Is the Wonderlic test a good predictor of NFL success?

(Baltimore Beat) by Nathan Beaucage.

For decades, the Wonderlic Personnel Test has been a staple of the NFL Combine. In conjunction with running around a field and performing various physical tests for scouts, the top collegiate prospects are also asked made to take the 12-minute Wonderlic test in order for teams to assess the athletes’ mental proficiency. With 50 questions that test players in the areas of math, logic, and vocabulary, the test is certainly no easy task. While some of the questions are rather easy (e.g. picking a word that doesn’t belong), others seem to be pulled straight out of high school math textbooks. Take for example, this question:

A rectangular bin, completely filled, holds 640 cubic feet of grain. If the bin is 8 feet wide and 10 feet long, how deep is it?

Of course, the answer is 8 feet, as the volume of a rectangular prism is equal to the length * width * height. And with most likely having taken a geometry class before, many players would probably be able to work it out. But it’s not hard to see how a frazzled test taker could easily panic and flunk this question, especially considering that one would have to answer a question about every 15 seconds in order to complete the test in full before time ran out.

It’s this quick, rapid-fire nature of the test that has led some to believe that the assessment might be a good predictor of NFL readiness and success…

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