Basic attributes test (BAT) retest performance

The Basic Attributes Test (BAT) contributes to a U.S. Air Force pilot selec tion composite known as the Pilot Candidate Selection Method(PCSM). When PC SM was operationally implemented in 1993, no retests were permitted on the BAT. To determine the effects of retesting on mean score change and reliabi lity, the BAT was administered to 477 college students who were then retest ed after 2 weeks, 3 months, or 6 months. Several important findings were ob served. First, about 70% of the students exhibited score improvement on ret est, regardless of length of retest interval. Those who performed poorly on the ist test generally exhibited larger improvements than those who perfor med well on the ist test. Second, practice effects diminished as the length of the retest interval increased. For a 6-month retest interval, it was ex pected that the mean increase in PCSM scores would be about 6 percentile po ints. The results suggest that BAT retests could be permitted no less than 6 months after initial testing. Third, and very important, BAT scores demon strated acceptable reliability. The reliability of the psychomotor composit e ranged from .775 to .800, and the reliabilities for the other subtests ra nged from .474 to .871.