ABSTRACT
TESTS for the guidance of university students, with regard to the studies that they should pursue, have not been developed. The task of finding such tests is a difficult one on account of the complexity and variety of university work. The justification for attempting it is that university students are beyond the age at which they are likely to develop some of the most fundamental abilities. 1 If, therefore, they lack these to a marked degree it is advisable for them to avoid the subjects in which they are involved. The fundamental choice for most university students is between science and arts, and casual observation seems to suggest that there are special abilities involved in the work of each of these faculties ; for instance, lack of manipulative skill is more likely to hinder a Science, than an Arts student. The present study was undertaken to gain statistical evidence on this question of the importance of special abilities in arts and science, respectively. It aimed at framing tests for the special abilities that are essential in the work of each of the faculties. In undertaking such a study the experimenter made no assumptions as to the ultimate nature of arts and science subjects as such, nor as to their relation. There is no doubt that the subjects included in each faculty vary very much amongst themselves and that in many ways the distinction between arts and science is an artificial one. These considerations do not affect the practical problem. It is still possible that in arts the lack of certain abilities may not be as fatal as in science, and vice versa. A student cannot, of course, have too many special abilities for either faculty, but it is at least possible that he may lack a special ability that is essential in one of the faculties and not in the other.
