The article explores the uses of intelligence testing in determining mental defects in young children; examinations at 11 (eleven-plus) to determine the child's future schooling; and testing for the purpose of administering vocational guidance.

Thomson examines each of these three uses in turn, citing examples of the use of intelligence tests in England and Scotland. He explores some of the problems of testing for selection to secondary school, in particular the possibility of coaching and the need to ensure a steady supply of new, standardised intelligence tests each year. He outlines the standard contents of Moray House Tests and the procedure of trialling the tests to establish their suitability as well as norms within and between age groups. He also touches upon the influence of level of schooling on intelligence test performance, as illustrated by an often negative correlation between age and intelligence within a school year group. Additionally, he describes experiments underway in Fife and London to establish the use of intelligence testing in vocational guidance.