Counseling Center

The History Of the Counseling Center

The Counseling Center (formerly called Counseling and Testing) has gone through many evolutions over the years.  In the past it served as a testing center for all university students, offered a wide variety of career and personality tests, and served as the test administrator at PLU for exams such as the SAT, MCAT, and LSAT.  However, due changes over the years in staffing, space, and the general focus of this particular department, our testing features have scaled back considerably.  We no longer administer college board exams (LSAT, etc.), and do not have the staffing or space to act in the capacity of a testing center for the general university.  The most common misconception about our office is that we are a testing center, and the tests that are proctored by our officemate -Disability Support Services (DSS) - add to this confusion.  Please visit the DSS website for information about their test proctoring practices for students with disabilities, or if you are seeking information about where you can be tested for a disability, including ADD/ADHD.

What types of testing do we offer?
We administer the MMPI (Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory) which is an  assessment that is designed to help identify personal, social, and behavioral problems in students seeking counseling. We also offer the CISS (Campbell™ Interest and Skill Survey) which is an assessment that measures self-reported vocational interests and skills.  The CISS interest scales reflect an individual's attraction for specific occupational areas.  After taking a CISS, a student is generally referred to Career Development, where their staff can further help students with career exploration. Additionally, Career Development offers more extensive career assessments including the Personality Style Preference (MBTI), and the Strong Interest Inventory (SII). 

At the Counseling Center, we also have some information available about several of the graduate exams that we administered in the past. Most of this information is also available online, below are some helpful links for test takers.

Resources for Test Takers

GMAT
Graduate Management Admission Test

GRE
"The GRE® (Graduate Record Examinations) General Test measures verbal reasoning, quantitative reasoning, critical thinking, and analytical writing skills that have been acquired over a long period of time and that are not related to any specific field of study."

Kaplan
Test Preparation Courses

LSAT
"The Law School Admission Test (LSAT) is a half-day standardized test required for admission to all ABA-approved law schools, most Canadian law schools, and many non-ABA-approved law schools. It provides a standard measure of acquired reading and verbal reasoning skills that law schools can use as one of several factors in assessing applicants. The test is administered four times a year at hundreds of locations around the world."

MAT
The Miller Analogies Test is a 60 minute test used to assess applicants for many graduate schools.  "The MAT is a high-level mental ability test requiring the solution of problems stated as analogies."

MCAT
"The Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) is a standardized, multiple-choice examination designed to assess problem solving, critical thinking, and writing skills in addition to the examinee's knowledge of science concepts and principles prerequisite to the study of medicine." "Almost all U.S. medical schools require applicants to submit MCAT scores"

PRAXIS
"Assessments provide tests and other services that states use as part of their teaching licensing certification process."