Disclaimer: These tables summarize the present evaluations of scores for Colloquy, based upon the best data available to us as well as reasonable extrapolations from (a) authoritative tables of percentiles 50, 75, 90, 95; (b) widely accepted mean and sd values; (c) attempts to model normal population projections from undergraduate or graduate level test populations. In short, these values are estimates, subject to much debate and occasional revision. Our intent is simply to provide reasonable estimates as a basis of comparison, with full knowledge that while tests of mental ability are reaching for a common g-factor, they in fact present a spectrum of content and method of administration. Individuals are not without a certain range of fluctuation in performance too, so it's advisable to view test results and evaluation with a balanced perspective. Nothing here is intended to "step on the toes" of professionals in the field or psychometric officers of other societies.
Notes:
*(1) These values are for the original National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test used in the '60s and early '70s. The NMSQT as a separate test was later discontinued in favor of a selection score *(1a) derived from a summation of PSAT scaled scores, the verbal score receiving double weighting. By 1995, a writing sample was incorporated, and the National Merit selection index *(1b) has thereafter been derived as the sum of writing sample, verbal, and math scaled scores.
*(2) Only the 40-minute timed version designated as Raven Advanced Progressive Matrices set II is acceptable for Colloquy. International Mensa's score reports generally list the Cattell IQ equivalent. Colloquy has accepted these scores ranging from 164 to 180. The table above estimates raw score equivalents for tests taken at age twenty. An adjustment has been made for ceiling effects, so these should now closely match the norms employed by Mensa International. For those taking the Raven A.P.M. at ages 30 and above, we need to evaluate the raw score in light of age on date of testing. An important concern with the Raven test is evidence of significant decline in raw scores for ages above fifty. Another form of the Raven test is administered in a supervised "liberally timed" version, as the Standard Progressive Matrices. The 1993 Des Moines standardization indicates that the ceiling of this S.P.M. is probably not above the 99.5 percentile, with an overall raw score mean=19.64 and sd=7.52 applicable for ages 18 through 47.
*(3) California Test of Mental Maturity, to the best of our knowledge, is equivalent to the American Mensa Admission Test on the Mensa score reports of recent years.
*(4) composites of verbal plus math section scaled scores on the Scholastic Aptitude Test ... Beginning April, 1995, the general test has been designated SAT-I and scores have been reported on a recentered scale which returns both subtest means to the vicinity of 500. It's no surprise that the college-bound population of 1995 differs significantly from that of 1941. This table relies mainly upon recentered composite conversions provided at College Board Online.
*(5) composites of quantitative plus analytical section scaled scores ... these offer a fairer evaluation for non-native speakers of English and those whose strongest abilities may manifest in logic and mathematics. It wouldn't do to exclude a potential Feynman!
*(6) GRE general test scores above 800 were issued during the 1970's, though I've only seen them on the quantitative section. After the introduction of the Analytical test, 800 again became the maximum reportable score. A score at or near the test ceiling is best considered indeterminate.
