On the connection between intention to study and cognitive skills
Is it really important to know the skills of someone seeking academic guidance?
The decision to choose a field of study is one of the most important and significant decisions in a person's life. It's a decision that affects not only the coming years but also future career and professional satisfaction that can last for many years. Therefore, academic guidance is a vital process, aimed at helping people find the most suitable path for them, according to their preferences, aspirations, and skills.
In recent years, many online systems have emerged offering users a short preference questionnaire, at the end of which they provide a list of professions that are advisable and suitable for them to study and work in. Some even offer the possibility to see compatibility percentages like 78%, 85% compatibility, and so on.
However, most of these companies that offer academic guidance services check only personal preferences and future aspirations of the advisee. They ask questions about areas of interest, preferred academic environment, and professions that seem fascinating. Here lies the central failure: in most cases, these questionnaires do not take into account the cognitive abilities of the advisee at all, and do not incorporate skills test data in their recommendations, which raises the question - doesn't this set advisees up for failure?
First, let's say that many young people see this as a secondary problem, meaning that skills can be acquired later and that this should not be a consideration that disqualifies certain professions or others at the beginning of the journey, but this is a mistake that causes many people to fail to choose what is truly "tailored" for them from the start. Let's say a certain profession requires remembering a lot of material, is it wise to choose this profession when I'm really good at other things and my memory is average or less?
Second, the truth is that in most cases we have no idea what skills are required in detail for different professions. We see and are impressed by what we see at the end when meeting with the professional, but this impression can be very misleading. For example, we meet the psychologist on TV or in real life in therapy, but did you know that during training and studies you will also have to deal quite a bit with research and statistics? These are some of the skills required to be accepted into the field.
To understand the importance of skills assessment, let's examine a simple example: suppose a person undergoes academic guidance and reaches a result that shows the medical field is very suitable for them. Now, the important question arises - does this person have the skills necessary to succeed in this field? The cognitive skills required for the medical field are very high, including thinking abilities, data analysis, good memory, mathematical ability, proficiency in English, and more. So how can we recommend someone study medicine without checking their skills?
In fact, without a comprehensive examination of these skills, there is a likelihood that the advisee will choose a path that does not match their abilities and will encounter significant difficulties along the way.
What is this comparable to?
Let's say you want to know in which field of sports you have the best chance of succeeding. You went to an institute specializing in athlete assessment, and they ask you to fill out a short tendencies questionnaire, for example:
- Do you like ball games?
- Do you prefer team or individual games?
- Is recognition and publicity important to you?
- Is it difficult for you in the sun or rain?
- Does it matter to you if there are games on Saturday?
And so on.
And then based on your answers, in first place on the tendencies questionnaire, you get..., basketball player!
And that's it? We're done? Don't they need to check your height...? Of course they do.
And that's exactly what we offer you, only instead of checking height, speed, and so on - we'll check your skills in various fields (or at least figure it out together without tests), identify your personality characteristics, weigh everything together, and then we can tell you what's really best for you.
But it's not just in the field of medicine... each profession has its own emphases and unique profile. It's critical that we don't ignore our weaknesses, and on the other hand, that we incorporate our strengths as an important, if not main, part of the decisive considerations for the profession we choose.
No serious organization or institution that conducts screening tests as part of the admission process for work or studies skips this check. Moreover, most of them do waive other tests and leave the considerations for which the applicant chooses these studies over others in the hands of the applicant, but they do not waive the skills check in any way. So how is it possible that a system checking suitability for studies does skip this?
LogiPass's system is the only one that provides a professional and comprehensive response to this aspect as well. It allows the advisee to examine their skills against those required in any profession in which they have an interest.
At LogiPass, academic guidance is not just about understanding the preferences and aspirations of the advisee, this part is actually free! Our system incorporates precise skills tests that help assess the advisee's suitability for the recommended course of study. Our skills tests cover all the skills required in each profession separately, including analytical ability, logical thinking, memory, verbal ability, technical understanding, numerical ability, spatial ability, and much more.
For those who don't want to be tested, there's even an option to input their abilities into the system as they know themselves, and receive initial feedback from the system regarding their suitability for various professions, with the option to take the tests at a later stage to refine the result.
By incorporating cognitive skills in the guidance process, LogiPass offers a more accurate academic guidance experience, based not only on what the advisee wants to study, but also on what they are capable of studying and succeeding in. This knowledge allows us to provide the highest level of personalized recommendations, and to direct the examinee to a course of study in which they can excel and realize their full potential.
We would be happy to hear your opinion!
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