Kim Michaud
Rachana Pandey
Michael Matthews
Robin Jackson
Cristina Nazario
General Information
Authors:
Eliot R. Long,
Publisher:
Victor S. Artese,
Wonderlic Inc.
Winifred L. Clonts
Wonderlic
Basic Skills
Test
Cost: Unavailable
Date of Publication:
Provided only to
administrating organization
1999-2000
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Description of Purpose
and Nature of Test
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What is its purpose?
What does it measure?
Purpose:
The Wonderlic Basic Skills Test is a brief,
multiple-choice test intended to measure the
language and math skills of adults, and to be
used in assessing the job-readiness of the testtaker
WBST Measures: Job Readiness
Job Readiness can be defined as:
“Having sufficient language and math skills to
successfully handle the written and
computational requirements of a particular
job.” (Donlon & Hanna, 2003)
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Where might this test be utilized?
How would it be used?

Often used as part of the hiring process

In assessing basic skill levels, one can find a job of
“best fit”.

In assessing results, potential employers can also
find employees that they feel are “best fit”

Generally used to assess entry level positions and
occupational training programs
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What type of test is the
WBST?
Classified as a basic skills
achievement test
*Handout
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Who is the WBST Intended For?
 The WBST is intended for those high
school-aged and up
 Designed for those who wish to assess
their basic skills when entering the
workforce.
 Skills assessed can lead to jobs in
many vocations
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What scores does the WBST provide?
The Wonderlic Basic Skills Test aims to measure
general intelligence or 'g,' which provides
insight into how easily individuals can be trained
and how well they adjust in work and school
settings.
Characteristics of Results:
Production Machine Tender:
Level Two Verbal
Level One Quantitative Mathematics
Each level indicates one’s attainment ability
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What do the results tell you
about a client?
WBST Assesses:
 Math skills
 Language skills
 “coachability”
*The Wonderlic measures potential to
learn, rather than how well that
potential is utilized.
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About The Test
 Verbal: 50 Questions
– General Educational Development (GED) level
– Word Knowledge
– Sentence Construction
– Information Retrieval
 Quantitative : 45 Questions
– General Educational Development (GED) level
- Explicit Quantitative Skills
- Applied Quantitative Skills
- Interpretive Quantitative Skills
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About The Test
 Use one test or both as needed
 Question Types
– Multiple Choice
– Increasing order of difficulty
 Administration time: 20 min. per test
 No calculators
 Two equivalent forms: VS1, VS2 and
QS-1 and QS-2
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Critical Evaluation
 Clean, clear, attractive design and
presentation
 Provides a range of appropriate scores
for 900+ entry level jobs
 Customizable job profiles
 Appropriate for intended purpose and
audience
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Administration and Scoring
 Easy administration and scoring
 Paper and pencil
– Individual or group administration
– Fax in scoring
– Online template scoring
 Online
– Individual or group administration
– Online scoring
– Results in minutes
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Critical Evaluation
Validity
Reliability
Content Validity
Content should represent what
experts say it should for that
particular domain
 WBST based job related language
and math skills published by the
U.S. Dept. of Labor
 Reviewers agree that it is sound
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EXAMPLE
excerpted Revised Handbook for Analyzing Jobs (RHAJ)
U.S. Dept. of Labor 1991
http://www.skilltran.com/rhaj/chapter7.htm
LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT
Level 2
READING: Passive vocabulary of 5,000 - 6,000
words. Read at rate of 190-215 words per minute. Read
adventure stories and comic books, looking up unfamiliar
words in dictionary for meaning, spelling and
pronunciation. Read instructions for assembling model
cars and airplanes.

MATHEMATICAL DEVELOPMENT
Level 1
MATH: Add and subtract two-digit numbers.
Multiply and divide 10's and 100's by 2, 3, 4, 5. Perform
the four basic arithmetic operations with coins as part of a
dollar. Perform operations with units such as cup, pint,
and quart; inch, foot and yard; and ounce and pound.
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Normative Validity
The test is appropriate for the population it is
intended for without gender, cultural or
content bias
 U.S. Dept. of Education reviewed and
approved for language/math skills for
postsecondary occupational training
 Expert reviewed for cultural sensitivity
 Differential item functioning analysis
for gender, culture, content bias
 1 Reviewer wants more info re:
students in school vs. adults at work
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Construct Validity
The scales measure what they are
supposed to measure
Reviewer’s positives
Good grade-progression data
Good discussion how item ordering minimized
impact of speediness on score
Reviewer’s negatives
More evidence needed for test wiseness,
sensitivity coaching, and context dependence
Demonstration that scales accurately represent
DOL scales
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Reliability
The measurements reported are accurate
Test-Retest
&
Chronbach alpha
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Test-Retest
-
for both same and alternate forms on: (a) same day,
(b)30 days, (c) after 30 days
-

Results Reported: .83 - .93
Reviewer’s positives:
 Item Response Theory/computer feature which
flags significantly different response pattern
 Item Response Theory enabled standard error of
measurements to vary with score level

Reviewer’s negatives:
 Too many small item scales (11 to 12) with
insufficient summary information re: how IRT
impacted accuracy
 No standard deviations or means described
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Chronbach Alpha
Internal Consistency
Results: .90 - .93 for Verbal /Quantitative, timed/untimed
20 minutes appropriate time & sufficient to measure the
verbal and quantitative domains
 Reviewer’s positives:
 Chronbach alpha good choice for speed test
 Reviewer’s negatives:
 No means and Standard deviations
 Insufficient summary accuracy information
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Summary Evaluation
Strengths
Weaknesses
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Strengths

Gives warning signals of inconsistent patterns.

Easy administration, brief test, flexibility in format administration
and scoring.

Provides accommodations for individuals with disabilities.

Evaluates the verbal and quantitative skills often necessary for
entry level jobs or programs.
Weaknesses

The multiplicity of the scales too broad to be
specific. Scales do not demonstrate high levels of
precision.

Not enough detail to determine if the reference
group is representative in respects to the national
populations of students in school and adult worker
populations.

More information is needed in the manual to
determine the accuracy of the scores.
National Football League
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Questions
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