Sentence Completion Test Scoring Guidelines

Score your completed sentences as follows:

P => If your response indicates a positive, humorous, or hopeful attitude.
C => If your response indicates conflict, antagonism, pessimism, emotional disturbance.
N => If your response is neutral; that is, it is not clearly positive or conflictive.

The following examples show how a response might be scored:

Boys _____________________

P => are friendly, are easy to get along with, are nice, are swell, are good sports, are considerate, are fun at a party, are good friends, are okay, etc.
C => are a pain in the neck, get on my nerves, can't be trusted, bother me, give me a headache, think they are superior, are rude, are stupid, etc.
N => are human beings, are taller than girls, are stronger than girls, are the opposite sex, are the same sex, etc.

Evaluate each of your responses and categorize it as a "P", "C", or "N" response. Record the total number of each of these types of responses below.

P =

C =

N =

Compute your total score by adding 50 to the number of C responses and subtract from this sum the number of P responses (50+C-P). Do not mark omissions if there are any.

Total Score =

INTERPRETATION

Scores can range from 0 to 100. A low score below 50 would indicate that you have a generally positive outlook on life and that you view life optimistically. A high score above 50 indicates that your outlook on life is somewhat negative and that you view life rather pessimistically.

Adapted from R. M. Gardner (1980). Exercises for general psychology. Minneapolis, MN: Burgess Publishing.