The Minnesota Ability Estimation Questionnaire

What sorts of tools do we use here at the Career Counseling and Assessment Clinic?

The question above has been posed numerous times, and this brief article will be an overview of one such tool.

The Minnesota Ability Estimation Questionnaire (MAEQ) is a questionnaire in which an individual estimates their ability level compared to the population.  These estimations are made on a 6-point scale, and each number on the scale represents a percentage of the population.

Questions are posed as such:  “How much ability do you have to: ________”

Bottom 10%	Bottom 33%	Middle 33%	Top 33%	Top 10%	Top 1%
2	3	4	5	6	7

For each question, the individual is asked to circle one of the responses.  If I were to circle “5” that would mean I estimate myself to be in the top 33% of the population for that ability.

The abilities the individual rates range greatly and cover topics including math, dexterity, hand-eye coordination, and more.  While the topics cover a wide variety of abilities, no performance or task completion is required.  The Minnesota Ability Estimation Questionnaire is only rating objects based on your belief.

Overall, the MAEQ is composed of 45 questions.  Each of these questions is formatted in the manner detailed above.   

These estimations are used in a portion of the counseling at the Career Counseling and Assessment Clinic to investigate how your estimations compare with your actual scores.

*The Minnesota Ability Estimation Questionnaire is a survey in which you estimate your ability against the population.