Knowledge
What IQ values mean, where the scale comes from, how the Swiss aptitude tests relate to it and where the limits of measurement lie. Every number in these texts has a source.
Aptitude tests for apprenticeships
- Aptitude tests for a Swiss apprenticeship: Multicheck, Basic Check and Stellwerk compared 12 min Multicheck, Basic Check, Stellwerk and Berufs-Check compared: cost, duration, cantons, and what an apprenticeship aptitude test really measures.
- A weak Multicheck: retake it, or leave it? 12 min The Multicheck can be run twice per occupational field. What the second certificate shows, when a retake is worth it, and when it only costs money.
- Basic Check instead of Multicheck Gewerbe: what changes from May 2026 10 min The Multicheck Gewerbe is discontinued for the 2026/2027 test period and replaced by the Basic Check. What it costs, whom it affects, whom it does not.
- Preparing for the Multicheck: what really helps and what costs money without helping 11 min The official practice tool is free, and the provider itself advises against paid courses. What can be trained and what cannot, with a four-week plan.
- Reading a Multicheck result: what counts as a good score 12 min What the two pages of a Multicheck certificate really say, why a percentile rank is not the share of tasks you solved, and what makes a score good.
- Stellwerk 8: what the 200 to 800 scale really means 13 min Stellwerk measures not how many tasks you solved but how hard the solved ones were. What the 200 to 800 scale says, and what practising achieves.
- The Stellwerk test: which cantons make it compulsory 12 min Which Swiss cantons make the Stellwerk test compulsory, where it is merely in use, and where the status stays open. Every row with its check date.
- What an aptitude test really measures, and what it says about leaving an apprenticeship early 12 min A University of Bern study shows that teenagers who misjudge their own skills more often pick the wrong trade and more often break off an apprenticeship.
- Which Multicheck fits which profession? All eight versions with prices 10 min All eight Multicheck versions with price, duration and professions: Wirtschaft und Administration for the KV, TEK for technical trades, Attest for EBA.
Gymnasium entrance exam and transition
- Which Swiss cantons require a Gymnasium entrance exam? 11 min Which Swiss cantons require a Gymnasium entrance exam and which do not, with a clear note on every row we checked at the cantonal office itself.
- Do Gymnasium preparation courses work? What the studies show 11 min The evidence on Gymnasium preparation courses contradicts itself. Why that is, what courses cost in CHF, and what you can do yourself for far less.
- Failed the Gymnasium entrance exam: which routes stay open 10 min About half of all Gymnasium entrance exams end in a no. What is actually possible next: a resit, the FMS, the apprenticeship route, the Passerelle.
- Gymnasium entrance exam 2027: dates and deadlines by canton 10 min Gymnasium exam days and registration deadlines for 2027 in Bern, St. Gallen, Thurgau, Schwyz and Zurich, read off the cantonal pages themselves.
IQ testing and the measurement of intelligence
- IQ tests in Switzerland: costs, providers and what a result actually says 13 min What an IQ test costs in Switzerland, who is allowed to administer one, how aptitude tests differ from it and what a single score really carries.
- An IQ test for your child: the school psychology service or a private practice? 12 min In Switzerland the cantonal school psychology service assesses pupils free of charge. What separates the two routes, who may test, and what a score says.
- How to spot a credible online IQ test 14 min Nine questions you can answer yourself to judge any online IQ test in two minutes, applied to our own test too, including where it falls short.
- Matrix reasoning tasks: the five rules and how to work them 13 min A 3x3 grid with one empty cell: matrix tasks sit in almost every aptitude test. The five rule types, the order to work them in, and what practice buys.
- Mensa Switzerland: admission test, costs and procedure 10 min Mensa Switzerland admits from the top 2 per cent. The two tests, what they cost, the age limits, the waiting time, and why online results never count.
- The IQ scale: the official Swiss classification of intelligence values 15 min The Swiss classification of intelligence values as a table, with percentile rank and T value, and why an IQ score without a confidence range is incomplete.