MajorMatch is aptitude-first: adaptive ability items, skills signals, Holland-style interest (RIASEC), persistence, and modality load — then major/career fit. Not a personality quiz. Not a clinical instrument. The assessment is free. The full report is $29. Below is how the live engine actually works.
Most free “major quizzes” ask what you like and echo it back. Interest still matters (~30% of fit) — but ability is weighted higher (~42%). Parents know the expensive failure mode: a student who “loves” a field and can’t keep up with its real demands.
MajorMatch is built for that failure mode. We measure aptitude, interest pattern, follow-through, and modality load (reading/writing, quantitative, spatial, pace), then match against major profiles with wage and unemployment context from federal data structures.
What we will not claim: a published peer-reviewed validation study. The engine is transparent and logically defensible; outcome validation is on our roadmap. That honesty is part of the product.
Right/wrong cognitive items — not “rate yourself 1–5.” Domains:
Items come from a multi-difficulty bank. The planner runs multiple rounds per domain and can stop early when a domain has enough signal. Each domain reports a percent score and a margin (uncertainty band).
Two short track-record anchors (recent math / English grades) keep a lucky streak from inventing a STEM profile that grades don’t support.
Light original hold-in-mind and pace-under-pressure items feed soft modifiers only — vivid scenarios, accuracy-first. They are not clinical working-memory or processing-speed indices.
Domain results use MajorMatch bands: Very High / High Average / Average / Low Average / Emerging. These are our internal norms language — not national percentiles and not clinical classifications.
Interest uses Holland’s six themes — Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, Conventional — via forced-choice items. Your interest vector is compared to each major’s target signature with cosine similarity.
Style & follow-through questions adjust for grad-school-heavy paths, structure vs autonomy, people vs things, and persistence under boring-but-necessary work. Demanding majors get a persistence check — on purpose.
For each of 100 majors we compute a fit score (v1 aptitude-first weights):
Each major also carries modality load tags (reading/writing, quantitative, spatial, speed/pressure). When load hits a student’s weaker domains, we apply a small, transparent soft penalty and explain it in Pathfinder — not a veto.
Top results are diversified by field group. Free sample: top three plus Strengths / Upstream stretches. Pathfinder ($29): deeper modality reasoning, the top 10 with reasoning, paths upstream, PDF.
We studied publicly described traditions (cognitive ability testing, Holland RIASEC, conscientiousness research, federal wage structures) and then built original items and original weights. Item craft priority: (1) psychometric signal, (2) enjoyability — vivid real-world stakes, never meme quizzes. We do not administer MBTI, the Strong Interest Inventory, commercial DISC forms, YouScience instruments, or copyrighted clinical batteries.
If a counselor asks “where did this come from?” — point them here. If a parent asks “is this peer-reviewed?” — tell them the truth: the logic is documented; large-N outcome validation is next, not pretend.
See your top three majors before you pay. Unlock the rest when the sample earns it.
Is this just Myers-Briggs?
No. We don’t run MBTI. MajorMatch is aptitude-first: ability + competency signals + RIASEC + persistence + modality — not a personality test.
Is this a clinical / psychoeducational test?
No. Not a diagnostic instrument. No clinical norms claims. Philosophy of multi-index profiles informed our product design; we never copy clinical batteries or diagnose.
Why pay $29?
The assessment is free. $29 unlocks full reasoning, avoided paths, richer breakdown, and the PDF — after you’ve already seen a real sample.
How long does it take?
Long enough to be useful — adaptive ability rounds plus interest and style items. We won’t slap a fake stopwatch on the headline.
Do you use copyrighted tests?
No. Original questions, original weights, informed by published research traditions.