The Triple Nine Society Psychometrics Committee Newsletter
October 25, 1996
To the TNS Psychometrics Committee:
Julia Cybele Cachia Kevin Langdon Greg Grove Henry Milligan Bob Kopp Michael Madow (alternate)
From Kevin Langdon, P.O. Box 795, Berkeley, CA 97401; (510) 524-0345; 75061.3251
Chairman
We are fortunate that Greg Grove has volunteered to act as Chairman of this Committee. Members of the Committee, please vote on the following motion:
Greg Grove is elected Chairman of the TNS Psychometrics Committee.
Reevaluation of TNS Qualifying Scores
All five motions to drop certain categories of tests from our list of acceptable scores for admission have passed 4-0 (I didn't hear from Henry). The categories are:
A. Tests Whose Authors Have Declined to Provide Statistical Data on Norming
| 4. Bloom Analogies Test (BAT) | 99.9th %ile |
| 23. Skyscraper (Harding), supervised and timed | 146 |
| 24. Skyscraper, certified and untimed | 149 |
| 34. W-87 (Harding) | 149 |
B. Childhood and Age-Corrected Tests
| 20. Stanford-Binet, 1937, form L or M | 152 |
| 21. Stanford-Binet, 1957, form L-M, or later | 150 |
| 29. Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) | 147 |
| 31. Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC) | 147 |
| 32. Wechsler Pre-School Intelligence Scale (WPSI) | 147 |
C. Tests with Changed or Confusing Scoring Systems
| 6. Cattell Culture Fair | 173/149 |
| 14. Otis, form Alpha | 159 |
| 15. Otis, form Beta | 143 |
| 16. Otis, form Gamma | 148 |
| 17. Otis-Lennon | 148/75 raw |
| 23. Skyscraper (Harding), supervised and timed | 146 |
| 24. Skyscraper, certified and untimed | 149 |
| 26. U.S. Navy General Classification Test (GCT, 1942-43) | 97th %ile |
| 27. U.S. Navy General Classification Test (GCT, 1948-53) | 77/80 |
| 28. U.S. Navy GCT (1944-present, except 1948-53) | 74/76 |
| 34. W-87 (Harding) | 149 |
D. Tests with Insufficient Ceiling
| 20. Stanford-Binet, 1937, form L or M | 152 |
| 21. Stanford-Binet, 1957, form L-M, or later | 150 |
| 26. U.S. Navy General Classification Test (GCT, 1942-43) | 97th %ile |
| 27. U.S. Navy General Classification Test (GCT, 1948-53) | 77/80 |
| 28. U.S. Navy GCT (1944-present, except 1948-53) | 74/76 |
E. Obscure Tests
| 8. Eysenck Test (not the ones published in book form) | 149 |
| 18. Pintner General Abilities Test | 163 |
| 29. Wechsler-Bellevue | 143 |
| 33. Wonderlic Personnel Test | 45 |
The test numbers listed above are from the original list of tests formerly accepted printed in the August 25 Newsletter.
The [thirteen] tests now accepted for TNS admission are:
F. High-Range Standard Tests
| 19. Raven Advanced Progressive Matrices | 32 |
| 25. Terman Concept Mastery Test (CMT), Form T | 160 |
G. Mensa Tests
| 5. California Test of Mental Maturity (CTMM) | 150 |
| 7. Cattell Verbal | 173 |
H. College Admission Tests
| 1. Admission Test for Graduate Study in Business (ATGSB, GMAT) | 746 |
| 2. American College Testing Program (ACT) | 32 |
| 3. American Council on Education (ACE) | 142 |
| 9. Graduate Record Exam (GRE aptitude, Verbal + Quantitative) | 1500 |
| 11. Law School Admissions Test (LSAT) | 764 |
| 13. Miller Analogies Test (MAT) | 93 |
| 22. Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT, prior to April 1995) | 1470 |
I. High-Range, Unsupervised and Untimed, ``Home-Brew'' Tests
| 10. Langdon Adult Intelligence Test (LAIT) | 150 |
| 12. Mega Test | 24 |
We now need to turn to four further matters:
1. Examination of whether some of the tests we now acceept are actually suit-able for TNS admission. The prime candidates for reexamination are the CTMM and the Cattell Verbal (the ceiling of the latter is below three sigma for adults).
2. Examination of whether scores on the rescaled SAT (April 1995 and after) can be used for admission to the society, given the reduction in ceiling (I'm inclined to think that the SAT no longer discriminates at the three-sigma level). In any case, we can't accept rescaled scores without examining this matter.
3. Reexamination of our cutoff scores on the tests we accept.
4. Examination of several high-range tests which are not currently on our accepted list. Currently, we should take a look at Ron Hoeflin's Titan and Ultra tests and Polymath Systems' Four Sigma Qualifying Test, Polymath Intellectual Ability Scale, Langdon Short Form Intelligence Test, and Mobius Test. (All but the Mobius are no longer scored; a preliminary norming of The Mobius Test will appear in the first issue of the Journal of Right Tail Psychometrics.) Later, we will also need to examine Ron Hoelfin's Power Test, the Eight Item Test, by Alan Aax, and Polymath Systems' forthcoming Stratospheric Test of Attention in Reasoning.
Opinions of readers of this Newsletter on relative priorities, on any of the above questions, and on other matters which we should be looking at are solicited.