A REVISION O F THE BINET SCALE F O R INDIAN

CHILDREN
( KANARESEA N D MARATHI SPEA K IN G ).
BY V . V . KAMAT
(Defiartment of Education, University of Edinburgh).
I.--Intelligence testing i n India.
11.-The present revision.
111.-Method of allocating the tests to ages.
1V.-Table of age assignments compared with previous revisions.
V.-Correlation of items with M . A . from the whole test, and with other
criteria.

I.-~NTELLIGENCE
TESTING

IN INDIA.

THOUGH
intelligence testing after Binet has been more than two decades
old in western countries, it is regrettable that very little work in this
field has been done in India up to date. The result is that the vast field
of research in the educational field which is open to workers in western
countries is shut down for workers in India. These mental tests to be
of any great value must be rendered into the vernaculars of the different
provinces of In&a. The multiplicity of these vernacular languages
need not be any great hindrance in the way of the development of tests,
for each region covered by the major languages of India will be as large
as a country in Europe. The most important study htherto undertaken
in this country is that of Professor C. Herbert Rice, of Lahore, who has
worked in Hindustani and has adapted the Binet Scale into a Point
Scale.* As Professor Rice himself says : In the standardizing of these
tests 1,070 boys, varying in age from 5 to 16, all attending school, were
examined. This is, however, not a very comprehensive scale, as it is
only a point scale and not a n age scale. Secondly, the children tested
by him were all above five years in age, and ages below this level, which
are psychologically the most important, are left untouched. Lastly, all
the children tested by him were boys and none of the other sex. Mention
must also be made in this connection of the Government of Indias
Pamphlet No. 28, Revised Series of Mental Intelligence Tests for
Indian Scholars. This is an attempt to collate the fragmentary work
done by various workers in all parts of India.

*A

Hindustani Binet-Performance Scalc.-Oxford University Press. 9s.

296

V. V. KAMAT

297

II.-THE PRESENT REVISION.

This state of things led the writer to undertake a thorough revision
of the Binet Scale. For this purpose the Stanford Revision of the scale
was closely followed. The locality selected for the experiment was the
town of Dharwar, in the Bombay Presidency. This is a middle-sized
town with a population of a little over 30,000. The children of this town
were expected to be neither very advanced like those of the busy cities
like Bombay, nor very backward like those of the out-of-the-way villages.
The children tested in this experiment, therefore, represent very well the
general population of Indian children. The tests were first of all translated into the two languages : Kanarese and Marathi. These languages
between them cater to the wants of more than half of the Bombay
Presidency, a large part of the Central Provinces, the whole of the Mysore
State, and a part of the Presidency of Madras. Some of the tests and
material of the scale were unsuitable for Indian children, and had to be
replaced, and some had to be Indianized. Thus Indian coins are substituted for American coins ; the pictures required for the -Esthetic
Comparison and Missing Features Tests are given an Indian appearance,
while retaining the original Binet features ; pictures representing Indian
life are substituted for pictures of western life in the Description of
Pictures Test ; the Slip-knot is substituted for the Bow-knot ; the
Vocabulary Test is made up from the words in Xanarese and Xarathi
Dictionaries ; in the test of Repeating Syllables the original passages
are translated into the Indian vernaculars, retaining the original meaning
and difficulty and obtaining the same number of syllables ; in the test of
Finding Rhymes the vernacular words selected are very similar to the
ori@al in sound, a conjunct consonant being substituted for a conjunct
consonant and a nasal for a nasal; in the words for Definitions and
Differences of Abitract Terms, words having the original sense are
selected as far as possible, but in some cases the negative terms are used
for the positive when the positive terms were found to be ambiguous
or were used in more than one sense in the vernacular ; in the Dissected
Sentences, the number of words in the vernacular are kept the same as
in the original as far as possible, and the sentences are dissected in the
same way ; in Reversing the Hands of Clock Test 11-10 is substituted for
8-10, as the latter was found to be rather ambiguous ; the test Giving
Differences between a Patil and a Kulkarni (Village Headman and
Village Accountant) is substituted for the test Differences between a
President and a King ; an entirely new Indian code is substituted for the
English code (the characterJ in the Indian script are written altogether
on a dfferent style from the English script) ; a new form of Binets
Reversing Triangle in Imagination is added.

298

Mental Tests f o r I n d i a n Children

Some of the tests that were not timed either by Binet or Terman
are carefully timed in this revision. This makes the tests more accurate,
and, besides, if they are not so timed the esaminer is at a loss t o know
when exactly to stop and proceed to the next test. This is a very great
practical difficulty. A large number of children show an appearance of
trying to solve the question and take too long a time and severd times
the answer is not forthcoming at all.

Chronological Age

Per cent passing

. ... ..

... ... ..

20

40

50

60

1 1
8,

10
100

V. V. KAMAT

299

Such is, however, never the case. The method followed in the
present revision is to take the average percentage of the year of test, the
year previous and the year after. This procedure is further checked by
the averages of a test for all the years, and care is taken to see that this
average percentage steadily alters as we ascend up the entire scale. The
real criterion, however, of the accuracy of the scale is the coincidence of
the mean mental age and the mean chronological age of every age group
of the scale ; or, what comes to the same thing, the mean I.Q. of every
age group in the different parts of the scale is as nearly as possible 100.
The following table gives the Mean I.Q. and the Standard Deviation of
the different groups in the entire age range.

Chronological Age.

2 to 3 years 11 months

..........

Mean I.Q.

Standard
Deviation.

N o . of
Children.

104.8

15 .O

75

17-1

104

16.0

158

20 -5

162

10 to 1 1 years 11 months . . . . . . . . . .

99.8

23 .O

196

12 to 13 years 1 1 months . . . . . . . . . .

102.9

18.8

167

15.2

212

1074

It will be seen that the standard deviation of I.Q.s for the entire
group is 18.7, while Terman found it to be somewhere near 13 for his
group. This means that the Indian children studied in the present
experiment are scattered to the extent of about one and a half times more
widely about the mean than Termans American children. Further, the
scatter of these children about the mean is widest in the middle of the
age range, that is, between the years eight and twelve, and it becomes
narrower both at the upper and the lower end. Fig. I gives graphically
the distribution of the I.Q.s of 1,074 children tested in the present study.

300

Mental Tests f o r Indian Children

1
FIG. 1.
DISTRIBUTION
OF 1,074

C ~ I L D R E N OF BOTH SEXES FROM TWO YEARS

OF AGE ,TO ADULTS.

V. V. KAMAT

Fig. 2 gives the distribution of 745 children between 5 and 14 years

of age, with Termans distribution for the same group superposed in dotted
lines for easy comparison.

----I

-T . $3
OF I.Q.S
DJSTRIBUTION

Y E A R S OF AGE.

FIG.2.
745 UNSELECTED CHILDREN FIVE TO FOURTEEN
TERMANS
CORRESPONDING DISTRIBUTION
IS

OF

SUPERPOSED I N DOTTED LINES.

302

Mental Tests for Indian Children

Fig. 3 is a similar histogram worked out for adults for comparison

with Termans.

FIG. 3.
DISTRIBUTION
OF

MENTAL AGES O F NINETY-NINE ADULTS.

TERMANS

CORRESPONDING DISTRIBUTION IS SUPERPOSED I N DOTTED LINES.

v. v. KAMAT
IV.-TABLE

OF AGE ASSIGNMENTS

303

COMPARED WITH PREVIOUS

REVISIONS.

The following is the scale of tests arranged as a result of the present

study.
THESE TESTS A R E TO BE GIVEN I N T H E VERNACULAR. T H E Y ARE
STANDARDIZED FROM T H E RESULTS OF 1,074 CHILDREN OF BOTH
SEXES EXAMINED INDIVIDUALLY.

THE MEAN OF THE INTELLIGENCE QUOTIENTS OF THE CHILDREN ON THIS SCALE

IS 99.8 AND THE STANDARD DEVIATION 18.7. FURTHER
STATISTICS AND THE TEXT
OF THE SCALE AND PROCEDURE ARE BEING PUBLISHED SEPARATELY m BOOK FORM.
Age Assignment by Previous
Workem.
Name of Test and Year.

YEAR 111.

......

I11

I11

I11

1 near11

..............

IV

I11

I11

.98

..........

I11

I11

.93

........

I11

I11

I11

.96

Repeating six t o seven syllables. .

I11

I11

IV

49

Comparison of lines

IV

IV

IV

96

Mt. 1

Giving sex

............
....................

IV

I11

I11

.95

4lt. 3

Giving proper name

............

I nearly

IV

I11

IV

.93

.... -

IV

.98

IV

.93

439

Pointing t o parts of body

Naming objects

Repeating two digits

Enumeration of pictures

YEAR IV.

..........

Repeating three digits

Discrimination of forms

Comprehension, first degree

Repeating 12 to 13 syllables..

Counting four pice

Copying a square

Alt.

........

..

............
..............

Comparison of two weights

....

IV

0 syl
V

0 syl

IV

IV

.98

IV

.96

a.

- - -

Mental Tests f o r I n d i a n Children

304

A g e Assignment by Previous
Workers.

c
>

Name of Tesi and Year.

r.

__

F9

&thetic

YEAR V.
comparison . . . . . . . . . .

VI

IV

VI

VI

Definitions : use . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

VI

VI

VII

Three commissions . . . . . . . . . . . .

VII

VI

VI

Right and left

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . VII

VI

VI

VII

Naming four coins

............

VI

VI

VII?

Counting thirteen pice

........

VI

VI

VI

VI

VIII

Alt. 1

Forenoon and afternoon . . . . . . . .

VI

VI

VII

VI

Alt. 2

Giving family name

............

I11

I11

I11

Alt. 3

Giving age

VI

....................

YEAR VI.
Repeating four digits . . . . . . . . . .

IV

Comprehension, second degree . ,

VI

Divided card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

VI

VI

VIII

Giving number of fingers

.....

VII

VI

VII

Description of pictures . . . . . . . . .

VII

VII

VI

VII

Missing features. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

VIII

VI

VII

VII

VIII

.............

VII

VIII

VIII

VI

VI

VI

VI

VII

VI

VII

VIII

VII

Alt.
1

Naming colours

YEAR VII.
Repeating sixteen to eighteen
syllables ....................

........... ,

Copying a diamond

Repeating three digits reversed.

Naming days of week

Counting backwards

Giving differences from memory.

Alt.

Giving day of week and day of

month ....................

.........
VII
VI
VIII
30 t o 1 . . . . VIII VIII VIII VIII VIII

VIII

VII

VII

VIII

VII
-

V. V. KAMAT

305

Age Assignment by Previous

Wolkers.

YEAR 1711.
Finding value of coins . . . . . . . . .

.II

VII

VII

VII

VI

VII

VIII

VIII

IX?

IX?

IX?

VIII

IX?

X?

Tying a slip-knot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ball and field . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . -

VIII

IX?

VIII

..............

Naming six coins

Reading and report two facts,

ten errors, two minutes ......

Alt. 1
Alt. 2
1

YEAR IX.
Repeating four digits, reversed

Making change

VII

VIII? VIII?

..

IX

................

IX?

IX

VIII?

IX?

Giving similarities : two things..

VIII

Using three words in a sentence..

XI1

IX

XI

XIXI1

Reading and report : six facts,

five errors, one minute.. ......

IX

X?

Free association : --five

words in three minutes.

..... ...... -

IX

IX

IX

IX

IX

XI1

XIXI1

IX?

VIII?

IX?

Alt.
1

Vocabulary. twenty words

YEAR X.
Arranging five weights

.........

Repeating twenty t o twentytwo syllables ..............

.. ........ VIII?

Alt. I

Vocabulary, twenty-five words

Alt. 2

Giving month and year

---

Mental Tests for I n d i a n Children

306

Age Assignmenf by Previous

Workers.

c
6

Name of Test and Year.

YEAR XII.
Detecting absurdities ..........

Construction puzzle

............

Defining abstract words

........
Repeating five digits backwards. .

XI1

Interpretation of fables, four

marks ......................

XII

......
......

Interpretation of pictures

Alt. 1

Vocabulary, thirty words

Alt. 2

Repeating six digits one out

three ......................

01

Comprehension, fourth degree..

..

Alt. 3

X II

XI1

X?

YEAR XIV.
Induction test . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Dissected sentences

s
XIV

............
Arithmetical reasoning ........
Problem of enclosed boxes ......

XVI

Giving similarities : three things. .

XI1

Ball and field : superior plan..

Alt.

Vocabulary, forty words

XI1

XI.v

XI1

........

YEAR XVI (ADULT).

Interpretation of fables : eight
marks ......................

Reversing hands of clock

Giving differences: Patil anc

Kulkarni ....................

Ad.

XIV?

..

XVI

...........

xv

XIV

.....

Repeating six digits reversed.

Problem questions

Repeating seven digits one out o

........................
Vocabulary, forty-five words ....
two

Alt. 1

Alt. 2

Free association: sixty words u

three minutes

..............

XV?
-

XI1

Ii

XIV

. -

V. V. KAMAT

307

Age Assignment by Previous

Worhers.

hame of Test and Year.

........

Repeating 30 syllables

Reversing triangle in imagination : Kew Form . . . . . . . . . .

49

XIX

65

Ad.

XVI

.78

Ad.

XIX

63
.89

xv

XVI

6 syl.

8 syl.

55

-89

YEAR XXII
(VERYSUPERIOR
ADULT).

Comprehenslon
of
physica
relations ....................

XVI

.75

Repeating eight digits.

.........

XIX

.93

Repeating thought of passage

heard ......................

4d.

XIX?

42

Reversing triangle in imagina

tion : Binets Form.. ........

Ad.

Repeating seven digits reversed.

XIX

Free association : eighty word!

in three minutes . . . . . . . . . . .

Alt.

Vocabulary, sixty \\-ords

........ -

- I

i-

-83
.7

-I-

I nearly
.89

__
N.B.-The sign (?) indicates that the results are not strictly comparable for
some reason or other.

It will be seen that I have added one more age group, viz., for Very
Superior Adult (Age XXII) to get the upper end extended as far above
the mean I.Q. as the lower end is below the same.

308

Mental Tests for I n d i a n Children

V.-CORRELATION

OF ITEMS WITH M.A. FROM THE WHOLE

TEST, A N D

WITH

OTHER CR1TERI.I.

Lastly, to test the validity of the tests we have not only to see
that the percentage of children that pass the test should steadily increase
from year to year, but we have to see that each test correlates highly with
other known valid criteria of intelligence. We have thus to correlate
each of these tests with teachers estimate or with the mental age of the
child as determined by the scale as a whole. Some tests that were found
t o be of doubtful value from this point of view are relegated to the group
of alternative tests. From this point of view Binets Test of Free Association-giving sixty words in three minutes-was found to .be most
deceptive. From the percentage required for passing this test it was
found to be difficult even for the Adult Group ; but a few children even
of a low mental age gave sometimes a score much beyond sixty. The
difficulty then arises as to whether we should give a plus for this test in
the sixteenth year group even though the child may fail in all the tests,
as, for instance, from the tenth year onwards. The test has, therefore,
been put in the sixteenth year only as an alternative test. The mean
and median scores of this test fa-all ages have also been worked out,
and,as a result, the test is included in the ninth year group with a score
of thirty-five and in the Very Superior Group with a score of eighty
words. At these two extremes it is found to be a sufficiently valid test.
The correlations of the individual tests with Mental Age as determined
by the scale as a whole are given in the last column of the Table
of Age Assignments.
I

LECHELLE BINET POUR DES ENFANTS

INDIENS.
Lauteur a traduit les tests de Ibchelle Binet en deux langues indiennes, le
Karanese et le Marathi, et il a Bgalement adapt6 la matiere des tests (images, etc.)
aux conditions indiennes.
I1 les a exp6rimentbs sur 1074 enfants et jeunes personnes de la region de
Dhanvar, Bombay Presidency, et. p a des m6thodes bas6es sur celles du Professeur
Cyril Burt, il a distribu6 les tests de 16chelle A des figes van&.
11 donne en forme de tableau sa propre distribution en ajoutant. comme base
de cornparaison, ceux dautres travailleurs. Son test, ainsi construit, fournit un
I.Q.moyen de 99.8 pour legroupeentierde 1074sujets,avecunBcartdtalonde187,la
moyenne oscillant (A cause de l6chantillonnage) entre 95.5 et 104.8 chez les dadrents
groupes dfige, mais restant, pour la plupart, assez stable avec lige croissant.
Lauteur a ajoute encore un groupe de tests pour Adultes dune Sup6rioritBMarquee
(Bge 22) afin d6tendre symm6triquement lenvergure d u quotient dintelligence
au dessus de la moyenne comme au dessous delle. Des chiffres suppl6mentaire.s
et le texte du test seront publies sBpar6ment.
UN REMANIEMENT DE

309
ZUSAMMENFASSUNG.

EINE BEARBEITUNG DER BINETSKALA FUR INDISCHE

(KANARESISCH UND MARATHI SPRECHENDE) KINDER.
Der Verfasser hat die Einzelheiten der Binetintelligenztests in zwei indische
Sprachen, Kanaresisch und Marathi, iibersetzt und hat auch den Stoff der Tests
(Bilder, usw.) indischen Zustanden angepasst. E r hat die Tests 1074 Kindern
und jungen Menschen in der Dharwargegend, Bombayer Prkkidentschaft, gegeben
und durch Methoden, die auf denen des Professors Cyril Burt basieren. hat er die
Einzelheiten des Tests verschiedenen Altersstufen angepasst.
In einer Tafel gibt er seine eigenen Aufgaben fiir verschiedene Lebensalter samt
denen vorhergehender Forscher zum Vergleich. Sein auf diese Weise aufgebauter
Test gab einen hlittelwert-Intelligenzquotienten von 99.8 far die ganze Gruppe von
1074 Kindern mit einer Standardabweichung von 18,7 Punkten : wegen der Stichproben variierte der Mittelwvert zwischen 95.5 und 104.8 bei den verschiedenen
Altersgruppen. aber im grossen und ganzen blieb er mit zunehmendem Alter stetig.
Der Verfasser hat noch eine Testgruppe hinzugefiigt, und m a r fur hdher begabte
Erwachsene (Alter 5 2 ) . uxn das oberste Ende der Rangordnung des Intelligenzquotienten ebenso weit iiber den Mittelwert hinauszuschieben wie das unterste Ende
darunter liegt. Weitere Statistiken und der Test des Tests sollen getrennt
veraffentlicht werden.