Intelligence and Giftedness Reading Answers: IELTS Reading Test

1. In 1904 the French minister of education, facing limited resources for schooling, sought a way to separate the unable from the merely lazy. Alfred Binet got the job of devising selection principles and his brilliant solution put a stamp on the study of intelligence and was the forerunner of intelligence tests still used today, he developed a thirty-problem test in 1905, which tapped several abilities related to intellect, such as judgment and reasoning, the test determined a given child’s mental age’, the test previously established a norm for children of a given physical age. (for example, five-year-olds on average get ten items correct), therefore, a child with a mental age of five should score 10, which would mean that he or she was functioning pretty much as others of that age. The child’s mental age was then compared to his physical age.
2. A large disparity in the wrong direction (e.g., a child of nine with a mental age of four) might suggest inability rather than laziness and mean he or she was earmarked for special schooling, Binet, however, denied that the test was measuring intelligence, its purpose was simply diagnostic, for selection only. This message was however lost, and caused many problems and misunderstanding later.
3. Although Binet’s test was popular, it was a bit inconvenient to deal with a variety of physical and mental ages. So in 1912 Wilhelm Stem suggested simplifying this by reducing die two to a single number, he divided the mental age by the physical age, and multiplied the result by 100. An average child, irrespective of age, would score 100. a number much lower than 100 would suggest the need for help, and one much higher would suggest a child well ahead of his peer.
4. This measurement is what is now termed the IQ (for intelligence quotient) score and it has evolved to be used to show how a person, adult or child, performed in relation to others, (the term IQ was coined by Lewis m. Terman, professor of psychology and education of Stanford university, in 1916. He had constructed an enormously influential revision of Binet’s test, called the Stanford-Binet test, versions of which are still given extensively.)
5. The field studying intelligence and developing tests eventually coalesced into a subfield of psychology called psychometrics (psycho for ‘mind’ and metrics for ‘measurements’). The practical side of psychometrics (the development and use of tests) became widespread quite early, by 1917, when Einstein published his grand theory of relativity, mass-scale testing was already in use. Germany’s unrestricted submarine warfare (which led to the sinking of the Lusitania in 1915) provoked the United States to finally enter the First World War in the same year. The military had to build up an army very quickly; it had two million inductees to sort out. Who would become officers and who enlisted men? Psychometricians developed two intelligence tests that helped sort all these people out, at least to some extent, this was the first major use of testing to decide who lived and who died, as officers were a lot safer on the battlefield, the tests themselves were given under horrendously bad conditions, and the examiners seemed to lack commonsense, a lot of recruits simply had no idea what to do and in several sessions most inductees scored zero! The examiners also came up with the quite astounding conclusion from the testing that the average American adult’s intelligence was equal to that of a thirteen-year-old!
6. Intelligence testing enforced political and social prejudice; their results were used to argue that Jews ought to be kept out of the United States because they were so intellectually inferior that they would pollute the racial mix; and blacks ought not to be allowed to breed at all. And so abuse and test bias controversies continued to plaque psychometrics.
7. Measurement is fundamental to science and technology, science often advances in leaps and bounds when measurement devices improve, psychometrics has long tried to develop ways to gauge psychological qualities such as intelligence and more specific abilities, anxiety, extroversion, emotional stability, compatibility, with marriage partner, and so on. Their scores are often given enormous weight, a single IQ measurement can take on a life of its own if teachers and parents see it as definitive, it became a major issue in the 70s, when court cases were launched to stop anyone from making important decisions based on IQ test scores, the main criticism was and still is that current tests don’t really measure intelligence, whether intelligence can be measured at all is still controversial, some say it cannot others say that IQ tests are psychology’s greatest accomplishments

Questions 14-18

Complete the sentences below. 

Write NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the text for each answer.

Questions 19-25

The reading passage has seven paragraphs: A – G

Choose the most suitable paragraph headings A – G from the list of headings on the right

Write the appropriate numbers (i –x) in the text boxes below the headings. 

NB There are more paragraph headings than paragraphs so you will not use them all. 

List of headings

1. The Current Measurement Controversy.  
2. Misconceptions Regarding Binet's Test.  
3. The incorrect use of intelligence tests. 
4. Progress in Measurement Technology
5. Subfield of Psychology.  
6. Debates Regarding Testing.
7. The Evolution of the IQ score. 
8. IQ Measurement With Binet's Test
9. Easier Way to Assess Intelligence. 
10. Initiation of Intelligence Testing.

    19. Paragraph A

    Answer: ix.  Initiation of Intelligence Testing.
    Explanation: The intelligence test, developed by Binet, is introduced in this paragraph, which also serves as the introduction to the history of intelligence testing.

    20. Paragraph B

    Answer: ii. Misconceptions Regarding Binet's Test.
    Explanation: The paragraph clarifies that the Binet exam's primary purpose was not to measure total intelligence but rather for diagnostic purposes.

    21. Paragraph C

    Answer: viii. Easier Way to Assess Intelligence.
    Explanation: Wilhelm Stern's suggestion to standardize intelligence testing by establishing a single IQ score to facilitate comparisons is covered in this paragraph.

    22. Paragraph D

    Answer: vii. The Evolution of the IQ score.
    Explanation: This section describes how Lewis Terman revised the Binet test and used the results to develop and promote the IQ score.

    23. Paragraph E

    Answer: v. Subfield of Psychology.
    Explanation: It explains how research on intelligence testing gave rise to the independent science of psychometrics, which focuses on assessing psychological characteristics.

    24. Paragraph F

    Answer: iii. The incorrect use of intelligence tests.
    Explanation: The improper use of intelligence testing for discriminatory purposes and the impact of the findings on society are discussed in this paragraph.

    25. Paragraph G

    Answer: i. The Current Measurement Controversy.
    Explanation: This section looks at the current discussions around intelligence testing, highlighting the disagreements about its applicability and significance.

Question 26

Choose the correct letter (A, B, C, or D) from the given options.

Which statement best summarizes the main issues discussed in the passage regarding intelligence testing?

1. Testing for intelligence has long been a useful tool for identifying pupils who require more assistance with their education.
2. The broad acceptance of intelligence testing in educational institutions can be attributed to the evolution of the IQ score.
3. Over the years, psychometrics has concentrated on creating new intelligence tests to increase measurement accuracy.
4.  Initially designed for diagnostic purposes, Binet's exam was mistaken as an assessment of general intellectual ability.

   Answer 26.

   Answer: D

   Explanation: The passage highlights the misinterpretation of Binet's IQ test as a general intelligence gauge, leading to misunderstandings and disputes in the psychometrics community, and suggests alternative approaches that neglect these central concerns.