What are the disadvantages of psychological tests?

Although psychological tests have a number of advantages, they have limitations too.

Firstly, psychological tests are only tools that do not and cannot make decisions for test users. Decision making is the responsibility of the test giver and the person to whom the test results are made available. The test provides a way of gathering information to yield accurate and pertinent information, but the use of the information and decision making is in the hands of the counsellor. It is better to use psychological test results as a source of data, along with other sources of data such as personal history and current circumstances, to assist the test user or the individual to arrive at or make informed decisions.

Secondly, psychological tests invariably attempt to measure the effects of hypothetical constructs that are not directly observable.

Thirdly, psychological tests can become obsolete because of continual development or refinement of psychological theories, development of technology and passage of time.

According to the Australian Psychological Society and the American Psychological Association, tests should be revised or updated regularly and current normative samples should be used.

Standardized test items do not assess higher-level thinking skills. Also, Standardized test scores are greatly influenced by non-academic factors, such as fatigue and attention.

Lastly, the cultural experience or language background of the test giver may impact the interpretation of the results.

Thus psychological tests despite their advantages suffer from drawbacks too. The relative narrowness of the traits measured, undue influence of socio-cultural conditions or environmental conditions may affect test results.