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What is the Critical Thinking Test?

Critical thinking practice test, take a free practice critical thinking test, practice critical thinking test.

Updated November 16, 2023

The Critical Thinking Test is a comprehensive evaluation designed to assess individuals' cognitive capacities and analytical prowess.

This formal examination, often referred to as the critical thinking assessment, is a benchmark for those aiming to demonstrate their proficiency in discernment and problem-solving.

In addition, this evaluative tool meticulously gauges a range of skills, including logical reasoning, analytical thinking, and the ability to evaluate and synthesize information.

This article will embark on an exploration of the Critical Thinking Test, elucidating its intricacies and elucidating its paramount importance. We will dissect the essential skills it measures and clarify its significance in gauging one's intellectual aptitude.

We will examine examples of critical thinking questions, illuminating the challenging scenarios that candidates encounter prompting them to navigate the complexities of thought with finesse.

Before going ahead to take the critical thinking test, let's delve into the realm of preparation. This segment serves as a crucible for honing the skills assessed in the actual examination, offering candidates a chance to refine their analytical blades before facing the real challenge. Here are some skills that will help you with the critical thinking assessment: Logical Reasoning: The practice test meticulously evaluates your ability to deduce conclusions from given information, assess the validity of arguments, and recognize patterns in logic. Analytical Thinking: Prepare to dissect complex scenarios, identify key components, and synthesize information to draw insightful conclusions—a fundamental aspect of the critical thinking assessment. Problem-Solving Proficiency: Navigate through intricate problems that mirror real-world challenges, honing your capacity to approach issues systematically and derive effective solutions. What to Expect: The Critical Thinking Practice Test is crafted to mirror the format and complexity of the actual examination. Expect a series of scenarios, each accompanied by a set of questions that demand thoughtful analysis and logical deduction. These scenarios span diverse fields, from business and science to everyday scenarios, ensuring a comprehensive evaluation of your critical thinking skills. Examples of Critical Thinking Questions Scenario: In a business context, analyze the potential impacts of a proposed strategy on both short-term profitability and long-term sustainability. Question: What factors would you consider in determining the viability of the proposed strategy, and how might it affect the company's overall success? Scenario: Evaluate conflicting scientific studies on a pressing environmental issue.

Question: Identify the key methodologies and data points in each study. How would you reconcile the disparities to form an informed, unbiased conclusion?

Why Practice Matters

Engaging in the Critical Thinking Practice Test familiarizes you with the test format and cultivates a mindset geared towards agile and astute reasoning. This preparatory phase allows you to refine your cognitive toolkit, ensuring you approach the assessment with confidence and finesse.

We'll navigate through specific examples as we proceed, offering insights into effective strategies for tackling critical thinking questions. Prepare to embark on a journey of intellectual sharpening, where each practice question refines your analytical prowess for the challenges ahead.

This is a practice critical thinking test.

The test consists of three questions .

After you have answered all the questions, you will be shown the correct answers and given full explanations.

Make sure you read and fully understand each question before answering. Work quickly, but don't rush. You cannot afford to make mistakes on a real test .

If you get a question wrong, make sure you find out why and learn how to answer this type of question in the future.

Six friends are seated in a restaurant across a rectangular table. There are three chairs on each side. Adam and Dorky do not have anyone sitting to their right and Clyde and Benjamin do not have anyone sitting to their left. Adam and Benjamin are not sitting on the same side of the table.

If Ethan is not sitting next to Dorky, who is seated immediately to the left of Felix?

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A Critical Thinking test, also known as a critical reasoning test, determines your ability to reason through an argument logically and make an objective decision. You may be required to assess a situation, recognize assumptions being made, create hypotheses, and evaluate arguments.

What questions can I expect?

Questions are likely based on the Watson and Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal model, which contains five sections designed to assess how well an individual reasons analytically and logically. The five sections are:

Arguments : In this section, you are tested on your ability to distinguish between strong and weak arguments. For an argument to be strong, it must be both significant and directly related to the question. An argument is considered weak if it is not directly related to the question, of minor importance, or confuses correlation with causation, which is the incorrect assumption that correlation implies causation.

Assumptions : An assumption is something taken for granted. People often make assumptions that may not be correct. Being able to identify these is a key aspect of critical reasoning. A typical assumption question will present a statement and several assumptions, and you are required to identify whether an assumption has been made.

Deductions : Deduction questions require you to draw conclusions based solely on the information provided in the question, disregarding your own knowledge. You will be given a passage of information and must evaluate whether a conclusion made from that passage is valid.

Interpretation : In these questions, you are given a passage of information followed by a proposed conclusion. You must consider the information as true and decide whether the proposed conclusion logically and undoubtedly follows.

Inferences : Inference involves drawing conclusions from observed or supposed facts. It is about deducing information that is not explicitly stated but implied by the given information. For example, if we find a public restroom door locked, we infer that it is occupied.

Critical Thinking example:

Read the following statement and decide whether the conclusion logically follows from the information given.

Statement: Every librarian at the city library has completed a master’s degree in Library Science. Sarah is a librarian at the city library.

Conclusion: Sarah has completed a master’s degree in Library Science.

Does this conclusion logically follow from the statement?

Answer Options:

Explanation: Select your answer to display explanation.

The statement establishes that every librarian at the city library has completed a master’s degree in Library Science. Since Sarah is identified as a librarian at this library, it logically follows that she has completed a master’s degree in Library Science. The conclusion is a direct inference from the given information.

Where are Critical thinking tests used?

Critical thinking tests are commonly used in educational institutions for admissions and assessments, particularly in courses requiring strong analytical skills. In the professional realm, they are a key component of the recruitment process for roles demanding problem-solving and decision-making abilities, and are also utilized in internal promotions and leadership development. Additionally, these tests are integral to professional licensing and certification in fields like law and medicine, and are employed in training and development programs across various industries.

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The Watson Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal

What Is the Watson Glaser Test?

Who uses the watson glaser test and why, why is it so important to be a critical thinker, what is the watson glaser red model, how to pass a watson glaser test in 2024, how to prepare for a watson glaser critical appraisal in 2024, frequently asked questions, the watson glaser critical thinking appraisal.

Updated May 10, 2024

Modern employers have changed the way that they recruit new candidates. They are no longer looking for people who have the technical skills on paper that match the job description.

Instead, they are looking for candidates who can demonstrably prove that they have a wider range of transferrable skills.

One of those key skills is the ability to think critically .

Firms (particularly those in sectors such as law, finance, HR and marketing ) need to know that their employees can look beyond the surface of the information presented to them.

They want confidence that their staff members can understand, analyze and evaluate situations or work-related tasks. There is more on the importance of critical thinking later in this article.

This is where the Watson Glaser Critical Thinking test comes into play.

The Watson Glaser critical thinking test is a unique assessment that provides a detailed analysis of a participant’s ability to think critically.

The test lasts 30 minutes and applicants can expect to be tested on around 40 questions in five distinct areas :

Assumptions

Interpretation.

The questions are multiple-choice and may be phrased as true/false statements in a bid to see how well the participant has understood and interpreted the information provided.

Employers around the world use it during recruitment campaigns to help hiring managers effectively filter their prospective candidates .

The Watson Glaser test has been used for more than 85 years; employers trust the insights that the test can provide.

In today’s competitive jobs market where every candidate has brought the best of themselves, it can be increasingly difficult for employers to decide between applicants.

On paper, two candidates may appear identical, with a similar level of education, work experience, and even interests and skills.

But that does not necessarily mean both or either of them is right for the job.

There is much information available on creating an effective cover letter and resume, not to mention advice on making a good impression during an interview.

As a result, employers are increasingly turning to psychometric testing to look beyond the information that they have.

They want to find the right fit: someone who has the skills that they need now and in the future. And with recruitment costs rising each year, making the wrong hiring decision can be catastrophic.

This is where the Watson Glaser test can help.

It can provide hiring managers with the additional support and guidance they need to help them make an informed decision.

The Watson Glaser test is popular among firms working in professional services (such as law, banking and insurance) . It is used for recruitment for junior and senior positions and some of the world’s most recognized establishments are known for their use of the test.

The Bank of England, Deloitte, Hiscox, Linklaters and Hogan Lovells are just a few employers who enhance their recruitment processes through Watson Glaser testing.

Critical thinking is all about logic and rational thought. Finding out someone’s critical thinking skill level is about knowing whether they can assess whether they are being told the truth and how they can use inferences and assumptions to aid their decision-making.

If you are working in a high-pressure environment, having an instinctive ability to look beyond the information provided to the underlying patterns of cause-and-effect can be crucial to do your job well.

Although it is often thought of concerning law firms and finance teams, it is easy to see how critical thinking skills could be applied to a wide range of professions.

For example, HR professionals dealing with internal disputes may need to think critically. Or social workers and other health professionals may need to use critical thinking to assess whether someone is vulnerable and in need of help and support when that person does not or cannot say openly.

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Critical thinking is about questioning what you already know . It is about understanding how to find the facts and the truth about a situation or argument without being influenced by other people’s opinions .

It is also about looking at the bigger picture and seeing how decisions made now may have short-term benefits but long-term consequences.

For those working in senior managerial roles, this ability to think objectively can make a big difference to business success.

As part of the critical thinking assessment, the Watson Glaser Test focuses on the acronym, 'RED':

R ecognize assumptions
E valuate arguments
D raw conclusions

Put simply, the RED model ensures you can understand how to move beyond subconscious bias in your thinking. It ensures that you can identify the truth and understand the differences between fact and opinion.

To recognize assumptions , you must understand yourself and others: what your thought patterns and past experiences have led you to conclude about the world.

Evaluating arguments requires you to genuinely consider the merits of all options in a situation, and not just choose the one you feel that you ‘ought’ to.

Finally, to draw an accurate and beneficial conclusion you must trust your decision-making and understanding of the situation.

Watson Glaser Practice Test Questions & Answers

As mentioned earlier, the Watson Glaser Test assesses five core elements. Here, they will be examined in more depth:

This part of the test is about your ability to draw conclusions based on facts . These facts may be directly provided or may be assumptions that you have previously made.

Within the assessment, you can expect to be provided with a selection of text. Along with the text will be a statement.

You may need to decide whether that statement is true, probably true, insufficient data (neither true nor false), probably false or false.

The test looks to see if your answer was based on a conclusion that could be inferred from the text provided or if it is based on an assumption you previously made.

Take a Watson Glaser Practice Test

Example Statement:

500 students recently attended a voluntary conference in New York. During the conference, two of the main topics discussed were issues relating to diversity and climate change. This is because these are the two issues that the students selected that are important to them.

Many people make decisions based on assumptions. But you need to be able to identify when assumptions are being made.

Within the Watson Glaser test , you will be provided with a written statement as well as an assumption.

You will be asked to declare whether that assumption was made in the text provided or not .

This is an important part of the test; it allows employers to understand if you have any expectations about whether things are true or not . For roles in law or finance, this is a vital skill.

We need to save money, so we’ll visit the local shops in the nearest town rather than the local supermarket

As a core part of critical thinking, 'deduction' is the ability to use logic and reasoning to come to an informed decision .

You will be presented with several facts, along with a variety of conclusions. You will be tasked with confirming whether those conclusions can be made from the information provided in that statement.

The answers are commonly in a ‘Yes, it follows/No, it does not follow’ form.

It is sometimes sunny on Wednesdays. All sunny days are fun. Therefore…

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Critical thinking is also about interpreting the information correctly. It is about using the information provided to come to a valuable, informed decision .

Like the deduction questions, you will be provided with a written statement, which you must assume to be true.

You will also be provided with a suggested interpretation of that written statement. You must decide if that interpretation is correct based on the information provided, using a yes/no format.

A study of toddlers shows that their speech can change significantly between the ages of 10 months and three years old. At 1 year old, a child may learn their first word whereas at three years old they may know 200 words

Evaluation of Arguments

This final part requires you to identify whether an argument is strong or weak . You will be presented with a written statement and several arguments that can be used for or against it. You need to identify which is the strongest argument and which is the weakest based on the information provided.

Should all 18-year-olds go to college to study for a degree after they have graduated from high school?

There are no confirmed pass/fail scores for Watson Glaser tests; different sectors have different interpretations of what is a good score .

Law firms, for example, will require a pass mark of at least 75–80% because the ability to think critically is an essential aspect of working as a lawyer.

As a comparative test, you need to consider what the comparative ‘norm’ is for your chosen profession. Your score will be compared to other candidates taking the test and you need to score better than them.

It is important to try and score as highly as you possibly can. Your Watson Glaser test score can set you apart from other candidates; you need to impress the recruiters as much as possible.

Your best chance of achieving a high score is to practice as much as possible in advance.

Everyone will have their own preferred study methods, and what works for one person may not necessarily work for another.

However, there are some basic techniques everyone can use, which will enhance your study preparation ahead of the test:

Step 1 . Pay Attention to Online Practice Tests

There are numerous free online training aids available; these can be beneficial as a starting point to your preparation.

However, it should be noted that they are often not as detailed as the actual exam questions.

When researching for online test questions, make sure that any questions are specific to the Watson Glaser Test , not just critical thinking.

General critical thinking questions can help you improve your skills but will not familiarize you with this test. Therefore, make sure you practice any questions which follow the ‘rules’ and structure of a Watson Glaser Test .

Step 2 . Paid-for Preparation Packs Can Be Effective

If you are looking for something that mimics the complexity of a Watson Glaser test , you may wish to look at investing in a preparation pack.

There are plenty of options available from sites such as TestHQ . These are often far more comprehensive than free practice tests.

They may also include specific drills (which take you through each of the five stages of the test) as well as study guides, practice tests and suggestions of how to improve your score.

Psychologically, if you have purchased a preparation pack, you may be more inclined to increase your pre-test practice/study when compared to using free tools, due to having invested money.

Step 3 . Apply Critical Thinking to All Aspects of Your Daily Routine

The best way to improve your critical thinking score is to practice it every day.

It is not just about using your skills to pass an exam question; it is about being able to think critically in everyday scenarios.

Therefore, when you are reading the news or online articles, try to think whether you are being given facts or you are making deductions and assumptions from the information provided.

The more you practice your critical thinking in these scenarios, the more it will become second nature to you.

You could revert to the RED model: recognize the assumptions being made, by you and the author; evaluate the arguments and decide which, if any, are strong; and draw conclusions from the information provided and perhaps see if they differ from conclusions drawn using your external knowledge.

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Nine Top Tips for Ensuring Success in Your Watson Glaser Test

If you are getting ready to participate in a Watson Glaser test, you must be clear about what you are being asked to do.

Here are a few tips that can help you to improve your Watson Glaser test score.

1. Practice, Practice, Practice

Critical thinking is a skill that should become second nature to you. You should practice as much as possible, not just so that you can pass the test, but also to feel confident in using your skills in reality.

2. The Best Success Is Based on the Long-Term Study

To succeed in your Watson Glaser test , you need to spend time preparing.

Those who begin studying in the weeks and months beforehand will be far more successful than those who leave their study to the last minute.

3. Acquaint Yourself With the Test Format

The Watson Glaser test has a different type of question to other critical thinking tests.

Make sure that you are aware of what to expect from the test questions. The last thing you want is to be surprised on test day.

4. Read the Instructions Carefully

This is one of the simplest but most effective tips. Your critical thinking skills start with understanding what you are being asked to do. Take your time over the question.

Although you may only have 30 minutes to complete the test, it is still important that you do not rush through and submit the wrong answers. You do not get a higher score if you finish early, so use your time wisely.

5. Only Use the Information Provided in the Question

Remember, the purpose of the test is to see if you can come to a decision based on the provided written statement.

This means that you must ignore anything that you think you already know and focus only on the information given in the question.

6. Widen Your Non-Fictional Reading

Reading a variety of journals, newspapers and reports, and watching examples of debates and arguments will help you to improve your skills.

You will start to understand how the same basic facts can be presented in different ways and cause people to draw different conclusions.

From there, you can start to enhance your critical thinking skills to go beyond the perspective provided in any given situation.

7. Be Self-Aware

We all have our own biases and prejudices whether we know them or not. It is important to think about how your own opinions and life experiences may impact how you perceive and understand situations.

For example, someone who has grown up with a lot of money may have a different interpretation of what it is like to go without, compared to someone who has grown up in extreme poverty.

It is important to have this self-awareness as it is important for understanding other people; this is useful if you are working in sectors such as law.

8. Read the Explanations During Your Preparation

To make the most of practice tests, make sure you read the analysis explaining the answers, regardless of if you got the question right or wrong.

This is the crux of your study; it will explain the reasoning why a certain answer is correct, and this will help you understand how to choose the correct answers.

9. Practice Your Timings

You know that you will have five sections to complete in the test. You also know that you have 30 minutes to complete the test.

Therefore, make sure that your timings are in sync within your practice, so you can work your way through the test in its entirety.

Time yourself on how long each section takes you and put in extra work on your slowest.

What score do you need to pass the Watson Glaser test?

There is no standard benchmark score to pass the Watson Glaser test . Each business sector has its own perception of what constitutes a good score and every employer will set its own requirements.

It is wise to aim for a Watson Glaser test score of at least 75%. To score 75% or higher, you will need to correctly answer at least 30 of the 40 questions.

The employing organization will use your test results to compare your performance with other candidates within the selection pool. The higher you score in the Watson Glaser test , the better your chances of being hired.

Can you fail a Watson Glaser test?

It is not possible to fail a Watson Glaser test . However, your score may not be high enough to meet the benchmark set by the employing organization.

By aiming for a score of at least 75%, you stand a good chance of progressing to the next stage of the recruitment process.

Are Watson Glaser tests hard?

Many candidates find the Watson Glaser test hard. The test is designed to assess five different aspects of logical reasoning skills. Candidates must work under pressure, which adds another dimension of difficulty.

By practicing your critical thinking skills, you can improve your chances of achieving a high score on the Watson Glaser test .

How do I prepare for Watson Glaser?

To prepare for Watson Glaser , you will need to practice your critical thinking abilities. This can be achieved through a range of activities; for example, reading a variety of newspapers, journals and other literature.

Try applying the RED model to your reading – recognize the assumptions being made (both by you and the writer), evaluate the arguments and decide which of these (if any) are strong.

You should also practice drawing conclusions from the information available to you.

Online Watson Glaser practice assessments are a useful way to prepare for Watson Glaser. These practice tests will give you an idea of what to expect on the day, although the questions are not usually as detailed as those in the actual test.

You might also consider using a paid-for Watson Glaser preparation pack, such as the one available from TestHQ . Preparation packs provide a comprehensive test guide, including practice tests and recommendations on how to improve your test score.

How long does the Watson Glaser test take?

Candidates are allowed 30 minutes to complete the Watson Glaser test . The multiple-choice test questions are grouped into five distinct areas – assumptions, deduction, evaluation, inference and interpretation.

Which firms use the Watson Glaser test?

Companies all over the world use the Watson Glaser test as part of their recruitment campaigns.

It is a popular choice for professional service firms, including banking, law, and insurance. Firms using the Watson Glaser test include the Bank of England, Hiscox, Deloitte and Clifford Chance.

How many times can you take the Watson Glaser test?

Most employers will only allow you to take the Watson Glaser test once per application. However, you may take the Watson Glaser test more than once throughout your career.

What is the next step after passing the Watson Glaser test?

The next step after passing the Watson Glaser test will vary between employers. Some firms will ask you to attend a face-to-face interview after passing the Watson Glaser test, others will ask you to attend an assessment center. Speak to the hiring manager to find out the process for the firm you are applying for.

Start preparing in advance for the Watson Glaser test

The Watson Glaser test differs from other critical thinking tests. It has its own rules and formations, and the exam is incredibly competitive. If you are asked to participate in a Watson Glaser test it is because your prospective employer is looking for the ‘best of the best’. Your aim is not to simply pass the test; it is to achieve a higher score than anyone else taking that test .

Therefore, taking the time to prepare for the Watson Glaser test is vital for your chances of success. You need to be confident that you know what you are being asked to do, and that you can use your critical thinking skills to make informed decisions.

Your study is about more than helping you to pass a test; it is about providing you with the skills and capability to think critically about information in the ‘real world’ .

You might also be interested in these other Psychometric Success articles:

Or explore the Aptitude Tests / Test Types sections.

Critical Thinking Test Practice ▷ Free Critical Reasoning Samples & Tips 2024

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Start Preparing for Your Critical Thinking Test. This page features a brief introduction, followed by question examples with detailed explanations, and a free test sample.

Table of Contents :

✻ What is a Critical Thinking Test ?

✻ Sample Questions

What Is Critical Thinking?

Critical thinking, also known as critical reasoning, is the ability to assess a situation and consider/understand various perspectives, all while acknowledging, extracting and deciphering facts, opinions and assumptions. Critical thinking tests are a sub-type of aptitude exams or psychometric tests used in pre-employment assessment for jobs reacquiring advanced analytical and learning skills.

The Skills You Will Be Tested On

Critical thinking tests can have 5 major sections or sub-tests that assess and measure a variety of aspects.

1) Inference

In this section, you are asked to draw conclusions from observed or supposed facts. You are presented with a short text containing a set of facts you should consider as true.

Below the text is a statement that could be inferred from the text. You need to make a judgement on whether this statement is valid or not, based on what you have read.

Furthermore, you are asked to evaluate whether the statement is true, probably true, there is insufficient data to determine, probably false, or false.

For example: if a baby is crying and it is his feeding time, you may infer that the baby is hungry. However, the baby may be crying for other reasons—perhaps it is hot.

2) Recognising Assumptions

In this section, you are asked to recognise whether an assumption is justifiable or not.

Here you are given a statement followed by an assumption on that statement. You need to establish whether this assumption can be supported by the statement or not.

You are being tested on your ability to avoid taking things for granted that are not necessarily true. For example, you may say, "I’ll have the same job in three months," but you would be taking for granted the fact that your workplace won't make you redundant, or that you won’t decide to quit and explore various other possibilities.

You are asked to choose between the options of assumption made and assumption not made.

3) Deduction

This section tests your ability to weigh information and decide whether given conclusions are warranted.

You are presented with a statement of facts followed by a conclusion on what you have read. For example, you may be told, "Nobody in authority can avoid making uncomfortable decisions."

You must then decide whether a statement such as "All people must make uncomfortable decisions" is warranted from the first statement.

You need to assess whether the conclusion follows or the conclusion does not follow what is contained in the statement. You can read more about our deductive logical thinking test resources here.

4) Interpretation

This section measures your ability to understand the weighing of different arguments on a particular question or issue.

You are given a short paragraph to read, which you are expected to take as true. This paragraph is followed by a suggested conclusion, for which you must decide if it follows beyond a reasonable doubt.

You have the choice of conclusion follows and conclusion does not follow.

5) Evaluation of Arguments

In this section you are asked to evaluate the strength of an argument.

You are given a question followed by an argument. The argument is considered to be true, but you must decide whether it is a strong or weak argument, i.e. whether it is both important and directly related to the question.

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Critical Thinking Question Examples

As there are various forms of critical thinking and critical reasoning, we've provided a number of critical thinking sample questions.

You can take our full Critical Thinking Sample Test to see more questions.

Argument Analysis Sample Question

Which of the following is true?

Most of the people surveyed, whether they own pets or do not own pets, displayed outstanding interpersonal capacities.
The adoption of a pet involves personal sacrifice and occasional inconvenience.
People with high degrees of empathy are more likely to adopt pets than people with low degrees of empathy.
Interpersonal capacities entail tuning in to all the little signals necessary to operate as a couple.
A person's degree of empathy is highly correlated with his or her capacity for personal sacrifice.

The correct answer is C

Answer explanation: In a question of this type, the rule is very simple: the main conclusion of an argument is found either in the first or the last sentence. If, however, the main conclusion appears in the middle of an argument, it will begin with a signal word such as thus, therefore, or so. Regardless of where the main conclusion appears, the rest of the passage will give the reasons why the conclusion is true or should be adopted. The main conclusion in this passage is the last sentence, signaled by the words, 'This indicates that people who are especially empathetic are more likely to adopt a pet than people who are less empathetic'.

Argument Practice Sample Question

A: No. Differential bonuses have been found to create a hostile working environment, which leads to a decrease in the quality and quantity of products .

This argument is:

The correct answer is A (Strong)

Schema of the statement: Differential cash bonuses (productivity↑) → workplace↑

Explanation: This argument targets both the action and the consequences of the action on the object of the statement. It states that the action (implementing differential cash bonuses) has a negative effect on the workplace (a decrease in the quality and quantity of products). Therefore, it is an important argument, one that is relevant for the workplace. Note that this argument does not specifically target differential cash bonuses. Still, they are considered a sub-group of the subject of the argument (differential bonuses).

Interpretations Sample Question

Proposed assumption: Vicki and Bill encountered a personal battle because they couldn’t come to terms with their disease.

A. Conclusion follows

B. Conclusion does not follow

The correct answer is B (Conclusion does not follow)

It is plausible that the reason people who suffer from sleep apnoea encounter a personal battle is because of an inability to come to terms with this disease. However, since the passage does not provide an actual reason, you cannot reach this conclusion without reasonable doubt.

The most common type of Critical Thinking Assessment is the Watson Glaser .

Difficult and time-pressured, the Watsong Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal (WGCTA) takes a unique testing approach that breaks away from more traditional assessments. To see examples, check out our free Watson Glaser practice test .

Our expertly curated practice programme for the Watson Glaser will provide you with:

A full-length diagnostic simulation
Focused practice tests for the different test sections: inferences, assumptions, deductive reasoning, interpretations, and arguments.
3 additional full-length simulations
Interactive tutorials

Or learn more about the Watson Glaser Test.

Free Critical Thinking Test Sample Complete your test to get a predicted score, then review your answers
Test Time	18:45 min
Questions	25 (5 sections)
Pass Score	8

Critical Thinking Tests FAQs

What critical reasoning test am I most likely to take?

Very Likely the Watson-Glaser test

Another popular critical thinking assessment, Watson-Glaser is a well-established psychometric test produced by Pearson Assessments.

The Watson-Glaser test is used for two main purposes: job selection/talent management and academic evaluations. The Watson-Glaser test can be administered online or in-person.

For Watson Glaser practice questions, click here !

What skills do critical reasoning test measure?

Critical Thinking can refer to various skills:

Defining the problem
Selecting the relevant information to solve the problem
Recognising assumptions that are both written and implied in the text
Creating hypotheses and selecting the most relevant and credible solutions
Reaching valid conclusions and judging the validity of inferences

Pearson TalentLens condenses critical thinking into three major areas:

R ecognise assumptions – the ability to notice and question assumptions, recognise information gaps or unfounded logic. Basically not taking anything for granted.
E valuate arguments – the ability to analyse information objectively without letting your emotions affect your opinion.
D raw conclusions – the ability to reach focused conclusions and inferences by considering diverse information, avoiding generalisations and disregarding information that is not available.

These are abilities that employers highly value in their employees, because they come into play in many stages of problem-solving and decision-making processes in the workplace, especially in business, management and law.

Why are critical thinking tests important to employers?

Critical thinking, or critical reasoning, is important to employers because they want to see that when dealing with an issue, you are able to make logical decisions without involving emotions.

Being able to look past emotions will help you to be open-minded, confident, and decisive—making your decisions more logical and sound.

What professions use critical thinking tests?

Below are some professions that use critical thinking tests and assessments during the hiring process as well as some positions that demand critical thinking and reasoning skills:

Preparation Packs for Critical Thinking & Critical Reasoning Assessmentsץ The Critical Thinking PrepPack™ provides you with the largest assembly of practice tests, study guides and tutorials. Our tests come complete with straightforward expert explanations and predictive score reports to let you know your skill level as well as your advancement. By using our materials you can significantly increase your potential within a few days and secure yourself better chances to get the job.

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Are you about to apply for a role in the finance industry?

Several major banking and consulting employers evaluate their applicants using critical thinking tests, among other methods. Visit your potential employer's page to better understand the tests you are about to face, and start preparing today!

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Critical Thinking test

Summary of the critical thinking test.

This online Critical Thinking skills assessment evaluates candidates’ skills in critical thinking through inductive and deductive reasoning problems . This pre-employment aptitude test helps you identify candidates who can evaluate information and make sound judgments using logic and analytical skills.

Covered skills

Analyzing syllogisms

Making inferences

Recognizing assumptions and fallacies

Weighing arguments

Use the Critical Thinking test to hire

Any role that involves a high degree of critical and independent thinking to solve complex problems, such as analysts, engineers, executives, lawyers, marketers, and data scientists, among many others.

graphic image for cognitive ability tests

About the Critical Thinking test

Effective critical thinking requires skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, and evaluating information to make a sound, logical judgment or formulate an innovative solution.

In practice, this means that candidates can identify what information is important to solving a problem, gather it where possible, and draw conclusions to reach a solution. It requires using a range of soft skills and cognitive abilities, including:

Logical reasoning

Open-mindedness

Strategizing

These skills are difficult, or even impossible, to glean from a resume; employers should use critical thinking skills tests instead to assess them quickly and easily without bias.

Our Critical Thinking test evaluates candidates’ abilities to:

Solve syllogisms through deductive reasoning skills and logical thinking

Interpret sequences and arrangements, evaluate arguments to find a weak argument, and draw sound conclusions

Ask deduction questions and assess cause-and-effect relationships

Practice reading comprehension to recognize assumptions

These types of questions ( see our practice test for sample questions ) measure critical thinking by presenting candidates with single or multiple-choice statements, asking them to analyze the information and use logic to identify the correct answer.

By using a critical thinking assessment test to screen candidates with a time limit, you can ensure that everyone you invite to interviews meets a baseline requirement for critical thinking skills. Besides, you reach this conclusion through a data-driven, unbiased method that takes a fraction of the time of traditional resume screening.

The test is made by a subject-matter expert

Testgorilla assessment team.

TestGorilla's Assessment Team is responsible for the delivery of leading edge, science-based measurement, assessment content, insights and innovation. The team is comprised of organizational psychologists, data scientists, psychometricians, academics, researchers, writers, and editors.

Collectively, the Assessment Team boasts more than 15 advanced degrees, more than 100 scientific publications and presentations, and almost 100 years of assessment and talent acquisition industry experience.

Crafted with expert knowledge

TestGorilla’s tests are created by subject matter experts. We assess potential subject-matter experts based on their knowledge, ability, and reputation. Before being published, each test is peer-reviewed by another expert, then calibrated using hundreds of test takers with relevant experience in the subject.

Our feedback mechanisms and unique algorithms allow our subject-matter experts to constantly improve their tests.

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The Critical Thinking test will be included in a PDF report along with the other tests from your assessment. You can easily download and share this report with colleagues and candidates.

Why are critical thinking skills important to employers?

The importance of critical thinking abilities in the workplace comes from its ability to improve performance in almost any role. If a candidate can think critically about problems, they are likely to solve them faster and with less need for intervention from superiors .

Critical thinking practice is essential for managers, who regularly need to make decisions that affect multiple people and involve many variables. Other benefits of fostering critical thinking in the workplace include:

Encouraging creative problem-solving and organizational agility

Improving conflict resolution

Promoting ethical decision-making

Creating a culture of continuous learning

Asking all applicants to answer critical reasoning test questions can help you hire competent employees and effective managers on a global scale in a fraction of the time. Nexus HR, an HR services provider, did precisely this with our tests – reducing their “time-to-fill” metrics for open positions and improving the quality of hire, particularly in India and the Philippines.

Critical-thinking competencies to hire for

Candidates with critical-thinking skills have several competencies:

Observation skills: They constantly seek new information by asking others or observing their environment and the people around them.

Analysis: They can use fast thinking to analyze new situations, but they can also slow down and analyze situations by asking questions and conducting research.

Decision-making: After observing and analyzing the data available, candidates can critically evaluate the information at their disposal to make a data-driven decision .

Communication: A great critical thinker also knows the importance of communicating their decisions to those around them and understands how best to organize this information for others.

Problem-solving: The candidate can apply their skills in observing and analyzing data to decision-making and finding solutions to complex problems.

What job roles can you hire with our Critical Thinking test?

This Critical Thinking assessment test is not role-specific, which means you can use the Critical Thinking test for employment across any number of roles.

Here are a few examples:

Analysts must know how to interpret data, identify patterns, and provide actionable, feasible insights

Engineers use their critical thinking skills to tackle complex problems and devise effective solutions that meet or exceed safety standards

Chief executive officers must be able to shape organizational strategy, adapt to change, and inspire their workers to perform at their best

Lawyers analyze case law, construct arguments, and navigate legal complexities with sharp critical thinking

Marketers craft compelling brand messages and develop successful go-to-market strategies thanks to a mixture of research and strategic thinking

Data scientists rely on critical thinking skills to examine data sets, spot trends, and make informed business decisions

Teachers design tutorials, create practice questions, evaluate student performance, and adapt their teaching methods based on careful analysis and reflective judgment

Healthcare professionals use critical thinking skills to assess patient symptoms and devise appropriate care plans

Create a multi-measure assessment: 4 tests to pair with the Critical Thinking test

With TestGorilla, you can combine up to five psychometric tests into a multi-measure assessment to find well-rounded candidates.

Here are the tests you should consider including alongside our critical thinking evaluation in your recruitment process.

Communication test : Assess candidates’ ability to communicate clearly and professionally through written, verbal, or non-verbal communication.

Time Management test : Present candidates with typical workplace scenarios to assess how effectively they can prioritize, plan, and execute tasks.

Problem Solving test : Hire candidates with the ability to analyze and interpret textual information to make correct decisions.

Big Five (OCEAN) test : Evaluate candidates on five key factors of personality: openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and emotional stability.

Note: We haven’t included any role-specific skills tests here because they depend on the position you’re hiring for. However, we highly recommend you add at least one in your five-test assessment to ensure your candidates possess the right skills for the job.

An assessment is the total package of tests and custom questions that you put together to evaluate your candidates. Each individual test within an assessment is designed to test something specific, such as a job skill or language. An assessment can consist of up to 5 tests and 20 custom questions. You can have candidates respond to your custom questions in several ways, such as with a personalized video.

Yes! Custom questions are great for testing candidates in your own unique way. We support the following question types: video, multiple-choice, coding, file upload, and essay. Besides adding your own custom questions, you can also create your own tests.

A video question is a specific type of custom question you can add to your assessment. Video questions let you create a question and have your candidates use their webcam to record a video response. This is an excellent way to see how a candidate would conduct themselves in a live interview, and is especially useful for sales and hospitality roles. Some good examples of things to ask for video questions would be "Why do you want to work for our company?" or "Try to sell me an item you have on your desk right now."

Besides video questions, you can also add the following types of custom questions: multiple-choice, coding, file upload, and essay. Multiple-choice lets your candidates choose from a list of answers that you provide, coding lets you create a coding problem for them to solve, file upload allows your candidates to upload a file that you request (such as a resume or portfolio), and essay allows an open-ended text response to your question. You can learn more about different custom question types here .

Yes! You can add your own logo and company color theme to your assessments. This is a great way to leave a positive and lasting brand impression on your candidates.

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Yes. You can add up to five tests to each assessment.

We recommend using our assessment software as a pre-screening tool at the beginning of your recruitment process. You can add a link to the assessment in your job post or directly invite candidates by email.

TestGorilla replaces traditional resume screening with a much more reliable and efficient process, designed to find the most skilled candidates earlier and faster.

We offer the following cognitive ability tests : Numerical Reasoning, Problem Solving, Attention to Detail, Reading Comprehension, and Critical Thinking.

Our cognitive ability tests allow you to test for skills that are difficult to evaluate in an interview. Check out our blog on why these tests are so useful and how to choose the best one for your assessment.

Related tests

Intermediate math, mechanical reasoning, attention to detail (textual), verbal reasoning, problem solving, numerical reasoning, computational thinking, basic math calculations, understanding instructions, attention to detail (visual).

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Critical Thinking Tests

228 questions

Critical thinking tests, sometimes known as critical reasoning tests, are often used by employers. They evaluate how a candidate makes logical deductions after scrutinising the evidence provided, while avoiding fallacies or non-factual opinions. Critical thinking tests can form part of an assessment day, or be used as a screening test before an interview.

What is a critical thinking test?

A critical thinking test assesses your ability to use a range of logical skills to evaluate given information and make a judgement. The test is presented in such a way that candidates are expected to quickly scrutinise the evidence presented and decide on the strength of the arguments.

Critical thinking tests show potential employers that you do not just accept data and can avoid subconscious bias and opinions – instead, you can find logical connections between ideas and find alternative interpretations.

This test is usually timed, so quick, clear, logical thinking will help candidates get the best marks. Critical thinking tests are designed to be challenging, and often used as part of the application process for upper-management-level roles.

What does critical thinking mean?

Critical thinking is the intellectual skill set that ensures you can process and consider information, challenge and analyse data, and then reach a conclusion that can be defended and justified.

In the most simple terms, critical reasoning skills will make sure that you are not simply accepting information at face value with little or no supporting evidence.

It also means that you are less likely to be swayed by ‘false news’ or opinions that cannot be backed with facts – which is important in high-level jobs that require logical thinking.

For more information about logical thinking, please see our article all about logical reasoning .

Which professions use critical thinking tests, and why?

Typically, critical thinking tests are taken as part of the application process for jobs that require advanced skills in judgement, analysis and decision making. The higher the position, the more likely that you will need to demonstrate reliable critical reasoning and good logic.

The legal sector is the main industry that uses critical thinking assessments – making decisions based on facts, without opinion and intuition, is vital in legal matters.

A candidate for a legal role needs to demonstrate their intellectual skills in problem-solving without pre-existing knowledge or subconscious bias – and the critical thinking test is a simple and effective way to screen candidates.

Another industry that uses critical thinking tests as part of the recruitment process is banking. In a similar way to the legal sector, those that work in banking are required to make decisions without allowing emotion, intuition or opinion to cloud coherent analysis and conclusions.

Critical thinking tests also sometimes comprise part of the recruitment assessment for graduate and management positions across numerous industries.

The format of the test: which skills are tested?

The test itself, no matter the publisher, is multiple choice.

As a rule, the questions present a paragraph of information for a scenario that may include numerical data. There will then be a statement and a number of possible answers.

The critical thinking test is timed, so decisions need to be made quickly and accurately; in most tests there is a little less than a minute for each question. Having experience of the test structure and what each question is looking for will make the experience smoother for you.

There are typically five separate sections in a critical thinking test, and each section may have multiple questions.

Inference questions assess your ability to judge whether a statement is true, false, or impossible to determine based on the given data and scenario. You usually have five possible answers: absolutely true, absolutely false, possibly true, possibly false, or not possible to determine.

Assumptions

In this section, you are being assessed on your ability to avoid taking things for granted. Each question gives a scenario including data, and you need to evaluate whether there are any assumptions present.

Here you are given a scenario and a number of deductions that may be applicable. You need to assess the given deductions to see which is the logical conclusion – does it follow?

Interpretation

In the interpretation stage, you need to read and analyse a paragraph of information, then interpret a set of possible conclusions, to see which one is correct. You are looking for the conclusion that follows beyond reasonable doubt.

Evaluation of Arguments

In this section, you are given a scenario and a set of arguments that can be for or against. You need to determine which are strong arguments and which are weak, in terms of the information that you have. This decision is made based on the way they address the scenario and how relevant they are to the content.

How best to prepare for a critical thinking test

The best way to prepare for any type of aptitude test is to practice, and critical thinking tests are no different.

Taking practice tests, as mentioned above, will give you confidence as it makes you better understand the structure, layout and timing of the real tests, so you can concentrate on the actual scenarios and questions.

Practice tests should be timed. This will help you get used to working through the scenarios and assessing the conclusions under time constraints – which is a good way to make sure that you perform quickly as well as accurately.

In some thinking skills assessments , a timer will be built in, but you might need to time yourself.

Consistent practice will also enable you to pinpoint any areas of the critical thinking test that require improvement. Our tests offer explanations for each answer, similar to the examples provided above.

Publishers of critical thinking tests

The watson glaser critical thinking test.

The Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal (W-GCTA) is the most popular and widely used critical thinking test. This test has been in development for 85 years and is published by TalentLens .

The W-GCTA is seen as a successful tool for assessing cognitive abilities, allowing recruiting managers to predict job success, find good managers and identify future leaders. It is available in multiple languages including English, French and Spanish.

The test itself can be used as part of an assessment day or as a screening assessment before an interview. It consists of 40 questions on the 5 sections mentioned above, and is timed at 30 minutes. Click here for more information on Watson Glaser tests .

SHL critical reasoning test

SHL is a major aptitude test publisher, which offers critical thinking as part of its testing battery for pre-employment checks.

SHL tests cover all kinds of behavioural and aptitude tests, from logic to inference, verbal to numerical – and with a number of test batteries available online, they are one of the most popular choices for recruiters.

Cornell critical thinking test

The Cornell critical thinking test was made to test students and first developed in 1985. It is an American system that helps teachers, parents and administrators to confidently predict future performance for college admission, gifted and advanced placement programs, and even career success.

Prepare yourself for leading employers

5 Example critical thinking practice questions with answers

In this section, you need to deduce whether the inferred statement is true, false or impossible to deduce.

The UK Government has published data that shows 82% of people under the age of 30 are not homeowners. A charity that helps homeless people has published data that shows 48% of people that are considered homeless are under 30.

The lack of affordable housing on the sales market is the reason so many under-30s are homeless.

Definitely True
Probably True
Impossible to Deduce
Probably False
Definitely False

The information given does not infer the conclusion given, so it is impossible to deduce if the inference is correct – there is just not enough information to judge the inference as correct.

The removal of the five-substitution rule in British football will benefit clubs with a smaller roster.

Clubs with more money would prefer the five-substitute rule to continue.

Assumption Made

Assumption Not Made

This is an example of a fallacy that could cause confusion for a candidate – it encourages you to bring in any pre-existing knowledge of football clubs.

It would be easy to assume the assumption has been made when you consider that the more money a club has, the more players they should have on the roster. However, the statement does not make the assumption that the clubs with more money would prefer to continue with the five-substitute rule.

All boys love football. Football is a sport, therefore:

All boys love all sports
Girls do not love football
Boys are more likely to choose to play football than any other sport

In this section we are looking for the conclusion that follows the logic of the statement. In this example, we cannot deduce that girls do not love football, because there is not enough information to support that.

In the same way the conclusion that all boys love all sports does not follow – we are not given enough information to make that assumption. So, the conclusion that follows is 3: boys are more likely to choose football than any other sport because all boys like football.

The British Museum has a range of artefacts on display, including the largest privately owned collection of WWII weaponry.

There is a larger privately owned collection of WWII weaponry in the USA.

Conclusion Follows

Conclusion Does Not Follow

The fact that the collection is in the British Museum does not make a difference to the fact it is the largest private collection – so there cannot be a larger collection elsewhere.

The Department for Education should lower standards in examinations to make it fairer for less able students.

Yes – top grades are too hard for lower-income students
No – less fortunate students are not capable of higher standards
Yes – making the standards lower will benefit all students
No – private school students will suffer if grade standards are lower
The strongest argument is the right answer, not the one that you might personally believe.

In this case, we need to assess which argument is most relevant to the statement. Both 1 and 4 refer to students in particular situations, which isn’t relevant to the statement. The same can be said about 2, so the strongest argument is 3, since it is relevant and addresses the statement given.

Sample Critical Thinking Tests question Test your knowledge!

What implication can be drawn from the information in the passage?

A company’s internal audit revealed that departments with access to advanced analytics tools reported higher levels of strategic decision-making. These departments also showed a higher rate of reaching their quarterly objectives.

Strategic decision-making has no link to the achievement of quarterly objectives.
Access to advanced analytics does not influence a department's ability to make strategic decisions.
Advanced analytics tools are the sole reason for departments reaching their quarterly objectives.
Departments without access to advanced analytics tools are unable to make strategic decisions.
Advanced analytics tools may facilitate better strategic decision-making, which can lead to the achievement of objectives.

After reading the passage below, what conclusion is best supported by the information provided?

Job satisfaction increases when employees start their day earlier.
Starting early may lead to more efficient task completion and less job-related stress.
Workers who start their day later are more efficient at completing tasks.
There is a direct correlation between job satisfaction and starting work early.
The study concludes that job-related stress is unaffected by the start time of the workday.

Based on the passage below, which of the following assumptions is implicit?

Inter-departmental cooperation is the sole factor influencing project completion rates.
The increase in project completion rates is due entirely to the specialized team-building module.
Team-building exercises have no effect on inter-departmental cooperation.
The specialized team-building module may contribute to improvements in inter-departmental cooperation.
Departments that have not undergone the training will experience a decrease in project completion rates.

What is the flaw in the argument presented in the passage below?

The assumption that a casual dress code is suitable for all company types.
High-tech companies have a casual dress code to increase employee productivity specifically.
The argument correctly suggests that a casual dress code will increase employee morale in every company.
Morale and productivity cannot be affected by a company's dress code.
A casual dress code is more important than other factors in determining a company's success.

Which statement is an inference that can be drawn from the passage below?

Telecommuting employees are less productive than on-site workers.
The reduction in operational costs is directly caused by the increase in telecommuting employees.
Telecommuting may have contributed to the decrease in operational costs.
Operational costs are unaffected by employee work locations.
The number of telecommuting employees has no impact on operational costs.

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Critical Thinking Tests Tips

The most important factor in your success will be practice. If you have taken some practice tests, not only will you start to recognise the way questions are worded and become familiar with what each question is looking for, you will also be able to find out whether there are any parts that you need extra practice with.

It is important to find out which test you will be taking, as some generic critical thinking practice tests might not help if you are taking specific publisher tests (see the section below).

2 Fact vs fallacy

Practice questions can also help you recognise the difference between fact and fallacy in the test. A fallacy is simply an error or something misleading in the scenario paragraph that encourages you to choose an invalid argument. This might be a presumption or a misconception, but if it isn’t spotted it can make finding the right answer impossible.

3 Ignore what you already know

There is no need for pre-existing knowledge to be brought into the test, so no research is needed. In fact, it is important that you ignore any subconscious bias when you are considering the questions – you need logic and facts to get the correct answer, not intuition or instinct.

4 Read everything carefully

Read all the given information thoroughly. This might sound straightforward, but knowing that the test is timed can encourage candidates to skip content and risk misunderstanding the content or miss crucial details.

During the test itself, you will receive instructions that will help you to understand what is being asked of you on each section. There is likely to be an example question and answer, so ensure you take the time to read them fully.

5 Stay aware of the time you've taken

This test is usually timed, so don’t spend too long on a question. If you feel it is going to take too much time, leave it and come back to it at the end (if you have time). Critical thinking tests are complex by design, so they do have quite generous time limits.

For further advice, check out our full set of tips for critical thinking tests .

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Critical Thinking Tests FAQs

What are the basics of critical thinking.

In essence, critical thinking is the intellectual process of considering information on its merits, and reaching an analysis or conclusion from that information that can be defended and rationalised with evidence.

How do you know if you have good critical thinking skills?

You are likely to be someone with good critical thinking skills if you can build winning arguments; pick holes in someone’s theory if it’s inconsistent with known facts; reflect on the biases inherent in your own experiences and assumptions; and look at problems using a systematic methodology.

Reviews of our Watson Glaser tests

What our customers say about our Watson Glaser tests

Jozef Bailey

United Kingdom

April 05, 2022

Doesn't cover all aspects of Watson-Glaser tests but useful

The WGCTA uses more categories to assess critical thinking, but this was useful for the inference section.

April 01, 2022

Just practicing for an interview

Good information and liked that it had a countdown clock, to give you that real feel in the test situation.

Jerico Kadhir

March 31, 2022

Aptitude test

It was OK, I didn't understand personally whether or not the "cannot say" option was acceptable or not in a lot of the questions, as it may have been a trick option.

Salvarina Viknesuari

March 15, 2022

I like the test because the platform is simple and engaging while the test itself is different than most of the Watson Glaser tests I've taken.

Alexis Sheridan

March 02, 2022

Some of the ratios were harder than I thought!

I like how clear the design and layout is - makes things very easy (even if the content itself is not!)

Cyril Lekgetho

February 17, 2022

Mental arithmetic

I enjoyed the fact that there were multiple questions pertaining to one passage of information, rather than multiple passages. However I would've appreciated a more varied question type.

Madupoju Manish

February 16, 2022

Analytics are the best questions

I like the test because of its time schedule. The way the questions are prepared makes it easy to crack the original test.

Chelsea Franklin

February 02, 2022

Interesting

I haven't done something like this for ages. Very good for the brain - although I certainly experienced some fog whilst doing it.

[email protected]

January 04, 2022

Population/exchange rates were the hardest

Great test as it felt a bit time pressured. Very different types of questions in terms of difficulty.

faezeh tavakoli

January 02, 2022

More attention to detail + be more time conscious

It was asking about daily stuff we all deal with, but as an assessment it's scrutinising how we approach these problems.

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Is critical thinking associated with IQ?

I consider myself a person with reasonable intelligence. In my job, I require a lot of critical thinking. I am good at think laterally, but sometimes I feel I missed important critical evaluations of a simple problem. Then, I start to doubt my own intellect and rationality.

intelligence
problem-solving

1 $\begingroup$ Welcome to CogSci! Your question is currently unclear to me. Is it about critical thinking or logical thinking, and do you mean IQ by "degree of intelligence"? $\endgroup$ – Christian Hummeluhr Commented Apr 30, 2015 at 11:31
2 $\begingroup$ There are two questions here, which should probably be separate: (1) Is there a correlation between IQ and critical thinking, and (2) Can critical thinking be trained? $\endgroup$ – Josh Commented Apr 30, 2015 at 13:29
1 $\begingroup$ 2) is probably a duplicate of cogsci.stackexchange.com/questions/1415/… $\endgroup$ – Christian Hummeluhr Commented Apr 30, 2015 at 14:06

Critical thinking is an ill-defined concept in the cognitive sciences, so this question most likely has as many answers as there are measures of IQ and critical thinking. An accessible introduction to the literature is available here , with the general cognitive conception of critical thinking given as follows:

... the mental activities that are typically called critical thinking are actually a subset of three types of thinking: reasoning, making judgments and decisions, and problem solving. I say that critical thinking is a subset of these because we think in these ways all the time, but only sometimes in a critical way. Deciding to read this article, for example, is not critical thinking. But carefully weighing the evidence it presents in order to decide whether or not to believe what it says is.

With that said, there appears to be some empirical support for a relation between cognitive ability/IQ and critical thinking ability, at least within a dual-process theoretic framework. Sá, West and Stanovich (1999) reported:

Participants high in cognitive ability were able to flexibly use prior knowledge, depending upon its efficacy in a particular environment. They were more likely to project a relationship when it reflected a useful cue, but they were also less likely to project a prior belief when the belief was inefficacious.

I've provided a link to the PDF my references, since they refer directly to cognitive ability rather than IQ, and the equivalence is only made clear in their Method section.

Sá, W. C., West, R. F., & Stanovich, K. E. (1999). The domain specificity and generality of belief bias: Searching for a generalizable critical thinking skill. Journal of educational psychology, 91(3), 497.

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Ultimate Critical Thinking Test & foundations of critical thinking

Aditya Shukla | August 31, 2024 February 5, 2024 | Disclaimer: Links to some products earn us a commission

Home » Cognition » Ultimate Critical Thinking Test & foundations of critical thinking

Yes, critical thinking is hard to define and a constant victim of debate. Educators and experts have attempted to define it in separate contexts. I’ll give some examples.

But first, do you want to know if you can think critically? Take the test below.

Critical thinking test

Bloom’s taxonomy, philosophy & logic, system 1 and system 2 thinking, common sense, relevant information processing, mental sets & past experience, cognitive abilities.

Instruction: Give precise answers in the form of single words or numbers.

Format: 9 questions

Critical thinking

The ultimate test of critical thinking

Test your critical thinking as defined in psychology using only common sense and logic. No subject matter knowledge needed.

1. Emily’s father has three daughters. The first two are named Monday and Tuesday. What is the third daughter’s name?

You could've been right in the Addam's Family universe 🙂 It's Emily, the first detail!

Yaaaaaassss, correct!

2. A bat and a ball cost $1.10 in total. The bat costs $1.00 more than the ball. How much does the ball cost?

Are you sure? Think again, the intuitive answer is not the right answer! . . . . . Correct Answer: The ball costs $0.05, and the bat costs $1.05. This makes the total $1.10.

Correct! You could override your intuition!

The ball costs $0.05, and the bat costs $1.05. This makes the total $1.10.

3. If there are three apples and you take away two, how many do you have?

You took 2! I'm sure you once studied the other type of questions that ask for how many remained instead of how many you gained.

Good, you focused on the wording!

4. If it takes 5 machines 5 minutes to make 5 widgets, how long would it take 100 machines to make 100 widgets?

Wrong. Try thinking again, the intuitive answer is wrong. Try visualizing a room of 100 machines working simultaneously. . . . . . . Correct Answer: It would still take 5 minutes. Each machine can make a widget in 5 minutes, regardless of the number of machines.

Correct! You could think critically.

The time doesn't change. Each machine can make a widget in 5 minutes, regardless of the number of machines.

5. What weighs more, a kilogram of iron or a kilogram of feathers?

Oooops! Our intuitive brain associates iron with high density solids making our perception heavier. Feathers are associated with being light for their size. Both are declared to be a kilogram, a measure of weight (heaviness), so they are equal!

Correct, they are the same, a kilogram each!

6. Silk Silk Silk Silk Silk Silk Silk Silk Silk Silk. What do cows drink?

Did you think "milk"? The word silk primed your brain to find a response related to a cow, which activated the concept of milk because milk is more related to cow + silk than water!

Water, yaaas!

Bonus <3 for you for saying "liquid", technically not wrong!

7. If you were born 14 years ago, how old would you be?

Ooops, think - born 14 years ago. That means you are 14!

8. If you are running a race and you pass the person in second place, what place are you in?

OOoooo, you missed a key detail, didn't you? - there is still one person ahead of you!

Correct, now overtake the first one!

9. There is a patch of lily pads in a pond. Every day, the patch doubles in size. If it takes 48 days for the patch to cover the entire pond, how long would it take for the patch to cover half of the pond?

Wrong, visualize the days going on fast 1 by 1. When will it be half the size? . . . . . . . Correct Answer: 47 days. Since the patch doubles in size each day, if it covers the entire pond on the 48th day, it would cover half the pond on the 47th day.

Correct! It is 47 days, not 24! Since the patch doubles in size each day, if it covers the entire pond on the 48th day, it would cover half the pond the day before!

Your score is

The average score is 56%

Restart quiz Exit

Help me run this site with a donation :)

Rate the questions 🙂

Thank you for taking it, critical thinking usually just comes down to reflecting on what you read and think and then re-analyzing it slowly!

Wasn’t that fun! Share it and test your friends 🙂 It’s not as easy as it appears. Many experts across all domains fail at this, often when they are tired or on autopilot.

Now, let’s look at the psychology of critical thinking. What exactly is it?

Foundations of critical thinking

The famous Bloom’s taxonomy, widely used as an educational guideline, has 6 layers of cognitive development that education must facilitate. The 4th and 5th layers approximate critical thinking. They are “analyzing” and “evaluate.” Both layers are also commonly put under the umbrella of Higher-order thinking skills (HOTS) because they are effortful ways to process information. Evaluation is mostly about passing judgment on information. Analyzing is mostly about computing and comparing ideas. Both are about taking some information and processing it in a way that simplifies a problem and lets one create a solution. But this isn’t enough. Maybe in its best version, it involves critical thinking. But its weaker version is just deliberate thinking, which may not be critical. For example, a teacher may ask students to evaluate patterns across different mammals near human civilization (like the females produce milk, many mammals are eaten, etc.). This involves deliberate thinking but doesn’t invoke critical thinking. To make this a critical thinking task, a teacher can ask students to estimate characteristics humans do not have but are typical of mammals. This would change the subject of the activities to talking about technology and controlling the environment instead of “fetching” details about mammals.

Philosophy looks at critical thinking mostly from the logical perspective, where rules govern the correctness of an idea or flow of thought. In logic, critical thinking is about the premise, assumptions, internal consistency, and inference. Logic looks at critical thinking by asking the question – If the premise is true, does your conclusion correctly originate from the premise? Are you assuming something? Let’s explore all of it.

Premise: It is a statement of information. It may or may not be true. Critical thinking means questioning it’s true-ness.
Assumption: It is information not explicitly given to you, but you’ve considered it as background information or context to help you process the problem and solution. Critical thinking means spotting assumptions.
Internal consistency: It is the correctness of logic within a premise. Critical thinking is observing if an argument or idea is internally consistent. TOMM example: I was using AI to make a thumbnail for this article, and it gave me an image of a skyscraper office with a transparent glass room with 2 suns shining through the panes. Makes no sense on earth, right? The image isn’t internally consistent with the earth’s reality. Yes, this could be another planet. But I don’t have alien friends to DM me this image.
Conclusion: It is derived from the premise as a logical statement or solution. Critical thinking means working out if your conclusion is correct as per the details in the premise.

In other cases, asking questions is treated as the first step to critical thinking. The common advice is to ask and verify things by asking How, Why, When, What, Where, and Who.

Related : The science of good observation skills

Cognitive psychologists look at critical thinking mostly from a system 1 (intuitive) and system 2 (analytical) thinking perspective. A popular way to understand critical thinking is to measure how people can suppress system 1 thinking, which is fast and automatic, and use system 2, which is slow and deliberate. In shifting from system 1 to system 2, a person re-evaluates the information and draws conclusions. A person might instinctively stereotype a stranger (System 1) based on looks but then use critical thinking to challenge and reassess these initial judgments (System 2).

System 1 thinking is intuitive + feeling. System 2 thinking is deliberate and analytical. When a question has a wrong answer using system 1, finding the right answer using system 2 is a test of critical thinking.

The famous cognitive reflection test (whose questions I’ve added to this quiz) pits system 1 against system 2, and it defines critical thinking as the ability to suppress system 1 thoughts and override them with system 2 thoughts.

Common sense cares more about having the right logic (not some logic), assumptions, and context. It is a simplified version of critical thinking. It is having an economical and contextually correct thought. I’ll show you how common sense is contextual.

During my early guitar-playing days, I watched videos of people playing very fast. They attracted many naysayers because it was unbelievably fast so they assumed the videos were sped up. So the guitarists started adding a clock in the background. A lot has happened since then. Almost 20 years later, guitarists’ skills have reached new heights. Many of the new young adults playing guitar who naturally believed guitarists have speed game wonder on Instagram comments – why is there a clock in every video? And some old-timer is always there to insult, “RIP Gen Z commenters, you lack common sense. DUH, it’s to show the video is not sped up.” Common sense comes from context and finding a simple connection between different things you observe.

Just thinking hard isn’t enough. Humans require context for thinking accurately. We fail miserably at logic when we treat it like logic, but rarely make mistakes when that logic is in a context. I explore that in depth here . Context always matters in the real world.

For example, let’s say A > B > C. (A is greater than B and B is greater than C)

D may or may not be greater than B. Is D smaller than A?

Compute that. Or, compute it with the context below.

A human (A) is larger than a monkey (B) which is larger than an amoeba (C). Sharks (D) may or may not be larger than a monkey (B). Are humans (A) larger than sharks (D)? The question can’t be answered with certainty because some humans could be smaller than a shark and some could be larger.

Answering the second version is easier for most because it allows people to imagine the problem in a context. The logical format is very easy to solve, but it is symbolic and much harder to imagine.

Worked-out problems are easy to think about, so practice can make perfect. Like problems in a math exam or algorithmic thinking. If you solve enough, you know how to solve similar new ones. It becomes easier to spot what you know and what you don’t know. But that is because the practice material is a set of well-defined problems. This is not the case in the real world. IRL problems are ill-defined. And most people, including whole organizations, have to first formulate the problem they need to solve. So, critical thinking begins first by identifying relevant information and ignoring irrelevant information. This is the classic idea of finding the signal in the noise.

Every scenario, question, or problem has relevant information called “the signal” and irrelevant information called “the noise.” A critical thinker’s job is to judge the scenario, and classify information as signal vs. noise, and then use the signal to think clearly. The irrelevant information can have a strong influence on us, so the thinker has to block it out. For example, in war scenarios, the weather conditions that suit a certain people can create an advantage against invaders. In this case, the weather condition is a part of the signal. The invader’s war funding status might be the noise. What good is the battle equipment budget in determining the outcome if it can’t even be used in a certain climate?

But, identifying the signal from the noise is not enough either.

Humans are not computers that reboot and start on a clean slate. We exclusively rely on memory and past learning. There is a carry-over effect from what we are used to. That means if we solve one type of problem for days, we will tend to solve another new problem the same way. In the same way, if we only know how to use a hammer, everything will feel like a nail.

But the story doesn’t end there either. I’m not being dramatic, but critical thinking has so much more to it. We come with a “ mental set [1] “. A mental set describes how our approach to a previous problem can shape our approach to the next (similar to priming, but this is more about learning than temporary influence). For example, if you’ve been working on statistical problems all day, you might initially approach a creative task by seeking patterns and data, even when this approach isn’t suitable. Recognizing and adjusting our mental set is a key aspect of critical thinking. We apply an approach from our previous task to another task. I’ll give you another example. If you are doing a sales job dealing with people and understanding social details like what people say, how they dress, etc., and then you immediately watch a TV show, your focus will go to the social details of the characters in it. This means the mental set from your job continued for your TV sesh.

Even experts who have solved problems a certain way for decades will fail to see a simpler solution that you can find with critical thinking. This is the infamous expert paradox called the Einstellung effect.

The brain didn’t come equipped with software. It came equipped with a few core abilities that let us build the DIY personal software to tackle new problems. They are commonly called “ executive functions ,” and 3 of them are most relevant for critical thinking.

Attention: The information that gets prioritized by the brain. It’s deliberate (focus) and automatic (distraction).
Cognitive flexibility: It manages our capacity to switch contexts, jump between ideas, and return to something we’ve thought about. It’s the executive person who juggles between different brain circuits and ideas.
Inhibitory control: Our brain knows what flow of thought to stop or continue. Response inhibition is the capacity to stop an idea and revisit it, a very critical component of critical thinking.

Core cognitive functions are applied to details given in a situation and what you have learned. The whole thinking becomes thinking about thinking, called “ Meta-cognition .” So critical thinking is a metacognitive skill. It’s a slower process where speed is de-prioritized than detailed analysis. It’s effortful and mentally exhausting, so staying critical for hours and days is hard. This is exactly when being a practiced expert helps . The critical thinking elements in a particular skill set are repeated so many times that they are like a mental habit. There is a clear sign from a brain-imaging study [2] . As a skill is practiced more and more, it stops relying on executive functions and uses long-term memory. Conversely, new problems demand the use of executive functions – attention, memory, and decision-making – which are needed for critical thinking instead of long-term memory. This is why we observe it is easier to think critically about unfamiliar problems.

The biggest threats to critical thinking are cognitive biases. They are thinking tendencies that use very little information to draw conclusions at a fast rate. They are most activated when we mundanely move through life as we make fast decisions. Here are some examples and how you can counter them . But I’ll cover 3 cognitive bias threats I feel are the most significant.

Belief bias: The belief bias is best summarized as “If it feels right, it must be right.” People will buy into any wrong logic if it superficially sounds believable. For example, if someone tells you fish belong in water, so eating fish and milk together is bad because their bodies are not adapted for milk, you might believe it. After all, the fish didn’t evolve in milk. So maybe it’s true. Critical thinking is asking – What does the fish’s habitat have anything to do with our body’s ability to digest the combination?
Confirmation bias: Confirmation bias is as it sounds – we seek information that confirms what we know, and we ignore information that doesn’t fit into our preconceived notions. For example, if you google “Why is meat bad for health?” you’ll get answers confirming it’s bad. But if you google “Why is meat good for health?” you’ll still get answers confirming it is good.
Anchoring: Anchoring is having some reference point that guides our estimations based on that anchor. For example, if the average coffee costs $5, we believe $6 is ok but $9 is too much. Our perception is anchored to $5. But if the anchor were $10, we’d be fine with $9.

Related: 7 Attention biases that are killing your observation skills

So, how do we combine these core ideas into the concept of critical thinking?

Ok. I’ll define it this way.

Critical thinking is a purposeful way to think about details and suppress past/immediate influences that may misdirect us. The tools to achieve this are: questioning assumptions, isolating details of a problem, and taking a step back from “what feels right”. It almost always requires challenging some details and/or challenging your own perception of a problem.

That sums up knowing what critical thinking is. Regarding improving it, I recommend a ground-up approach through everyday activities listed here. If you only solve critical thinking problems, you’ll benefit, but you’ll also succumb to the mental set problem.

P.S. The questions are from the cognitive reflections test, a test of critical thinking that does not require domain knowledge and some trick questions I found on Instagram. I do not know the source of some questions. But, each question is derived from 1 or more of the theories that explain critical thinking.

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Hey! Thank you for reading; hope you enjoyed the article. I run Cognition Today to paint a holistic picture of psychology. My content here is referenced and featured in NY Times, Forbes, CNET, Entrepreneur, Lifehacker, about 15 books, academic courses, and 100s of research papers.

I’m a full-time psychology SME consultant and I work part-time with Myelin, an EdTech company. I’m also currently an overtime impostor in the AI industry. I’m attempting (mostly failing) to solve AI’s contextual awareness problem from the cognitive perspective.

I’ve studied at NIMHANS Bangalore (positive psychology), Savitribai Phule Pune University (clinical psychology), Fergusson College (BA psych), and affiliated with IIM Ahmedabad (marketing psychology).

I’m based in Pune, India. Love Sci-fi, horror media; Love rock, metal, synthwave, and K-pop music; can’t whistle; can play 2 guitars at a time.

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Test Prep Guide for the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children® (WISC®)

Test Preparation Practice for WISC Assessment

January 6, 2023, by The Critical Thinking Co.™ Staff

One of the most widely used intelligence tests is the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children® or WISC®. The current version of the test, WISC®–IV, is often used as an entrance exam for gifted and talented programs; it can also be used as part of the entrance process at private schools. The WISC®-IV assessment was written by David Wechsler and is published by NCS Pearson, Inc. (previously Harcourt Assessment, Inc./The Psychological Corporation, the original publisher of the test).

Like other indexes, the WISC® assessment assesses skills and abilities, rather than grade-level knowledge. The test’s propensity toward skills and abilities make for a test-taking experience that is unlike the statewide exams and nationally normed tests (ITBS®, Stanford 10, etc.) that are familiar to most students. Thus, preparing for the types of items encountered on the WISC® assessment is essential. There are some subtests that do assess prior knowledge, and those are outlined below.

There are 16 subtests on the WISC®-IV assessment. Here’s a look at what the subtests assess:

Block Design measures an individual’s ability to analyze and synthesize an abstract design and reproduce that design from colored plastic blocks. Spatial visualization and analysis, simultaneous processing, visual-motor coordination, dexterity, and nonverbal concept formation are involved. The students use logic and reasoning to successfully complete the items.

Similarities measures logical thinking, verbal concept formation and verbal abstract reasoning. Two similar but different objects or concepts are presented, and the student is asked to tell how they are alike or different.

Digit Span measures short-term auditory memory and attention. The digits have no logical relationship to each other and are presented in random order by the examiner. The student must then recite the digits correctly by recalling them in the same order. On the second part of this subtest the student must remember the order in which digits are presented, but recite them in reverse order.

Picture Concepts measures categorical, abstract reasoning, and the items here increase in difficulty. Students are asked to look at two (or three) rows of pictured objects and indicate (by pointing) the single picture from each row that shares a characteristic in common with the single picture(s) from the other row(s).

Coding measures visual-motor dexterity, associative nonverbal learning, and nonverbal short-term memory. Fine-motor dexterity, speed, accuracy and ability to manipulate a pencil contribute to task success; perceptual organization is also important.

Vocabulary measures the students’ verbal fluency and concept formation, word knowledge, and word usage. Here’s one subtest in which prior knowledge does play a role.

Letter-Number Sequencing measures attention span, short-term auditory recall, processing speed and sequencing abilities. The task involves listening to and remembering a string of digits and letters read aloud at a speed of one per second, then recalling the information by repeating the numbers in chronological order, followed by the letters in alphabetical order.

Matrix Reasoning measures visual processing and abstract, spatial perception and may be influenced by concentration, attention, and persistence.

Comprehension is not just ordinary reading comprehension; this subtest measures the students’ common-sense social knowledge, practical judgment in social situations, and level of social maturation, along with the extent of development of their moral conscience.

Symbol Search requires the student to determine whether a target symbol appears among the symbols shown in a search group. Memory is not a primary requirement for success on this task; perception and recognition are the two prime requirements, in addition to speed, accuracy, attention, and concentration. The symbols are geometric forms, rather than familiar letters or numbers.

Picture Completion measures a student's ability to recognize familiar items and to identify missing parts. The student's task is to separate essential and nonessential parts from the whole. It is necessary to observe each item closely and concentrate on picture detail. Students must name or indicate the missing part by saying the name of the part or by pointing to it.

Cancellation measures visual vigilance/neglect, selective attention, and speed in processing visual information in accordance with previous attempts along the same line.

Information measures general cultural knowledge, long-term memory, and acquired facts. Here’s another subtest that challenges students to remember what has been taught previously in school.

Arithmetic measures numerical accuracy, reasoning and mental arithmetic ability. Mental arithmetic and story problems play an important part in the student’s success.

Word Reasoning measures verbal abstract reasoning requiring analogical and categorical thinking, as well as verbal concept formation and expression.

Perceptual Reasoning Index measures perceptual and organizational skills, reflecting ability to interpret reason with, and/or organize visually perceived material. Test Prep Bundles and Suggested Test Prep Plan for WISC®

As you can see, the subtests of the WISC®-IV cover a large amount of verbal and non-verbal skill areas. For grades K-1, we recommend working with the bundles over at least one month, but we also recognize parents often receive a testing date with less than 30-days’ notice.

If you are really pressed for time, and you see the student has mastery in a section, you may skip ahead. You may also bookmark and return to activities that are more challenging.

One way to measure the mastery is to use the first few items in each activity as a pre-test. If you see that your child answers quickly and correctly, you may want to consider moving on. If they struggle, go through the activities as best you can, but bookmark them and consider going back over them.

Using the pre-test technique will give you a good idea of where the child’s strengths and weaknesses are across the skills and abilities covered in the material.

The bundles offer a lot of material, but if you make working with the books part of the daily routine, you’ll be surprised how fast things will move. Remember, the youngest students have shorter attention spans, so 15 minutes a session is fine.

It is also important to point out that all the titles have value well beyond the testing window. Each title will help enhance your child’s ability to reason and analyze, skills that are essential for success in many arenas.

Looking for Wechsler test preparation for younger children? Visit our Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence (WPPSI™-III) Prep Guide and Bundle page.

01428XBP: $115.42
	43	1	2	4
	1,890	45	63	135
	152	4	5	11
	1,072	25	36	76
	120	3	4	9
	80	3	3	6
	123	3	4	9
	NA	NA	NA	NA

01451XBP: $104.18
	43	1	2	4
	1,758	42	59	126
	152	4	5	11
	1,072	25	36	76
	40	1	1	3
	123	3	4	9
	NA	NA	NA	NA

01452XBP: $130.81
	35	1	1	3
	93	2	3	7
	2,094	50	70	150
	152	4	5	11
	240	6	8	17
	1,072	25	36	76
	40	1	1	3
	229	5	8	15
	330	8	11	24

01453XBP: $174.08
	68	2	2	5
	372	9	12	27
	152	4	5	11
	40	1	1	3
	849	20	28	61
	2,304	55	77	165
	240	6	8	17
	1,374	33	46	98
	229	5	8	15
	295	7	10	21

01454XBP: $153.90
	52	1	2	4
	655	15	22	47
	600	14	20	43
	294	7	10	21
	889	21	30	64
	1,418	34	47	101
	40	1	1	3
	306	7	10	22

The contents of these bundles were determined by The Critical Thinking Co. ™ and have not been reviewed by, nor are they endorsed, sponsored or approved by either the author or publisher of the tests. While the contents of these bundles will help prepare students to master most of the skills tested, they do not reflect the actual test items on any given test.

Otis-Lennon School Ability Test®,OLSAT®, Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children®, WISC®, and WPPSI™ are trademarks, in the US and /or other countries, of Pearson Education, Inc. or its affiliate(s), or their licensors, which do not endorse these products.

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How it Works

Critical Thinking Test: Sample Questions with Explanations (2024)

Employers value and seek candidates who demonstrate advanced critical thinking skills. They often administer critical thinking tests as part of their hiring process. Critical thinking tests can be very difficult for those who don’t prepare. A great way to start practicing is by taking our critical thinking free practice test.

What Does The Critical Thinking Test Include?

The Critical Thinking Test assesses your capacity to think critically and form logical conclusions when given written information. Critical thinking tests are generally used in job recruitment processes, in the legal sector. These tests measure the analytical critical thinking abilities of a candidate.

Why Is Critical Thinking Useful?

Critical thinking is put into action in various stages of decision-making and problem-solving tasks:

Identify the problem
Choose suitable information to find the solution
Identify the assumptions that are implied and written in the text
Form hypotheses and choose the most suitable and credible answers
Form well-founded conclusions and determine the soundness of inferences

What is Watson Glaser Test and what Critical Thinking Skills it Measures?

The most common type of critical thinking test is the Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal (W-GCTA). Typically used by legal and financial organizations, as well as management businesses, a Watson Glaser test is created to assess candidates’ critical thinking skills.

The test consists of 10 questions to be answered in 10 minutes approx (although there is no timer on the test itself). Our test is slightly harder than the real thing, to make it sufficiently challenging practice.

You need to get 70% correct to pass the test. Don’t forget to first check out the test techniques section further down this page beforehand.

Questions 25

Pass percentage 70%.

The test is broken down into five central areas:

Assumptions
Interpretation

Critical Thinking Course

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The Five Critical Thinking Skills Explained

1. recognition of assumption.

You’ll be presented with a statement. The statement is then followed by several proposed assumptions. When answering, you must work out if an assumption was made or if an assumption was not made in the statement. An assumption is a proclamation that an individual takes for granted. This section of the tests measures your ability to withhold from forming assumptions about things that are not necessarily correct.

1: Assumption Made
2: Assumption Not Made

Although the passage does state that Charlie’s fundraising team is doing its best so that the charity event can meet its goal, nowhere did it state that their team is leading the event.

2. Evaluation of Arguments

You will be presented with an argument. You will then be asked to decide whether the argument is strong or weak. An argument is considered strong if it directly connects to the statement provided, and is believed to be significant.

No, participation awards should not be given in every competition because studies have shown that this would cause the participants to put in less effort because they will get a prize no matter what the outcome is.

1: Strong Argument
2: Weak Argument

This is a strong argument as it provides evidence as to why participation awards should not be given in every competition

3. Deductions

In deduction questions, you will need to form conclusions based solely on the information provided in the question and not based on your knowledge. You will be given a small passage of information and you will need to evaluate a list of deductions made based on that passage. If the conclusion cannot be formed for the information provided, then the conclusion does not follow. The answer must be entirely founded on the statements made and not on conclusions drawn from your knowledge.

In a surprise party for Donna, Edna arrived after Felix and Gary did. Kelly arrived before Felix and Gary did.

1: Conclusion Follows
2: Conclusion Does not Follow

For questions like this, jot down the clues to help you out. Use initials as a quick reference.

K | F&G | E

Looking at the simple diagram, “K”, which stands for “Kelly,” arrived before Edna “E” did. The answer is A.

4. Interpretation

In these questions, you are given a passage of information followed by a list of possible conclusions. You will need to interpret the information in the paragraph and determine whether or not each conclusion follows, based solely on the information given.

A number of students were given the following advice:

“The use of powerful words is a technique, which makes you a better writer. Your choice of words is very important in molding the way people interaction with the article. You should use powerful words to spice up your article. Power words should be used liberally to enhance the flavor of what you write! ”

In the fourth sentence, it is stated, “Power words should be used liberally to enhance the flavor of what you write!”

Thus, if you were to write an essay, using powerful words can give more flavor to it.

5. Inferences

An inference is a conclusion made from observed or supposed facts and details. It is information that is not apparent in the information provided but rather is extracted from it. In this section, you will be provided with a passage of information about a specific scene or event. A list of possible inferences will then be given, and you will need to decide if they are ‘true’, ‘false’, ‘possibly true’, ‘possibly false’, or whether it is not possible to say based on the information provided.

With the advancement of technology, the need for more infrastructure has never been higher. According to the plan of the current U.S. Administration, it aims to put a $1 trillion investment on improving infrastructure, a portion of which will include priority projects and technologies that can strengthen its economic competitiveness such as transportation, 5G wireless communication technology, rural broadband technologies, advanced manufacturing technologies, and even artificial intelligence.

It stated that it expects to work with Congress to develop a comprehensive infrastructure package, which is expected to have a budget of $200 billion for certain priorities.

2: Probably True
3: Not Enough Information
4: Probably False

Although it was mentioned in the passage that the U.S. government is to allocate $200 billion on certain priorities, it did not specify if these certain priorities were for ‘transportation, 5G wireless communication technology, rural broadband technologies, advanced manufacturing technologies, and artificial intelligence’ or if the aforementioned priorities will have a different allocation.

What we can be sure of, however, is that at least a portion of the $1 trillion infrastructure budget will be used on the mentioned priorities regardless, meaning that there is a chance that $200 billion will be used on those aforementioned areas.

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The Critical Thinking test is difficult, but not impossible to overcome with practice. At PrepTerminal our psychometric test experts have developed a critical thinking preparatory test to provide you with the material you need to practice for your critical thinking test. Prepare with us to increase your chance of successfully overcoming this hurdle in the recruitment process.

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Critical thinking skills are more important than IQ for making good decisions in life

A new article in the journal Thinking Skills and Creativity examines the utility of IQ in navigating existence, and how another mental ability may put it in the shade.

21 July 2017

By Alex Fradera

To lead a good life, we need to make good decisions: manage our health and financial affairs, invest in appropriate relationships, and avoid serious lapses like falling for online scams. What equips us to do this? One candidate is IQ: after all, people who score higher on intelligence tests tend to go on to do better academically and in their careers. But many of us know intellectual titans who still make grave errors of judgment in their lives. Book-smart doesn't necessarily make you life-smart, and a new article in the journal Thinking Skills and Creativity examines the utility of IQ in navigating existence, and how another mental ability may put it in the shade.

Whereas IQ is – crudely speaking – a measure of the mental horsepower we have for handling abstract content, some researchers say that "critical thinking" – the ability to make judgments dispassionately without jumping to false conclusions – is a separate ability. To find out if critical thinking ability might be important for real-life outcomes, perhaps even more than IQ, Heather Butler of California State University and her colleagues asked 244 participants – a mix of students and adults recruited online – to complete tests, of their IQ and critical thinking skills.

The intelligence test was fairly standard and covered memory, visual processing and quantitative reasoning. The critical thinking assessment involved participants evaluating courses of action in hypothetical scenarios and also considering the relevance of contextual information that could have a bearing on the decisions.

For example, a typical critical thinking question might require participants to explain whether they would want preschool to be mandatory for all children if research had shown that kids who attend preschool are more likely to excel at school (note this specific question wasn't used in the test). Successful critical thinking would include recognising that correlation is not causation and reflecting on other possible explanations, and rating as valuable further information such as the income disparity between parents who send their children to preschool and other parents.

As per previous research, critical thinking correlated with IQ moderately (.38), suggesting some overlap but that each test was measuring something distinct.

The researchers were especially interested in how these measures correlated with scores on an inventory of real-world outcomes, on which participants indicated whether they had experienced events ranging from the mildly bad (e.g. fined late fees for a video rental) to the more severe (e.g. acquiring a sexually transmitted disease). The avoidance of these kinds of experiences gives an indirect measure of wise, effective decision making, and the data showed higher IQ individuals did do better. However, high critical thinking was even more strongly associated with these real-world outcomes (even after factoring out IQ). So it's possible to have a modest IQ and navigate life wisely, or to have a high IQ and make clangers that leave your peers shaking their heads. It's a question of critical thinking.

And that's something that can be worked on. Critical thinking isn't about mental resources so much as a way of looking at the world and a tool-kit to use at the relevant moments. But unfortunately, as a society, we don't give enough attention to how to foster these skills. Some researchers are very pessimistic about the benefits of formal education for critical thinking, and although a recent meta-analysis has since suggested that attending college produces improvements in critical thinking, it could not identify where the skills were coming from. It should be possible to design better ways to impart and hone these skills, skills critical for the decisions that make up the stuff of our lives.

Elite IQ Test - Online

Uncover your iq with our free online test. get a quick estimate of your intelligence. challenge yourself and find your iq today.

You possess exceptionally high intelligence and outstanding cognitive abilities. Complex concepts and reasoning come easily to you. Your learning capacity and memory recall are strong, allowing you to rapidly absorb information and find innovative solutions. Careers requiring advanced analytical prowess like scientist, professor, or engineer suit you well.

You exhibit remarkable cognitive faculties across verbal, logical, and spatial domains. You are adept at identifying patterns and can grasp new material with ease. Your vocabulary is extensive and you are an incisive thinker. Management, law, medicine, finance, and research careers are well-matched to your abilities. You have the aptitude to succeed in academically rigorous programs and quickly rise in your chosen field.

You have robust intellectual capabilities. You assimilate new information readily and can apply it effectively. Your verbal skills are polished and you can articulate complex ideas clearly. With above average memory and concentration, you are skilled in problem-solving. Careers like teaching, business, computer science, and skilled trades suit you well. You have the competence to complete bachelor's and master's level university programs.

You demonstrate adequate intellectual abilities. Your verbal, logical, and visuospatial skills meet general standards. While able to perform routine tasks competently, very complex concepts may challenge you. Most people score in the average IQ range. Sales, customer service, administrative work, and jobs needing practical skills suit you appropriately. You can find success with vocational or associate's degree education.

You exhibit some cognitive limitations. Your learning, reasoning, and judgement capabilities may need development. You process information slower and require repetition to master new skills. Clerical work, food services, personal care aide, and roles not needing much analytical thinking are careers well-matched for you. Hands-on training is preferred over traditional classroom education for you.

You have mild intellectual disability. Comprehension, acquiring new information, and following complex instructions are difficult for you. Your mental processing speed is slow. Occupations like household cleaning, container filling, and other simple manual labor involving routine tasks are suitable for you, along with specialized job coaching and support.

You have significant cognitive impairment requiring assistance with daily living activities and close supervision at work. Suitable occupations are limited to basic supervised manual labor or sheltered workshop environments. You will likely need lifelong support for independent living and self-care. A structured routine and assistive technologies can enhance your capabilities.

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Why Our IQ Tests?

What Is IQ? A Simple Explanation for Everyone

IQ , short for Intelligence Quotient , is a numerical measure of a person's intellectual ability. It represents a person's cognitive abilities, problem-solving skills, and understanding of complex ideas.

But what exactly does it mean?

IQ is a numerical representation of a person's intellectual abilities. It's like a score that reflects how well someone can solve problems, understand complex ideas, and learn from experience.

Imagine your brain as a super-efficient computer. IQ is like the processor speed of that computer ; it indicates how fast and accurately your brain can process information.

The IQ score can be calculated with the formula of IQ = (intelligence age/actual age) x100 .

Learning your IQ score with MentalUP’s Culture Fair IQ test is easy. MentalUP IQ gives reliable results based on reference values. Unlike traditional IQ tests, it's quick, and you can learn your results instantly.

Moreover, according to your test results, the MentalUP IQ Test gives you golden advice how to increase IQ Score.

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What Is an IQ Test? How to Test IQ?

An IQ test is essentially a smartness test. It’s designed to assess a person’s intellectual abilities and provide a numerical representation of their intelligence.

These tests consist of questions and tasks that evaluate various cognitive skills, such as problem-solving , critical thinking , and pattern recognition.

IQ tests help psychologists and educators understand an individual's mental agility and potential. By analyzing the responses to these questions, professionals can determine a person’s IQ score, indicating their level of intellectual capability.

Here is a short list of the most common IQ tests (intelligence quotient test), besides MentalUP’s online IQ test that you or your children may want to take:

Stanford-Binet (SB-V)
MentalUP IQ Tests
Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS-IV)
Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC-R) (ages 6 to16)
Leiter International Performance Scale
Mensa IQ Test

History of IQ Tests

You may wonder, “Who invented the IQ test anyway?” .

For the first time in history, dated around 2200 B.C. , Chinese rulers selected their servants according to some examinations. The Ancient Egyptians also used similar kinds of methods.

However, the first studies of modern IQ tests began in the late 19th century . Alfred Binet and Theodore Simon developed a system for testing IQ in 1905.

According to this system, the average intelligence scores of people within certain age groups were determined, and people's success was evaluated based on these scores.

German scientist L. Wilhelm Stern coined the term IQ (Intelligence Quotient). The system Stern had developed was based on generating the score by calculating the ratio of mental age and physical age of the test maker.

Modern intelligence quotient tests are still based on these variables. And the term “IQ” is still widely used.

Where to Take An IQ Test & Intelligence Test?

Although intelligence quotient tests can be conducted in a collective environment, it is recommended that they be conducted in designated places to be applied in private areas first. Where and how to take the test depends on the type of intelligence quotient test.

Some intelligence quotient tests are practical and some are completely on paper. For example, cards and cubes are frequently used in performance tests. Therefore, the intelligence quotient test depends on which mental field is being tested or the test administered.

IQ tests should be taken under the supervision of a specialist in a clinic if possible. The testing environment where the IQ test is conducted is really important, and it is necessary to remove any distracting materials.

Children who take IQ tests must be focused on the test without any distractions. For instance, children should not feel hungry or need to go to the bathroom during the test.

You can learn more about the most popular intelligence tests in the world in the rest of the article, but these tests may also have sub-tests. Some IQ tests may require testing different variables, such as visual, analytical, and auditory IQ tests, and so on.

MentalUP IQ Test is one of the best and most effective ways to learn your IQ score from anywhere, anytime . It also informs you of the areas that need improvement by comparing your results to millions of other users!

It doesn’t require reading or writing skills but is suitable for all ages . MentalUP IQ Test has been taken by 5+ million users from all around the world so far.

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What IQ Test Types Are There?

Here’s a breakdown of the most common IQ test types, including real IQ tests, IQ tests, official IQ tests, online IQ tests, free IQ tests, and IQ quizzes tailored for adults and individuals of all age groups.

1. Real IQ Tests

Real IQ tests, or standard IQ tests, are administered by licensed psychologists in controlled environments .

They are comprehensive assessments of a person's cognitive abilities and are widely accepted as accurate measures of intelligence. Real IQ tests provide a detailed analysis of various skills, including mathematical reasoning, logical thinking, and language proficiency.

2. Official IQ Tests

Official IQ tests are standardized assessments administered by licensed professionals or certified testing centers .

These tests adhere to strict protocols and are considered authoritative measures of intelligence. Official IQ tests are often used for academic, clinical, or employment purposes, providing credible results recognized in various fields.

3. Online IQ Tests

Online IQ tests are available on numerous websites and can be taken from the comfort of one's home.

Online IQ tests vary in quality and accuracy, so choosing reputable platforms is essential to ensure reliable results. They typically cover a range of cognitive skills and provide instant feedback, making them convenient options for those seeking a quick assessment.

Discover MentalUP's online IQ test - quick, easy to use, and culture-free. More than 5 million people worldwide have taken the test, gaining valuable insights. Take advantage of precise and convenient cognitive evaluation online!

Take The Online IQ Test

4. Free IQ Tests

Free IQ tests are accessible online at no cost. While they offer a basic evaluation of cognitive abilities, their accuracy may vary .

Free IQ tests often serve as introductory tools, giving individuals a glimpse into the testing process. However, investing in professional assessments or official IQ tests is recommended for more precise and reliable results.

5. IQ Quizzes

IQ quizzes are informal, fun tests available online. They are designed for entertainment and educational purposes rather than professional evaluation.

IQ quizzes often feature engaging questions that challenge problem-solving skills and general knowledge. While enjoyable, they should not be considered accurate representations of one's true intelligence .

In conclusion, the diverse range of IQ test types allows individuals to explore and understand their cognitive abilities in various ways. Choosing the right type based on the intended purpose is crucial when considering an IQ test.

What Are the Most Popular IQ Tests

Stanford-Binet (SB-V) : The Stanford-Binet IQ test measures the ability of verbal reasoning, abstract/visual reasoning, quantitative reasoning, and working memory .
MentalUP Online IQ Tests : Discover the world's best iq tests online – taken by 5+ million worldwide! Unlock your cognitive potential with our free online IQ tests—no reading or writing skills are required.
Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS-IV) : The IQ test has two main categories. The verbal part includes several tests to measure verbal reasoning, vocabulary ability, auditory perception, and long-term memory. On the other hand, the performance category in this intelligence test covers visual attention, visual perception, and 3D perception.
Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC-R) (ages 6 to 16) : It is similar to WAIS. The WISC includes questions for kids to understand easily.
Leiter International Performance Scale : Evaluates nonverbal cognitive abilities, which makes intelligence tests an ideal format for children with speech and hearing disorders.

Some tests are visual IQ tests or memory tests, and some only measure kids or adults' intelligence.

Cards and diagrams are the main tools for performance tests, and children are expected to find the right answer from these cards or diagrams as quickly as possible. On the other hand, verbal intelligence tests measure linguistic ability. In reasoning ability tests, children are supposed to find the best solutions for the given cases

In Which Cases Should An IQ Test Be Taken?

Intelligence tests are usually carried out for two purposes but can also be taken out of curiosity or for other reasons.

Case 1 : An intelligence test is performed if the individual seems inadequate compared to his/her peers.
Case 2 : An intelligence test is performed if the individual shows superior ability or intelligence potential compared to his/her peers.

Suppose the IQ test is taken due to inadequacy. In that case, the following signs should be observed:

Having problems such as incompetence in academic performance, inadequate literacy skills, and slow learning.
Feeling uncomfortable in a social environment, requiring someone's assistance for personal care and needs.

If the individual has characteristics of gifted children or adults, you may have observed some of the signs listed below:

Excessive curiosity, remembering everything precisely, learning, and making plans quickly.
They have a very wide range of vocabulary, full command of difficult concepts and terms, and the obvious superiority of language skills compared to their peers.
Having a high level of imagination and creativity.

"Remember that the results of IQ tests may not always give a definite answer. Therefore, neither parents' confidence in their children nor children's confidence in themselves should be impaired."

How Do You Choose the Right IQ Test for You?

Selecting the appropriate IQ test is crucial for accurately assessing your cognitive abilities. With the abundance of options available, making an informed decision is essential.

Here are some key factors to consider when choosing the right IQ test, especially if you are an adult seeking online options:

Credibility and Source : Opt for IQ tests from reputable sources. Look for tests designed by licensed psychologists or renowned institutions. These tests are more likely to provide accurate and reliable results. When searching online, use keywords like "online IQ test free" or "free IQ test online" to find legitimate options.
Purpose : Determine the purpose of taking the IQ test. Are you seeking a general understanding of your cognitive abilities, or do you need an official assessment for academic or professional reasons? Different tests cater to various purposes, so choose accordingly. If you are an adult, look for IQ tests specifically designed for adults to ensure relevance and accuracy.
Format and Content : Consider the format of the test. Some tests are time-based and consist of multiple-choice questions, while others might be more interactive or adaptive. Assess your comfort level with the format. Additionally, check the content areas covered by the test. Ensure it aligns with the aspects of intelligence you wish to evaluate, such as logical reasoning, mathematical skills, or linguistic abilities.
Feedback and Interpretation : Look for tests that provide detailed feedback and interpretation of your results. A comprehensive analysis helps you understand your strengths and areas that need improvement.
Privacy and Security : Ensure that the platform offering the test values your privacy and data security. Reputable websites will have clear privacy policies and secure connections to protect your personal information.
Reviews and Recommendations : Read user reviews and seek recommendations from reliable sources. Hearing about the experiences of others can guide you in making an informed choice.

Why Is It Important to Test Your IQ?

Testing your IQ serves various essential purposes, extending far beyond mere curiosity. Here’s why understanding your intelligence quotient is significant:

Diagnosing Intellectual Disabilities : IQ tests play a vital role in diagnosing intellectual disabilities. Identifying challenges early allows tailored interventions and support, enhancing the individual’s quality of life.
Education and Career Planning : IQ tests provide valuable insights into learning styles and strengths for students. This information guides educators in creating customized learning experiences. Understanding your IQ can also steer career choices, ensuring alignment between your abilities and chosen professions.
Self-Discovery : Taking an IQ test can be a journey of self-discovery. It reveals your cognitive strengths, prompting you to explore and enhance various skills, leading to a more holistic personal development.
Motivation : Your IQ score can serve as a motivational tool. It offers a benchmark, continually inspiring you to improve your problem-solving and intellectual skills.
Gaining a Competitive Edge : A higher IQ can provide an edge in competitive academic and professional environments. Enhanced cognitive abilities can lead to better decision-making and innovative problem-solving, setting you apart from your peers.
Identifying Intellectual Giftedness : IQ tests are instrumental in identifying intellectual giftedness. Recognizing exceptional abilities early allows for specialized educational programs, nurturing the talents of gifted individuals.

In summary, understanding your IQ is multifaceted. It aids in personal growth, educational and career planning, research advancements, and fostering a deep understanding of oneself. Moreover, it empowers individuals to navigate life’s challenges, capitalize on their strengths, and continuously strive for intellectual excellence.

What Are IQ Score Ranges? IQ Score Table

IQ ranges are crucial to interpreting Intelligence Quotient scores. They help us understand a person's cognitive abilities and their standing on the intelligence scale. The ranges categorize people into varying levels of intellectual capability.

The IQ score range typically starts from around 70, indicating below-average intelligence, and goes up to 130 or more, representing above-average intelligence. Here’s a breakdown of the IQ levels within this range:


145 - 160 (Very Gifted or Highly Advanced)	Individuals in this IQ range demonstrate exceptional intellectual abilities and cognitive prowess. This category represents the upper echelon of intelligence, where individuals exhibit profound understanding, advanced problem-solving skills, and remarkable creativity.
130 - 144 (Gifted or Very Advanced)	These individuals typically demonstrate exceptional intellectual capabilities across various domains, including but not limited to academics, problem-solving, creativity, and critical thinking.
120 - 129 (Superior)	Individuals within this range typically demonstrate superior cognitive abilities compared to the general population. They often excel in tasks requiring complex problem-solving, abstract reasoning, and critical thinking.
110 - 119 (High Average)	Individuals scoring within this range typically demonstrate cognitive abilities that fall within the upper echelons of average intelligence. They often possess strong problem-solving skills and exhibit above-average reasoning abilities.
90 - 109 (Average)	Individuals scoring within this range often demonstrate competence in everyday tasks and can typically handle the demands of school, work, and social situations adequately.
80 - 89 (Low Average)	Individuals scoring in this range may possess some competency in the assessed skills or abilities but may also exhibit areas where improvement or development is needed.
Below 70 - 71 (Borderline Impaired or Delayed)	Individuals in this range might face challenges in tasks requiring complex problem-solving or abstract thinking. They often need additional support in learning and everyday activities.
55 - 69 (Mildly Impaired or Delayed)	Individuals falling within this range may face challenges in learning, problem-solving, and adaptive functioning compared to their peers.
40 - 54 (Moderately Impaired or Delayed)	Individuals falling within this range may exhibit moderate difficulties in various areas such as communication, social interaction, and daily living skills. They may require substantial support.

IQ scores can improve with education, mental stimulation, and continuous learning. They are not fixed.

What Is a Good IQ Score?

Typically, it is hard to say what score is good or bad for IQ tests because every IQ test has its scale to measure intelligence.

For example, the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale ranges from 40 to 160. Over 110 is accepted as a high average, so it can be considered a good IQ score if people get +110.

Generally, IQ scores are categorized into different ranges, as we discussed earlier. An IQ score within the range of 85 to 115 is considered average and typical for most of the population. However, if we talk about what is considered a high IQ, it usually falls above 130.

An IQ score above 130 is often considered high , indicating exceptional intellectual abilities.

❗️ Remembering that IQ scores only measure a small part of intelligence is vital. Creativity, emotional intelligence , and practical skills contribute to a person's overall abilities.

So, even though possessing a high IQ is noteworthy, it's crucial to identify and develop other talents and skills that make a person unique and capable in diverse aspects of life.

The People Who Have the Highest IQ Scores in the World

American writer Marilyn vos Savant : 228

Korean Physicist Kim ung-yong : 210

British Physicist Isaac Newton : 190

French Writer Voltaire : 190

Russian World Chess Champion Kasparov : 190

Italian Scientist and Painter Leonardo da Vinci : 180

Israel Prime Minister Netanyahu : 180

German Musician Goethe : 179

German Theologist Martin Luther : 170

Italian Astronomer Galilei : 165

German Musician Beethoven : 165

German Physicist Albert Einstein : 160

British Physicist Stephen Hawking : 160

FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)

Here are the answers to the most asked questions about IQ and IQ tests:

Is IQ Genetic? Yes, IQ can be affected by both genetic and environmental factors. Does Your IQ Change? Yes, your IQ test scores can change over time. The most volatility in IQ scores is in childhood, mostly adolescence, and it stabilizes as you age. Can IQ Be Increased? There is research that suggests that it's possible to raise your intelligence through certain brain-training activities. Training your memory, executive control, and visuospatial reasoning can help you make your way up the IQ test scale. MentalUP is one of the most effective ways to help train the mind with cognitive exercises to help improve children’s and adults’ mental ability and intelligence. How Can I Improve My IQ? According to the researchers, IQ level is open to improvement, but it would only be minor progress for adults. However, children have advantages because they can still train their minds and increase their cognitive skills. Developing working memory , eliminating stress factors, and challenging your brain with apps like MentalUP are essential for that aim. Are IQ Tests Accurate? It can accurately assess specific cognitive abilities when well-designed and administered properly. However, it's essential to note that no test can capture the entirety of human intelligence . What Kinds of Questions Are on an IQ Test? Everyone wonders, “What is my iq?” but not every iq test can calculate the IQ level. A successful IQ test has to be designed with logic, verbal comprehension, and perceptual and mathematical reasoning questions . The question may contain anagrams, vocabulary terms, and pattern recognition to test all the abilities. Can I Retake Online IQ Tests if I'm Not Satisfied With My Score? You can retake an online IQ test if you're unsatisfied with your score. Many online platforms allow unlimited retakes, recognizing that various factors, such as distractions, can impact your performance. Retaking the test under focused conditions might reflect your abilities more accurately. Remember, practice and concentration can significantly influence your results. Can I Practice IQ Tests? Yes, you can absolutely practice IQ tests to improve your cognitive abilities and problem-solving skills. Several resources, including free online IQ tests , allow individuals to practice and enhance their intelligence quotient. Regular practice helps you familiarize yourself with the types of questions commonly found in IQ tests and sharpens your mind, making you more adept at solving complex problems. What IQ Is Considered a Genius? A score over 160 is considered a genius IQ. What Was Einstein's IQ? As we mentioned before, Albert Einstein’s IQ score was about 160 , the highest score on the IQ test scale. However, did you know that he had Dyslexia (a specific learning disorder)? Who Has the Highest IQ? Ukrainian-American Psychiatrist William James Sidis is alleged to have had an IQ of 275 as the highest IQ in the world . That is over the charts on the IQ test scale! Is 120 IQ Good? The average score on an intelligence test is 100. As most people fall within the 90-109 range, an IQ score of 120 is above average .

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Watson Glaser Critical Thinking Tests

Complex and challenging critical thinking tests, including the Watson-Glaser, are used mostly by law firms.

Page contents:

About critical thinking tests and how they work, free practice critical thinking test, the watson glaser critical thinking appraisal, what is measured by a watson glaser critical thinking test, what should i know before taking a watson glaser critical thinking test, major publishers' critical thinking tests, advice for all critical thinking tests, assessmentday's practice tests can help you to prepare for a critical thinking test, one final point, other test publishers.

Updated: 08 September 2022

Critical thinking tests, or critical reasoning tests, are psychometric tests used in recruitment at all levels, graduate, professional and managerial, but predominantly in the legal sector. However, it is not uncommon to find companies in other sectors using critical thinking tests as part of their selection process. This is an intense test, focusing primarily on your analytical, or critical thinking, skills. Some tests are still conducted by paper and pen, but, just like other psychometric tests, critical thinking tests are mostly administered online at home or on a computer at a testing center.

The questions are multiple choice, and these choices and the style of questions are explained in more detail further down the page. The tests will often follow these two common timings:

30 questions with a 40 minute time limit
80 questions with a 60 minute time limit

Critical Thinking can be defined in many ways and an exact description is disputed, however, most agree on a broad definition of critical thinking, that 'critical thinking involves rational, purposeful, and goal-directed thinking...by using certain cognitive skills and strategies.' An absence or lack of critical thinking skills at times may lead us to believe things which aren't true, because we haven't sufficiently analysed and criticized the information we've received or used this to formulate and independently test our own theories, arguments and ideas. These are all examples of critical thinking skills put into practice. Glaser (An Experiment in the Development of Critical Thinking, 1941) stated that to think critically involved three key parts:

An attitude of being disposed to consider in a thoughtful way the problems and subjects that come within the range of one's experiences
Knowledge of the methods of logical inquiry and reasoning
Some skill in applying those methods

Note: AssessmentDay and its products are not affiliated with Pearson or TalentLens. Our practice tests are for candidates to prepare for the Watson Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal; we do not sell tests for employers to select candidates.

Free Critical Thinking Test

Here, we have a full critical thinking test for you to practice for free. You can dive straight in and practice the full test (in blue at the bottom), or tackle each individual section one at a time.

All answers and explanations are included at the end of the test, or alternatively you can download the Solutions PDF. Each test has been given a generous time limit.

Critical Thinking Test 1

40 questions

Critical Thinking Test 2

Critical thinking test 3, critical thinking test 4.

TalentLens' Watson Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal (WGCTA) is the most common critical thinking test. You can visit their official site here: Watson Glaser . Most other critical thinking tests are based on the Watson Glaser format. More than 90 years' of experience have led to many modifications and improvements in the test.

The Watson Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal is widely regarded as a good predictor of work productivity and at identifying candidates with a good potential to become managers and occupy other positions as a senior member of staff. The latest edition of the Watson Glaser Critical Thinking Test has improved its validity, appealed more to businesses by focusing on business-relevant topics, switched to the Item Response Theory (IRT) for its scoring, updated norm groups, and integrated anti-cheat measures by having an online retest, which can be used to validate results.

Developed by Goodwin Watson and Edward Glaser, the Watson Glaser test is favored by law firms , keen to measure people's abilities to reason, reach conclusions and know when leaps in logic have been made. Skills which are required in the legal sector. The questions in each of the 5 sections aims to evaluate the candidate's ability to:

1. Arrive at correct inferences
2. Identify when an assumption has been made
3. Use deductive reasoning
4. Reach logical conclusions
5. Evaluate the effectiveness of arguments

Did You Know

The most recent revision of the W-GCTA was published in 2011 with notable improvements being better face validity and business-relevant items, scoring based on Item Response Theory (IRT), updated norm groups, and an online retest which can be used to validate a paper and pencil test result.

A Critical thinking tests assesses your ability in 5 key areas mentioned above; assumptions, arguments, deductions, inferences and interpreting information. Often in this order. A short paragraph of text a few sentences long or a single sentence is used as a starting point. This passage will contain information which you will base your answer to the question on. Another sentence is then presented to you and you will be asked to judge something about this sentence based on the information in the short paragraph. The five sections are explained in more detail here:

Assumptions - You are being asked to state whether the information in the second set of text you are presented is an assumption made in the first paragraph. Quite a tricky concept to get your head around at first. In a nutshell, when people speak or make arguments, there are underlying assumptions in those arguments. Here you are presented with some assumptions and are asked to judge if that is being made in the original statement. For example in the statement "only people earning a high salary can afford a fast car," what's being assumed is that fast cars are expensive because only people who are earning a lot of money can buy one, however, what's not being assumed is that people without high salaries aren't legally allowed to buy a fast car. You are asked to choose whether an assumption has been made or has not been made.
Arguments - You are presented with an argument, such as "Should college fees be abolished?" Regardless of your own opinions and thoughts on the argument, you are then presented with statements related to this original argument. You are asked to say whether the responses to the original argument of "Should college fees be abolished?" make for strong or weak arguments. Arguments are considered strong if they are related to the topic such as, "Yes, many people who would benefit from a college education do not because they cannot afford it. This hurts the country's economic growth." The argument presented is sound, related to the original question. Compare this with a weak argument, "No, I do not trust people who read a lot of books." It is clear that the second argument bears very little relation to the subject of the abolition of college tuition fees. This is not to say that an argument against the original argument will always be a weak one, or that an argument in favor will always be a strong one. For example, "Yes, I like people that read books," is in favor of the abolition as indicated by "yes," but that person's like or dislike of others that read books isn't related, or hasn't been explained how it's related to removing the fees. Carefully considering what is being said, remove it from your own personal opinions and political views to objectively analyse what someone else has put forward.
Deductions - A few sentences of information are presented to you. Another separate short statement will also be shown to you, which is supposed to represent a conclusion that someone has reached. You will have to determine whether this conclusion logically follows from the information given to you. Can the statement be deduced from the information available>? If so, and without a doubt, then the conclusion follows, if not, then the conclusion does not follow. Your decision must be based on the information given and not from your own knowledge.
Inferences - A short scenario is described to you, followed by possible inferences. The inferences are short statements. Imagine that these are what people have said is inferred from the scenario. Use your judgement and the short scenario to assess whether what's being said has actually been inferred from the passage and the likelihood of this inference. You are asked to rank each inference as either 'true,' 'false,' 'possibly true,' 'possibly false.' For some proposed inferences there isn't enough information to say either 'true' or 'false' so a fifth option is included; 'more information required.' You can only select one option from the five.
Interpreting Information - Following a similar format to the previous four sections, a short passage of information and then a series of statements are shown to you. You are asked to judge whether the information in the passage can be interpreted as the statements suggest. The answer options are straightforward here; you either select 'conclusion follows,' or 'conclusion does not follow,' depending on whether or not you believe that the statement can be logically reached from the information given. Again, for this section and all others, you are to base your choice of answer on what you're given, not on any specialized knowledge you might have.

If a watson glaser critical thinking test is used in the early stages of the application process it's likely to be used as a screening tool. This puts some pressure on candidates to meet a minimum pass mark, which will allow them to be selected to go on to the next stage of the selection process. If it's used at a later stage in the process, the results from this will be combined with performance in other assessments, tests, exercises and interviews. All the information you need to answer the questions will be in the test. Below the details of a few companies' critical thinking tests are pointed out.

Here is a list of critical reasoning tests on the market at present, which candidates may be likely to encounter for recruitment, selection or development.

W-GCTA - The Watson Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal as it is formally called is the most ubiquitous critical thinking test out there. This is the one that you are most likely to encounter.
GMAT - The general management aptitude test, used by business schools and colleges test students' critical thinking ability. The critical thinking questions are written in a business or finance context.
SHL - SHL have produced the Critical Reasoning Test Battery composed of 60 critical reasoning questions with a strict time limit of 30 minutes.
Cornell - Cornell have developed a critical thinking test to be used in educational environments. The two levels, X and Z, are aimed at children and adults, respectively.
Area-specific - There are tests which focus on either numerical critical reasoning skills and verbal critical reasoning skills. These tests will ask only numerical or only verbal questions to assess your skills in a specific area.

Here is some general advice to help you perform to the best of your ability for your critical reasoning test.

No prior knowledge - The key point here is that critical reasoning tests are measuring your ability to think, or the method that you use to reach a conclusion. You should therefore not rely on prior knowledge to answer the question. Questions will be written so that you do not need to know any specialist knowledge to answer the question. For example, you will not be expected to know mathematical formulas or laws of nature and to answer questions with that information. If you are given the formula and its description in the questions, you are expected to use that information to reach the answer.
Carefully read the instructions - There are 5 sections to most critical thinking tests and each will assess a slightly different skill. Make sure you have read the instructions and understand what it is you are expected to do to answer the questions for this section. There is quite a difference between the Assumptions section and the Deductions section for example. Applying the rules of one to the other would lead to just guessing the answers and making many mistakes.
Keep your eye on the timer - These tests are complex. You might find yourself fixated on answering one question and taking up a lot of the time you are allowed. Checking how much time you have every so often can help you to more evenly distribute your time between the questions. This is done to avoid spending too much time on one question when that time would be better spent answering more or checking your answers. This time management applies to all tests, but is particularly important with Critical Thinking tests, as many people believe they have such a large amount of time, but underestimate the number of questions they have to answer.
Logical fallacies - Identifying logical fallacies is key to many parts of this test, and researching the difference between sound and fallacious logic will prove helpful in a critical reasoning test. A fallacy is an error in reasoning due to a misconception or a presumption, and an argument which employs a formal fallacy, logical fallacy or a deductive fallacy in its reasoning becomes an invalid argument. Researching the different types of fallacy (i.e. red herring argument, straw man argument, confusing correlation and causation etc.) can help you spot these in the test and correctly answer the question.

The practice tests that we have cover all of the sections of the Watson Glaser Critical Thinking test and these overlap with many of the variations in Critical Thinking tests produced by major publishers. practice helps to increase your confidence, gives you a chance to learn from your mistakes in a risk-free environment, and can reduce stress before an exam.

The best place to get advice on taking a critical thinking tests is the test publisher's website, for example this one for the Watson Glaser .

If you have already successfully passed a few initial stages of the application process, it's unlikely that companies will focus solely on your results in the Watson Glaser Critical Thinking test when deciding whether or not to hire you. This type of selection by results on one test is more likely if it is part of the early stages of the process. However, towards the later stages the company will look at your results across interviews, group exercises, other aptitude tests and your résumé and will collate all of this information before reaching a decision. If you have been invited to undertake a critical reasoning test then the organisation clearly has an interest in hiring you, let that fact inspire confidence and perform to the best of your ability on your test, good luck!

You may also be interested in these popular tests sections.

Critical thinking skills are more important than IQ

Did you know that critical thinking skills are more important than IQ? To lead a good life, we need to make good decisions: manage our health and financial affairs , invest in appropriate relationships, and avoid serious lapses like falling for online scams. What equips us to do this? One candidate is IQ: after all, people who score higher on intelligence tests tend to go on to do better academically and in their careers . But many of us know intellectual titans who still make grave errors of judgment in their lives. Book-smarts doesn’t necessarily make you life-smart, and a new article in the journal Thinking Skills and Creativity examines the utility of IQ in navigating existence, and how another mental ability may put it in the shade.

Whereas IQ is – crudely speaking – a measure of the mental horsepower we have for handling abstract content, some researchers say that “critical thinking” – the ability to make judgments dispassionately without jumping to false conclusions – is a separate ability. To find out if critical thinking ability might be important for real-life outcomes, perhaps even more than IQ, Heather Butler of California State University and her colleagues asked 244 participants – a mix of students and adults recruited online – to complete tests, of their IQ and critical thinking skills.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Nicolle Osequeda, Chicago Therapist Lincoln Park Therapy Group

Lincoln Park Therapy Group uses a strength-based approach to support overall wellness, healthy relationships and a balanced life. Please visit our blog to read articles, access resources and learn tips and tools to help you overcome a broad variety of psychological, social, and emotional challenges.

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PMC10672018

Critical Thinking, Intelligence, and Unsubstantiated Beliefs: An Integrative Review

Associated data.

This research did not involve collection of original data, and hence there are no new data to make available.

A review of the research shows that critical thinking is a more inclusive construct than intelligence, going beyond what general cognitive ability can account for. For instance, critical thinking can more completely account for many everyday outcomes, such as how thinkers reject false conspiracy theories, paranormal and pseudoscientific claims, psychological misconceptions, and other unsubstantiated claims. Deficiencies in the components of critical thinking (in specific reasoning skills, dispositions, and relevant knowledge) contribute to unsubstantiated belief endorsement in ways that go beyond what standardized intelligence tests test. Specifically, people who endorse unsubstantiated claims less tend to show better critical thinking skills, possess more relevant knowledge, and are more disposed to think critically. They tend to be more scientifically skeptical and possess a more rational–analytic cognitive style, while those who accept unsubstantiated claims more tend to be more cynical and adopt a more intuitive–experiential cognitive style. These findings suggest that for a fuller understanding of unsubstantiated beliefs, researchers and instructors should also assess specific reasoning skills, relevant knowledge, and dispositions which go beyond what intelligence tests test.

1. Introduction

Why do some people believe implausible claims, such as the QAnon conspiracy theory, that a cabal of liberals is kidnapping and trafficking many thousands of children each year, despite the lack of any credible supporting evidence? Are believers less intelligent than non-believers? Do they lack knowledge of such matters? Are they more gullible or less skeptical than non-believers? Or, more generally, are they failing to think critically?

Understanding the factors contributing to acceptance of unsubstantiated claims is important, not only to the development of theories of intelligence and critical thinking but also because many unsubstantiated beliefs are false, and some are even dangerous. Endorsing them can have a negative impact on an individual and society at large. For example, false beliefs about the COVID-19 pandemic, such as believing that 5G cell towers induced the spread of the COVID-19 virus, led some British citizens to set fire to 5G towers ( Jolley and Paterson 2020 ). Other believers in COVID-19 conspiracy theories endangered their own and their children’s lives when they refused to socially distance and be vaccinated with highly effective vaccines, despite the admonitions of scientific experts ( Bierwiaczonek et al. 2020 ). Further endangering the population at large, those who believe the false conspiracy theory that human-caused global warming is a hoax likely fail to respond adaptively to this serious global threat ( van der Linden 2015 ). Parents, who uncritically accept pseudoscientific claims, such as the false belief that facilitated communication is an effective treatment for childhood autism, may forego more effective treatments ( Lilienfeld 2007 ). Moreover, people in various parts of the world still persecute other people whom they believe are witches possessing supernatural powers. Likewise, many people still believe in demonic possession, which has been associated with mental disorders ( Nie and Olson 2016 ). Compounding the problems created by these various unsubstantiated beliefs, numerous studies now show that when someone accepts one of these types of unfounded claims, they tend to accept others as well; see Bensley et al. ( 2022 ) for a review.

Studying the factors that contribute to unfounded beliefs is important not only because of their real-world consequences but also because this can facilitate a better understanding of unfounded beliefs and how they are related to critical thinking and intelligence. This article focuses on important ways in which critical thinking and intelligence differ, especially in terms of how a comprehensive model of CT differs from the view of intelligence as general cognitive ability. I argue that this model of CT more fully accounts for how people can accurately decide if a claim is unsubstantiated than can views of intelligence, emphasizing general cognitive ability. In addition to general cognitive ability, thinking critically about unsubstantiated claims involves deployment of specific reasoning skills, dispositions related to CT, and specific knowledge, which go beyond the contribution of general cognitive ability.

Accordingly, this article begins with an examination of the constructs of critical thinking and intelligence. Then, it discusses theories proposing that to understand thinking in the real world requires going beyond general cognitive ability. Specifically, the focus is on factors related to critical thinking, such as specific reasoning skills, dispositions, metacognition, and relevant knowledge. I review research showing that that this alternative multidimensional view of CT can better account for individual differences in the tendency to endorse multiple types of unsubstantiated claims than can general cognitive ability alone.

2. Defining Critical Thinking and Intelligence

Critical thinking is an almost universally valued educational objective in the US and in many other countries which seek to improve it. In contrast, intelligence, although much valued, has often been viewed as a more stable characteristic and less amenable to improvement through specific short-term interventions, such as traditional instruction or more recently through practice on computer-implemented training programs. According to Wechsler’s influential definition, intelligence is a person’s “aggregate or global capacity to act purposefully, to think rationally, and to deal effectively with his environment” ( Wechsler 1944, p. 3 ).

Consistent with this definition, intelligence has long been associated with general cognitive or intellectual ability and the potential to learn and reason well. Intelligence (IQ) tests measure general cognitive abilities, such as knowledge of words, memory skills, analogical reasoning, speed of processing, and the ability to solve verbal and spatial problems. General intelligence or “g” is a composite of these abilities statistically derived from various cognitive subtests on IQ tests which are positively intercorrelated. There is considerable overlap between g and the concept of fluid intelligence (Gf) in the prominent Cattell–Horn–Carroll model ( McGrew 2009 ), which refers to “the ability to solve novel problems, the solution of which does not depend on previously acquired skills and knowledge,” and crystalized intelligence (Gc), which refers to experience, existing skills, and general knowledge ( Conway and Kovacs 2018, pp. 50–51 ). Although g or general intelligence is based on a higher order factor, inclusive of fluid and crystallized intelligence, it is technically not the same as general cognitive ability, a commonly used, related term. However, in this article, I use “general cognitive ability” and “cognitive ability” because they are the imprecise terms frequently used in the research reviewed.

Although IQ scores have been found to predict performance in basic real-world domains, such as academic performance and job success ( Gottfredson 2004 ), an enduring question for intelligence researchers has been whether g and intelligence tests predict the ability to adapt well in other real-world situations, which concerns the second part of Wechsler’s definition. So, in addition to the search for the underlying structure of intelligence, researchers have been perennially concerned with how general abilities associated with intelligence can be applied to help a person adapt to real-world situations. The issue is largely a question of how cognitive ability and intelligence can help people solve real-world problems and cope adaptively and succeed in dealing with various environmental demands ( Sternberg 2019 ).

Based on broad conceptual definitions of intelligence and critical thinking, both intelligence and CT should aid adaptive functioning in the real world, presumably because they both involve rational approaches. Their common association with rationality gives each term a positive connotation. However, complicating the definition of each of these is the fact that rationality also continues to have a variety of meanings. In this article, in agreement with Stanovich et al. ( 2018 ), rationality is defined in the normative sense, used in cognitive science, as the distance between a person’s response and some normative standard of optimal behavior. As such, degree of rationality falls on a continuous scale, not a categorical one.

Despite disagreements surrounding the conceptual definitions of intelligence, critical thinking, and rationality, a commonality in these terms is they are value-laden and normative. In the case of intelligence, people are judged based on norms from standardized intelligence tests, especially in academic settings. Although scores on CT tests seldom are, nor could be, used to judge individuals in this way, the normative and value-laden basis of CT is apparent in people’s informal judgements. They often judge others who have made poor decisions to be irrational or to have failed to think critically.

This value-laden aspect of CT is also apparent in formal definitions of CT. Halpern and Dunn ( 2021 ) defined critical thinking as “the use of those cognitive skills or strategies that increase the probability of a desirable outcome. It is used to describe thinking that is purposeful, reasoned, and goal-directed.” The positive conception of CT as helping a person adapt well to one’s environment is clearly implied in “desirable outcome”.

Robert Ennis ( 1987 ) has offered a simpler, yet useful definition of critical thinking that also has normative implications. According to Ennis, “critical thinking is reasonable, reflective thinking focused on deciding what to believe or do” ( Ennis 1987, p. 102 ). This definition implies that CT helps people know what to believe (a goal of epistemic rationality) and how to act (a goal of instrumental rationality). This is conveyed by associating “critical thinking” with the positive terms, “reasonable” and “reflective”. Dictionaries commonly define “reasonable” as “rational”, “logical”, “intelligent”, and “good”, all terms with positive connotations.

For critical thinkers, being reasonable involves using logical rules, standards of evidence, and other criteria that must be met for a product of thinking to be considered good. Critical thinkers use these to evaluate how strongly reasons or evidence supports one claim versus another, drawing conclusions which are supported by the highest quality evidence ( Bensley 2018 ). If no high-quality evidence is available for consideration, it would be unreasonable to draw a strong conclusion. Unfortunately, people’s beliefs are too often based on acceptance of unsubstantiated claims. This is a failure of CT, but is it also a failure of intelligence?

3. Does Critical Thinking “Go Beyond” What Is Meant by Intelligence?

Despite the conceptual overlap in intelligence and CT at a general level, one way that CT can be distinguished from the common view of intelligence as general cognitive ability is in terms of what each can account for. Although intelligence tests, especially measures of general cognitive ability, have reliably predicted academic and job performance, they may not be sufficient to predict other everyday outcomes for which CT measures have made successful predictions and have added to the variance accounted for in performance. For instance, replicating a study by Butler ( 2012 ), Butler et al. ( 2017 ) obtained a negative correlation ( r = −0.33) between scores on the Halpern Critical Thinking Appraisal (HCTA) and a measure of 134 negative, real-world outcomes, not expected to befall critical thinkers, such as engaging in unprotected sex or posting a message on social media which the person regretted. They found that higher HCTA scores not only predicted better life decisions, but also predicted better performance beyond a measure of general cognitive ability. These results suggest that CT can account for real-world outcomes and goes beyond general cognitive ability to account for additional variance.

Some theorists maintain that standardized intelligence tests do not capture the variety of abilities that people need to adapt well in the real world. For example, Gardner ( 1999 ), has proposed that additional forms of intelligence are needed, such as spatial, musical, and interpersonal intelligences in addition to linguistic and logical–mathematical intelligences, more typically associated with general cognitive ability and academic success. In other theorizing, Sternberg ( 1988 ) has proposed three additional types of intelligence: analytical, practical, and creative intelligence, to more fully capture the variety of intelligent abilities on which people differ. Critical thinking is considered part of analytical skills which involve evaluating the quality and applicability of ideas, products, and options ( Sternberg 2022 ). Regarding adaptive intelligence, Sternberg ( 2019 ) has emphasized how adaptive aspects of intelligence are needed to solve real-world problems both at the individual and species levels. According to Sternberg, core components of intelligence have evolved in humans, but intelligence takes different forms in different cultures, with each culture valuing its own skills for adaptation. Thus, the construct of intelligence must go beyond core cognitive ability to encompass the specific abilities needed for adaptive behavior in specific cultures and settings.

Two other theories propose that other components be added to intelligent and rational thinking. Ackerman ( 2022 ) has emphasized the importance of acquiring domain-specific knowledge for engaging in intelligent functioning in the wide variety of tasks found in everyday life. Ackerman has argued that declarative, procedural, and tacit knowledge, as well as non-ability variables, are needed to better predict job performance and performance of other everyday activities. Taking another approach, Halpern and Dunn ( 2021 ) have proposed that critical thinking is essentially the adaptive application of intelligence for solving real-world problems. Elsewhere, Butler and Halpern ( 2019 ) have argued that dispositions such as open-mindedness are another aspect of CT and that domain-specific knowledge and specific CT skills are needed to solve real-world problems.

Examples are readily available for how CT goes beyond what IQ tests test to include specific rules for reasoning and relevant knowledge needed to execute real-world tasks. Take the example of scientific reasoning, which can be viewed as a specialized form of CT. Drawing a well-reasoned inductive conclusion about a theory or analyzing the quality of a research study both require that a thinker possess relevant specialized knowledge related to the question and specific reasoning skills for reasoning about scientific methodology. In contrast, IQ tests are deliberately designed to be nonspecialized in assessing Gc, broadly sampling vocabulary and general knowledge in order to be fair and unbiased ( Stanovich 2009 ). Specialized knowledge and reasoning skills are also needed in non-academic domains. Jurors must possess specialized knowledge to understand expert, forensic testimony and specific reasoning skills to interpret the law and make well-reasoned judgments about a defendant’s guilt or innocence.

Besides lacking specific reasoning skills and domain-relevant knowledge, people may fail to think critically because they are not disposed to use their reasoning skills to examine such claims and want to preserve their favored beliefs. Critical thinking dispositions are attitudes or traits that make it more likely that a person will think critically. Theorists have proposed numerous CT dispositions (e.g., Bensley 2018 ; Butler and Halpern 2019 ; Dwyer 2017 ; Ennis 1987 ). Some commonly identified CT dispositions especially relevant to this discussion are open-mindedness, skepticism, intellectual engagement, and the tendency to take a reflective, rational–analytic approach. Critical thinking dispositions are clearly value-laden and prescriptive. A good thinker should be open-minded, skeptical, reflective, intellectually engaged, and value a rational–analytic approach to inquiry. Conversely, corresponding negative dispositions, such as “close-mindedness” and “gullibility”, could obstruct CT.

Without the appropriate disposition, individuals will not use their reasoning skills to think critically about questions. For example, the brilliant mystery writer, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who was trained as a physician and created the hyper-reasonable detective Sherlock Holmes, was not disposed to think critically about some unsubstantiated claims. Conan Doyle was no doubt highly intelligent in cognitive ability terms, but he was not sufficiently skeptical (disposed to think critically) about spiritualism. He believed that he was talking to his dearly departed son though a medium, despite the warnings of his magician friend, Harry Houdini, who told him that mediums used trickery in their seances. Perhaps influenced by his Irish father’s belief in the “wee folk”, Conan Doyle also believed that fairies inhabited the English countryside, based on children’s photos, despite the advice of experts who said the photos could be faked. Nevertheless, he was skeptical of a new theory of tuberculosis proposed by Koch when he reported on it, despite his wife suffering from the disease. So, in professional capacities, Conan Doyle used his CT skills, but in certain other domains for which he was motivated to accept unsubstantiated claims, he failed to think critically, insufficiently disposed to skeptically challenge certain implausible claims.

This example makes two important points. Conan Doyle’s superior intelligence was not enough for him to reject implausible claims about the world. In general, motivated reasoning can lead people, even those considered highly intelligent, to accept claims with no good evidentiary support. The second important point is that we would not be able to adequately explain cases like this one, considering only the person’s intelligence or even their reasoning skills, without also considering the person’s disposition. General cognitive ability alone is not sufficient, and CT dispositions should also be considered.

Supporting this conclusion, Stanovich and West ( 1997 ) examined the influence of dispositions beyond the contribution of cognitive ability on a CT task. They gave college students an argument evaluation test in which participants first rated their agreement with several claims about real social and political issues made by a fictitious person. Then, they gave them evidence against each claim and finally asked them to rate the quality of a counterargument made by the same fictitious person. Participants’ ratings of the counterarguments were compared to the median ratings of expert judges on the quality of the rebuttals. Stanovich and West also administered a new measure of rational disposition called the Actively Open-minded Thinking (AOT) scale and the SAT as a proxy for cognitive ability. The AOT was a composite of items from several other scales that would be expected to measure CT disposition. They found that both SAT and AOT scores were significant predictors of higher argument analysis scores. Even after partialing out cognitive ability, actively open-minded thinking was significant. These results suggest that general cognitive ability alone was not sufficient to account for thinking critically about real-world issues and that CT disposition was needed to go beyond it.

Further examining the roles of CT dispositions and cognitive ability on reasoning, Stanovich and West ( 2008 ) studied myside bias, a bias in reasoning closely related to one-sided thinking and confirmation bias. A critical thinker would be expected to not show myside bias and instead fairly evaluate evidence on all sides of a question. Stanovich and West ( 2007 ) found that college students often showed myside bias when asked their opinions about real-world policy issues, such as those concerning the health risks of smoking and drinking alcohol. For example, compared to non-smokers, smokers judged the health risks of smoking to be lower. When they divided participants into higher versus lower cognitive ability groups based on SAT scores, the two groups showed little difference on myside bias. Moreover, on the hazards of drinking issue, participants who drank less had higher scores on the CT disposition measure.

Other research supports the need for both reasoning ability and CT disposition in predicting outcomes in the real world. Ren et al. ( 2020 ) found that CT disposition, as measured by a Chinese critical thinking disposition inventory, and a CT skill measure together contributed a significant amount of the variance in predicting academic performance beyond the contribution of cognitive ability alone, as measured by a test of fluid intelligence. Further supporting the claim that CT requires both cognitive ability and CT disposition, Ku and Ho ( 2010 ) found that a CT disposition measure significantly predicted scores on a CT test beyond the significant contribution of verbal intelligence in high school and college students from Hong Kong.

The contribution of dispositions to thinking is related to another way that CT goes beyond the application of general cognitive ability, i.e., by way of the motivation for reasoning. Assuming that all reasoning is motivated ( Kunda 1990 ), then CT is motivated, too, which is implicit within the Halpern and Dunn ( 2021 ) and Ennis ( 1987 ) definitions. Critical thinking is motivated in the sense of being purposeful and directed towards the goal of arriving at an accurate conclusion. For instance, corresponding to pursuit of the goal of accurate reasoning, the CT disposition of “truth-seeking” guides a person towards reaching the CT goal of arriving at an accurate conclusion.

Also, according to Kunda ( 1990 ), a second type of motivated reasoning can lead to faulty conclusions, often by directing a person towards the goal of maintaining favored beliefs and preconceptions, as in illusory correlation, belief perseverance, and confirmation bias. Corresponding to this second type, negative dispositions, such as close-mindedness and self-serving motives, can incline thinkers towards faulty conclusions. This is especially relevant in the present discussion because poorer reasoning, thinking errors, and the inappropriate use of heuristics are related to the endorsement of unsubstantiated claims, all of which are CT failures. The term “thinking errors” is a generic term referring to logical fallacies, informal reasoning fallacies, argumentation errors, and inappropriate uses of cognitive heuristics ( Bensley 2018 ). Heuristics are cognitive shortcuts, commonly used to simplify judgment tasks and reduce mental effort. Yet, when used inappropriately, heuristics often result in biased judgments.

Stanovich ( 2009 ) has argued that IQ tests do not test people’s use of heuristics, but heuristics have been found to be negatively correlated with CT performance ( West et al. 2008 ). In this same study, they found that college students’ cognitive ability, as measured by performance on the SAT, was not correlated with thinking biases associated with use of heuristics. Although Stanovich and West ( 2008 ) found that susceptibility to biases, such as the conjunction fallacy, framing effect, base-rate neglect, affect bias, and myside bias were all uncorrelated with cognitive ability (using SAT as a proxy), other types of thinking errors were correlated with SAT.

Likewise, two types of knowledge are related to the two forms of motivated reasoning. For instance, inaccurate knowledge, such as misconceptions, can derail reasoning from moving towards a correct conclusion, as in when a person reasons from false premises. In contrast, reasoning from accurate knowledge is more likely to produce an accurate conclusion. Taking into account inaccurate knowledge and thinking errors is important to understanding the endorsement of unsubstantiated claims because these are also related to negative dispositions, such as close-mindedness and cynicism, none of which are measured by intelligence tests.

Critical thinking questions are often situated in real-world examples or in simulations of them which are designed to detect thinking errors and bias. As described in Halpern and Butler ( 2018 ), an item like one on the “Halpern Critical Thinking Assessment” (HCTA) provides respondents with a mock newspaper story about research showing that first-graders who attended preschool were better able to learn how to read. Then the question asks if preschool should be made mandatory. A correct response to this item requires recognizing that correlation does not imply causation, that is, avoiding a common reasoning error people make in thinking about research implications in everyday life. Another CT skills test, “Analyzing Psychological Statements” (APS) assesses the ability to recognize thinking errors and apply argumentation skills and psychology to evaluate psychology-related examples and simulations of real-life situations ( Bensley 2021 ). For instance, besides identifying thinking errors in brief samples of thinking, questions ask respondents to distinguish arguments from non-arguments, find assumptions in arguments, evaluate kinds of evidence, and draw a conclusion from a brief psychological argument. An important implication of the studies just reviewed is that efforts to understand CT can be further informed by assessing thinking errors and biases, which, as the next discussion shows, are related to individual differences in thinking dispositions and cognitive style.

4. Dual-Process Theory Measures and Unsubstantiated Beliefs

Dual-process theory (DPT) and measures associated with it have been widely used in the study of the endorsement of unsubstantiated beliefs, especially as they relate to cognitive style. According to a cognitive style version of DPT, people have two modes of processing, a fast intuitive–experiential (I-E) style of processing and a slower, reflective, rational–analytic (R-A) style of processing. The intuitive cognitive style is associated with reliance on hunches, feelings, personal experience, and cognitive heuristics which simplify processing, while the R-A cognitive style is a reflective, rational–analytic style associated with more elaborate and effortful processing ( Bensley et al. 2022 ; Epstein 2008 ). As such, the rational–analytic cognitive style is consistent with CT dispositions, such as those promoting the effortful analysis of evidence, objective truth, and logical consistency. In fact, CT is sometimes referred to as “critical-analytic” thinking ( Byrnes and Dunbar 2014 ) and has been associated with analytical intelligence Sternberg ( 1988 ) and with rational thinking, as discussed before.

People use both modes of processing, but they show individual differences in which mode they tend to rely upon, although the intuitive–experiential mode is the default ( Bensley et al. 2022 ; Morgan 2016 ; Pacini and Epstein 1999 ), and they accept unsubstantiated claims differentially based on their predominate cognitive style ( Bensley et al. 2022 ; Epstein 2008 ). Specifically, individuals who rely more on an I-E cognitive style tend to endorse unsubstantiated claims more strongly, while individuals who rely more on a R-A cognitive style tend to endorse those claims less. Note, however, that other theorists view the two processes and cognitive styles somewhat differently, (e.g., Kahneman 2011 ; Stanovich et al. 2018 ).

Researchers have often assessed the contribution of these two cognitive styles to endorsement of unsubstantiated claims, using variants of three measures: the Cognitive Reflection Test (CRT) of Frederick ( 2005 ), the Rational–Experiential Inventory of Epstein and his colleagues ( Pacini and Epstein 1999 ), and the related Need for Cognition scale of Cacioppo and Petty ( 1982 ). The CRT is a performance-based test which asks participants to solve problems that appear to require simple mathematical calculations, but which actually require more reflection. People typically do poorly on the CRT, which is thought to indicate reliance on an intuitive cognitive style, while better performance is thought to indicate reliance on the slower, more deliberate, and reflective cognitive style. The positive correlation of the CRT with numeracy scores suggests it also has a cognitive skill component ( Patel et al. 2019 ). The Rational–Experiential Inventory (REI) of Pacini and Epstein ( 1999 ) contains one scale designed to measure an intuitive–experiential cognitive style and a second scale intended to measure a rational–analytic (R-A) style. The R-A scale was adapted from the Need for Cognition (NFC) scale of Cacioppo and Petty ( 1982 ), another scale associated with rational–analytic thinking and expected to be negatively correlated with unsubstantiated beliefs. The NFC was found to be related to open-mindedness and intellectual engagement, two CT dispositions ( Cacioppo et al. 1996 ).

The cognitive styles associated with DPT also relate to CT dispositions. Thinking critically requires that individuals be disposed to use their reasoning skills to reject unsubstantiated claims ( Bensley 2018 ) and that they be inclined to take a rational–analytic approach rather than relying on their intuitions and feelings. For instance, Bensley et al. ( 2014 ) found that students who endorsed more psychological misconceptions adopted a more intuitive cognitive style, were less disposed to take a rational–scientific approach to psychology, and scored lower on a psychological critical thinking skills test. Further supporting this connection, West et al. ( 2008 ) found that participants who tended to use cognitive heuristics more, thought to be related to intuitive processing and bias, scored lower on a critical thinking measure. As the Bensley et al. ( 2014 ) results suggest, in addition to assessing reasoning skills and dispositions, comprehensive CT assessment research should assess knowledge and unsubstantiated beliefs because these are related to failures of critical thinking.

5. Assessing Critical Thinking and Unsubstantiated Beliefs

Assessing endorsement of unsubstantiated claims provides another way to assess CT outcomes related to everyday thinking, which goes beyond what intelligence tests test ( Bensley and Lilienfeld 2020 ). From the perspective of the multi-dimensional model of CT, endorsement of unsubstantiated claims could result from deficiencies in a person’s CT reasoning skills, a lack of relevant knowledge, and in the engagement of inappropriate dispositions. Suppose an individual endorses an unsubstantiated claim, such as believing the conspiracy theory that human-caused global warming is a hoax. The person may lack the specific reasoning skills needed to critically evaluate the conspiracy. Lantian et al. ( 2020 ) found that scores on a CT skills test were negatively correlated with conspiracy theory beliefs. The person also must possess relevant scientific knowledge, such as knowing the facts that each year humans pump about 40 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and that carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas which traps heat in the atmosphere. Or, the person may not be scientifically skeptical or too cynical or mistrustful of scientists or governmental officials.

Although endorsing unsubstantiated beliefs is clearly a failure of CT, problems arise in deciding which ones are unsubstantiated, especially when considering conspiracy theories. Typically, the claims which critical thinkers should reject as unsubstantiated are those which are not supported by objective evidence. But of the many conspiracies proposed, few are vigorously examined. Moreover, some conspiracy theories which authorities might initially deny turn out to be real, such as the MK-Ultra theory that the CIA was secretly conducting mind-control research on American citizens.

A way out of this quagmire is to define unsubstantiated beliefs on a continuum which depends on the quality of evidence. This has led to the definition of unsubstantiated claims as assertions which have not been supported by high-quality evidence ( Bensley 2023 ). Those which are supported have the kind of evidentiary support that critical thinkers are expected to value in drawing reasonable conclusions. Instead of insisting that a claim must be demonstrably false to be rejected, we adopt a more tentative acceptance or rejection of claims, based on how much good evidence supports them. Many claims are unsubstantiated because they have not yet been carefully examined and so totally lack support or they may be supported only by low quality evidence such as personal experience, anecdotes, or non-scientific authority. Other claims are more clearly unsubstantiated because they contradict the findings of high-quality research. A critical thinker should be highly skeptical of these.

Psychological misconceptions are one type of claim that can be more clearly unsubstantiated. Psychological misconceptions are commonsense psychological claims (folk theories) about the mind, brain, and behavior that are contradicted by the bulk of high-quality scientific research. Author developed the Test of Psychological Knowledge and Misconceptions (TOPKAM), a 40-item, forced-choice measure with each item posing a statement of a psychological misconception and the other response option stating the evidence-based alternative ( Bensley et al. 2014 ). They found that higher scores on the APS, the argument analysis test applying psychological concepts to analyze real-world examples, were associated with more correct answers on the TOPKAM. Other studies have found positive correlations between CT skills tests and other measures of psychological misconceptions ( McCutcheon et al. 1992 ; Kowalski and Taylor 2004 ). Bensley et al. ( 2014 ) also found that higher correct TOPKAM scores were positively correlated with scores on the Inventory of Thinking Dispositions in Psychology (ITDP) of Bensley ( 2021 ), a measure of the disposition to take a rational and scientific approach to psychology but were negatively correlated with an intuitive cognitive style.

Bensley et al. ( 2021 ) conducted a multidimensional study, assessing beginner psychology students starting a CT course on their endorsement of psychological misconceptions, recognition of thinking errors, CT dispositions, and metacognition, before and after CT instruction. Two classes received explicit instruction involving considerable practice in argument analysis and scientific reasoning skills, with one class receiving CT instruction focused more on recognizing psychological misconceptions and a second class focused more on recognizing various thinking errors. Bensley et al. assessed both classes before and after instruction on the TOPKAM and on the Test of Thinking Errors, a test of the ability to recognize in real-world examples 17 different types of thinking errors, such as confirmation bias, inappropriate use of the availability and representativeness heuristics, reasoning from ignorance/possibility, gambler’s fallacy, and hasty generalization ( Bensley et al. 2021 ). Correct TOPKAM and TOTE scores were positively correlated, and after CT instruction both were positively correlated with the APS, the CT test of argument analysis skills.

Bensley et al. found that after explicit instruction of CT skills, students improved significantly on both the TOPKAM and TOTE, but those focusing on recognizing misconceptions improved the most. Also, those students who improved the most on the TOTE scored higher on the REI rational–analytic scale and on the ITDP, while those improving the most on the TOTE scored higher on the ITDP. The students receiving explicit CT skill instruction in recognizing misconceptions also significantly improved the accuracy of their metacognitive monitoring in estimating their TOPKAM scores after instruction.

Given that before instruction neither class differed in GPA nor on the SAT, a proxy for general cognitive ability, CT instruction provided a good accounting for the improvement in recognition of thinking errors and misconceptions without recourse to intelligence. However, SAT scores were positively correlated with both TOTE scores and APS scores, suggesting that cognitive ability contributed to CT skill performance. These results replicated the earlier findings of Bensley and Spero ( 2014 ) showing that explicit CT instruction improved performance on both CT skills tests and metacognitive monitoring accuracy while controlling for SAT, which was positively correlated with the CT skills test performance.

Taken together, these findings suggest that cognitive ability contributes to performance on CT tasks but that CT instruction goes beyond it to further improve performance. As the results of Bensley et al. ( 2021 ) show, and as discussed next, thinking errors and bias from heuristics are CT failures that should also be assessed because they are related to endorsement of unsubstantiated beliefs and cognitive style.

6. Dual-Processing Theory and Research on Unsubstantiated Beliefs

Consistent with DPT, numerous other studies have obtained significant positive correlations between intuitive cognitive style and paranormal belief, often using the REI intuitive–experiential scale and the Revised Paranormal Belief Scale (RPBS) of Tobacyk ( 2004 ) (e.g., Genovese 2005 ; Irwin and Young 2002 ; Lindeman and Aarnio 2006 ; Pennycook et al. 2015 ; Rogers et al. 2018 ; Saher and Lindeman 2005 ). Studies have also found positive correlations between superstitious belief and intuitive cognitive style (e.g., Lindeman and Aarnio 2006 ; Maqsood et al. 2018 ). REI intuitive–experiential thinking style was also positively correlated with belief in complementary and alternative medicine ( Lindeman 2011 ), conspiracy theory belief ( Alper et al. 2020 ), and with endorsement of psychological misconceptions ( Bensley et al. 2014 ; Bensley et al. 2022 ).

Additional evidence for DPT has been found when REI R-A and NFC scores were negatively correlated with scores on measures of unsubstantiated beliefs, but studies correlating them with measures of paranormal belief and conspiracy theory belief have shown mixed results. Supporting a relationship, REI rational–analytic and NFC scores significantly and negatively predicted paranormal belief ( Lobato et al. 2014 ; Pennycook et al. 2012 ). Other studies have also obtained a negative correlation between NFC and paranormal belief ( Lindeman and Aarnio 2006 ; Rogers et al. 2018 ; Stahl and van Prooijen 2018 ), but both Genovese ( 2005 ) and Pennycook et al. ( 2015 ) found that NFC was not significantly correlated with paranormal belief. Swami et al. ( 2014 ) found that although REI R-A scores were negatively correlated with conspiracy theory belief, NFC scores were not.

Researchers often refer to people who are doubtful of paranormal and other unfounded claims as “skeptics” and so have tested whether measures related to skepticism are associated with less endorsement of unsubstantiated claims. They typically view skepticism as a stance towards unsubstantiated claims taken by rational people who reject them, (e.g., Lindeman and Aarnio 2006 ; Stahl and van Prooijen 2018 ), rather than as a disposition inclining a person to think critically about unsubstantiated beliefs ( Bensley 2018 ).

Fasce and Pico ( 2019 ) conducted one of the few studies using a measure related to skeptical disposition, the Critical Thinking Disposition Scale (CTDS) of Sosu ( 2013 ), in relation to endorsement of unsubstantiated claims. They found that scores on the CTDS were negatively correlated with scores on the RPBS but not significantly correlated with either a measure of pseudoscience or of conspiracy theory belief. However, the CRT was negatively correlated with both RPBS and the pseudoscience measure. Because Fasce and Pico ( 2019 ) did not examine correlations with the Reflective Skepticism subscale of the CTDS, its contribution apart from full-scale CTDS was not found.

To more directly test skepticism as a disposition, we recently assessed college students on how well three new measures predicted endorsement of psychological misconceptions, paranormal claims, and conspiracy theories ( Bensley et al. 2022 ). The dispositional measures included a measure of general skeptical attitude; a second measure, the Scientific Skepticism Scale (SSS), which focused more on waiting to accept claims until high-quality scientific evidence supported them; and a third measure, the Cynicism Scale (CS), which focused on doubting the sincerity of the motives of scientists and people in general. We found that although the general skepticism scale did not predict any of the unsubstantiated belief measures, SSS scores were a significant negative predictor of both paranormal belief and conspiracy theory belief. REI R-A scores were a less consistent negative predictor, while REI I-E scores were more consistent positive predictors, and surprisingly CS scores were the most consistent positive predictors of the unsubstantiated beliefs.

Researchers commonly assume that people who accept implausible, unsubstantiated claims are gullible or not sufficiently skeptical. For instance, van Prooijen ( 2019 ) has argued that conspiracy theory believers are more gullible (less skeptical) than non-believers and tend to accept unsubstantiated claims more than less gullible people. van Prooijen ( 2019 ) reviewed several studies supporting the claim that people who are more gullible tend to endorse conspiracy theories more. However, he did not report any studies in which a gullible disposition was directly measured.

Recently, we directly tested the gullibility hypothesis in relation to scientific skepticism ( Bensley et al. 2023 ) using the Gullibility Scale of Teunisse et al. ( 2019 ) on which people skeptical of the paranormal had been shown to have lower scores. We found that Gullibility Scale and the Cynicism Scale scores were positively correlated, and both were significant positive predictors of unsubstantiated beliefs, in general, consistent with an intuitive–experiential cognitive style. In contrast, we found that scores on the Cognitive Reflection Test, the Scientific Skepticism Scale, and the REI rational–analytic scale were all positively intercorrelated and significant negative predictors of unsubstantiated beliefs, in general, consistent with a rational–analytic/reflective cognitive style. Scientific skepticism scores negatively predicted general endorsement of unsubstantiated claims beyond the REI R-A scale, but neither the CTDS nor the CTDS Reflective Skepticism subscale were significant. These results replicated findings from the Bensley et al. ( 2023 ) study and supported an elaborated dual-process model of unsubstantiated belief. The SSS was not only a substantial negative predictor, it was also negatively correlated with the Gullibility Scale, as expected.

These results suggest that both CT-related dispositions and CT skills are related to endorsement of unsubstantiated beliefs. However, a measure of general cognitive ability or intelligence must be examined along with measures of CT and unsubstantiated beliefs to determine if CT goes beyond intelligence to predict unsubstantiated beliefs. In one of the few studies that also included a measure of cognitive ability, Stahl and van Prooijen ( 2018 ) found that dispositional characteristics helped account for acceptance of conspiracies and paranormal belief beyond cognitive ability. Using the Importance of Rationality Scale (IRS), a rational–analytic scale designed to measure skepticism towards unsubstantiated beliefs, Stahl and van Prooijen ( 2018 ) found that the IRS was negatively correlated with paranormal belief and belief in conspiracy theories. In separate hierarchical regressions, cognitive ability was the strongest negative predictor of both paranormal belief and of conspiracy belief, but IRS scores in combination with cognitive ability negatively predicted endorsement of paranormal belief but did not significantly predict conspiracy theory belief. These results provided partial support that that a measure of rational–analytic cognitive style related to skeptical disposition added to the variance accounted for beyond cognitive ability in negatively predicting unsubstantiated belief.

In another study that included a measure of cognitive ability, Cavojova et al. ( 2019 ) examined how CT-related dispositions and the Scientific Reasoning Scale (SRS) were related to a measure of paranormal, pseudoscientific, and conspiracy theory beliefs. The SRS of Drummond and Fischhoff ( 2017 ) likely measures CT skill in that it measures the ability to evaluate scientific research and evidence. As expected, the unsubstantiated belief measure was negatively correlated with the SRS and a cognitive ability measure, similar to Raven’s Progressive Matrices. Unsubstantiated beliefs were positively correlated with dogmatism (the opposite of open-mindedness) but not with REI rational–analytic cognitive style. The SRS was a significant negative predictor of both unsubstantiated belief and susceptibility to bias beyond the contribution of cognitive ability, but neither dogmatism nor analytic thinking were significant predictors. Nevertheless, this study provides some support that a measure related to CT reasoning skill accounts for variance in unsubstantiated belief beyond cognitive ability.

The failure of this study to show a correlation between rational–analytic cognitive style and unsubstantiated beliefs, when some other studies have found significant correlations with it and related measures, has implications for the multidimensional assessment of unsubstantiated beliefs. One implication is that the REI rational–analytic scale may not be a strong predictor of unsubstantiated beliefs. In fact, we have recently found that the Scientific Skepticism Scale was a stronger negative predictor ( Bensley et al. 2022 ; Bensley et al. 2023 ), which also suggests that other measures related to rational–analytic thinking styles should be examined. This could help triangulate the contribution of self-report cognitive style measures to endorsement of unsubstantiated claims, recognizing that the use of self-report measures has a checkered history in psychological research. A second implication is that once again, measures of critical thinking skill and cognitive ability were negative predictors of unsubstantiated belief and so they, too, should be included in future assessments of unsubstantiated beliefs.

7. Discussion

This review provided different lines of evidence supporting the claim that CT goes beyond cognitive ability in accounting for certain real-world outcomes. Participants who think critically reported fewer problems in everyday functioning, not expected to befall critical thinkers. People who endorsed unsubstantiated claims less showed better CT skills, more accurate domain-specific knowledge, less susceptibility to thinking errors and bias, and were more disposed to think critically. More specifically, they tended to be more scientifically skeptical and adopt a more rational–analytic cognitive style. In contrast, those who endorsed them more tended to be more cynical and adopt an intuitive–experiential cognitive style. These characteristics go beyond what standardized intelligence tests test. In some studies, the CT measures accounted for additional variance beyond the variance contributed by general cognitive ability.

That is not to say that measures of general cognitive ability are not useful. As noted by Gottfredson ( 2004 ), “g” is a highly successful predictor of academic and job performance. More is known about g and Gf than about many other psychological constructs. On average, g is closely related to Gf, which is highly correlated with working memory ( r = 0.70) and can be as high as r = 0.77 ( r 2 = 0.60) based on a correlated two-factor model ( Gignac 2014 ). Because modern working memory theory is, itself, a powerful theory ( Chai et al. 2018 ), this lends construct validity to the fluid intelligence construct. Although cognitive scientists have clearly made progress in understanding the executive processes underlying intelligence, they have not yet identified the specific cognitive components of intelligence ( Sternberg 2022 ). Moreover, theorists have acknowledged that intelligence must also include components beyond g, including domain-specific knowledge ( Ackerman 2022 ; Conway and Kovacs 2018 ) which are not yet clearly understood,

This review also pointed to limitations in the research that should be addressed. So far, not only have few studies of unsubstantiated beliefs included measures of intelligence, but they have also often used proxies for intelligence test scores, such as SAT scores. Future studies, besides using more and better measures of intelligence, could benefit from inclusion of more specifically focused measures, such as measures of Gf and Gc. Also, more research should be carried out to develop additional high-quality measures of CT, including ones that assess specific reasoning skills and knowledge relevant to thinking about a subject, which could help resolve perennial questions about the domain-general versus domain-specific nature of intelligence and CT. Overall, the results of this review encourage taking a multidimensional approach to investigating the complex constructs of intelligence, CT, and unsubstantiated belief. Supporting these recommendations were results of studies in which the improvement accrued from explicit CT skill instruction could be more fully understood when CT skills, relevant knowledge, CT dispositions, metacognitive monitoring accuracy, and a proxy for intelligence were used.

8. Conclusions

Critical thinking, broadly conceived, offers ways to understand real-world outcomes of thinking beyond what general cognitive ability can provide and intelligence tests test. A multi-dimensional view of CT which includes specific reasoning and metacognitive skills, CT dispositions, and relevant knowledge can add to our understanding of why some people endorse unsubstantiated claims more than others do, going beyond what intelligence tests test. Although general cognitive ability and domain-general knowledge often contribute to performance on CT tasks, thinking critically about real-world questions also involves applying rules, criteria, and knowledge which are specific to the question under consideration, as well as the appropriate dispositions and cognitive styles for deploying these.

Despite the advantages of taking this multidimensional approach to CT in helping us to more fully understand everyday thinking and irrationality, it presents challenges for researchers and instructors. It implies the need to assess and instruct multidimensionally, including not only measures of reasoning skills but also addressing thinking errors and biases, dispositions, the knowledge relevant to a task, and the accuracy of metacognitive judgments. As noted by Dwyer ( 2023 ), adopting a more complex conceptualization of CT beyond just skills is needed, but it presents challenges for those seeking to improve students’ CT. Nevertheless, the research reviewed suggests that taking this multidimensional approach to CT can enhance our understanding of the endorsement of unsubstantiated claims beyond what standardized intelligence tests contribute. More research is needed to resolve remaining controversies and to develop evidence-based applications of the findings.

Funding Statement

This research received no external funding.

Institutional Review Board Statement

This research involved no new testing of participants and hence did not require Institutional Review Board approval.

Informed Consent Statement

This research involved no new testing of participants and hence did not require an Informed Consent Statement.

Data Availability Statement

Conflicts of interest.

The author declares no conflict of interest.

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Development of the Critical Thinking Dispositions Scale

A measure of a persons’ motivation towards engaging and evaluating information..

Posted September 27, 2024 | Reviewed by Monica Vilhauer

Critical thinking can be defined in terms of motivational dispositions.
Dispositions include a willingness to be reflective when gathering evidence and evaluating information.
A reliable, 22-item, 5-factor scale measuring critical thinking dispositions was developed.

The critical thinking literature (e.g., Bensley, 2023) suggests assessment of critical thinking would ideally include aspects of motivational dispositions. Identified dispositions are open-mindedness, intellectual engagement, and a proclivity to evaluating carefully information and the views and beliefs of both oneself and others. Another way to think about this disposition is how willing people are to persist in the pursuit of information to deepen their understanding of phenomena, issues, and problems. Are they willing to change what they believe when new evidence indicates it is warranted ? Thus, critical thinking dispositions reflect persons’ stance towards new information, their attitudes about diverging ideas, their willingness to engage in nuanced and complex thinking, and their perseverance in genuine attempts to understand and resolve complex problems (Killian, 2024).

People who score high on critical thinking often report a "need for cognition ", which is the enjoyment associated with thinking about things, thinking about thinking, and engaging in regular intellectual activity leading to a theory of mind. In contrast, anti-intellectualism—a strong disliking of persons committed to intellectual activity and engagement for its own sake—is negatively associated with critical thinking. In addition, a need for closure is a cognitive style in which people tend to make quick decisions, prefer predictable situations, and don’t like it when a movie or a piece of art can be interpreted in different ways, and this is also negatively associated with critical thinking (Killian, 2024).

Those who score low on critical thinking and its dispositions tend to frame the world and people in it in absolutist, dogmatic terms. Their model of the world deals in dichotomies and rigid categories and is too simple to capture complexities such as the pluralistic societies we live in (Bensley, 2023; Cheung et al., 2002; Halpern & Dunn, 2021). This is why folks who score low on critical thinking tend to demonstrate biases, including gender and racial bias . How do we measure critical thinking dispositions?

I created a pool of 64 critical thinking disposition items tapping the following dimensions: intellectual curiosity vs. anti-intellectualism, perspective-taking capacity, need for cognition , need for closure or intolerance for ambiguity, and a disengaged stance towards new information, the gathering of evidence, and challenging, complex problems, and ideological components (dogmatism, reductionism, and binary “either/or” thinking) (Killian, 2024). Fifty-one of these items performed adequately (with means and standard deviations that were normal-like), qualifying for their inclusion in an electronic survey administered to a US sample (N=365) (Killian, 2024).

A 7-point Likert-type response format was utilized (0 = strongly disagree to 6 = strongly agree). Sample items included “I am known to revise my beliefs and views when honest reflection suggests a change is warranted”, “It doesn’t matter much whether people read and stay informed” (reverse-scored), “I pursue a line of questioning even if the answers are not likely to support my original opinions or self-interest”, “I don’t like movies where the ending can be interpreted in different ways” (reverse-scored), and “I become impatient when attempting a complex or complicated task” (reverse-scored) (Killian, 2024).

A principal components analysis in SPSS found that the the Critical Thinking Dispositions Scale (CTDS) had 5 factors or dimensions. The first comprised four positively worded items that reflected commitment to reflection and perspective-taking. The second comprised six negatively worded items tapping a disengagement from new information, evidence, and abstract thinking. The third comprised five negatively worded items tapping a proclivity for rigid, dichotomous, and reductionistic thinking. The fourth comprised four negatively worded items reflecting an intolerance for ambiguity and a need for quick closure. The fifth comprised three negatively worded items tapping a lack of initiative when challenged with complexity. The 22-item total scale had an internal consistency of .88, and scores had a normal, bell-shaped distribution (Killian, 2024).

Regarding construct validity, the correlations between the CTDS and need for cognition, openness to experience , and IQ were significant and positive, and there were significant and negative correlation between the CTDS and dogmatism, anti-intellectualism, and need for closure. Specifically, the CTDS correlated positively with Cognitive Experience Seeking ( r = 0.674, p < 0.001) and openness ( r = 0.664, p < 0.001), as well as negatively with a need for closure ( r = −0.309, p < 0.001), reflecting, respectively, a motivation for cognitive engagement/stimulation, a willingness to maintain an open mind and remain engaged even in the face of ambiguous, contradictory, or complex stimuli. Regarding discriminant validity, the CTDS did not correlate significantly with income, education , social desirability, or liberal or conservative political views, and the mean differences between male and female participants, and across racial groups, were also nonsignificant (Killian, 2024).

In sum, the CTDS is a brief, reliable, and valid instrument not subject to socially desirable responding (i.e., tendency of respondents to answer questions in a way that might be viewed favorably by others) and can be administered in approximately six minutes. A one-page measure of adults’ inclination toward curiosity, a commitment to intellectual engagement, and willingness to evaluate and change one’s own beliefs and perspectives in the face of new information could prove valuable in explaining many social attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors. Specific evidence supporting its explanatory power will be presented in another posting.

Bensley, D.A. ( 2023.) Critical thinking, intelligence, and unsubstantiated beliefs: An integrative review. Journal of Intelligence, 1, 207 . https://doi.org/10.3390/jintelligence11110207

Cheung, C.-K, Rudowicz. E., Kwan, A., & Yue, X. (2002). Assessing university students’ students’ general and specific critical thinking. College Student Journal, 36 , 504 – 25.

Halpern, D. F., & Dunn, D.S. (2021). Critical thinking: A model of intelligence for solvingreal-world problems. Journal of Intelligence, 9 , 22. https://doi.org/10.3390/jintelligence9020022

Killian, K. D. (2024). Whither feminist solidarity? Critical thinking, racism, islamophobia, gender, authoritarianism, and sexism in a U.S. national sample. Social Sciences, 13 , 502. https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci13100502

Kyle D. Killian, Ph.D., LMFT is the author of Interracial Couples, Intimacy and Therapy: Crossing Racial Borders.

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Critical Thinking Skills Are More Important Than IQ
Whereas IQ is - crudely speaking - a measure of the mental horsepower we have for handling abstract content, some researchers say that "critical thinking" - the ability to make judgments dispassionately without jumping to false conclusions - is a separate ability. To find out if critical thinking ability might be important for real ...
Critical Thinking, Intelligence, and Unsubstantiated Beliefs: An
Critical thinking is considered part of analytical skills which involve evaluating the quality and applicability of ideas, products, and options (). Regarding adaptive intelligence, () has emphasized how adaptive aspects of intelligence are needed to solve real-world problems both at the individual and species levels.
Development of the Critical Thinking Dispositions Scale
Those who score low on critical thinking and its dispositions tend to frame the world and people in it in absolutist, dogmatic terms. Their model of the world deals in dichotomies and rigid ...
Riddles So Tricky, They'll Test Your IQ Like Never Before
Think you're pretty sharp? Let's put that to the test with some riddles that might just have you scratching your head! These aren't your average brainteasers...

What is the Critical Thinking Test?

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What Is the Watson Glaser Test?

Assumptions

Watson Glaser Practice Test Questions & Answers

Evaluation of Arguments

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Nine Top Tips for Ensuring Success in Your Watson Glaser Test

1. Practice, Practice, Practice

2. The Best Success Is Based on the Long-Term Study

3. Acquaint Yourself With the Test Format

4. Read the Instructions Carefully

5. Only Use the Information Provided in the Question

6. Widen Your Non-Fictional Reading

7. Be Self-Aware

8. Read the Explanations During Your Preparation

9. Practice Your Timings

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Critical Thinking Test Practice ▷ Free Critical Reasoning Samples & Tips 2024

What Is Critical Thinking?

The Skills You Will Be Tested On

1) Inference

2) Recognising Assumptions

3) Deduction

4) Interpretation

5) Evaluation of Arguments

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Critical Thinking Question Examples

Argument Analysis Sample Question

Argument Practice Sample Question

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Critical Thinking Tests FAQs

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Critical Thinking Tests

What is a critical thinking test?

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The format of the test: which skills are tested?

Assumptions

Interpretation

Evaluation of Arguments

How best to prepare for a critical thinking test

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