As a result of the tests, each man is rated as A, B, C+, C, C−, D, D− or E. The letter ratings are reported to the Interviewing Section of the Personnel Office, and are there copied on the Qualification Cards (in the square marked Intelligence). The Psychological Report, after the grades have been copied on the Qualification Cards, is forwarded from the Interviewing Section to the Mustering Section of the Personnel Office, where each soldier’s letter rating is copied on the second page of his Service Record. A copy of the Psychological Report is also sent by the Psychological Examiner to the Company Commander, who uses it in the organization of his company. In some camps the entering of Intelligence Grades on Service Records has been left to company commanders, but accuracy and uniformity is secured by having these grades entered in the Mustering Section of the Personnel Office when the Service Records are being started.
The psychological staff in a camp is ordinarily able to test 2,000 men per day and to report the ratings to the Personnel Office within 24 hours. Personnel Adjutants will coöperate in arranging the schedule of psychological examinations so as to secure from them maximum value (See Chapter IV for the proper coördination of the work of the Psychological Examiner with the work of other officers in a camp.)
Explanation of letter ratings.—The rating a man earns furnishes a fairly reliable index of his ability to learn, to think quickly and accurately, to analyze a situation, to maintain a state of mental alertness, and to comprehend and follow instructions. The score is little influenced by schooling. Some of the highest records have been made by men who had never completed the eighth grade. The meaning of the letter ratings is as follows:
A. Very Superior Intelligence. This grade is earned by only four or five soldiers out of a hundred. The “A” group is composed of men of marked intellectuality. “A” men are of high officer type when they are also endowed with leadership and other necessary qualities.
B. Superior Intelligence. “B” intelligence is superior, but less exceptional than that represented by “A.” The rating “B” is obtained by eight to ten soldiers out of a hundred. The group contains a good many men of the commissioned officer type and a large amount of non-commissioned officer material.
C+. High Average Intelligence. This group includes about fifteen to eighteen per cent. of all soldiers and contains a large amount of non-commissioned officer material with occasionally a man whose leadership and power to command fit him for commissioned rank.
C. Average Intelligence. Includes about twenty-five per cent. of soldiers. Excellent private type with a certain amount of fair non-commissioned officer material.
C−. Low Average Intelligence. Includes about twenty per cent. While below average in intelligence, “C−” men are usually good privates and satisfactory in work of routine nature.
D. Inferior Intelligence. Includes about fifteen per cent. of soldiers. “D” men are likely to be fair soldiers, but are usually slow in learning and rarely go above the rank of private. They are short on initiative and so require more than the usual amount of supervision. Many of them are illiterate or foreign.
D− and E. Very Inferior Intelligence. This group is divided into two classes (1) “D−” men, who are very inferior in intelligence but are considered fit for regular service; and (2) “E” men, those whose mental inferiority justifies their recommendation for Development Battalion, Special Service Organization, rejection, or discharge. The majority of “D−” and “E” men are below ten years in “mental age.”