APA Dictionary of Psychology

a multiple-choice assessment of verbal and nonverbal reasoning abilities that are predictors of success in school. Available in different levels for students in kindergarten through grade 12, it currently consists of various tasks (e.g., defining words, detecting likenesses and differences, following directions, recalling words and numbers) designed to measure verbal comprehension, and verbal, pictorial, figural, and quantitative reasoning. The OLSAT was originally published in 1979 as a modification and replacement of the earlier Otis–Lennon Mental Ability Test, which itself was a revision of the Otis Quick Scoring Mental Ability Tests (originally published in the mid-1930s). Now in its eighth edition (published in 2003), the OLSAT is usually administered in groups. [Arthur S. Otis (1886–1963) and Roger T. Lennon (1916–1985), U.S. psychologists]