How Do We Assess Critical Thinking

A valid critical thinking skills test will engage you in using your thinking skills. It will engage your skills of analysis, interpretation, inference, evaluation, and explanation.  A valid measure of thinking mindset attributes will provide you with the opportunity to indicate your agreement or disagreement with statements expressing attitudes, beliefs, values, and opinions.  Neither kind of assessment requires memorization of specialized content knowledge.  Neither requires expensive test-prep services. 

How do Insight Assessment tests work?

 
Insight Assessment educational and employment test instruments are designed to measure a person’s reasoning skills and thinking mindset. Here is how they work:

• If you take one of our thinking mindset assessments you will be presented with a list of simple statements and asked whether you agree or disagree with each of those statements. No study or other kind of preparation is needed for this kind of an assessment. Mindset surveys are usually quick and easy to complete withing the time allowed.
• If you take one of our thinking skills tests you will be presented with questions that present interesting scenarios. You are invited to apply your reasoning skills to scenarios to then reach the best response from among those provided. No memorization of specialized content knowledge is required.
• To do well on a reasoning skills test requires sustained mental engagement.  It is not a good idea to take a reasoning skills test when you are tired or distracted. Some questions are easier than others. So budget your time wisely.
• Your test administrator (employer or school) will login instructions. Your test may be timed. The timer does not start until you actually bring the first test question up on the screen. There is a timer on screen to help you budget your efforts.
• Tests are scored electronically using our secure, validated testing system. Test results will be provided to you or your test administrator.

Can I study for a critical thinking test?

 
Building strong reasoning skills and a positive thinking mindset involves engaging problems and making decisions in a thoughtful and fair-minded way. There are many products designed to engage and strengthen critical thinking.

• • We encourage everyone to build their critical thinking by using enduring educational tools like those available at INSIGHT BASECAMP.  There are Skill Builders, Mindset Boosters, Deep Dives, Quizzes and Surveys at INSIGHT BASECAMP.  Their product descriptions tell which critical thinking skills, mindset attributes, or facet of human reasoning and decision-making each addresses. These  innovative online personal development tools were designed by your lead test author, Peter Facione.
  • Any good college level textbook focused on how to develop critical thinking can be useful too.  We recommend “Think Critically,” by Facione and Gittens, which is available from Pearson Education.
  • Generic adult level sample critical thinking skills questions and thinking mindset questions are posted on our website. These samples are only examples, not the same as the ones used on the tests you may being asked to take by schools, colleges or businesses.

To gain an overview of critical thinking and how the skills and habits of mind go together in problem solving and decision making, we suggest the essay “Critical Thinking: What It Is and Why It Counts,” which you can download from our website.