The 'very hard' test Trump keeps bragging about 'acing' is actually very simple

Whenever questions arose around Donald Trump’s physical and mental prowess, the US president kept reiterating how he had passed all the “tests” before assuming leadership of one of theworld’s most influential countries

Repeatedly, he has insisted to have “aced” a cognitive test. However, the test he keeps alluding to - The Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) is designed to not be challenging. It is mostly used to diagnose minor dysfunctions.

So how challenging coulditbe? Turns out, not much!

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Just yesterday, on July 19, Trump again bragged about passing the test on Fox News. He said the last five questions “get very hard”. However precursory exam instructions in the MoCA claim that it is “designed as a rapid screening instrument for mild cognitive dysfunction”.

When Mashable traced the measuring indices of the test, it ascertained that this test is designed not to measure one’s intellect or wit, in fact it is simply a signifier of whether one has or is developing any cognitive impairment which could become a cause of concern later on in life.

Serving as a quick screening test for healthcare workers, it helps with early diagnosis of mental dysfunction.

The instructions which are available on the MoCa website claim that the maximum total score cannot exceed 30. Any score above 26 is considered normal.

The test is administeredin multiple languages. The English version on the website ask people to perform tasks like imitating a drawing as accurately as possible, naming an animal, or to draw a clock. In essence, tasks which even kids can do without struggling much. It also asks exam takers to draw a clock, and the likes.

Below is an excerpt from his conversation with Fox News.

"Very hard"? Barely

Coming to Trump’s claims about the last five questions being hard, this is what the section titled “orientation” demands.

In fact, it is far from “very hard”, asking people to fill in the day of the week, or today’s date. Additionally, it involves questions about time and space along the lines of “What city are we in?”. It relies on the specifics. For instance, one would be expected to name the city and the country. When talking about the date, the examiner would expect the date, month, year. Each correct answer in this section fetches one point.

To what end did Trump find answering where he was “very hard”, we’ll never know.

Another section toward the end is titled “abstraction”. It is based on categorising and placing objects in the same pool of similarly occurring characteristics.

For instance, one may be asked the similarity between an orange and a pear, which is that they’re both fruits.

Trump indeed did “ace” this test, as he should have. However, if he found the last five questions “very hard”, it is perhaps the first for any US president.