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NON-VERBAL TEST OF INTELLIGENCE (NVTI)

Nonverbal test is a test that involves our ability to understand and solve the problems by
using visual reasoning. The question appear in non-verbal test are pictorial form instead of
using numbers or words. Nonverbal test helps in identifying the errors, recognizing the
similarities and completing the patterns. On the other hand, verbal test is about understanding
and reasoning concepts framed in words. It aims at evaluating ability to think constructively
and find an appropriate answer to that question. Verbal test involves interpreting sentences,
solving word problems, and extracting logic from given statement. Performance tests are
usually administered to illiterate persons. These tests generally involve constructing certain
patterns or solving the problems in terms of concrete material. These are generally useful for
measuring specific abilities but it is particularly useful for testing specific category of
persons.

TEST DESCRIPTION
Non-Verbal Test of Intelligence was developed by Dr. G.H Nafde in 1961.  It is a non-verbal
self-administered scale which can be administered both individually and in group settings.
This test consists of 4 subscales 1) Analogies. 2) Water reflection 3) Series 4) Classification.
Each subtest consists of 20 problems. Time limit for each subtest is 5 minutes. Thus, the
total number of test items are 80 and it is administered by paper-pencil. Besides this, there
are 6 practice problems for each subtest that are to be administered before the subtest. A
separate answer sheet is given to mark the answers. 
Advantages and Disadvantages of Non-verbal intelligence test.
● It is Useful for clinical purposes, for testing neurotics and diagnosing mental
disorders.Helps in assessing studentswith deafness or who are hard of hearing,
without speech or who have limited language ability.
Disadvantages:
● Assesses students short term memory and reasoning abilities. However, Most of these
tests do not require above-average thinking, so these are not suitable for higher levels
or even measure aspects of imagination or judgement.
● These tests need to be administered individually, in small groups, which entails
expense and time consuming. 
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● Some test items do not have connection with life situations. Enough emphasis is not
given to item difficulty. 

STANDARDIZATION AND NORMS

The preliminary form of the test was administered on 168 class 10th standard of
Elphinstone Technical High School in Mumbai. The timing after which the majority of the
students finished the test was noted to fix final time limits. Item analysis was done by more
than one method and the final test was administered to around 9000 students, including
boys & girls in Bombay high schools and first year students in different streams of college.
Norming was done keeping in consideration the High school population of Bombay and
other nearby places. Age as well as class norms, separate for boys and girls were calculated.

RELIABILITY
The reliability of the NVTI was established using the split half reliability method on two
groups of participants while the test retest method was done for four other groups. Factor
analysis was carried out, and it was found to be unifactorial test, while split half reliability
was 0.94 (N= 134) and 0.89 (N= 129). The test retest reliability at repetition post a gap of 3
months was found to be 0.74 (N= 66).

VALIDITY
Validity coefficients were obtained for validity with academic grades and from individual
subjects, teachers’ judgments and with other tests such as the Raven’s Progressive Matrices.
The validity coefficient was found to be 0.88.

ADMINISTERATION
The table was set up and the participant was called in. Rapport was built after which the
instructions were read out. As there are 4 tests, so before each test the instructions
were given with which there were 6 examples which the participant had to solve as it
was of practice. Participant was told to do as fast as they can solve and should not spend
too much time on any questions as there were 5 mins for each test. When the time was
up administrator told participant that time was up and she has to put her pencil down
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and stop. Then she was given the question booklet along with the answer sheet. After
understanding these instructions the test taker began the test. After the completion of
test she was asked questions about her experience of the test. Then she was debriefed
about the test.

I) Scoring:
For each of the score subtests the number of right answers (R), wrong answers (W) and
blanks (B) were calculated. The formula R – (W/4) was used to calculate the raw score.
The mean and SD for the appropriate age group was taken from table of age norms
based on higher school population. The IQ score was calculated by substituting the
values in the formula –
IQ = [15 (score – mean/SD)] + 100

IQ ranges are,
130 or above very superior
129-120-superior
119-110-above average
10-99- average
89-80-below average
79-70- borderline
69-55 -mild subnormality
54-40-moderate subnormality
39-25-severe subnormality,
below 25- Profound subnormality
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REFERENCES
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Davis, K., Christodoulou, J., Seider, S., & Gardner, H. E. (2011). The theory of multiple
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Kaufman Adult Intelligence Test. (n.d.). Retrieved from

http://link.springer.com/10.1007%2F978-0-387-79948-3_1063

Legg, S., &Hutter, M. (2007). A collection of definitions of intelligence. Frontiers in Artificial

Intelligence and applications, 1517.7.

 Nafde, G.H. (1961). Manual of Non-Verbal Test of Intelligence. Mumbai: Institute of

Vocational Guidance and Selection.

Necka, E., & Lulewicz, A. (2016). Capacity, control, or both - which aspects of working
memory contribute to children's general fluid intelligence? Polish Psychological Bulletin,
47(1), 21-28. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/ppb-2016-0003
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Niwlikar, A. B. (2019, July 29). Malin's Intelligence Scale for Indian Children (MISIC).
Retrieved from https://www.careershodh.com/malins-intelligence-scale-for-indian-children-
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Rajah, A., Sundaram, K. R., &Anandkumar, A. (2011, July). Changes in intellectual and
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Shyam, R., & Khan, A. (2009). Psychological tests developed for children in India: A review of
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Singh, Y., Makharia, A., Sharma, A., Agrawal, K., Varma, G., & Yadav, T. (2017). A study on
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