{
  "assessmentTests": {
    "problem_solving_critical_thinking": {
      "subscales": {
        "problem_solving_steps": {
          "name": "Problem-Solving Steps"
        },
        "real_world_decision_techniques": {
          "name": "Real-World Decision Techniques"
        },
        "academic_success_connection": {
          "name": "Problem-Solving & Academic Success"
        }
      },
      "name": "Problem-Solving & Critical Thinking Test",
      "desc": "Work through 30 realistic school and everyday scenarios about solving problems and making decisions. Ten ask you to name the right step in solving a problem, ten ask which technique actually helps with a real-world or personal decision, and ten ask you to explain how a problem-solving habit connects to grades — a fast check of how you define problems, weigh options, and connect good habits to results.",
      "recommendation": "Your problem-solving and critical-thinking profile",
      "scope": {
        "title": "What this test measures — and what it does not",
        "measures": "How a student identifies the steps of solving a problem (defining it, finding the cause, generating and prioritizing alternatives, and carrying one out), recognizes techniques that help with real-world and personal decisions (weighing pros and cons, checking sources, considering other perspectives, anticipating consequences), and explains how habits like planning ahead, creative thinking, and using time and resources well connect to academic outcomes. Each question asks which response best fits sound problem-solving practice, not which one is provably correct the way a math answer is.",
        "excludes": "This is not an observation of how a student actually behaves under pressure, and it does not measure whether a student can carry out a multi-step plan over days or weeks in real life — it measures which response they recognize as sound when reading about a situation on a screen. It is not an IQ test, an executive-function screener, or a measure of intelligence, and a low score does not mean a student cannot solve problems — it means fewer of these 30 situations matched their first instinct. It carries no clinical or diagnostic claim of any kind.",
        "standing": "This is an original JobCannon instrument, written for students in grades 6 through 8 and built to reflect published state career-and-technical-education criteria on problem-solving and critical-thinking skills. It is not an accredited or certifying exam, and passing or failing it has no formal standing with any school, district, or employer. It is not affiliated with, licensed by, or derived from any named problem-solving curriculum, textbook, or organization — every scenario, option, and explanation here was written for this test."
      },
      "questions": [
        {
          "question": "Every week, Maya's science project starts late because she can't find her materials. She tells her teacher, \"I'm just disorganized.\" What is the better first step for solving her problem?",
          "options": [
            {
              "icon": "🧩",
              "label": "Write down exactly what happens: which materials go missing, and when."
            },
            {
              "icon": "🧩",
              "label": "Accept that she is disorganized and cannot change it."
            },
            {
              "icon": "🧩",
              "label": "Ask her teacher to give the whole class more time."
            },
            {
              "icon": "🧩",
              "label": "Buy a bigger backpack."
            }
          ]
        },
        {
          "question": "Jordan can't decide whether to join the school band or the robotics club, since both meet on Tuesdays. Which approach would help him make a more thoughtful personal decision?",
          "options": [
            {
              "icon": "🧩",
              "label": "Picking whichever his best friend picks, without thinking about it further."
            },
            {
              "icon": "🧩",
              "label": "Choosing based on which meeting room is closer to the cafeteria."
            },
            {
              "icon": "🧩",
              "label": "Making a list of the pros and cons of each option for himself, like schedule, interest, and long-term goals."
            },
            {
              "icon": "🧩",
              "label": "Not deciding at all, and missing both."
            }
          ]
        },
        {
          "question": "Which statement best explains why breaking a big project into smaller weekly steps tends to help a student's grade?",
          "options": [
            {
              "icon": "🧩",
              "label": "It spreads the work out so there's time to fix mistakes and ask for help before the deadline, instead of rushing everything at the end."
            },
            {
              "icon": "🧩",
              "label": "It makes the project look shorter on paper."
            },
            {
              "icon": "🧩",
              "label": "It means the project counts for less."
            },
            {
              "icon": "🧩",
              "label": "Teachers prefer shorter to-do lists, regardless of the work."
            }
          ]
        },
        {
          "question": "A soccer team keeps losing games in the second half. Which of these is an example of clearly DEFINING the problem, rather than just complaining about it?",
          "options": [
            {
              "icon": "🧩",
              "label": "We always lose, our team is bad."
            },
            {
              "icon": "🧩",
              "label": "Our team's shots on goal drop from 10 in the first half to 2 in the second half."
            },
            {
              "icon": "🧩",
              "label": "The other teams have better uniforms."
            },
            {
              "icon": "🧩",
              "label": "Nobody on the team likes to run."
            }
          ]
        },
        {
          "question": "Before deciding which laptop to save up for, what is the most useful research step?",
          "options": [
            {
              "icon": "🧩",
              "label": "Buying the first one seen in a store window."
            },
            {
              "icon": "🧩",
              "label": "Asking only one friend who does not own a laptop."
            },
            {
              "icon": "🧩",
              "label": "Comparing reviews and specs from a few different, trustworthy sources first."
            },
            {
              "icon": "🧩",
              "label": "Choosing the most expensive one automatically."
            }
          ]
        },
        {
          "question": "A student is stuck on a hard math problem and tries solving it a completely different way instead of giving up. Which statement best explains why this kind of creative thinking helps academic success?",
          "options": [
            {
              "icon": "🧩",
              "label": "Trying a new approach uses up more time than necessary."
            },
            {
              "icon": "🧩",
              "label": "Teachers give extra credit just for trying something different."
            },
            {
              "icon": "🧩",
              "label": "A different approach can reveal a path to the answer that the first method missed, and building that habit helps with future hard problems too."
            },
            {
              "icon": "🧩",
              "label": "It proves the first method was wrong for every problem."
            }
          ]
        },
        {
          "question": "Once the soccer team notices their shots drop off in the second half, what should they do NEXT, before picking a solution?",
          "options": [
            {
              "icon": "🧩",
              "label": "Immediately switch every player’s position."
            },
            {
              "icon": "🧩",
              "label": "Ask to skip the second half of future games."
            },
            {
              "icon": "🧩",
              "label": "Blame the goalkeeper."
            },
            {
              "icon": "🧩",
              "label": "Figure out why the shots are dropping — for example, checking whether players are tired, thirsty, or not warmed up."
            }
          ]
        },
        {
          "question": "A group is arguing about where to go for a class trip. Which approach uses the technique of considering multiple perspectives?",
          "options": [
            {
              "icon": "🧩",
              "label": "Only the loudest voice gets to choose."
            },
            {
              "icon": "🧩",
              "label": "Each small group explains why their choice matters to them, and the class looks for an option most people can live with."
            },
            {
              "icon": "🧩",
              "label": "The teacher picks without asking anyone."
            },
            {
              "icon": "🧩",
              "label": "Whoever complains the longest wins."
            }
          ]
        },
        {
          "question": "Which of these best explains how a good decision-making process helps a student’s overall grades?",
          "options": [
            {
              "icon": "🧩",
              "label": "It guarantees every choice will be correct."
            },
            {
              "icon": "🧩",
              "label": "It makes homework optional."
            },
            {
              "icon": "🧩",
              "label": "Weighing options — like whether to study alone or review notes with a group — before choosing helps a student spend limited time on what will actually help most."
            },
            {
              "icon": "🧩",
              "label": "It means the student never needs to ask for help again."
            }
          ]
        },
        {
          "question": "Ben's phone battery keeps dying by lunchtime. Which question best helps him determine the CAUSE of the problem, rather than just restating the problem itself?",
          "options": [
            {
              "icon": "🧩",
              "label": "Should I buy a new phone?"
            },
            {
              "icon": "🧩",
              "label": "Which apps are running in the background and draining the battery overnight?"
            },
            {
              "icon": "🧩",
              "label": "Is my phone case ugly?"
            },
            {
              "icon": "🧩",
              "label": "Do my friends have the same phone?"
            }
          ]
        },
        {
          "question": "Every month, Sam runs out of allowance money before the month ends. Which approach helps him understand the real challenge, instead of just the surface complaint?",
          "options": [
            {
              "icon": "🧩",
              "label": "Assuming he simply needs more allowance."
            },
            {
              "icon": "🧩",
              "label": "Ignoring the pattern and hoping it changes."
            },
            {
              "icon": "🧩",
              "label": "Blaming his parents for giving too little."
            },
            {
              "icon": "🧩",
              "label": "Asking himself “why” a few times in a row — why the money runs out, and why that keeps happening — to trace it back to an actual spending pattern."
            }
          ]
        },
        {
          "question": "Which statement best explains why planning study time across several days, instead of cramming the night before a test, tends to lead to a better score?",
          "options": [
            {
              "icon": "🧩",
              "label": "Cramming takes exactly the same amount of total time either way, so it makes no real difference."
            },
            {
              "icon": "🧩",
              "label": "Teachers can always tell who crammed and lower the grade on purpose."
            },
            {
              "icon": "🧩",
              "label": "Spreading study sessions out gives the brain more chances to review and remember the material, instead of one exhausted, rushed session."
            },
            {
              "icon": "🧩",
              "label": "Planning ahead means less material needs to be learned."
            }
          ]
        },
        {
          "question": "Once a student figures out that she keeps losing points on tests because she runs out of time, which step comes next in solving the problem?",
          "options": [
            {
              "icon": "🧩",
              "label": "Immediately decide to skip the hardest question every time, no matter what."
            },
            {
              "icon": "🧩",
              "label": "Complain to a friend about it."
            },
            {
              "icon": "🧩",
              "label": "Decide to stop taking tests seriously."
            },
            {
              "icon": "🧩",
              "label": "List several different ways she could manage her time better — skipping hard questions and returning later, practicing under a timer, or answering easy questions first."
            }
          ]
        },
        {
          "question": "Priya wants to improve her grade in math but isn't sure how. Which approach shows using a real critical-thinking technique, rather than just guessing?",
          "options": [
            {
              "icon": "🧩",
              "label": "Randomly trying one thing and giving up if it doesn’t work in a day."
            },
            {
              "icon": "🧩",
              "label": "Copying a friend's homework."
            },
            {
              "icon": "🧩",
              "label": "Listing several possible approaches — tutoring, more practice problems, asking the teacher questions, forming a study group — before trying one."
            },
            {
              "icon": "🧩",
              "label": "Deciding nothing can be done."
            }
          ]
        },
        {
          "question": "Which statement best explains why organizing study materials and finding a quiet space to work actually helps grades, rather than being just a nice habit?",
          "options": [
            {
              "icon": "🧩",
              "label": "It has no real effect on learning, only on how tidy a desk looks."
            },
            {
              "icon": "🧩",
              "label": "Teachers give bonus points for a tidy backpack."
            },
            {
              "icon": "🧩",
              "label": "Less time gets wasted searching for missing materials or fighting distractions, so more of the study session goes toward actually learning the material."
            },
            {
              "icon": "🧩",
              "label": "It guarantees a good grade no matter how much is studied."
            }
          ]
        },
        {
          "question": "A class is deciding how to raise money for a field trip. Which response shows the class IDENTIFYING alternative solutions, rather than skipping that step?",
          "options": [
            {
              "icon": "🧩",
              "label": "Brainstorming a list of options — a bake sale, a car wash, a raffle, and asking for sponsors — before deciding."
            },
            {
              "icon": "🧩",
              "label": "Voting on the very first idea suggested, without hearing any others."
            },
            {
              "icon": "🧩",
              "label": "Asking the teacher to pay for the trip."
            },
            {
              "icon": "🧩",
              "label": "Cancelling the trip."
            }
          ]
        },
        {
          "question": "Two after-school jobs are open: one pays more but is farther away, one pays less but is close to home. Which approach best helps compare them fairly?",
          "options": [
            {
              "icon": "🧩",
              "label": "Picking whichever one a friend already has."
            },
            {
              "icon": "🧩",
              "label": "Listing what matters most — pay, distance, hours — and comparing both jobs against those same points side by side."
            },
            {
              "icon": "🧩",
              "label": "Choosing the one with the nicer sign."
            },
            {
              "icon": "🧩",
              "label": "Flipping a coin."
            }
          ]
        },
        {
          "question": "A student writing an essay lists three different ways to structure her argument before picking one. Which statement best explains how this step connects to academic success?",
          "options": [
            {
              "icon": "🧩",
              "label": "Comparing structures before writing helps her choose the one that makes her argument clearest, which is what earns a stronger grade on the essay."
            },
            {
              "icon": "🧩",
              "label": "Listing more options always takes too long to be worth it."
            },
            {
              "icon": "🧩",
              "label": "Teachers only grade the introduction paragraph."
            },
            {
              "icon": "🧩",
              "label": "It guarantees she will get a perfect score."
            }
          ]
        },
        {
          "question": "After brainstorming several ways to raise money (bake sale, car wash, raffle, sponsors), how should the class PRIORITIZE and SELECT the best option?",
          "options": [
            {
              "icon": "🧩",
              "label": "Pick whichever idea was suggested first."
            },
            {
              "icon": "🧩",
              "label": "Compare the options against what matters most — like how much money each could realistically raise and how much adult help each needs — then choose the strongest one."
            },
            {
              "icon": "🧩",
              "label": "Let the loudest student decide alone."
            },
            {
              "icon": "🧩",
              "label": "Choose all four ideas at once with no plan."
            }
          ]
        },
        {
          "question": "A website claims a new snack \"cures tiredness instantly,\" with no source given. Which is the strongest critical-thinking response?",
          "options": [
            {
              "icon": "🧩",
              "label": "Share it right away, since it sounds helpful."
            },
            {
              "icon": "🧩",
              "label": "Believe it because it was the first search result."
            },
            {
              "icon": "🧩",
              "label": "Assume it must be true if many people shared it."
            },
            {
              "icon": "🧩",
              "label": "Notice that it is an unsupported claim, not a proven fact, and look for real evidence before believing or sharing it."
            }
          ]
        },
        {
          "question": "Which statement best explains why deciding to put a phone away during homework time tends to help a student’s grades?",
          "options": [
            {
              "icon": "🧩",
              "label": "Phones are not allowed in most schools anyway, so this makes no real difference."
            },
            {
              "icon": "🧩",
              "label": "Removing an easy distraction lets a student focus longer on one problem at a time, which usually means better understanding and fewer careless mistakes."
            },
            {
              "icon": "🧩",
              "label": "It guarantees homework will be finished faster no matter what."
            },
            {
              "icon": "🧩",
              "label": "Teachers can tell if a phone was nearby and lower the grade."
            }
          ]
        },
        {
          "question": "Two students each suggest a different way to fix a broken group-project schedule. What is the best way to SELECT between the two solutions?",
          "options": [
            {
              "icon": "🧩",
              "label": "Flip a coin."
            },
            {
              "icon": "🧩",
              "label": "Pick whichever student is more popular."
            },
            {
              "icon": "🧩",
              "label": "Ignore both and do nothing."
            },
            {
              "icon": "🧩",
              "label": "Look at which solution actually solves the cause of the delay and fits the time left, then pick that one."
            }
          ]
        },
        {
          "question": "Diego is deciding whether to stay up late playing a game before a big test. Which approach helps him think it through, instead of just deciding on impulse?",
          "options": [
            {
              "icon": "🧩",
              "label": "Thinking ahead to how he will likely feel and perform on the test tomorrow if he stays up late."
            },
            {
              "icon": "🧩",
              "label": "Deciding based only on how fun the game looks right now."
            },
            {
              "icon": "🧩",
              "label": "Asking the game to decide for him."
            },
            {
              "icon": "🧩",
              "label": "Ignoring the test entirely."
            }
          ]
        },
        {
          "question": "Which statement best explains why asking a teacher for help on a confusing topic — instead of only trying alone for hours — usually helps a student’s grade?",
          "options": [
            {
              "icon": "🧩",
              "label": "Teachers are required to give a better grade to anyone who asks a question."
            },
            {
              "icon": "🧩",
              "label": "Asking questions makes the assignment easier for the teacher to grade."
            },
            {
              "icon": "🧩",
              "label": "It has no effect either way."
            },
            {
              "icon": "🧩",
              "label": "A short conversation can clear up a misunderstanding much faster than hours of guessing alone, leaving more time for the rest of the work."
            }
          ]
        },
        {
          "question": "A student decides the best fix for her time-management problem is to practice tests under a timer. What does IMPLEMENTING this solution actually look like?",
          "options": [
            {
              "icon": "🧩",
              "label": "Telling a friend about the plan and never doing it."
            },
            {
              "icon": "🧩",
              "label": "Actually practicing under a timer on a regular schedule, and checking whether her test scores improve."
            },
            {
              "icon": "🧩",
              "label": "Writing the plan down and putting it in a drawer."
            },
            {
              "icon": "🧩",
              "label": "Waiting for the problem to go away on its own."
            }
          ]
        },
        {
          "question": "A student assumes the library is closed on Saturdays and doesn't bother checking. Which approach would have helped him make a better decision?",
          "options": [
            {
              "icon": "🧩",
              "label": "Trusting the assumption completely, since it seemed obvious."
            },
            {
              "icon": "🧩",
              "label": "Asking a stranger who does not work there."
            },
            {
              "icon": "🧩",
              "label": "Guessing based on a different library in a different town."
            },
            {
              "icon": "🧩",
              "label": "Actually checking the library's posted hours before deciding not to go."
            }
          ]
        },
        {
          "question": "Which statement best explains why checking whether a website is reliable before using it in a research report tends to improve the grade on that report?",
          "options": [
            {
              "icon": "🧩",
              "label": "Using accurate information instead of an unreliable claim means the facts in the report are more likely to be correct, which is usually part of how the report is graded."
            },
            {
              "icon": "🧩",
              "label": "Teachers can't actually tell which sources were used."
            },
            {
              "icon": "🧩",
              "label": "Reliable websites are always shorter to read."
            },
            {
              "icon": "🧩",
              "label": "It has nothing to do with the actual grade."
            }
          ]
        },
        {
          "question": "The class picked a bake sale to raise money for the field trip. Which of these shows the class actually IMPLEMENTING the solution?",
          "options": [
            {
              "icon": "🧩",
              "label": "Assigning tasks, setting a date, baking the items, and running the sale on that day."
            },
            {
              "icon": "🧩",
              "label": "Talking about the bake sale idea in class one more time."
            },
            {
              "icon": "🧩",
              "label": "Voting on the idea again next week."
            },
            {
              "icon": "🧩",
              "label": "Deciding to think about it more next month."
            }
          ]
        },
        {
          "question": "After a plan to study for a big test didn't work out well, what is the most useful critical-thinking step to take afterward?",
          "options": [
            {
              "icon": "🧩",
              "label": "Look back at what part of the plan didn't work, and use that to change the approach next time."
            },
            {
              "icon": "🧩",
              "label": "Never think about the test again."
            },
            {
              "icon": "🧩",
              "label": "Assume nothing could have been done differently."
            },
            {
              "icon": "🧩",
              "label": "Blame the test for being unfair."
            }
          ]
        },
        {
          "question": "A student's way of studying for vocabulary quizzes (rereading the list) keeps producing low scores, so she switches to quizzing herself out loud instead. Which statement best explains how this kind of adjustment connects problem-solving to academic success?",
          "options": [
            {
              "icon": "🧩",
              "label": "Switching methods guarantees a perfect score next time."
            },
            {
              "icon": "🧩",
              "label": "Noticing that a method isn’t working and trying a different one that fits how she actually learns is what turns a repeated low score into an improved one."
            },
            {
              "icon": "🧩",
              "label": "Quizzing out loud is required by every teacher."
            },
            {
              "icon": "🧩",
              "label": "The original method was actually fine, and the switch made no difference."
            }
          ]
        }
      ],
      "results": {
        "developing": {
          "name": "Developing 🌱",
          "desc": "On this set of 30 situations you scored at or near the level someone would reach by guessing, so the result does not yet show which parts you have and which you have not. That is normal before problem-solving has been practiced directly — it is a starting point, not a verdict about you.",
          "recommendation": "Read the explanation under every question, including the ones you got right. They name the actual step or technique in each situation, which is the part worth carrying to the next one."
        },
        "emerging": {
          "name": "Emerging 🔍",
          "desc": "You are clearly above guessing and you picked the sound approach in a good share of the situations, but the ones you missed cluster rather than scatter — usually one of the three areas (the steps, the techniques, or the academic connection) is noticeably behind the other two.",
          "recommendation": "Look at your three area scores rather than the total. The weakest one is where the next practice will pay, and the explanations for those questions are the shortest way in."
        },
        "consistent": {
          "name": "Consistent 🛠️",
          "desc": "You picked the sound problem-solving step or technique across most of the test, and your misses are spread out rather than concentrated. This is the level where the reasoning is real and the gaps are specific.",
          "recommendation": "Go back to the handful you missed and read what made the tempting answer tempting. At this level, that is where the remaining ground is."
        },
        "strong": {
          "name": "Strong 🎯",
          "desc": "You reliably told apart a sound problem-solving step from a tempting shortcut, and where the situation asked for the technique that actually helps, you chose it. Very few of the near-miss answers pulled you off.",
          "recommendation": "Try explaining two or three of these situations to someone younger. Being able to say why an answer works, out loud, is the step past recognizing it."
        },
        "exemplary": {
          "name": "Exemplary 🏆",
          "desc": "You identified the right step or technique in almost every situation, including the questions built so the tempting answer is not the right one.",
          "recommendation": "The useful next move is not another quiz — it is the real problems this test could not put in front of you. When one turns up, the reasoning you used here is the same reasoning."
        }
      },
      "retakePrompt": {
        "lastResult": "Your last result:",
        "evolvedHint": "Problem-solving habits shift with practice. This one is worth retaking after a unit on decision-making or a class project that hit a real snag.",
        "retakeButton": "Retake this test"
      },
      "optionOrderVersion": "e8d173aa15500705"
    }
  },
  "testNames": {
    "problem-solving-critical-thinking": "Problem-Solving & Critical Thinking Test"
  }
}