Published TestsBespoke and limited-circulation test designs are a significant part of PRD's product mix.
Our Online tests
(computer-based /internet tests) cover an even wider range of styles than our
published designs, including the most recent developments in
Structured Learning Exercise, which are available to suitable clients.
Although PRD is best known for its bespoke development work, it has three landmark series of paper-and pencil tests with leading test publishers. These are ABLE, the Aptitude for Business Learning Exercise series, the Graduate Managerial series (GMA), and MOST, the Modern Occupational Skills Tests series.
ABLE, the Aptitude for Business Learning Exercise series, are a breakthrough in pencil-and-paper aptitude testing. Based on a long series of bespoke developments during the 1990s, PRD developed the Structured Learning Exercise format to enhance validity and minimise adverse impact based on gender or ethnic origin. The series is characterised by realistic business-oriented settings and a progressive build-up of complexity as each test progresses. Most tests assess what is in the candidate's mind at the beginning of a testing session. The ABLE series, on the other hand, provides candidates with the information and methods they need and assesses how well they learn to make use of them. In comparative studies, ABLE tests have shown markedly improved validity and sharply reduced adverse impact when compared with more conventional tests.
(Pencil-and-paper version available from OPP , and other tests which share characteristics with the ABLE series, and are designed specifically for online use are available from PRD.)
The Graduate and Managerial Assessment Series, (GMA), was first designed in 1983. Consisting of three pairs of highly parallel tests - a result never previously achieved for high-level tests - covering Verbal, Numerical and Abstract skills, it is one of the enduring success stories in the published test market. The pen and paper version of GMA is available from ASE (click for ASE website), online version available from PRD (contact PRD).
MOST, the Modern Occupational Skills Test series is now in a second, updated edition. The MOST tests are relevant to a wide range of office, clerical and technical jobs and tackle work skills which are relevant to real jobs - and manifestly so. All the tests have a believable work context, making them immediately more acceptable to applicants who are put off by tests that look as if their real home is an a 1950s classroom. Comparative validity studies have shown marked superiority of the MOST series over competing products. Click here for more information from the ASE website.
