What is the General Aptitude Test Battery (GATB)?

Introduction

Developed by the US Employment Service, the General Aptitude Test Battery (GATB) can identify aptitudes for different occupations. It has been used by state employment services as well as other agencies and organizations, such as the US Employment Service and the Employment Security Commission.

The GATB comprises twelve timed subtests: vocabulary, arithmetic, computation, mark making, assembling, disassembling, turning, placing, name comparison, tool matching, form matching, and three-dimensional space. These twelve subtests correspond to nine aptitudes: intelligence, verbal, numerical, spatial, form perception, clerical perception, motor coordination, finger dexterity, and manual dexterity. These nine aptitudes in turn can be divided into three composite aptitudes: cognitive, perceptual, and psychomotor.

The entire test takes about two to three hours to complete. About one-half of the test deals with psychomotor tasks, such as manipulating small objects with the fingers; the other half consists of paper-and-pencil questions. In some cases, an examiner might administer only selected tests of the battery as a measure of aptitude for a specific line of work. Scores for each aptitude test are based on the total number of correct answers. Raw scores are converted to norm-referenced aptitude scores. Its average is 100; its standard deviation is 20. Anyone of working age can take the GATB. Most people complete fewer than half of the items, but people who are familiar with timed tests may be able to increase their scores by quickly completing all the items.

Uses and Limitations

The GATB can be used to help job seekers or employers. Typically, job seekers who take the GATB receive counseling on their scores for each of the nine aptitudes. Their pattern of scores can be compared with the patterns deemed necessary for different occupations. Employers might use the GATB in their efforts to hire qualified employees. Also, the GATB has been used in research, such as exploring the differences in abilities of different groups or assessing the impact of various training programs or work experience.

The GATB has been translated into several languages and has been used in many different countries, including Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Colombia, France, India, Italy, Portugal, and Switzerland, as well as in the United States. There is also a completely computerized version.

As is true of other tests, the GATB has limitations. In the late 1980s, the GATB became a center of controversy when people discovered that it had been race normed. Subsequently, the National Academy of Sciences studied the situation and concluded that race norming was reasonable, because it corrected for test bias. In a controversial move, the National Academy of Sciences recommended to continue the practice of race norming. In July 1990, the Department of Labor (DOL) proposed a two-year suspension of the GATB to study whether it worked well enough to continue to be used. The question became moot in 1991, however, when Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1991, a law that outlawed the practice of race norming. Consequently, reports are no longer race normed. Instead, raw scores of people from all racial and ethnic groups are converted to standard scores using the same norms.

As a result of the controversy and federal suspension of the GATB, the US federal government, as well as many state governments and other employers, have discontinued it in favor of other, more up-to-date multiple-aptitude test batteries or more specific ability and skill assessments. The DOL's O*NET Ability Profiler tool, which indicates percentile ranks of each aptitude needed for a specific occupation, is based on forms of the GATB and has largely replaced the traditional GATB. Where it is still used, the GATB can be useful in predicting who will be the most successful person on the job, but it is not considered strong enough to be the sole determinant in selection. For instance, in Canada, the GATB is frequently used for vocational counseling purposes.

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