Differential Aptitude Tests®, Fifth Edition (DAT®)

Use the Differential Aptitude Tests^® for Personnel and Career Assessment to identify candidates for hiring, training and career development in any organizational setting.

From corporations to nonprofits, the skills measured in these tests offer clear indications of a candidate's strengths and weaknesses. The Differential Aptitude Tests^® for Personnel and Career Assessment tests applicants in key areas directly related to successful job performance.

General Cognitive Abilities - Contains Verbal Reasoning and Numerical Ability. These tests measure the ability to learn in either an occupational or training setting, and specifically the ability to learn from books and manuals, self instruction, trainers, teachers, or mentors.

Perceptual Abilities - Abstract Reasoning, Mechanical Reasoning, and Space Relations. Tests abilities that are important when dealing with things, rather than people or words.

Clerical and Language Skills - Spelling, Language Usage, and Clerical Speed and Accuracy. Tests skills necessary to perform various types.

Subtests Help Measure Aptitude for Success
• Verbal Reasoning - is appropriate for measuring general cognitive ability and for placing employees in professional, managerial, and other positions of responsibility requiring higher order thinking skills.
• Numerical Ability - test the understanding of numerical relationships and facility in handling numerical concepts. Good prediction of success of applicants in such fields as mathematics, physics, chemistry, engineering, and in occupations such as laboratory assistant, bookkeeper, statistician, shipping clerk, carpenter, tool-making, and other professions related to the physical sciences.
• Abstract Reasoning - is a nonverbal measure of the ability to perceive relationships in abstract figure patterns. Useful in selection when the job requires perception of relationships among things rather than among words or numbers, such as mathematics, computer programming, drafting, and automobile repair.
• Clerical Speed and Accuracy Paper Administration Only- measures the speed of response in a simple perceptual task. This is important for jobs such as filing and coding, and for jobs involving technical and scientific data.
• Mechanical Reasoning - closely parallels the Bennett Mechanical Comprehension Test and measures the ability to understand basic mechanical principles of machinery, tools, and motion. It is useful in selection decisions about applicants for jobs such as carpenter, mechanic, maintenance worker, and assembler.
• Space Relations - measures the ability to visualize a three dimensional object from a two dimensional pattern, and how this object would look if rotated in space. This ability is important in fields such as drafting, clothing design, architecture, art, die making, decorating, carpentry, and dentistry.
• Spelling Paper Administration Only - measures an applicant's ability to spell common English words, a basic skill necessary for success in a wide range of jobs including business, journalism, proofreading, advertising, or any occupation involving written language.
• Language Usage - measures the ability to detect errors in grammar, punctuation, and capitalization. When Language Usage and Spelling are both administered, they provide a good estimate of the ability to distinguish correct from incorrect English usage, which is important in business communication.


• Use this flexible tool to identify candidates for hiring, training, and career development.
• Gives clear indications of a candidate's strengths and weaknesses.

Scoring & Reporting Services

Hand- or Machine-scorable