Army General Classification Test

The Army General Classification Test (AGCT) has a long history that runs parallel with research and means for attempting the assessment of intelligence or other abilities.

World War I and World War II created the need for this type of testing and provided a large body of test subjects. The early emphasis (World War I) was on determining the level of literacy amongst a heterogeneous group. Subsequent testing targeted aptitude in order to better fill roles, such as those provided by officers who obtained commissions from other than the United States military academies, or to meet the need for increasingly complicated skills that came along with technological progress, especially after World War II.

As with other measurement attempts, the AGCT ran into controversy during the era of the Vietnam conflict. Yet, the requirement did not abate, leading to improvements in the application and use of the standard testing methodology.

The modern variant of this test is the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) that was first administered in 1960.

Many high IQ societies, such as Mensa, can map their entrance requirements to early AGCT scores. The AGCT was of interest to researchers due to the broad nature of the testee domain.