An evaluation instrument designed to measure a person’s potentials to perform or to learn.
A general type of test that is designed to predict a student’s success in various kinds of learning, before any instruction has taken place, as opposed to an achievement test, given after instruction. How well such tests do what they set out to achieve is a point of considerable controversy, focusing on validity. Many such tests attempt to measure academic aptitude, probably the best-known being the Scholastic Aptitude Test. Mechanical aptitude tests attempt to assess how well a student is likely to do in learning skills involving mechanical devices, normally testing reasoning in relation to mechanical things and spatial relations. In the widest sense, readiness tests and developmental screening tests are kinds of aptitude tests, though they generally purport to test not general learning success but whether a child has the necessary prerequisite skills and behavioral development needed to benefit fully from instruction.
A mental and/or physical test to evaluate skill or ability to perform certain tasks or assignments.