Peace Corps Application Test
I remember taking it almost two years before entering the Peace Corps. Would also be fun to look at the…
Peace Corps Test
In the early days of the Peace Corps there was a Placement Test given to all applicants. Actually it was two tests. A 30-minute General Aptitude Test and a 30-minute Modern Language Aptitude Test. The areas of testing were in Verbal Aptitude, Agriculture, English, Health Sciences, Mechanical Skills, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Mathematics, World History, Literature, United States History and Institutions, and Modern Language Aptitude. One-hour achievement tests in French and Spanish were also offered during the second hour. The instruction pamphlet that accompanied the tests said that the results would be used “to help find the most appropriate assignment for each applicant.”
For those who missed the opportunity to take the tests, which were given in the early days of the agency, I am including a few of the questions. Let’s see if you could still get into the Peace Corps.
- Verbal Aptitude
The question below consists of a word printed in capital letters, followed by five words or phrases lettered A through E. Choose the lettered word or phrase which is most nearly opposite in meaning to the word in capital letters.
LABORIOUS:
(A) stationary
(B) free
(C) automatic
(D) common
(E) easy
- Agriculture
After a seven year period of drought, an area had so much rain that floods were common. However, farms in these areas were still considered to be drought-stricken because
(A) Farmers had not had time to plant and harvest any crops
(B) The water table had not been raised significantly
(C) The economic losses had not been made up
(D) The floods had washed away the topsoil
(E) The large reservoirs had not yet been filled to capacity
- Mechanical Skills
In this part solve the problem, using any available space on the page for scratchwork. Then indicate the one correct answer in the appropriate space on the answer sheet.
What does 28 feet of wire weigh, if 154 feet weighs 11 pounds?
(A) 2 lb.
(B) 28/11 lb.
(C) 11/2 lb.
(D) 7 lb.
(E) 14 lb.
- United States History and Institutions
Upon which of the following did Jefferson base his argument for American independence in the Declaration of Independence?
(A) The rights of the colonists as Englishmen and British subjects
(B) The natural rights of man everywhere
(C) British neglect of the American colonies
(D) The absence of a written British constitution
(E) Britain’s indiscriminate disregard for procedural rights
5a. Literature Test
“The Hero as Divinity, the Hero as Prophet, are productions of old ages; not to be repeated in the new. They presuppose a certain rudeness of conception, which the progress of mere scientific knowledge puts an end to. There needs to be, as it were, a world vacant, or almost vacant of scientific forms, if men in their loving wonder are to fancy their fellow-man either a god or one speaking with the voice of a god.”
On the basis of content and style, the passage can be judged to be the work of:
(A) Swinburne
(B) Arnold
(C) Carlyle
(D) Macaulay
(E) Ruskin
5b.
‘Tis late to hearken, late to smile,
But better late than never:
I shall have lived a little while
Before I die for ever.
Among other things, in these lines the poet is expressing his belief that
(A) a man should counterfeit cheer in preparing himself for death
(B) life is bitter, but must be endured
(C) old age makes a man impatient for death
(D) it is never too late to repent one’s misdeeds
(E) there is no life after death
- Health Sciences
The question below is followed by five suggested answers. Select the one which is best.
Which of the following would be the most satisfactory nutritional substitute for fresh orange juice?
(A) Fresh apple juice
(B) Fresh carrot juice
(C) Bottle prune juice
(D) Canned pineapple juice
(E) Canned grapefruit juice
- Physics
A helium-filled toy balloon is tied by a 3-foot string to the bottom of a closed box so that the balloon occupies the exact center of the box. The box is then given a sudden shove. While the box is accelerating, the position of the balloon is
(A) in back of its starting position
(B) in front of the center of the box
(C) between the center of the box and its starting position
(D) at the center of the box
(E) at its starting position
- World History
“The Calvinists were inclined to a democratic outlook by the circumstance that, for the most part, they remained a minority and were thus not able to prescribe the mode of life and religion of a whole region.”
Which of the following was probably among the regions which the author had in mind when he made this statement?
(A) Scotland
(B) France
(C) The Dutch Netherlands
(D) Geneva
(E) New England
Answers
1. (E)
2. (B)
3. (A)
4. (B)
5a. (C)
5b. (E)
6. (E)
7. (B)
8. (B)
I entered the Peace Corps in 1963 and have no memory of this test
On the test I took there was something in the language section that had to do with the Kurds. First time I had ever heard of them.
Am thinking it’s time to tell about my later experience — maybe 10 years later — with actual Kurds. Nothing yet — but chreck my Facebook page after a bit.
I entered the Peace Corps in the summer of 1968. I know I DID take a test (tests?); however, I don’t recall anything like the one above. I know I did sit for a language aptitude test.
I took the test in the basement of the Post Office in Boulder, Colorado, in the spring of 1963. I do not remember these questions. but then I don’t know that I remember any of the questions. If these were typical, I never would have made it.
I loved the language aptitude part where they gave you words which were made up and you had to learn this “vocabulary” and use it in some questions. The only word I still remember is “roo” which meant art. The only reason is I remember this is that my roommate took the test 6 months earlier and told me about this section and that he remembered that “roo” was art.
John, this was unkind. I got three—three!—right. I have no memory of this test and don’t think I took it, luckily.
I remember taking it almost two years before entering the Peace Corps. Would also be fun to look at the version of the MMPI that we took in training. Do you have soft spots in your head?