C.
CLERICAL ABILITIES
TESTS
(xxi) CLERICAL ABILITIES BATTERY
Author:
The Psychological Corporation
Publisher:
The Psychological Corporation
555 Academic Court
San Antonio, TX 78204-0952
(800) 211-8378
Publication
Date:
1987
Purpose:
This test was designed to assess clerical abilities for the use of hiring and
promoting clerical personnel.
Population: Clerical applicants and employees and business school students.
Cost:
$150.50 per complete kit, including 5 test booklets of each test, 7 keys,
and manual.
$46 per 25 test booklets (Filing, Copying Information, Comparing
Information, Using Tables, Proofreading, Addition and Subtraction, and
Reasoning with Numbers)
$69.50 per set of scoring keys
$34.50 per manual
Time:
If all six tests in the battery are given, time can range from 1-2 hours
 Filing - 5-20 minutes
 Comparing Information - 5-20 minutes
 Copying Information - 5-20 minutes
 Using Tables - 5-20 minutes
 Proofreading - 5-20 minutes
 Addition and Subtraction - 5-20 minutes
 Reasoning with Numbers - 5-20 minutes
Norms:
Norms were taken from 515 individuals, including 145 part time clerical
workers and applicants, and 370 business school students. The norms in a
table in the manual discuss sex, ethnic origin, age, educational level, and
years of clerical experience. 85% of the clerical workers/applicants and
94% of the business students were female, so males were not adequately
represented. Development of local norms is advised.
Reliability:
Alternate forms reliability coefficients are reported for each of the seven
tests, however these numbers are based on a sample of 64 for Form A and
26 for Form B.
 Filing - .87
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




Validity:
Comparing Information - .77
Copying Information - .90
Using Tables - .82
Proofreading - .90
Addition and Subtraction - .87
Reasoning with Numbers - .93
Table 8 demonstrates predictive validity by correlating the CAB with the
business school grade point averages (n=117) for each of the seven tests.
 Filing - .41
 Comparing Information - .37
 Copying Information - .23
 Using Tables - .45
 Proofreading - .56
 Addition and Subtraction - .43
 Reasoning with Numbers - .49
Table 9 demonstrates predictive validity by correlating three CAB tests
with the final exam scores for teller trainees (n=23). A larger sample
would be more ideal.
 Copying Information = .37
 Using Tables = .45
 Reasoning with Numbers = .37
To establish concurrent validity, the CAB tests were correlated with the
General Clerical Test using 90 part time clerical workers. These ranged
from .13 to .74.
Test User:
Level “A” Personnel , however Form A is available only to human
resource departments in business and industry. Form B is available to
employment agencies, business and technical schools, vocational training
programs, and human resource departments.
Summary/
The CAB is quick and easy to administer, and the manual is very easy to
read and understand. The validity and reliability tables are clear, but need
to be established locally for specific situation and context. Tasks,
however, appear to be somewhat repetitive and not necessarily
representative of many clerical tasks. There should be caution in realizing
that additional normative and validity studies are needed.
(xxii) GENERAL CLERICAL TEST
Author:
The Psychological Corporation
Publisher:
The Psychological Corporation
555 Academic Court
San Antonio, TX 78204-2498
(800) 211-8378
Publication
Date:
1988
Purpose:
This test was developed to assess clerical speed and accuracy, numerical
skills, and language related skills.
Population: Clerical applicants and workers
Cost:
$48 per Examination Kit, includes one copy of Test Booklet for Clerical,
Numerical, and Verbal combined subtests, and Manual
$43.50 per additional manual
$42.50 for a complete set of keys for hand scoring
Time:
If all parts of the test are given, the GCT takes approximately one hour.
 Clerical Subtest - 7-23 minutes
 Numerical Subtest - 7-23 minutes
 Verbal Subtest - 7-23 minutes
Norms:
The section on norms explains what normative data are and they purpose
for which they should be used (the authors think this section, and the
validity section would be excellent material for instructors to use in
classroom for hands-on applications on test theory and development.
Norms were taken from paralegal students, community college trainees,
customer service applicants, clerical service positions in public utilities,
blue collar and management trainee positions, and multiple levels of
clerical tasks in industry, government, and university settings Table 4 of
the manual). However, most individuals were female.
Reliability:
Test-retest reliability is the only form of reliability provided, from within a
four week period The groups included 50 students from a southwestern
business school, 51 female students from two northeastern secretarial
schools, and 195 seniors enrolled in commercial courses at a New York
high school. The average reliabilities are:
 Clerical Subtest – .903
 Numerical Subtest – .85
 Verbal Subtest – .92
Validity:
The manual provides extensive validity information and offers examples
of content, criterion-related, and concurrent validities. The manual states
that the GCT can be used to predict success in jobs, the suitability of a
given job for a particular applicant, or assigning an inexperienced person
to appropriate work. The test may be more valid in educational settings
than in industry, because of the restriction of range for predictor or
criterion scores. Local validation is recommended.
Test User:
Level “A” Personnel
Summary/
The General Clerical Test has shown to be an excellent example of a
clerical abilities
test. The manual is well written, there is major effort toward validity, and
this test maintains a good track record of keeping information updated.
There is questionable reliability, however, so local norms should be
developed.
Critique:
(xxiii) HAY APTITUDE TEST
Author:
Edward N. Hay
Publisher:
EF Wonderlic Personnel Test Inc.
820 Frontage Road
Northfield, IL 60093-8007
(800) 323-3742
Publication
Date:
1988
Purpose:
This test was designed to help select applicants with the ability to deal
accurately with numerical and alphabetical detail and the ability to work
with numbers.
Population: Applicants for clerical and plant positions.
Cost:
$130 per total battery, includes 25 tests, user’s manual, and scoring key.
$300 per total battery, includes 100 tests, user’s manual, and scoring key.
Time:
The entire test takes approximately 15-20 minutes including instruction
 Warm-Up Test – 1 minute
 Number Perception Test - 4 minutes
 Name Finding Test - 4 minutes
 Number Series Completion Test - 4 minutes
Norms:
Norms are based on a convenience sample (past users of the test battery
who returned the results) with a mix of occupations. All other norming
information is provided in the manual.
Reliability:
No reliabilities are reported for the Warm Up Test.
Test-retest reliability:
 Number Perception Test - .85
Split half reliabilities:
 Name Finding Test - .94
 Number Series Completion Test - .94
Validity:
The validity evidence provided in the manual includes chi-square analyses
and correlations of scores and salary, performance ratings, and typing
volume, even though the sample size was very small (n=21) and the test
was given under unstandardized conditions. The manual suggests that this
test is highly face valid. Content validity was established by the creation
of tests that represent direct work samples found in daily operations.
Criterion related validity
 Correlations with tests and performance ratings
o Number Perception Test - .43
o Name Finding Test - .43
o Number Series Completion Test - .55
 Correlations with tests and employee ratings
o Number Perception Test - .35
o Name Finding Test - .40
o Number Series Completion Test - .22
Test User:
Level “A” Personnel
Summary/
The Hay Aptitude Battery is a series of tests that although show high face
validity, is
limited by it’s low level of difficulty. Data suggest that these tests are best
used to screen out incompetent applicants rather than to differentiate
between applicants with varying degrees of competence. Once again,
there is an insistence of development of local norms in order to generalize
to a particular organization.
Critique:
(xxiv) MINNESOTA CLERICAL ASSESSMENT BATTERY
Author:
Assessment Systems Corporation
Publisher:
Assessment Systems Corporation
2233 University Avenue, Suite 200
St. Paul, MN 55114
Phone: (651) 647-9220
Publication
Date:
1995
Purpose:
This test was designed to assess the knowledge and skills that are
necessary for a number of different clerical jobs using a personal
computer.
Population: Secretaries and other clerical workers.
User’s Manual alone = $15, but is included in all purchased batteries
Cost:
Limited Use, Counted (Smaller organizations giving tests on a as-needed
basis)
 200 tests = $260 (1.30 each)
 500 tests = $600 (1.20 each)
 1000 tests = $995 (1.00 each)
Unlimited Use, Uncounted (One-time cost with capability of testing any
number of applicants)
 Single-Machine License
o First Copy = $1,495
o Second Copy = $1,250
o Each Additional Copy = $995
 Building License = $5,995
 Organization-Wide License = Contact ASC for quote
Time:
If all six tests in the battery are given, time can range from 2-4 hours
 Typing-Keyboarding Test – no time limit
 Proofreading Test – 45 minutes (15 minutes per section)
 Filing Test – 25 minutes each for Numerical and Alphabetical sections
 Business Vocabulary Test – 25 minutes
 Business Math Test – 60 minutes
 Clerical Knowledge Test – 25 minutes
Norms:
Norms were taken from 368 incumbent clerical workers (187 secretaries,
98 typists, and 83 “generalists”) from six organizations. The sample
included 17 males and 346 females. The manual reports “minority
representation in the sample was slightly higher than that in the US
population”. The norming sample was a convenience sample.
Reliability:
Reliabilities were estimated from internal consistency statistics for most of
the tests.
 Typing-Keyboarding Test - .99, Accuracy estimate - .79
 Proofreading Test - .92
 Filing Test (Numerical) - .91
 Filing Test (Alphabetical) - .90
 Filing Test Overall - .95
 Business Vocabulary Test - .91
 Business Math Test - .87
 Clerical Knowledge Test - .80
Validity:
There is no real evidence of validity in this test. There is no criterion
related evidence that the test scores relate to clerical job performance.
There is a weak claim for construct validity in that test scores were higher
for norm group members with experience to the clerical content. The only
time validity was mentioned was that the tests were developed by taking
information from a job analysis to develop the items.
Test User:
Level “A” Personnel
Summary/
Although the MCAB is easy to administer and score because it is a
personal computer
automated testing package, it can be time consuming. There is a
considerable lack of reliability and validity estimates. It can useful in
organizations in which the content can be shown to be job relevant, but
without a thorough job analysis, the content in the MCAB might not be
relevant to every organization.
Critique:
(xxv) MODERN OCCUPATIONAL SKILLS TEST
Author:
Charles Johnson, Steve Blinkhorn, Robert Wood, and Jonathan Hall
Publisher:
Research
NFER-Nelson Publishing Co.
Australian Council for Educational
Darville House 2 Oxford Road
9 Frederick St., PO
Box 210
East Windsor, Berkshire SL4 1DF England Hawthorne 3122, Victoria,
Australia
Publication
Date:
1989
Purpose:
This test was developed to assess the clerical skills of checking and
numeracy, verbal skills, and office administration skills to be used in the
recruitment, selection, and development of clerical and related staff.
Population: Potential and current office employees.
Cost:
$75.90 per Reference Set, which includes one of each Test Booklet,
Administration Guide, Test Taker’s Guide, one Administrator’s Test
Record, Task Inventory, Profile Sheet, User’s Guide, and Order form.
Does not include score keys.
$14.85 per Test Pack of each test, which consists of 10 expendable Test
Booklets, 10 Test Taker’s Guides, and 10 Profile Sheets.
$29.70 per Administrator’s Pack per test, which consists of an
Administration Guide, Score Key, Test Booklet, Task Inventory, and
Administrator’s Test Record.
Time:
Numerical Estimation –
Numerical Awareness –
Numerical Checking –
Technical Checking –
Word Meanings –
Verbal Checking –
Decision Making –
Spelling and Grammar–
Filing –
Norms:
Norms were taken from 1,048 school students and 814 college students in
England. The norms were described in separate tables according to
schools/colleges sampled, geographical area, age (82.9% were 17 and
12 minutes
8 minutes
8 minutes
12 minutes
12 minutes
8 minutes
15 minutes
8 minutes
12 minutes
under, 11% were 18, 3.6% were 29, and 2.5% were over 19 years old),
ethnic origins, sex, academic levels, qualifications, and job aspirations.
Reliability:
The authors believed that reliability is sensitive to score range, so they
emphasized the use of the standard error of measurement instead. The
authors reported the reliability coefficients of .86 and .75 and standard
errors of 2.62 and 2.31. Other data were not available.
Validity:
There is weak evidence of construct validity by correlating the Word
Meanings, Verbal Checking, Numerical Awareness, and Decision Making
tests with the Verbal, Numerical, and Perceptual tests of the AH3 using 32
job applicants for junior clerical jobs. Coefficients ranged from .25
between the MOST Verbal Checking and AH3 Numerical, and .81
between the MOST Numerical Awareness and AH3 Numerical.
Test User:
Level “A” Personnel
Summary/
The MOST is easy to administer and score, although there is need for
more studies
conducted to determine the predictive validity and other reliability. There
is a Task Inventory and Profile sheet administered at the beginning to
determine which tests should be used for candidates dependent on their
strengths and weaknesses, which is helpful. Caution should be taken into
consideration however, for American users, because this test was normed
on British samples, so local norms should be developed.
Critique:
(xxvi) OFFICE SKILLS SERIES
Author:
The Morrisby Organisation
Publisher:
The Morrisby Organisation
85 High St. Hemel
Hempstead, Herfordshire HP1 3AH England
Publication
Date:
1993
Purpose:
This test was designed to measure the basic skills and aptitudes that are
required for office and commercial occupations.
Population: Clerical applicants
Cost:
₤ 1.55 per candidate (Test booklet and answer sheet combined)
₤ 22.15 per Specimen set
Time:
Applicants are given an overall time limit of 30 minutes, and told to
manage their time.
 Speed and Accuracy - 5 minutes
 Arithmetic – 10 minutes
 English Usage - 4 minutes
Norms:
The test was normed on two groups: clerical workers (n=346) and clerical
applicants (n=2,321). The manual does not contain much descriptive
information other than age and gender. As expected, the clerical workers
obtained higher scores than did the applicants. Users are encouraged to
develop their own norms.
Reliability:
Split half reliability estimates were computed.
 Speed and Accuracy - .949
 Arithmetic – .870
 English Usage - .915
Validity:
PTI = Personnel Tests for Industry-Verbal
CP3 = Saville & Holdsworth CP3
NA = Numerical Alertness
VU = Verbal Usage
RPM = Ravens Progressive Matrices
PTI
Speed & Acc. .170
Arithmetic
.515
CP3
.408
.350
NA
.295
.633
VU
.171
.359
RPM
.435
.288
English
.521
.218
.234
.367
.173
Test User:
Level “A” Personnel
Summary/
The OSS is a quick method for determining a limited number of specific
abilities
relative to clerical occupations. It is easy to use and complete, but it does
possess some flaws, such as using King’s English throughout and using
metric terms for measurement and British terms for units of currency. The
OSS is correlated with a measure of intelligence, instead of another
measure clerical ability. It does not measure a very broad spectrum of
skills, so other measures of clerical ability might be of better use.
Critique:
REFERENCES FOR CLERICAL ABILITY TESTS
Clerical Abilities Battery User’s Manual, pages 17-21
General Clerical Test User’s Manual, pages 3-4
Hay Aptitude Test Battery User’s Manual, pages 21-30
Greg Olson, WONDERLIC, INC., 1795 N. Butterfield Rd., Libertyville, IL 60048-1238,
Tel. 800-323-3742, Fax 847-680-9492. http://www.wonderlic.com
http://www.assess.com/MCAB.html
http://www.ericae.net
http://www.ipmaac.org
http://www.psychcorp.com
Mental Measurements Yearbook (Online: SilverPlatter Information, Inc.)
Oscar Spurlin, Ph.D., ERGOMETRICS & Applied Personnel Research, Inc., 115 Skyline
Drive
Edmonds, WA 98020 U.S.A. Tel. 425-774-5700 Fax 425-774-0829.
http://www.ergometrics.org.