Intelligence Testing in India

Concept First

Intelligence testing in India did not begin by simply importing Western tests. Indian psychologists recognised early on that a test valid for a child in London or New York might not measure the same thing in a child from rural Bihar or urban Mumbai. Language, culture, and educational background all shape how a person performs on a test. So the story of intelligence testing in India is one of adaptation, indigenisation, and careful standardisation — building tools that work for the Indian context.

Early Pioneering Efforts

The first serious attempt to construct an intelligence test in Hindi was made by S.M. Mohsin in the 1930s. Around the same time, C.H. Rice worked on standardising Binet’s test in Urdu and Punjabi, while Mahalanobis attempted to standardise the same test in Bengali. These early efforts were crucial because they recognised that a test designed for one linguistic group could not simply be translated and used for another — it had to be re-standardised with local norms.

Indian researchers also developed Indian norms for several well-known Western tests, including:

• Raven’s Progressive Matrices (RPM)
• Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS)
• Alexander’s Passalong Test
• Cube Construction Test
• Kohs’ Block Design Test

The Mental Measurement Handbook

A significant milestone came when Long and Mehta prepared a Mental Measurement Handbook that listed 103 tests of intelligence available in India in various languages. This was the first comprehensive documentation of the country’s testing resources.

The National Library of Educational and Psychological Tests (NLEPT)

The NLEPT, housed at the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT), now serves as the central repository for Indian psychological tests. It has documented tests developed or adapted in India and publishes critical reviews of these tests in the form of handbooks. These handbooks cover the areas of intelligence, aptitude, personality, attitudes, and interests.

Tests Developed in India

Since the early efforts, a number of tests have either been developed from scratch in India or adapted from Western cultures. Among these, Bhatia’s Battery of Performance Tests is particularly popular because it is a performance-based test — it does not depend on language or literacy, making it suitable for a wide range of test-takers.

Verbal Tests

Performance Tests