a set of paper and pencil-administered mental tests first used in the United States Army in 19171918 to determine the mental ability of literate recruits; the set includes 8 different types of tests: i.e., directions, arithmetical problems, practical judgement, synonyms and antonyms, disarrayed sentences, number series completions, analogies, and information; they are designed especially for testing large groups of individuals simultaneously, and for rapid machine scoring; distinguished from the Army Beta tests, a complementary set for administration to recruits who could not read or write English, in which the instructions are given in signs and the test material is pictorial. See: Beta tests. Syn: Army Alpha tests.