Aptitude tests include such tests as the ACT, SAT, GRE, GMAT, LSAT, MCAT and others.  They, of course, do not measure aptitude, if by aptitude we mean inherent intellectual ability and potential.  I deny that there is such a thing as an “IQ”—a relatively constant numeral that represents your “intelligence.”  Top grades were for me a grind.  I aced Social Studies and English, but I struggled in Physics and Geometry.  When I look at myself, it makes me question where the intelligence of someone can be reduced to a number or a couple of numbers, and I suspect there are as many kinds of mental capacity as there are people.  I cannot carry a tune, catch a football, do calculus, or give a speech. (An eleventh grade report card shows me with ‘C’s in Geometry and Physics.)  To paraphrase Gilbert and Sullivan, in things arithmetical and mechanical, I’m far from the model of a modern Major General!  But teachers liked me.  I did my homework, enjoyed class discussions, took leadership roles when the opportunities arose, allied myself with brighter kids, and was highly motivated.  All of that helped me to succeed in school.

           What these tests do measure is your understanding of how to take the test—a meaningless skill in itself but an essential skill for differentiating yourself from others throughout your life.  I’ve yet to go on a job interview where someone has quizzed me on the Binomial Theorem or has asked me to do analogies.  And in all my years as a computer programmer, I’ve never used mathematics beyond that of what an eighth grader would know.  I consider such tests a perversion of our meritocracy and yet another characteristic of our unfair society.  It is a doorway that filters out talent.  Economic advantage allows wealthier families to take the test prep courses.  It is their kids that go on to the elite schools and careers.   A child from a slum who has a SAT of 1000 and a child from a prep school with a SAT of 1000 don’t have the same intelligence, and it is the latter who is the dunce.

     You're entering a never-never land where you must learn an artificial language, suspend common sense, and never use your knowledge and judgment.  The premium is not on answering questions deeply but answering those questions with the answer that ETS wants—which isn’t always the correct or appropriate answer.  The most important thing you need to understand is that is possible and likely for you or anyone else to get a top score.   The Educational Testing Service of Princeton, New Jersey, will deny that there is a system for getting high scores on these tests.  Here is a typical nugget of misinformation from ETS about the GMAT, and it will be your loss if this is what you believe:  “The GMAT is an aptitude test rather than a test of knowledge.  It is not designed to test specific knowledge in business or other specialized subjects.  Cramming, therefore, is neither advisable nor recommended.”   The mere fact that test prep companies and publishers year after year make millions of dollars from students who want to get high scores is proof that ETS is mistaken.  On that basis alone, I would say that cramming is both advised and recommended.

       The difference between my SAT and my GRE was 230 points and my MAT score was above the 98^th percentile.  My intelligence didn’t change.  All that changed was that I didn’t took the SAT seriously whereas I did take the GRE and MAT seriously.   For a few years in the late 1970s and early 1980s, I was in Mensa, the so-called high-IQ club.  When I was at Manhatten’s Williams Club where the monthly meeting was held, I met F. Lee Bailey, Isaac Asimov, the Australian ambassador and other interesting people.  In the five years that I was in the organization, I came to realize two somewhat contradictory things.  First, that there is quite a gap from being smart and testing smart, especially after meeting many Mensans who believe in astrology and other such nonsense.  Secondly, if you can test smart, door to opportunities will open for you.   For example, I met my book agent through Mensa and not a few people met their spouses in Mensa as well.  

       Perhaps at the end of the day aptitude is nothing more than awareness, will, and effort.  This essay will give you the awareness.  It is up to you to marshal the will and effort.  Whenever I find out that I have to take a test by ETS, my confidence soars, as I know that these tests have a common parentage and test-writing methodology.        

     Here is what I would do to get a top score on any aptitude test:

1. Get as many copies of the ETS test that you can get.  ETS publishes these.  It is important that you get old copies of the ETS test, not tests published by test prep companies, who for copyright reasons must write their own tests. 
2. Survey the geography of the test.  Deconstruct the test.  What kinds of questions are they asking?  What kind of knowledge do they require?    Do you understand all the terms that they use?  This I especially important in mathematics.  For example, consider this question:  If the radius of a circle is 33 feet, what is the area of the inscribed hexagon?  We cannot begin to solve this problem until we first decode terms used in the question, such as radius, inscribed, and hexagon.  What formulas or short-cuts are you expected to know?   Take the time to thoroughly master anything that you don’t understand.
3. Search the internet for braindumps of questions posted by those who have taken the test. 
4. I had a college friend who got into the Harvard MBA program after taking a prep course.  However, some people have been disappointed by test prep companies.  They can bring someone who was at 50 percent level to the 75 percent level.  They are not quite so good at bringing someone at the 75 percent level to the 95 percent level.  On the other hand, some people need the structure prep companies provide and appreciate the self-confidence they get from going through such companies. But they can be expensive—sometimes several thousand dollars. 
5. About two months before you take the test, put yourself on a disciplined schedule of taking one full-scale test each week.   This will take about three hours to take the test and another hour or so to review the results.  Take the first test without consideration to time.  Try to logic out every question and note those questions that confound you.  For all subsequent tests, put yourself under realistic test conditions—number two pencils, no distractions, candy bars, and an alarm clock.  You may find that the first few tests are difficult.  But before long, you will find that you are entering what athletes call the zone—a mental state when excellence is effortless. 
6.  Keep track of your progress and remember that the good is the enemy of the best.  Don’t settle for a mediocre performance.  Keep pushing yourself to do better or to understand why you are not doing better.       
7. At the end of each test, evaluate what you did right and what you did wrong.  If there are subject areas that need study, spend the week studying that area.  Develop a personal strategy for answering different kinds of questions, such as chart or geometry questions.   Think out loud if necessary.  Ask yourself lots of questions.  Don’t jump to conclusions.  Break the problem down into sub-problems.  Think step by step.  Note fine distinctions.  Be as mentally flexible as you can.  Look out for distracters.  Keep track of any new terms used within the problem.  Develop a guessing strategy; despite what ETS may say, the evidence is that it pays to guess.  Analyze your own thinking.   Work systematically.   Be meticulous.   Answer every question.   The approach in solving a question is as follows: decode terms à apply formulas à solve the problem à verify the solution.    In the week before the test, summarize everything thing you learned and commit it to memory.  Take two more tests under realistic test taking conditions.
8. Have a good sleep the night before the test and a light breakfast on the day of the test.
9. Arrive on time.  Bring a water bottle and some snacks for energy bursts and everything else you need for the test.
10. Take the test with utter confidence that you’ll get the highest score possible.               

        Some college aptitude tests will now include an essay section.  This will test a number of qualities that the gatekeepers think are important, such as grammar, creativity, vocabulary, and possibly Palmer Method penmanship. 

     I’ve never taken an aptitude test that has an essay section, so you will need to pay attention to the instructions.  However, I think I can give you some guidelines on how to write a good essay, as this book is nothing but essays.  An essay, a sally of the mind, is your effort to express a point of view.  But facts and illustrations must buttress your opinion.   Make sure you understand the question, and pay particular attention to such words as “explain” or “contrast.”   Before you start writing, spend a few minutes organizing your thoughts by writing notes of the margin of test booklet.  These can be nothing more than lists of facts or ideas.  The construction of the essay should generally follow this format:

I.                 Strong introduction or opening topic sentence

A.     What I’m going to write about

B.     How I’m going to describe that

II.               Body with illustrations, facts, and anecdotes that support the topic sentence

III.              Strong conclusion or closing statement

A.     What I just wrote about

B.     How the facts, illustrations, and anecdotes have supported the topic sentence

       Write carefully and concisely, with nouns and verbs.  Avoid generalities or clichés.  Try to express a clear point of view.  Be careful about presentation.  Make sure your pencils are sharp and that you write a neatly and as accurately as possible.  If you must erase, be sure that you erase the mistake completely so that your don’t smear the paper.  Leave yourself a few minutes so that you can review your essay before time has run out.   

       A reading comprehension test is a bit like an essay test, except that someone else has written the essay.   Read the questions first.  Underline the topic sentence, which is usually in the paragraph, and the conclusion, which is usually in the last paragraph.  Circle  key facts--  names of places or people, numbers, and statistics.  Look for assumptions—what the author believes but doesn’t necessarily state—and implications—conclusions that we can infer but the author doesn’t necessarily state.   Read slowly and try to comprehend the thrust of the essay before you answer any questions.  

       A good vocabulary starts with curiosity.  If you encounter a word you don’t know, make an effort to find out what it means and then look for opportunities to use it yourself.   Words you find in aptitude tests are words you would find in the New York Times or TIME.  On occasion, read those publications.  Be alert for any new words that you see.  Try to figure out what they mean from the context.  If you still don’t know what they mean, get out your dictionary and find out for yourself. 

        If you can understand all of the words in this book, I suspect your vocabulary is good enough for you to do well on any aptitude test.

     Mathematics is a staple of most aptitude tests.  To do well on these tests, familiarize yourself with the kinds of questions that will be asked.  Take as much algebra and geometry that you can get by tenth grade.  The best approach is to master the mathematical principles that will allow you to solve an application of that principle by breaking down the resolution into logical steps.  Here are five typical examples.

       How can you ace a grammar test?  You won’t be asked to parse a sentence.  I don’t even know how to parse a sentence, despite my command of English.  Rather, you will usually have to identify errors within a sentence.  The best preparation for this is to read, so that you can distinguish a well-written sentence from a poorly written sentence.  I don’t think knowledge of grammar in itself is as important as having a sensitive ear for words in sentences that just don’t sound right.  

        Here are some examples.  I have italicized the part of the sentence that is in error and put in parenthesis the correction.  Read these sentences and try to understand what is wrong and why it is wrong.

1.      There seem  (seems) nowadays to be little of the optimism that imbued our ancestors with courage and hope. 

2.      The high school graduate, if he is eighteen or nineteen, has these alternatives: attending college, finding a job, or (joining) the army.

3.      Since it was an unusually warm day, the dog laid (lay) under the tree all afternoon.

4.      There was (were) only an apple and three pears in the refrigerator.

5.      The Chairman of the Board made it clear that that meet that he will (would) not step down from his position as chairman.

6.      I have no doubt about my being able to run faster that him (he) today.

7.      These kind (kinds) of people are not the type I wish to associate with.

8.      After the critics see the two plays, they will, as a result of their experience and background, be able to judge which is the most (more) effective and moving.

9.      Each of the hotel’s 500 rooms were (was) equipped with high quality air conditioning and television.

10.    The lilacs smell sweetly (sweet) at this time of the year. 

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