About Us

In the early years of testing in the Philippines, local institutions and organizations relied mainly on tests produced by foreign psychologists and educators due to a dearth of Filipino-made tests. However, available foreign-made industrial tests were normed by enterprising local psychologists and assessment experts on the Filipino examinees to reflect the culture and their way of thinking and make results fairer to the user, thus yielding better reliability and validity measures. This was the finding of the Asian Psychological Services and Assessment, Inc. after going over the assessment and testing needs and practices in the Philippines. Formed in 1987, APSA initiated the production of culturally based personality and skills tests, as well as the norms and standards that would serve as foundation for the selection and comparison for the Filipino workers. Test questions took into account the background, customs and job related factors that influence the examinees’ psyche.

In analyzing the assessment and testing practices in the country, APSA saw that there was also a need to help upgrade the state of local education, through assessment. It realized that the Filipino test results are extremely low in comparison with others in the world perhaps due to the lack of requisite skills and adequate development. For instance, an engineering graduate from a good local university would not qualify as an engineer abroad because he did not take up higher chemistry, and other such requisites. While it is no fault of the student, an enhanced curriculum and method of teaching could increase his competitiveness.

Therefore, APSA broadened its scope to develop not only industrial tests but also educational tests in the hope that assessment programs can make students learn better. After years of research, it came up with the Standard-Based Assessment (SBA) testing for the school population. Said to be among the most modern tools in appraising student achievement, the SBA not only evaluates knowledge in Math, Science and English of students in the preschool to high school levels, but also assesses whether students meet the standards for the grade level.

As APSA continues to create more effective tests, it has also been upgrading its operational system in line with ISO standards. The only ISO certified testing company; APSA envisions itself as the lead organization in assessment. It established unity of purpose and direction in the organization through strategic planning, regular meetings and monitoring of key result areas. The main focus of the organization is to meet customer’s needs and expectations and systematically manage customer relationships. APSA has been a partner with their customers in their quest for improving their processes by giving trainings or seminars.