What is The Cambridge Aptitude Profile and Career Guidance Programme?
This is a careers guidance programme designed for students likely to take AS/A level, IB, AP, Scottish Highers or equivalent examinations.
It is normally taken by students at the end of Year 10 or the beginning of Year 11 and is based on an Interest assessment (online or paper-based).
How does The Cambridge Aptitude Profile and Career Guidance Programme work?
This programme analyses individual student responses and produces an Interest Profile based on over 40 broad career areas. In addition, it provides:
useful information for each student on the top key career areas
a personalised AS/A level or IB subject selection chart
a facility for structured careers research
The Cambridge Aptitude Profile is developed in association with Dr Charles Johnson, the aptitude tests:
are specially designed to take about ONE hour and 45 minutes in total to administer
are in full colour
can be completed on paper or online (under strict conditions)
can be taken ‘stand-alone’ or integrated with Preview
comprise a battery of EIGHT individual tests: Verbal Reasoning*, Numerical Reasoning, Abstract Reasoning, 2D Spatial Reasoning, 3D Spatial Reasoning, Arithmetic Calculation, Working Quickly and Accurately, Spelling
*Verbal Reasoning is available in Arabic, Chinese (Cantonese), Chinese (Mandarin), Dutch, English (UK), English (US), Finnish, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish
The Cambridge Aptitude Profile and Career Guidance Programme helps students to:
think carefully about their interests and to identify suitable career areas for further investigation
to develop skills and carry out detailed research into specific careers
understand the likely demands careers will make on them
make informed decisions about their future
understand the relevance of subject choice in relation to their more likely careers and HE needs
develop a very useful online portfolio of their skills, achievements and notes on work experience in MyCareersRoom, which is available up to age 24
The Cambridge Aptitude Profile provides:
an added means of assessment when matching a student with a career area or a more specific job
opportunities for students to experience such tests in advance of being presented with them by employers or others in future
objective assessment of academic potential (useful for students joining a school in the sixth form or at other stages)
an assessment of a student’s aptitude when working in their first language compared with English
How are the results presented?
For the Cambridge Aptitude Profile:
Percentile scores (norm referenced): comparing them with other students of their age and similar academic background
Speed score: showing them the number of questions attempted
Accuracy Score: showing them how many of the attempted questions were correctly answered
These results are integrated with the Interest assessment results and an individualised 30 paged Careers Workbook is created for each pupil. This consists of several Career selection Worksheets where well-matched career areas are highlighted and discussed in more depth. A Subject Selection Chart helps the pupil choose IB or A-Level subjects to meet the entry requirements of their Higher Education and career needs. Overall match bar graphs showing relative strengths of important supporting areas of interest are included with comments explaining their relevance as well as a 20-point Career Check Questionnaire listing important interests, skills and abilities likely to be required.
Psychometric evaluation and test validation:
Based on statistical analysis of large populations of students, the results of the Cambridge Profile Aptitude Tests have been analysed by Dr Charles Johnson in order to check their effectiveness in measuring a candidate's aptitudes.
In addition, the results have also been compared with the known ability of some students from their own GCSE results and in some cases AS, A level or IB. This has allowed us to check that the level of aptitude measured by The Cambridge Profile accurately predicts students actual academic performance at school.
For those who would like more in-depth information on the tests, a report on technical evaluation is available.
TANGLIN TRUST SCHOOL ONLINE ASSESSMENTS DECEMBER 2013: