THE HIGHLANDS ABILITY BATTERY
The Highlands Ability Battery: Know What Your Student Is Naturally Built to Do
The Highlands Ability Battery is the most respected measure of natural ability in career counseling — and the cornerstone of the Oxford Career Testing Program. Here is what it measures, what it costs, how taking it works, and how it compares to the alternatives.
Quick Answers
- What it is: A performance-based test of 19 natural abilities — not a personality quiz and not self-report.
- Who takes it: High school and college students choosing a major, a college path, or a career direction.
- How it works: Taken online at home, about 3 hours total, in sittings your student controls.
- What it costs: Through most consultants, the test alone runs $450–$600. In the Oxford Program it’s included — with two additional assessments and counseling — for $550.
WHAT IT MEASURES
Abilities Are Hardwired. This Test Measures Them Directly.
Most career tests ask students what they think they’re good at. The Highlands Ability Battery doesn’t ask — it measures. Across 19 timed work samples, it records how your student actually performs: how they reason, solve problems, remember, and work with ideas, numbers, and designs.
The abilities it measures fall into groups every parent can understand:
- Driving abilities — the ones that demand expression. A student whose driving abilities go unused in their work will feel it as boredom and frustration, no matter how “good” the job looks on paper.
- Specialized abilities — including analytical and inductive reasoning, spatial relations, idea flow, and memory. These point to the kinds of problems a student is built to solve.
- Personal style — how they naturally work with people, time, and communication.
- Vocabulary — a strong predictor of success in professional and leadership roles.
These aptitudes stabilize by about age 14 and remain consistent for life. That’s what makes the results durable: a major chosen at 17 on the basis of real abilities doesn’t have to be re-chosen at 21.
HOW IT WORKS
Four Steps, All From Home
- Order the program. You’ll receive access details for the Highlands Ability Battery and the program’s two companion assessments.
- Your student takes the battery online. About 3 hours in total, taken in shorter sittings — no testing center, no travel, no proctored exam day.
- Reports are generated. A comprehensive ability profile, plus career and major matches drawn from your student’s actual score pattern.
- We interpret it together. Two hours of counseling with Steve Bohler to turn the results into concrete choices — majors, careers, and next steps. Sessions are recorded, so your family can revisit them.
COST & COMPARISON
What the Highlands Ability Battery Costs
| Option | What you get | Typical cost |
|---|---|---|
| Highlands Ability Battery through a consultant | The test plus a results debrief | $450–$600 |
| Johnson O’Connor Research Foundation | Aptitude testing at an in-person testing center | $950, plus travel |
| AIMS aptitude testing | In-person aptitude testing program | $925 |
| Self-serve online packages | The test with a workbook or video, little or no live counseling | $300–$400 |
| The Oxford Program | The Highlands Ability Battery plus the MBTI Personal Style Assessment plus the Strong Interest Inventory, interpreted together, with counseling included | $550 |
Typical prices as published by providers, October 2026.
Read the table the way most parents do: the Oxford Program costs about what the Highlands Ability Battery costs by itself almost everywhere else — and it adds the two assessments that tell you what the Battery alone can’t: what your student is interested in, and how they’re wired to work.
COMPARING THE OPTIONS
Highlands Ability Battery vs. Johnson O'Connor
The Johnson O’Connor Research Foundation is a respected institution with a long history in aptitude research — the Highlands Battery was, in fact, built on Johnson O’Connor’s pioneering work. Families comparing the two usually land on practical differences:
- Where you take it. Johnson O’Connor testing happens in person at one of their testing centers. The Highlands Battery is taken online, at home.
- What the report does. Highlands reports are interactive and linked to current occupational data, so each career match connects to education requirements, salaries, and outlook.
- What it costs. $950 for Johnson O’Connor testing alone, before travel. The full Oxford Program — three assessments plus counseling — is $550.
- How soon you start. Testing-center appointments book out. Your student can begin the Highlands Battery this week.
THE OXFORD DIFFERENCE
The Battery Is the Cornerstone — Not the Whole Building
Abilities answer one question: what is your student built to do well? A sound career decision needs two more: what are they drawn to? (the Strong Interest Inventory) and how do they naturally work? (the MBTI Personal Style Assessment).
A student can have the abilities for engineering and no interest in it — or the interest without the spatial reasoning. Either mismatch is expensive. The Oxford Program triangulates all three measures, so the recommendation your family acts on is the one all three point to.
BACKED BY RESEARCH
Ranked #1 by the Students Who Took It
In a Colorado State University study, 32 students who had taken four well-known assessments — the Highlands Ability Battery, the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, the Strong Interest Inventory, and True Colors — ranked the Highlands Battery #1 both for measuring their abilities and talents and for guiding their career decisions.
WHAT YOU RECEIVE
Everything Is Interpreted, Nothing Is Left as Raw Data
- The Comprehensive Report — your student’s full ability profile with career and major matches.
- Supporting Reports — the companion assessments, interpreted alongside the Battery.
- Follow-Up Counseling — two hours with Steve Bohler, recorded, to turn results into decisions.
Common Questions
Common Questions About the Highlands Battery
How much does the Highlands Ability Battery cost?
Through a certified consultant, the Battery with a results debrief typically costs $450–$600. In the Oxford Program it is included — together with the MBTI Personal Style Assessment, the Strong Interest Inventory, and counseling — for $550.
Where can my student take the Highlands Ability Battery?
Online, at home. The Oxford Program is delivered remotely: your student takes the Battery on a computer in sittings they control, and counseling is held by video.
How long does the test take?
About 3 hours in total. It is made up of 19 short work samples and does not need to be finished in one sitting.
How is the Highlands Battery different from the MBTI or the Strong Interest Inventory?
Those two measure personal style and interests — what your student is like and what they like. The Battery measures ability directly, through performance. The Oxford Program uses all three, because a good decision needs all three kinds of information.
How accurate is it?
The Battery is a psychometric instrument with decades of research behind it, built on the aptitude research tradition begun by Johnson O’Connor. In the Colorado State study described above, students ranked it #1 of four major assessments for measuring their abilities and guiding their decisions.
Can we take just the Highlands Battery without the full program?
The Battery is the cornerstone of the Oxford Program rather than a standalone product — and since the full program costs about what the test alone costs elsewhere, most families choose the complete picture. If you have a special situation, contact us.
Give Your Student a Direction Built on Evidence
One program. Three assessments. A counselor who has interpreted them since 1999.
Highlands Ability Battery™ is a trademark of The Highlands Company. The Oxford Program is an independent provider of career testing and counseling services.