Examples of aptitude tests include;[7]

• Logical reasoning tests: Logical reasoning tests examine how you come to see the difference or similarities between patterns and shapes.
• Verbal reasoning tests: Verbal reasoning tests will determine the way you have defined or obtained information from within short passage or
paragraph.
• In-tray exercises: Also called e-tray exercise, in-tray exercises is to determine your prioritization and organizational abilities required in the
workplace.
• Watson Glaser critical thinking tests: The Watson Glaser critical thinking test determines your ability to analyze any set of information to see how
well you understand it and draw from it a logical conclusion.
• Situational judgment tests: Situational judgment tests measure how you solve problems at work using various workplace scenarios.
• Numerical reasoning tests: Numerical reasoning tests determine how you use numbers and calculations to solve mathematical problems.
• Diagrammatic reasoning tests: Diagrammatic reasoning tests give you patterns and diagrams from which you must find the next step in the chain
and provide the next step in the pattern using logic.

Examples of standardized and non-standardized tests

Subject Format Standardized test Non-standardized test

Each student is given the same questions, and their The teacher goes around the room and asks each student a
History Oral
answers are scored in the same way. different question. Some questions are harder than others.

Some driving students have to drive on a highway, but others

Practical Each driving student is asked to do the same things,
Driving only have to drive slowly around the block. One employee
skills and they are all evaluated by the same standards.
takes points off for "bad attitude".

The teacher gives different questions to different students: an

Each student is given the same questions, and their
Mathematics Written easy test for poor students, another test for most students,
answers are scored in the same way.
and a difficult test for the best students.

All musicians play the same piece of music. The judges Each musician chooses a different piece of music to play.
Music Audition agreed in advance how much factors such as timing, Judges choose the musician they like best. One judge gives
expression, and musicality count for. extra points to musicians who wear a costume.
Not to be confused with Visual thinking or Spatial reasoning.

Spatial visualization ability or visual-spatial ability is the ability to mentally manipulate 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional figures. It is typically
measured with simple cognitive tests and is predictive of user performance with some kinds of user interfaces.

Measurement[edit]
The cognitive tests used to measure spatial visualization ability including mental rotation tasks like the Mental Rotations Test or mental cutting tasks
like the Mental Cutting Test; and cognitive tests like the VZ-1 (Form Board), VZ-2 (Paper Folding), and VZ-3 (Surface Development) tests from the Kit
of Factor-Reference cognitive tests produced by Educational Testing Service. Though the descriptions of spatial visualization and mental rotation
sound similar, mental rotation is a particular task that can be accomplished using spatial visualization.[1]

The Minnesota Paper Form Board Test involves giving participants a shape and a set of smaller shapes which they are then instructed to determine
which combination of small shapes will fill the larger shape completely without overlapping. The Paper Folding test involves showing participants a
sequence of folds in a piece of paper, through which a set of holes is then punched. The participants must choose which of a set of unfolded papers
with holes corresponds to the one they have just seen.

The Surface Development test involves giving participants a flat shape with numbered sides and a three-dimensional shape with lettered sides and
asking the participants to indicate which numbered side corresponds to which lettered side.

Critical thinking is the analysis of available facts, evidence, observations, and arguments in order to form a judgement by the application
of rational, skeptical, and unbiased analyses and evaluation.[1] The application of critical thinking includes self-directed, self-disciplined, self-monitored,
and self-corrective habits of mind,[2] thus a critical thinker is a person who practices the skills of critical thinking or has been trained and educated in its
disciplines.[3] Richard W. Paul said that the mind of a critical thinker engages the person's intellectual abilities and personality traits.[4] Critical thinking
presupposes assent to rigorous standards of excellence and mindful command of their use in effective communication and problem solving, and a
commitment to overcome egocentrism and sociocentrism.[5][6]

Quantitative analysis may refer to:

• Quantitative research, application of mathematics and statistics in economics and marketing

• Quantitative analysis (chemistry), the determination of the absolute or relative abundance of one or more substances present in a sample
• Quantitative analysis (finance), the use of mathematical and statistical methods in finance and investment management
• Quantitative analysis of behavior, quantitative models in the experimental analysis of behavior
• Mathematical psychology, an approach to psychological research using mathematical modeling of perceptual, cognitive and motor processes
• Statistics, the collection, organization, analysis, interpretation and presentation of data

Listening is giving attention to a sound or action.[1] When listening, a person hears what others are saying and tries to understand what it means.[2] The
act of listening involves complex affective, cognitive and behavioral processes.[3] Affective processes include the motivation to listen to others; cognitive
processes include attending to, understanding, receiving and interpreting content and relational messages; and behavioral processes include
responding to others with verbal and nonverbal feedback.

Listening is a skill for resolving problems. Poor listening can lead to misinterpretations, thus causing conflict or a dispute. Other causes can be
excessive interruptions, inattention, hearing what you want to hear, mentally composing a response, and having a closed mind.[4]

Listening is also linked to memory. According to one study, during a speech some background noises heard by listeners helped them recall some of
the information by hearing it again. For example, when a person reads or does something else while listening to music, he or she can recall what that
was when hearing the music again later.[5]

Listening also functions rhetorically as a means of promoting the cross-culture communicative discourses. Ratcliffe built her argument upon two
incidents in which individuals demonstrated a tendency to refuse the cross-cultural discourses.[6]
In sociolinguistics, SPEAKING or the SPEAKING model, is a model socio-linguistic study (represented as a mnemonic) developed by Dell Hymes.
Hymes developed this model as part of a new methodology referred to as the ethnography of speaking. This model is a tool to assist the identification
and labeling of components of interactional linguistics that was driven by his view that, in order to speak a language correctly, one needs not only to
learn its vocabulary and grammar, but also the context in which words are used. In essence, learning the components of the SPEAKING model is
essential for linguistic competence.

To facilitate the application of his representation, Hymes constructed the mnemonic, S-P-E-A-K-I-N-G (for setting and scene, participants, ends, acts
sequence, key, instrumentalities, norms, & genre) under which he grouped the sixteen components within eight divisions.[1]

The model has sixteen components that can be applied to many sorts of discourse: message form; message content; setting; scene; speaker/sender;
addressor; hearer/receiver/audience; addressee; purposes (outcomes); purposes (goals); key; channels; forms of speech; norms of interaction; norms
of interpretation; and genres.[2] The SPEAKING model is used by linguistic anthropologists to analyze speech events (one or more speech
acts involving one or more participants) as part of an ethnographies. This approach can be used to understand relationships and power dynamics
within a given speech community and provide insight on cultural values.

Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of letters, symbols, etc., especially by sight or touch.[1][2][3][4]

For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process involving such areas as word
recognition, orthography (spelling), alphabetics, phonics, phonemic awareness, vocabulary, comprehension, fluency, and motivation.[5][6]

Other types of reading and writing, such as pictograms (e.g., a hazard symbol and an emoji), are not based on speech-based writing systems.[7] The
common link is the interpretation of symbols to extract the meaning from the visual notations or tactile signals (as in the case of braille).[8]

Writing is a cognitive and social activity involving neuropsychological and physical processes and the use of writing systems to structure and translate
human thoughts into persistent representations of human language. A system of writing relies on many of the same semantic structures as the
language it represents, such as lexicon and syntax, with the added dependency of a system of symbols representing that
language's phonology and morphology. Nevertheless, written language may take on characteristics distinctive from any available in spoken language.[1]

The outcome of this activity, also called "writing", and sometimes a "text", is a series of physically inscribed, mechanically transferred, or digitally
represented linguistic symbols. The interpreter or activator of a text is called a "reader".[2]

Writing systems do not themselves constitute languages (with the debatable exception of computer languages); they are a means of rendering
language into a form that can be read and reconstructed by other humans separated by time and/or space.[3][4] While not all languages use a writing
system, those that do can complement and extend the capacities of spoken language by creating durable forms of language that can be transmitted
across space (e.g. written correspondence) and stored over time (e.g. libraries or other public records).[5] Writing can also have knowledge-transforming
effects, since it allows humans to externalize their thinking in forms that are easier to reflect on, elaborate on, reconsider, and revise.[6][7][8]

A skill is the learned ability to act with determined results with good execution often within a given amount of time, energy, or both. Skills can often be
divided into domain-general and domain-specific skills. For example, in the domain of work, some general skills would include time management,
teamwork and leadership, self-motivation and others, whereas domain-specific skills would be used only for a certain job. Skill usually requires certain
environmental stimuli and situations to assess the level of skill being shown and used.[citation needed]

A skill may be called an art when it represents a body of knowledge or branch of learning, as in the art of medicine or the art of war.[1] Although the
arts are also skills, there are many skills that form an art but have no connection to the fine arts.

People need a broad range of skills to contribute to the modern economy. A joint ASTD and U.S. Department of Labor study showed that through
technology, the workplace is changing, and identified 16 basic skills that employees must have to be able to change with it.[2] Three broad categories of
skills are suggested and these are technical, human, and conceptual.[3] The first two can be substituted with hard and soft skills, respectively.[4]

Hard skills[edit]
Hard skills, also called technical skills, are any skills relating to a specific task or situation. It involves both understanding and proficiency in such
specific activity that involves methods, processes, procedures, or techniques.[5] These skills are easily quantifiable unlike soft skills, which are related to
one's personality.[6] These are also skills that can be or have been tested and may entail some professional, technical, or academic qualification. [7]

Holistic Competency[edit]
Holistic competencies is an umbrella term for different types of generic skills (e.g. critical thinking, problem-solving skills, positive values, and attitudes
(e.g. resilience, appreciation for others) which are essential for life-long learning and whole-person development.[8][9]

Labor skills[edit]
Main article: Skill (labor)

Skilled workers have long had historical import (see Division of labor)
as electricians, masons, carpenters, blacksmiths, bakers, brewers, coopers, printers and other occupations that are economically productive. Skilled
workers were often politically active through their craft guilds.[10]
Life skills[edit]
Main article: Life skills

An ability and capacity acquired through deliberate, systematic, and sustained effort to smoothly and adaptively carry out complex activities or job
functions involving ideas (cognitive skills), things (technical skills), and/or people (interpersonal skills).[11] [12]

People skills[edit]
Main article: People skills

According to the Portland Business Journal, people skills are described as:[13]

• understanding ourselves and moderating our responses

• talking effectively and empathizing accurately
• building relationships of trust, respect and productive interactions.

A British definition is "the ability to communicate effectively with people in a friendly way, especially in business." [14] The term is already listed in major
US dictionaries.[15]

The term people skills is used to include both psychological skills and social skills but is less inclusive than life skills.

Social skills[edit]
Main article: Social skills

Social skills are any skills facilitating interaction and communication with others. Social rules and relations are created, communicated, and changed in
verbal and nonverbal ways. The process of learning such skills is called socialization.[16]: 5 [17]

Soft skills[edit]
Main article: Soft skills

Soft skills are a combination of interpersonal people skills, social skills, communication skills, character traits, attitudes, career attributes and emotional
intelligence quotient (EQ) among others.[18]

Communication is usually defined as the transmission of information. The term can also refer to the message itself, or the field of inquiry studying
these transmissions, also known as communication studies. The precise definition of communication is disputed. Controversial issues are
whether unintentional or failed transmissions are included and whether communication does not just transmit meaning but also create it. Models of
communication aim to provide a simplified overview of its main components and their interaction. Many models include the idea that a source uses
a coding system to express information in the form of a message. The source uses a channel to send the message to a receiver who has to decode it
in order to understand its meaning. Channels are usually discussed in terms of the senses used to perceive the message, like hearing, sight, smell,
touch, and taste.

Communication can be classified based on whether information is exchanged between humans, members of other species, or non-living entities such
as computers. For human communication, a central contrast is between verbal and non-verbal communication. Verbal communication involves the
exchange of messages in linguistic form. This can happen through natural languages, like English or Japanese, or through artificial languages,
like Esperanto. Verbal communication includes spoken and written messages as well as the use of sign language. Non-verbal communication happens
without the use of a linguistic system. There are many forms of non-verbal communication, for example, using body language, body position, touch,
and intonation. Another distinction is between interpersonal and intrapersonal communication. Interpersonal communication happens between distinct
persons, such as greeting someone on the street or making a phone call. Intrapersonal communication, on the other hand, is communication with
oneself. This can happen internally, as a form of inner dialog or daydreaming, or externally, for example, when writing down a shopping list or engaging
in a monologue.

Non-human forms of communication include animal and plant communication. Researchers in this field often formulate additional criteria for their
definition of communicative behavior. Example are the requirement that the behavior serves a beneficial function for natural selection and that a
response to the message is observed. Animal communication plays important roles for various species in the areas of courtship and mating, parent-
offspring relations, social relations, navigation, self-defense, and territoriality. In the area of courtship and mating, for example, communication is used
to identify and attract potential mates. An often-discussed example concerning navigational communication is the waggle dance used by bees to
indicate to other bees where flowers are located. Due to the rigid cell walls of plants, their communication often happens through chemical means
rather than movement. For example, plants like maple trees release so-called volatile organic compounds into the air to warn other plants of
a herbivore attack.

Most communication takes place between members of the same species. The reason is that its purpose, as a tool, is usually some form of cooperation,
which is not as common between species. However, there are also forms of interspecies communication, mainly in cases of symbiotic relationships.
For example, many flowers use symmetrical shapes and colors that stand out from their surroundings in order to communicate to insects
where nectar is located to attract them. Humans also practice interspecies communication, for example, when interacting with pets.

The field of communication includes various other issues, like communicative competence and the history of communication. Communicative
competence is the ability to communicate well. It applies both to the capability to formulate messages and to understand them. Two central aspects are
that the communicative behavior is effective, i.e. that it achieves the individual's goal, and that it is appropriate, i.e. that it follows social standards and
expectations. Human communication has a long history and how people exchange information has changed over time. These changes were usually
triggered by the development of new communication technologies. Examples are the invention of writing systems (first pictographic and
later alphabetic), the development of mass printing, the use of radio and television, and the invention of the internet.

In the fields of forecasting and prediction, forecast skill or prediction skill is any measure of the accuracy and/or degree of association of prediction
to an observation or estimate of the actual value of what is being predicted (formally, the predictand); it may be quantified as a skill score.[1]

In meteorology, more specifically in weather forecasting, skill measures the superiority of a forecast over a simple historical baseline of past
observations. The same forecast methodology can result in different skill scores at different places, or even in the same place for different seasons
(e.g., spring weather might be driven by erratic local conditions, whereas winter cold snaps might correlate with observable polar winds). Weather
forecast skill is often presented in the form of seasonal geographical maps.

Forecast skill for single-value forecasts (i.e., time series of a scalar quantity) is commonly represented in terms of metrics such as correlation, root
mean squared error, mean absolute error, relative mean absolute error, bias, and the Brier score, among others. A number of scores associated with
the concept of entropy in information theory are also being used.[2][3]

The term 'forecast skill' may also be used qualitatively, in which case it could either refer to forecast performance according to a single metric or to the
overall forecast performance based on multiple metrics.

A game of skill or game of wits is a game where the outcome is determined mainly by mental or physical skill, rather than chance.[2]

Alternatively, a game of chance is one where its outcome is strongly influenced by some randomizing device, such as dice, spinning tops, playing
cards, roulette wheels, or numbered balls drawn from a container.

While a game of chance may have some skill element to it, chance generally plays a greater role in determining its outcome. A game of skill may also
have elements of chance, but skill plays a greater role in determining its outcome.

Some commonly played games of skill include: collectible card games, contract bridge, backgammon and mahjong.[3]

However, most games of skill also involve a degree of chance, due to natural aspects of the environment, a randomizing device (such as dice, playing
cards or a coin flip), or guessing due to incomplete information. Some games where skill is a component alongside gambling and strategy such
as poker may involve the application of such methods as mathematical probability and game theory, bluffing, and other forms of psychological warfare.