There has been more disagreement as to the proper location of this test than of any other test of the Binet scale. Binet placed it in year XII of the 1908 scale, but shifted it to year XV in 1911. Kuhlmann retains it in year XII, while Goddard drops it down to year XI. However, when we examine the actual statistics for normal children we do not find very marked disagreement, and such disagreement as is present can be largely accounted for by variations in procedure and by differing conclusions drawn from identical data. In the first place, Binet gave but one trial. This, of course, makes the test much harder than when three trials are given and only two successes are required. To make one trial equal in difficulty to three trials we should perhaps need to demand only two rhymes, instead of three, in the one trial. In the second place, the word used by Binet (obeissance) is much harder than one-syllable words like day, mill, and spring. Finally, the wide shift of the test from year XII to year XV was not justified by the statistics of Binet himself, and the figures of Kuhlmann and Goddard are really in exceptionally close agreement with our own, notwithstanding the fact that Goddard required three successes instead of two. In four series of tests, considered together, we have found 62 per cent passing at year IX, 81 per cent at year X, 83 per cent at year XI, and 94 per cent at year XII.
IX, Alternative test 1: naming the months
Procedure. Simply ask the subject to “name all the months of the year.” Do not start him off by naming one month; give no look of approval or disapproval as the months are being named, and make no suggestions or comments of any kind.
When the months have been named, we “check up” the performance by asking: “What month comes before April?” “What month comes before July?” “What month comes before November?”
Scoring. Passed if the months are named in about fifteen or twenty seconds with no more than one error of omission, repetition, or displacement, and if two out of the three check questions are answered correctly. Disregard place of beginning.
Remarks. Some are inclined to consider this test of little value, because of its supposed dependence on accidental training. With this opinion we cannot fully agree. The arguments already given in favor of the retention of [naming the days of the week] (year VII), apply equally well in the present case. It has been shown, however, that age, apart from intelligence, does have some effect on the ability to name the months. Defective adults of 9-year intelligence do about as well with it as normal children of 10-year intelligence.
The test appears in year X of Binet’s 1908 scale and in year IX of the 1911 revision. Goddard places it correctly in year IX, while Kuhlmann and Bobertag have omitted it.
IX, Alternative test 2: counting the value of stamps
Procedure. Place before the subject a cardboard on which are pasted three 1-cent and three 2-cent stamps arranged as follows: 111222. Be sure to lay the card so that the stamps will be right side up for the child. Say: “You know, of course, how much a stamp like this costs (pointing to a 1-cent stamp). And you know how much one like this costs (pointing to a 2-cent stamp). Now, how much money would it take to buy all these stamps?”
Do not tell the individual values of the stamps if these are not known, for it is a part of the test to ascertain whether the child’s spontaneous curiosity has led him to find out and remember their values. If the individual values are known, but the first answer is wrong, a second trial may be given. In such cases, however, it is necessary to be on guard against guessing.