SACK’S SENTENCE COMPLETION TEST
significant material in response to at least one
A sentence completion test consists of a
number of incomplete sentences presented to
the subject for completion; for example, “I
getangry when ...” Usually there are no
instructions except complete these sentences as
rapidly as you can. Don’t stop to think about it,
but say the very first thing that occurs to you.
The test is usually not a standardized test and is
rarely treated quantitatively. It may be
administered to a group or as an individual test.
It requires a minimum of supervision and this
fact may be an important consideration in many
clinical situations. Usually, sentences are
selected which explore significant areas of an
individual’s adjustment or in special situations
test may be used for the purpose of
investigating some special cluster of attitudes.
A sentence completion test designed to obtain
significantly clinical material in four
representative areas of adjustment was
developed by Joseph M. Saks and other
psychologists of the New York Veterans
Administration Mental Hygiene Service. The
four areas covered by that test are family, sex,
interpersonal relationships, and self concept. It
is felt that the items included in these areas
present the subject with sufficient opportunities
to express his attitudes so that a clinical
psychologist may infer his dominant personality
trends. Such information is useful in screening
patients for therapy and it offers the therapist
significant clues to the content and dynamics of
the patients’ attitudes and feelings.
Family
The family area includes three set of attitudes,
those toward the mother, father, and family
unit. Each of these is represented by four
sentence completion items that stimulate the
subject to express attitudes toward his parents
individually and toward his family as a whole.
“My mother and I...”, “If my father would
only...”, and “My family treats me like...” are
examples of these items designed to elicit these
attitudes. It is hoped that even the subject
tends to be cautious and evasive he will reveal
of the items.
Sex
The sex area includes attitudes toward women
and toward heterosexual relationships. The
eight items in this area allow the subject to
express himself with regard to women as social
individual, toward marriage and with respect to
sexual relationship themselves. “I think most
girls...” and “If I had sex relationships...” are
typical items in this area.
Interpersonal Relationship
The area of interpersonal relationship includes
attitude toward friends and acquaintances,
colleagues at work or school, and people
supervised. The sixteen items in this area afford
an opportunity for the subject to express his
feelings toward him. “When I’m not around my
friends...” and “At work I get along best with...”
are examples of the items in this area.
Self-Concept
Self-concept involves fears, guilt feelings, goals,
and attitudes toward one’s own abilities, past
and future. The attitudes expressed in this area
give the psychologist a picture of a subject’s
concept of himself as he is, as he was, as he
hopes to be, and as he thinks he actually will be.
Among the twenty four items in this area are “I
wish I could lose the fear of...” and “My greatest
mistake was...”, “I believe I have the ability to...”,
“When I was a child...” and “Someday I...” and
“What I want most out of my life...”
Administration
The SSCT can be administered individually or to
groups, and subjects can take from 20-40
minutes. The subject is asked to read the
following instructions and to ask any questions
he may have about them.
Instruction: “Below are 60 partly completed
sentences. Read each one and finish it by
writing the first thing come to your mind. Work
as quickly as you can. If you cannot complete an
item, circle the numbers and return to it later.”
Interpretation & Scoring
A rating is made of the subject’s degree of
disturbance in this area, according to the
following scale:
2 – Severely disturbed. Appears to require
therapeutic aid in handling emotional conflicts
in this area
1 – Mildly disturbed. Has emotional conflicts in
this area, but appears to handle them without
therapeutic aid.
0 – No significant disturbance noted in this area.
X – Unknown. Insufficient evidence
I. Attitude towards father (1, 16, 31, 46)
2 points – feels extreme hostility and contempt
with overt death wishes
1 point – admires father but wishes their
relationship were closer
0 point – confident of his ability to overcome
obstacle
II. Attitude towards own abilities (2, 17, 32,
47)
2 points – feels completely incompetent and
hopeless
1 point – feels he has specific ability and
persistence.
0 point – confident of his ability to overcome
obstacle
III. Goals (3, 18, 33, 48)
2 points – direct expression of hostility,
aggression of society, extravagant and
realistic
1 point – desires material things for family as
well as for self
0 point – sees importance in happiness and
health
IV. Attitude towards people supervised (4, 19,
34, 49)
2 points – feel he would not be able to control
his hostility in supervising others
1 point – feels capable of doing good
supervisory but has misgiving about assuming
an authorization person
0 point – feels comfortable and well accepted by
subordinate
V. Attitude towards future (5, 20, 35, 50)
2 points – pessimistic, no hope in his own
resources for happiness and success
1 point – unsure of himself but generally
optimistic
0 point – seems confident in achieving his
materialistic goals.
VI. Attitude toward supervisors at work/school
(6, 21, 36, 51)
2 points – resents and fears authority
1 point – mild difficulty in accepting authority
0 point – accepts authority
VII. Fears (7, 22, 37, 52)
2 points – disturbed by apparent fears of
losing identity or consciousness
and possibility to control his impulse
1 point – fear of self-assertion which is
commonly fair and not pervasive
0 point – expresses lack of overt fear of
insufficient evidence
VIII. Attitude towards friends and
acquaintances (8, 23, 38, 53)
2 points – suspicious and apparently seclusive
1 point – seems to wait for approval of
others before committing himself emotionally
0 point –expresses good mutual feelings
between friends and se
IX. Attitude towards past (9, 24, 39, 54)
2 points – keenly felt lack of mother, rejected
and emotionally isolated.
1 point – in the average
0 point – feels well adjusted: positive feeling
tone and memory of accomplishment.
 X. Attitude towards men/women (10, 25, 40,
55)
2 points – extremely suspicious, possible
homosexual tendency
1 point – high ideals but with ambivalent
feelings
0 point –only minor criticisms and superficial
XI. Attitude towards heterosexual
(11,26,41,56)
2 points – appears to have given up achieving
good sexual adjustment
1 point – desires sexual experience but shows
reservation
0 point – indicates satisfaction towards this
area.
XII. Attitude towards family unit (12, 27, 42,
57)
2 points – feels rejected by family, which
always lack solidarity and which has
constantly contented with difficulties.
1 point – aware that family does not recognize
him as a mature person but feels no
difficulty in identifying with them
0 point –
XIII. Attitude towards colleague at work/school
(13, 28, 43, 58)
2 points – feels rejected by colleagues and
condemns them
1 point – has some difficulty with his work and
is dependent on his colleagues.
0 point – expresses good mutual feelings.
XIV. Attitude towards mother (14, 29, 44, 59)
2 points - completely rejects and depreciate
mother whom he considers over
demanding.
1 point - sees mother’s fault but, accepts and
tolerate their differences
0 point - express only positive feeling towards
the mother
XV. Attitude towards guilt feelings (15, 30, 45,
60)
2 points - concerned with spiritual feeling and
physical sex drives
1 point - has regrets over past and seems mildly
disturbed by his failure to control trouble
0 ort Guide to Interpretation (15 Variables)
INTELLIGENCE ABILITY TESTING
HISTORY OF INTELLIGENCE TESTING
In the late 1800s, Sir Francis Galton—the
founder of differential psychology— published
some of the first works about human
intelligence. Galton proposed that intelligence
was hereditary and that it could be tested by
looking at how people performed on
sensorimotor tasks. Sensorimotor tasks are
tasks or exercises that involve the brain
receiving a message, then producing a
response. An example would be driving a car
and recognizing that the vehicle in front of you
is slowing (the receipt of a message), causing
you to hit your brakes to slow down as well (a
produced response).
Galton also liked to use statistics to explain the
data he collected, even though this information
didn't always verify his beliefs. For example,
although he originally thought that head shape
and size were correlated with intelligence, the
data did not support this notion. Other
psychologists of that time had their own ideas,
such as James McKeen Cattell who proposed
that simple mental tests could be used to
measure intelligence. Yet, it wouldn't be until a
few years later that the first IQ test was born.
STANFORD-BINET INTELLIGENCE
The Stanford-Binet test is an examination meant
to gauge intelligence through five factors of
cognitive ability. These five factors include fluid
reasoning, knowledge, quantitative reasoning,
visual-spatial processing and working memory.
Both verbal and nonverbal responses are
measured. Each of the five factors is given a
weight and the combined score is often reduced
to a ratio known commonly as the intelligence REVISION
quotient, or IQ.
Stanford University psychologist Lewis Terman is
The Binet-Simon Scale was developed by Alfred one professional who took Binet's original test
Binet and his student Theodore Simon. French and standardized it using a sample of American
education laws were in flux at the time and participants. Initially, this was known as the
Binet was approached by a governmental Revised Stanford-Binet Scale but is now known
commission. The commission wanted a device more commonly as the Stanford-Binet
to detect children that possessed notably Intelligence Scale.
below-average levels of intelligence for their
age. The Stanford-Binet test, which was first
published in 1916, was adapted from the
Binet and Simon, began developing questions original test in that French terms and ideas were
that focused on areas not explicitly taught in the translated into English. It also included new
classroom, such as attention, memory, and terms, using two scales of measurement versus
problem-solving skills. They then worked to one to provide a more accurate score.
determine which questions best predicted
academic success. They ultimately came up with VALIDITY AND RELIABILITY
a test that included 30 questions, such as asking
The Stanford-Binet test is among the most
about the difference between "boredom" and
reliable standardized tests currently used in
"weariness," or asking the test-taker to follow a
education. It has undergone many validity tests
moving object with just one eye. This became
and revisions throughout its century-long
known as the Binet-Simon Scale and was the
history, and while there are undoubtedly a few
first recognized IQ test.
issues with the assessment, most results are
LIMITATIONS treated as accurate. That is, individuals with
high scores are usually gifted, and those with
This Binet-Simon Intelligence Scale (also low Stanford-Binet test scores often face some
sometimes called the Simon-Binet Scale) sort of cognitive disability.
became the basis for the intelligence tests still
in use today. Though, this scale had many SCORING
limitations. For example, Binet did not believe
The IQ score was calculated by dividing the test
that his psychometric instruments could be
taker's mental age by their chronological age,
used to measure a single, permanent, and
then multiplying this number by 100.
inborn level of intelligence. Instead, he
suggested that intelligence is far too broad a For example, a child with a mental age of 12 and
concept to quantify with one number. a chronological age of 10 would have an IQ of
120: (12÷10) x 100 = 120.
Binet insisted that intelligence is complex in that
it is influenced by many factors, changes over
time, and can only be compared in children with
similar backgrounds. The Binet-Simon test didn't
necessarily account for this complexity,
providing an incomplete measure of
intelligence. Some psychologists set out to make
the modifications needed to supply a more
complete picture, which led to the creation of
newer, more comprehensive IQ tests.
WECHSLER INTELLIGENCE SCALE
The Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) is
an intelligence test first published in 1955 and
designed to measure intelligence in adults and
older adolescents. The test was designed by
psychologist David Wechsler, who believed that
intelligence was made up of a number of
different mental abilities rather than a single
general intelligence factor.
BACKGROUND
Wechsler was dissatisfied with what he believed
were the limitations of the Stanford- Binet
intelligence test. Among his chief complaints
about that test was the single score that
emerged, its emphasis on timed tasks, and the
fact that the test had been designed specifically
for children and was therefore invalid for adults.
As a result, Wechsler devised a new test during
the 1930s, known as the Wechsler-Bellevue
Intelligence Scales. The test was later revised
and became known as the Wechsler Adult
Intelligence Scale, or WAIS.
Over time the test evolved into three separate
versions used for different age groups. The
Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) is used
for adults, while the Wechsler Intelligence Scale
for Children (WISC) is used for children between
the ages of 6 and 16. The Wechsler Preschool
and Primary Scale of Intelligence (WPPSI) is
used for children between the ages of 4 and 6.5.
In some cases of intellectual disabilities, the
WISC may be used to help clinicians understand
the individual’s lowest level of knowledge.
VALIDITY AND RELIABILITY
The evidence for the reliability and validity of
the WAIS-IV as outlined in the Technical and
Interpretive Manual (Wechsler 2008) seems
excellent. The main reliability figure based on
the standardisation sample for Full Scale IQ was
.98, which shows very good internal consistency.
In addition, the test re-test reliability of .96 was
found for Full Scale IQ when 298 were given the
assessment twice with a mean interval of 22
days.
Whitaker (2008b, 2010) noted that the
reliability figures reported in the manuals are
those for people with an average level of
intellectual ability and suggests they may not be
the same for people with low intellectual ability
SCORING
Like the traditional Stanford-Binet test, the
WAIS also provides an overall score. However,
Wechsler utilized a different approach to
calculating this number. As you might
remember from reading about the history of
intelligence testing, scores on the early
Stanford-Binet were derived from dividing
mental age by chronological age.
On the WAIS, Wechsler instead compared the
scores of the test-taker to those of others in
their general age group. The average score is
fixed at 100, with approximately two-thirds of
all scores falling somewhere between 85 and
115.
On the current version of the WAIS, test scores
that fall between 90 and 110 are considered
average intelligence. Many other intelligence
tests later adopted Wechsler's method,
including the modern version of the
Stanford-Binet.

RAVEN’S PROGRESSIVE MATRICES
Raven’s matrices is a nonverbal ability test used
to assess abstract reasoning. The test is
progressive in the sense that questions get
harder as the test progresses. The task is to
determine the missing element in a pattern
which is generally presented in the form of a
matrix, hence the name Raven’s matrices.
Raven's Progressive Matrices and Vocabulary
tests were originally developed by John C.
Raven in 1936 for use in research into the
genetic and environmental origins of cognitive
ability. Raven thought that the tests commonly
in use at that time were cumbersome to
administer and the results difficult to interpret.
Accordingly, he set about developing simple
measures of the two main components of
Spearman's g: the ability to think clearly and
make sense of complexity (known as deductive
ability) and the ability to store and reproduce
information (known as reproductive ability).
Raven's tests of both were developed with the
aid of what later became known as item
response theory. Raven first published his
Progressive Matrices in the United Kingdom in
1938. His three sons established Scotland-based
test publisher J C Raven Ltd. in 1972. In 2004,
Harcourt Assessment, Inc. a division of Harcourt
Education, acquired J C Raven Ltd. Harcourt was
later acquired by Pearson PLC.
The matrices are posed in three different forms
for test-takers of different ability:
Colored Progressive Matrices – Designed for
younger children (ages 5 – 11), older people,
and people with learning issues, these are
presented with a colored background to make
them more visually stimulating for participants.
A few of the hardest items are in black and
white. There are 36 items and this test takes 15
to 30 minutes to administer. This is the easiest
of the Raven’s Progressive Matrices.
Standard Progressive Matrices – These are
appropriate for children and teens ages 6 – 16.
There are 5 sets of 12 items each (60 in total),
with each item becoming progressively more
difficult. These are black and white.
Administration takes 40 – 45 minutes. These are
more difficult than the Colored Progressive
Matrices.
Advanced Progressive Matrices – This set
contains 48 items – a set of 12 and another set
of 36. They are black and white and become
increasingly harder as progress is made through
the sets. These questions are geared toward
adults and teenagers of advanced intelligence.
Administration takes 40 – 60 minutes. These are
the most difficult of the Raven’s Progressive
Matrices.
VALIDITY AND RELIABILITY
Raven\s progressive matrices test is a reliable
and valid INTELLIGENCE TEST for mental testing
and general intelligence. The advanced form
(APM) of test was made for measuring the mind
ability of superior and gifted people.
ADMINISTERING
Example: A score of 88th percentile indicates
that 88% of the students in the same age or
grade category scored lower than your child.
Generally, a score in the 95th percentile or
above would indicate that a child is highly gifted
in terms of intelligence. The Raven’s Matrices
Test scores are relatively unaffected by ethnic
and language background.

The Raven’s Progressive Matrices is

administered as a nonverbal group test. It is
typically a 60-item test used in measuring
abstract reasoning and regarded as a non-verbal
estimate of fluid intelligence. Many patterns are
presented in the form of a 6×6, 4×4, 3×3, or 2×2
matrix, giving the test its name. All of the
questions on the Raven’s progressives consist of
visual geometric design with a missing piece.
The test taker is given six to eight choices to pick
from before filling in the missing piece.

INTERPRETATION

The raw score is typically converted to a

percentile rank using the appropriate norms.
This percentile rank is age-based or
grade-based. It indicates the percent of the
norm group of students who scored lower than
your child.