Psychometric testing - then and now

I applied for a post grad course through Gibs and today duly attended the entrance psychometric exam. Last time I did one was some 20 years ago and remember well enough how they slapped the question sheets in front of me and was told to pick the correct answer and you had x amount of minutes to finish in.

Today though… At least 20 minutes prior each section, it was explained in detail and with the abstract and analytical papers it was as close to spoonfeed as one could get. I was horrified. You are NOT supposed to tell students to count the dots and crosses in the blocks to see which one is the odd one out. You are supposed to figure it out…
The numerical section covered basic understanding of percentages and whether you could read a chart and make sense of a three column, 9 line spreadsheet. And calculators were permitted.
The English reasoning paper I slapped in less than 6 minutes, 6 questions with five subsections each.

All I can say… Im seriously scared, this was not for some undergrad programme. We talking graduates here.

Well, from the way you’re explaining it they sound like “graduates”.

And yeah, one of the toughest tests I ever wrote was my evaluation before starting uni. That test took a whole day, I was knackered. It was an IQ and personality test plus all my matric papers rolled into one.

I am saddened by this general idea that “education” is something you get awarded instead of something that happens within yourself. If you get my drift… like Education is a token you use to open doors instead of the skills you have acquired during. Everyone is focused on the token instead of the personal development. Not least of which our Dept of handing out Tokens.