbal (Score: 92) – This assessed vocabulary, reading comprehension, and overall verbal reasoning ability. A score of 92 would suggest you were well above average in verbal skills, indicating strong comprehension and communication skills.

* Numerical (Score: 92) – Similar to the verbal score, a numerical score of 92 suggests strong aptitude in mathematics and quantitative reasoning. This indicates a balanced strength in both verbal and numerical areas, likely making you adaptable to a wide range of fields.

While modern aptitude and cognitive tests use different metrics, these scores indicate that you performed quite well in both verbal and numerical reasoning and had above-average general cognitive abilities, which likely pointed to broad potential across various subjects.