• Achievement - What you have accomplished (in the past)- You won an award last year.
• Ability - What you can currently demonstrate ( now in the present) -You can do algebra well.
• Aptitude - The quickness or ease with which you can learn (in the future) - You want to learn to swim.

There are nine different kinds of aptitudes. To help you estimate your aptitudes, they are reported in 5 levels. The levels are defined as follows:

Level	Explanation
1 = Top 10%	An extremely high degree of aptitude
2 = Highest , excluding top 10%	Above average or high degree of aptitude
3 = third of the Population	A medium degree of aptitude or average
4 = The lowest third, or below average	Below average aptitude
5 = The lowest 10% of the population	Very litte aptitude

A brief note before you begin reviewing the various aptitudes below.

Everyone has different aptitudes for different things. Try to be honest with yourself as you review the aptitudes below. You may have a high aptitude for math, but not be good at working with your hands. Nobody is good at everything. The reverse is also true, so don't worry if your estimates aren't the highest in every aptitude. Estimating your aptitudes is not a test. You can't pass or fail. Once you begin looking at some of the careers included in Looking at Careers, it will help you compare your estimated aptitudes to those necessary for average successful performance of a given career.

G - General Learning Ability

The ability to "catch on" or understnad instructions and underlying principles; the ability to reason, and make judgements.

Example: Closely related to doing well in school.

V - Verbal Aptitude

The ability to understand the meaning of words and to use them effectively. The ability to understand relationships between words and to understand the meaning of whole sentences and paragraphs.

Example: Writing a play or reading a newspaper article and being able to understand what you read.

N - Numerical Aptitude

The ability to perform arithmeetic operations quickly and accurately.

Example: How well you can use numbers or balance a checkbook or read a graph.

S - Spatial Aptitude

The ability to think visually of geometric forms and to comprehend the two-dimensional representation of three-dimensional objects. The ability to recognize the relationships resulting from the movement of objects in space.

Example: making a dress from a pattern or parallel parking your car.

P - Form Perception

The ability to perceive pertinent detail in objects or in pictorial or graphic material. Ability to make visual comparisons and discriminations and see slight differences in shapes and shading of figures and widths and lengths of lines.

Examples: inspecting a piece of glass for scratches or using a microscope or when using different colors in an advertisement.

Q - Clerical Perception

The ability to perceive detail in verbal or tabular material. Ability to observe differences in copy, to proofread words and numbers, and to avoid perceptual errors in arithmetic computation. A measure of speed or perception is required in many industrial jobs even when the job does not have verbal or numerical content.

Examples: Using math in lab experiment or reading meters or following orders in medical reports or doing accounting or making room reservations.

K - Motor Coordination

The ability to coordinate eyes and hands or fingers rapidly and accurately in making precise movements with speed. Ability to make movement response accurately and swiftly.

Examples: Operating a machine, being an athlete or typing a letter or assembling a product.

F - Finger Dexterity

The ability to move fingers, and manipulate small objects with fingers, rapidly or accurately.

Examples: Playing a musical instrument or sewing a dress or cutting someone's hair.

M - Manual Dexterity

The ability to move hands easily and skillfully. Ability to work with hands in placing and turning motions.

Examples: Driving a fork-lift truck, turning knobs and levels on a control panel, or climbing ladders to paint houses.