| ★ APPLICATIONS ★ DIVERS ★ PERSONAL EXCELLENCE PACKAGE ★ |
Full of PEP (Amstrad Action) | Personal Excellence Package (Amstrad Computer User) |
How much do you really know about yourself? Never fear, Dr David George is here with a little psychiatry DO you fancy finding out what you always wanted to know but didn't dare to ask? Would you like to have a bit of fun at the same time? If so, the Personal Excellence Package - PEP - from lansyst could be just the thing for you. PEP is a set of various kinds of question-and-answer tests, 12 in all, each designed to tell you a little more about your behaviour. The tests have been grouped into four main sections: four intelligence tests, two personality tests, three performance monitoring tests, and three mental exercises. Mental The first mental exercise is supposed to measure your X factor, the mysterious quality that the opposite sex finds irresistible. Actually, it is just a series of questions designed to test how good you are at arithmetic and logic. In the second of the mental exercises you have to type a series of sentences as quickly as you can, after which you are given some indication of your typing speed in words per minute. Then the program suggests a way of improving your speed and advises you to buy one of a number of typing improvement programs.
The third mental exercise is designed to see how good your short-term memory is. You are given an IQ equivalent for your efforts. This a load of baloney because there is no way of measuring IQ just from memory. David is shorter than Cyril. Cheap is the opposite of: Type in the 3-letter sequence which comes next in the series. Figure II: Test your own IQ The intelligence tests are the ones which take most time. There are four of them, which you are recommended to take on four separate days. You have to do mind-bending things like deciding which shapes could and could not be folded into cubes, and working out who is the tallest or shortest person after being given the appropriate information. There are 100 questions in each of the four 20-minute tests. At the end of each one you're given some kind of IQ score, and there's also a fuller analysis of your achievement after you've completed all four tests. Personality The personality tests are in two parts - one tells you all about your public persona, and the other about your private persona. The public persona test is concerned with the tough side of your personality, the qualities which make you a good leader or manager and may help you to get ahead in life. The private persona test is concerned with the tender side of your personality; the qualities which make you a worthwhile friend and an enjoyable person to be with. Or so says the introduction to these tests. It goes on to say that "... unlike the IQ tests, these assessments can be done profitably more than once". This seems to me like a nice way of telling us that if we don't like what we're being told about ourselves then we should be a bit more economical with the truth the next time.
Figure III: Discover your inner seit. Performance The three parts to this test are: Circadian rhythm, alcohol effects and stimulant effects. The Circadian rhythm is the natural variation in performance we show throughout the day. We are more alert at some times than at others and to show up this rhythm you're asked to press the space bar if two letters out of the four on the screen are the same. You are to play this game at as many different times of the day as possible so that a final chart can help you plan your day better. If you're teetotal, the second of these tests may prove rather problematic. The whole idea of the test is to show how alcohol affects the speed of your reactions. You have to try to keep a small square on the monitor as close as you can to a small circle that moves rapidly and erratically around the screen. The stimulants of the third performance test are nothing more exciting than coffee and medicines. All you have to do is to press the space bar as quickly as you can after a bell has sounded and then tell the program how many cups of coffee you have just consumed or pills you have taken. You are given your response rate in milliseconds. The verdict PEP is certainly a pleasant way of passing a few hours, but you soon realise though that it is much more innocent than it sounds; after about 20 hours of working through it I don't know much more about myself. As long as you don't take it too seriously and get hung up if your IQ is not up to scratch, then I recommend it. It's only a bit of fun after all. ACU #8809 |
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