The Psychologist's Book of Personality Tests: Twenty-Four Revealing Tests to Identify and Overcome

Rating:
Summary: An unfortunate waste of money
Review: I bought this book because I thought it'd be fun and interesting, but I was wrong. There were many tests which were interesting and I didn't mind taking the time to answer the forty to sixty questions. What bothered me was when I finished answering all the questions I was left completely confused. I'd find out my score for a test, but it didn't tell me if my score was a good thing or a bad thing. Instead it showed the results of other people, which I really didn't care about. I only wanted to know about my score, which I didn't get. I hope others were able to find this book helpful because I sure didn't.

Rating:
Summary: good tests, but too confusing for the "abnormal"
Review: I found this book interesting, but depressing. I think the tests in the book are great. However, the book itself does not tell how to accurately interpret unusually high or low scores, those outside of the percentiles for normal college students. Since I didn't score often in the "normal" percentile range, I had no idea how to gauge if it meant I was wonderfully unique or terribly dysfunctional. Since the author is not even sure about the meanings of some of the tests in this book, I am equally unsure. I am interested in being psychologically healthier, but not always interested in being "normal." If someone has a better approach to helping the layman interpret psychological testing I would be happy to find out about it.
I would recommend this book to someone who wants to know if they have major problems, because if you do, you will probably score way outside the percentiles. And there are a few tests that may help you see how healthy you are, if you are. The great thing is that the tests appear to be real, and the test for measuring your level of anxiety is detailed, well explained, and informative. I think the romantic love test is very accurate as well.
Needless to say, I don't think this book will help you much in overcoming your "personal barriers to a better life" like it says in the misleading subtitle. It only shows you barriers.

Rating:
Summary: good tests, but too confusing for the "abnormal"
Review: I found this book interesting, but depressing. I think the tests in the book are great. However, the book itself does not tell how to accurately interpret unusually high or low scores, those outside of the percentiles for normal college students. Since I didn't score often in the "normal" percentile range, I had no idea how to gauge if it meant I was wonderfully unique or terribly dysfunctional. Since the author is not even sure about the meanings of some of the tests in this book, I am equally unsure. I am interested in being psychologically healthier, but not always interested in being "normal." If someone has a better approach to helping the layman interpret psychological testing I would be happy to find out about it.
I would recommend this book to someone who wants to know if they have major problems, because if you do, you will probably score way outside the percentiles. And there are a few tests that may help you see how healthy you are, if you are. The great thing is that the tests appear to be real, and the test for measuring your level of anxiety is detailed, well explained, and informative. I think the romantic love test is very accurate as well.
Needless to say, I don't think this book will help you much in overcoming your "personal barriers to a better life" like it says in the misleading subtitle. It only shows you barriers.

Rating:
Summary: The first one was better!
Review: I had bought the first book Louis Janda wrote in the personality test series: 'The Psychologist's Book of Self-Tests : 25 Love, Sex, Intelligence, Career, and Personality Tests...' and I think it was better. First of all I like the different tests in THIS book, they are pretty introspective. But I DID NOT like the way the tests were scored. It was at times hard to understand and keep tract of. I wanted to take the tests and learn the answer about myself. But even when I half figured out the scoring system and added the numbers up I couldn't tell by the scoring system whether my having a high/low score was good, or bad! I only give this a "3" instead of a "2" because they tests themselves were good, and pretty easy to take. Otherwise, if you're real good at math and have plenty of patience, you'll REALLY love this book.

Rating:
Summary: Inaccurate and difficult to understanding scoring
Review: I put this book down after the eighth test out of sheer frustration. I picked it up at my local library just for something fun to do, as I know myself pretty well through my own experiences and introspection over the years. I usually enjoy personality tests, and am even sometimes surprised at the amazing accuracy of the more famous ones, such as the Myers-Briggs. I was a bit disturbed that I was finding such inaccurate answers, at the least the ones I could even understand how to score. I scored well out of the norms on every test, which I think is odd as I am college-age myself. Out of the first eight that I took, Who Controls Your Fate was probably the most accurate, and easiest to understand scoring-wise. It's just disturbing that this is a compilation of tests from various sources, and 7 out of the 8 I took had answers that I felt were pretty far off.

The scoring was also very difficult. Some of the instructions on how to score were almost impossible to decipher, which could have led to some of my obscenely off scores. Other tests would not even define what was a "good" or "bad" score, you were left to decide on your own!

The book just seems to have been quickly thrown together with very poor explanations. I suggest finding a book that delves more into one type of personality test, such as a book on Myers-Briggs or Enneagrams.