More than the SAT: New Program Emphasizes 'Abilities'

[Dover]

LOS ANGELES, June 1 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Thousands of students attend area test-prep centers each day with one goal in mind: to gain admission to the best possible universities. But that approach may not be in the students' best interest, says prominent Los Angeles psychologist Sue Chang.

"Contrary to the conventional wisdom, students who seek admission to a college based on its ranking or academic reputation may find that their personalities and abilities are not suited for the particular institution that they choose to attend," Chang said. "Harvard, Yale and Berkeley may be great schools, but not every student will excel in those environments."

To help educate and prepare both parents and students about their options for college, Chang founded the Royce Educational Institute. The institute provides test-prep services, combined with college counseling and ability testing, to create a program unlike any other.

"The Royce Educational Institute offers far more than conventional test-prep," Chang said. "We utilize the Highland's Ability Test, which tests ability in 27 different areas so we can better understand students' strengths and weaknesses, and then help them to choose a high school curriculum and a college that is best suited to their strengths and abilities."

The Highland's Test is the most comprehensive psychological ability test on the market, and Chang is one of the few psychologists on the West Coast authorized to administer it.

"I have known many students who have been miserable and have even developed serious stress-related health issues as a result of attending colleges to which they were not suited," Chang said. "It should never have to come to that."....MORE >

http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=107-06012004

[sybylla]

1. I seriously distrust psych tests

I think that people are far too unique to judge in this manner whether a school or a career is the best for them. No two jobs, no two colleges, no two people are the same.

This is starting to sound like some European systems where students are tested and can only attend secondary and post-secondary schools of the government's choice as determined by the test results.