Critical thinking is an essential skill for individuals in any workplace. It enables candidates to analyze information, solve problems, and make sound decisions based on logic and evidence.
But why is critical thinking crucial in the workplace? Here's why:
- It leads to improved problem-solving and helps individuals to identify (and solve) complex problems that emerge in the workplace. Individuals are adept at weighing the pros and cons and making informed decisions addressing the issue.
- It leads to increased creativity, as critical thinking involves looking at problems from different perspectives and coming up with innovative solutions. This helps individuals to be more creative and resourceful in their approach to tasks and challenges.
- It leads to enhanced communication and improved teamwork. With critical thinking skills, individuals are able to express themselves clearly and logically, which enhances communication with colleagues, clients, and stakeholders. It also helps individuals to ask insightful questions and to listen actively to others.
All in all, critical thinking is a valuable skill that can help individuals be more productive, effective, and successful in the workplace.
In this blog, we will look at the top 4 critical thinking assessment tools recruiters must consider when assessing potential candidates.
Top-4 Critical Thinking Assessment Tools: Features + Review + Price
#1.iMocha 
iMocha is a comprehensive online assessment platform that is an excellent tool for measuring the candidate's critical thinking skills. It is reliable, comprehensive, customizable, easy to use, and provides automated scoring and reporting.
Top Features
- Valid and Reliable: iMocha’s cognitive assessments have been designed by experts in the field. The tests are designed to be valid and reliable, ensuring that they accurately measure the critical thinking skills of the test taker.
- Comprehensive Test Library: The tool has a comprehensive test library with 2500+ skills tests, which includes a wide range of critical thinking tests designed to measure various aspects of critical thinking, such as cognitive ability, for instance. The tests are updated regularly to ensure that they remain current and relevant.
- Customizable Tests: The platform allows you to customize the tests to suit your specific needs. You can choose the tests that are most relevant to your organization and customize the questions to ensure that they reflect your specific requirements.
- Easy to Use: iMocha is easy to use, both for the test taker and the administrator. The platform is intuitive and user-friendly, and the tests can be taken online from anywhere in the world.
- Automated Scoring and Reporting: It provides automated scoring and reporting, which saves time and ensures that the results are accurate. The reports are easy to read and provide valuable insights into the critical thinking skills of the test taker.
- Anti-cheating mechanism: To prevent cheating during assessments, iMocha offers several cheating prevention features such as screen monitoring, randomized questions, browser lockdown, webcam monitoring, and more.
- Targeted cognitive assessment for each role: iMocha realises that each role is different so cognitive capabilities required for each role will be different too. Because of this reason, iMocha also offers consultancy to determine what abilities would help your employees succeed in their roles. Here’s a quick example of how you can map these abilities with different job roles:
G2 Review + Rating: 4.4 out of 5 stars on G2
Pricing
- Starts at $95 for 5 test attempts and goes up to $2,999 for 500 test attempts
- Customized enterprise plans available
#2.Mettl
Mettl offers a variety of assessments to measure candidates' skills, including critical thinking. These assessments aim to evaluate a candidate's ability to analyze, evaluate, and synthesize information to make logical conclusions.
Top Features
- Multiple question types: Mettl's critical thinking assessment includes multiple-choice questions, scenario-based questions, and fill-in-the-blank questions to evaluate candidates' critical thinking skills.
- Adaptive testing: The platform uses adaptive testing, which means that the difficulty of the questions adjusts to the candidate's performance.
- Customizable assessments: The assessments can be customized to match the specific requirements of the organization, including the level of difficulty and the number of questions.
- Real-time reporting: Mettl's assessment platform provides real-time reporting on candidates' performance, including scores and detailed analysis of their critical thinking abilities.
- Comparison with global standards: Mettl's critical thinking assessment benchmarks candidates' performance against global standards to ensure that the results are accurate and reliable.
- Accessibility: The critical thinking assessment can be taken online, making it accessible to candidates from anywhere in the world.
G2 Review + Rating: 4.4 out of 5 stars
Pricing
- Available on request
#3.Criteriacorp
CriteriaCorp is an online testing company that offers a variety of assessments to help companies evaluate job candidates. Its Critical Thinking test is popular, which measures a candidate's ability to analyze information, evaluate arguments, and draw conclusions.
Top Features
- Multiple question types: The test includes different question types, such as multiple choice, true/false, and matching, to assess different aspects of critical thinking.
- Adaptive testing: The test adapts to the candidate's skill level as they progress, presenting more difficult questions to those who answer correctly and easier ones to those who don't.
- Timed assessment: The test is timed, with a 30-minute limit, to assess candidates' ability to think under pressure.
- Online delivery: The test is administered online, making it easy for candidates to take it from anywhere with an internet connection.
- Score reports: After taking the test, candidates receive a detailed report that provides insight into their strengths and weaknesses and compares their scores to others who have taken the test.
- Customizable: The test can be customized to fit the specific needs of an organization or position, with the ability to add or remove question types or adjust the time limit.
- Reliable and valid: The Critical Thinking test has been validated through rigorous scientific testing to ensure its reliability and validity in predicting job performance.
G2 Review + Rating: 4.3 out of 5 stars
Pricing
- Available on request
#4.Macat 
MACAT is among the best critical thinking assessment tools designed to evaluate and measure a candidate's ability to think critically.
MACAT stands for "Measurement of Academic Critical Analysis and Thinking," and it is designed to help organizations identify individuals with strong critical thinking skills.
Top Features
- Comprehensive Assessment: The MACAT assessment covers a range of critical thinking skills, including analysis, evaluation, inference, deduction, and induction.
- Multiple-choice format: MACAT is delivered in a multiple-choice format, making it easy to administer and score.
- Adaptive Testing: The tool uses adaptive testing, meaning that the difficulty level of the questions is adjusted based on the candidate's performance, ensuring that the assessment accurately measures their abilities.
- Validated and Reliable: It is a validated and reliable assessment tool that has been rigorously tested and proven to be an effective measure of critical thinking ability.
- Easy-to-Interpret Results: The results of the MACAT assessment are presented in a clear and easy-to-understand format, making it simple for organizations to interpret and use the results in their hiring decisions.
- Online Delivery: MACAT is delivered online, making it easy to administer and accessible to candidates anywhere in the world.
G2 Review + Rating: NA
Pricing
- Available on request
Conclusion: Why It's Important to Choose the Right Critical Thinking Measurement Tools
Selecting among a sea of critical thinking measurement tools is important because it accurately assesses critical thinking skills, helps identify areas for improvement, enables comparison, facilitates effective teaching and learning, and enhances credibility.
Consider the list of critical thinking assessment tools above and make an informed decision based on your personalized talent needs.
FAQs
Q1.How do you assess critical thinking?
Critical thinking is a complex and multi-faceted skill that involves analyzing information, evaluating arguments, and making sound judgments.
Some ways to assess critical thinking may include:
- Examining how an individual approaches a problem or task
- Evaluating the quality of the candidate's reasoning and evidence
- Observing the candidate's ability to consider multiple perspectives and engage in reflective thinking
Q2.What are the five critical thinking techniques?
There are many different techniques and strategies that can be used to enhance critical thinking, such as:
i)Questioning assumptions, which involves challenging preconceived notions and looking beyond surface-level assumptions.
ii)Analyzing evidence, which includes examining data and information to determine its relevance and reliability.
iii)Considering alternative perspectives to acknowledge and evaluate different viewpoints, even if they contradict one's own.
iv)Identifying biases, which involves recognizing personal biases and considering how they may impact one's thinking.
v)Evaluating arguments to assess the strength and validity of arguments and evidence presented.
Q3.What are the seven essential elements of critical thinking?
The seven essential elements of critical thinking, as identified by the Foundation for Critical Thinking, include:
i)Purpose: Identifying and clarifying the goal or objective of one's thinking
ii)Questioning: Asking thoughtful, probing questions to clarify information and assumptions
iii)Information: Gathering relevant and reliable information to inform one's thinking
iv)Interpretation: Analyzing and making sense of information and data
v)Concepts: Understanding and using key concepts and ideas to guide thinking.
vi)Assumptions: Recognizing and evaluating assumptions and biases that may impact one's thinking.
vii)Implications and Consequences: Considering the potential outcomes and consequences of thinking and actions.
