Target population
GATB allows measuring the general aptitudes of subjects with certain educational levels
and in need of support for choosing an occupation. The average number of school years
amounted to by subjects making up the representative sample is 11. In this situation,
teenagers and young adults are the categories of clients most frequently investigated with
this general aptitude tests battery.
Method evaluation
In the making up of GATB two categories of norms were taken into consideration: those
belonging to the reference group and criterial (pertaining to specific aspects and aptitude
structural patterns of occupations).
The main characteristics of the reference group (representative sample of approximately
1000 persons) involved in the research for establishing the standards for the results of
GATB – Form B are related to: occupation (in various fields), gender (in balanced
proportion), age (an average 30), geographical residence and educational level (11 years
of study).
The main criteria for defining GATB norms refer to the occupations content in terms of
tasks to fulfil by relying on certain abilities, aptitudes, skills, and knowledge (considered
decisive in obtaining professional performance) that the tests must identify in subjects,
and professional standards variable from one occupation to the other – in terms of
aptitudes – which are believed to ensure success and efficiency.
Aptitude patterns in the occupational realm of GATB consist in three of the most
significant aptitudes that can ensure the satisfactory fulfilment of a list of occupations.
GATB has 62 such patterns containing combinations of aptitudes compatible with certain
occupational clusters (over 1200). The motivation behind these patterns (targeting
aptitude areas from the dominantly cognitive to the mostly manual) resides in the
similarities of the requirements as regards aptitudes and the contents of work.
Research and evaluation related to this instrument have shown that GATB actually
measures three large categories: cognitive (through: General learning ability, Verbal
ability and Numerical ability), perceptive (through: Spatial perception , Form perception
and Clerical perception), psychomotor (through: Motor coordination , Finger dexterity
and Manual dexterity), which can provide all the necessary data to make reasonable
predictions regarding future performance of clients on the labour market.