I opened a "Psychometrika" text. Not sure how it got in the bookcase. I don't believe my wife was interested in the subject. Anyway, psychometrics seek to provide more accurate tests in measuring intelligence and personality traits, as well as behavior in helping to better diagnose and measure the level of severity of mental impairments. Each chapter was written by a PhD and I don’t recall any of the buzzwords mentioned above but there was a plethora of mathematical terms – non-linear regression, bi-factor analysis, etc. - and mathematical logic. The chapters were replete with formulae and schemata. I’m sure that it was all valid, but beyond my level of expertise, so I closed the book. Few years earlier, I recall a psychometrician claiming that he developed a way to eliminate guessing on multiple choice tests. This would pertain to any test – history, geography, grammar, etc. – not just psychological testing. He suggested tests with 100 questions and students would be told to omit answering any they were unsure of, with the stipulation that they answer just 30 of them. The unanswered ones would not be held against them. Huh? I guess that if 30 questions were answered correctly, the student aced the test?? Seems to me that even my turkey Wooden Head Willie would know the answers to 30 questions.
Prior to 2016 the SAT test punished you for every wrong answer, but no penalty for leaving a question blank. I remember following the recommended strategy: "If you can rule out at least one of the 4 choices, guess. Otherwise leave the question blank." I probably would have flunked the language and reading part otherwise. OTOH, I suppose there should be some reward for knowing that at least some things can't possibly be correct. LOL