Essential for evaluating the learning progress and retention of students, cognitive tests (like the SAT®) are the most common assessments in our world today. There are also cognitive assessments for appraising knowledge in the workplace, whether for pre-employment or employee management (like the Wonderlic Cognitive Ability Test).
Cognitive assessments don’t answer questions about what motivates a person or what they want (personality), nor do they uncover natural talents and explain the driving force behind how people get things done (conation). Their purpose is to report on someone’s knowledge or skill in a particular area and their ability to remember it at a specific moment in time. A person’s cognitive abilities change whenever they gain knowledge or learn new skills.
