Psychometrics of the Canadian Forces Aptitude Test

Testing in military settings, let alone the domain with which it relates — military psychology — is not always in the limelight of psychometrics, but that doesn’t mean that it is any less promising! As I imagine, military testing may come in two forms: before service and after service — defined as either the whole career (if generally) or a given deployment (if specifically). The latter form may often screen for constructs such as PTSD, but the former seeks to meet a criterion for service. Indeed, in the United States during the First World War, the Army Alpha (verbal) and the Army Beta (non-verbal) tests were developed to: (1) assess recruits for service, and (2) classify those accepted into suitable trades. Not only did it expose the idea of ability testing to the general population, but it had a lasting impact on the entire field. A century since the war, military aptitude testing follows much of the same rubric — with the Canadian Forces Aptitude Test as our prime example.

CFAT is a timed test that every applicant must sit, for the same reasons as the Army Alpha/Beta. Personally, it has been several years since I took the test — any attempt to recall it from memory would be unreliable. Luckily, there is an unclassified practice version with key information. Similar to many intelligence tests, the CFAT is comprised of three sections:

(a) verbal skills,

(b) spatial ability,

and (c) problem solving.

These can further be condensed into verbal and non-verbal categories, in line with the Army Alpha/Beta and much of intelligence testing as a whole.
Given that CFAT is both (a) an accepted test and (b) not available in the public domain, a critique does not come easy. However, for the sake of discussion, I point to a slight contradiction: temporal reliability may collide with its predictive validity. How?

An aptitude test measures cognitive abilities from accumulated life experiences, which should affect test-retest in the long run. In the document, CFAT acknowledges this by stating: “your performance on the CFAT should improve if you upgrade your academic level.” However, like any employment testing, it also seeks to predict work performance. So? Its prediction may be less and less maintained as one’s career goes on. This could be especially pronounced for an officer cadet or a reservist who continues to educate him/herself during service, long after initial prediction and placement.

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