When it comes to human capital assessment, the vast majority of the tests that we use employ some variant of a multiple choice format where candidates are asked to select from response options that we provide. However, there is another type of test, called constructed response, which is primarily used in educational settings where the test taker is asked to provide a written response to a prompt. This approach has even come to be used in many of the standardized tests that have become quite popular in K-12 settings with the advent of the No Child Left Behind Act.

Apparently, All Souls College at Oxford University in the UK had been using a similar approach for admissions testing. Here, candidates were provided with a single word prompt (like “water,” “novelty,” or “death”) and then asked to write about it for 3 hours. It was decided recently, though, that the data obtained from the test were not as useful as previously thought, and this particular test format was dropped as a result. However, in case there are concerns that All Souls is lowering its standards,  candidates still need to write essay questions on topics which include:
•    Why is a leather jacket more acceptable than a fur coat?
•    Can computers think?
•    How European was Chaucer?

Reid Klion