National Program for Gifted Identification

Introduction

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has long supported the field of giftedness to aid the transformation of the Kingdom into a society where sustainable development is achieved.

And in an effort to identify gifted innovators an idea was born to form a national joint project implemented by expert national authorities with qualified personnel in this field.

The beginning of which was in a strategic partnership was in 2011 with “Mawhiba”, “the Ministry of Education” and “the National Center for Measurement” to establish and implement a “The National Program for Gifted Identification” through standardized tools and standards.

A model was developed to identify the gifted with an advanced scientific methodology based on the most important scientific foundations and educational best practices to ensure the adequate selection of promising students.

Through this model a large database of gifted public education students in the Kingdom was created, and continues to grow.

Objectives

Identifying gifted students in the Kingdom in the fields of science and technology.
Developing an integrated system and comprehensive methodology to identify gifted students.
Equity in selecting gifted students and directing them to the suitable care program.
Building a comprehensive and detailed database for gifted students in the Kingdom.
Contributing to inform the community with the characteristics of the gifted and the importance of their identification.
Contributing to the enrichment of scientific research and the Arabic library in the area of the gifted identification.

Achievements

Partners

Registration/Nomination Criteria

Note: Registration for the National Program is available from October 16 and continues until January 12, 2025. It will be held on from December to January.

Eligibility Criteria

Students must be from the targeted groups (3rd grade to 1st year of high school).
Commitment to the program’s guidelines and policies.
Registration in the Mawhiba Multiple Cognitive Aptitude Test through Qiyas website.
Confirm attendance for the test and payment of fees (self-nomination).

The student is allowed to take the test only once per level:

Level 1: (3rd, 4th, and 5th grade).
Level 2: (6th grade, 1st and 2nd year of middle school).
Level 3: (3rd year of middle school, 1st year of high school).

Target Audience

The test targets students from public, private, and international schools, as well as Saudi students studying abroad.

Note:

The first registration period (from October 16 to November 18, 2024) will allocate all available seats in Qiyas centers for those wishing to register for the Mawhiba Multiple Intelligence Test. This offers a higher chance of securing a seat. During the second period (from November 18 to January 13, 2025), Qiyas centers will open to receive registrations for all tests offered by the center, which reduces the likelihood of obtaining available seats.

Registration Steps

1 Login to Qiyas website
2 Choose “Mawhiba Multiple Cognitive Aptitude Test” from the list of available tests
3 Choose the location and time at which you would like to take the test
4 Agree to the terms and conditions
5 Pay the fees

Services and Programs

Services and programs for the admitted students

Students who have qualified are presented with applicable services and programs according to the criteria for each program.

Annual programs and Services

Scholarships in for gifted classes in partner schools.
Nomination to the Advanced Mawhiba Program in Science and Mathematics.
Nomination to local enrichment Mawhiba programs.
Nomination for international programs.
Nomination for Ministry of Education enrichment programs.

Nominations

This includes nominating students who have been selected for programs and scholarships as per criteria specified by respective organizations, including:

Nominations for bachelor's degree scholarships in local and international universities.
Annual nominations for programs from supporting organizations such as Aramco and King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (SRSI).
Nominations for internal or external organizations.
Periodic nominations to attend programs and workshops at local universities.

Scale Components

The scale aims to reveal the latent academic abilities and skills of students in the fields of language, mathematics, science and some aspects of creativity by looking at them through a number of dimensions, sections, patterns and images.

The “Mawhiba Scale for Multiple Mental Abilities” is considered the main criterion for evaluating students’ abilities and accepting them into all programs and activities related to the National Program for Identifying the Gifted since 2011.

The "scale" was prepared by a scientific committee under the supervision of Mawhiba and implemented by the National Center for Measurement with the participation of many local and international experts and specialists.

The scale is offered in both Arabic and English, depending on the student’s preference.

Scale components

Linguistic reasoning and reading comprehension: the ability to use language to process available information or facts, and also the ability to apply linguistic rules and employ them in dealing with the read content to deduce, extract, reorganize and benefit from meanings.
Mental flexibility: the ability to produce diverse ideas, direct attention to areas of use and link between them, and change and diversify the ways of mentally dealing with things and situations according to their nature by analyzing their difficulties into factors that can be used to find solutions.
Mathematical and spatial reasoning: The ability to use mathematical skills and logical thinking to reach solutions or results through specific strategies, as well as the ability to find a logical relationship, similarity, identity, or difference.
Scientific and mechanical reasoning: It is the ability to use data and facts available through sense, experience and logic to obtain others that have not been previously experienced, and to draw a vision of its past and future. And logical deduction based on induction and evidence.

- Some programs require a qualifying degree in English.

STEP English Proficiency Tests

Who is the test for?

The test is for students who took the Mawhiba scale for multiple mental abilities this year from the third intermediate and first secondary grades.

Why is the test important?

Opportunity to be nominated for the global Mawhiba Enrichment Program.

How do I register for the test?

Access the student’s file in Qiyas through the civil registry and password.
Access the tests available for registration, then choose the English language proficiency tests (STEP) for Mawhiba candidates.
Registration.

TOEIC English Language Test

It is an English language placement test for students who have taken the “Multiple Mental Abilities Talent Scale” from the third intermediate and first secondary grades. And who wish to join programs that require English language skills as an additional requirement for the qualification criteria.

Behavioral traits of gifted people

Behavioral traits of the gifted

Talent nurturing begins the moment it is discovered, and its discovery begins with noticing some of the paradoxes that appear in the child from the first years, but there are some practices and behaviors that may affect the response of the talented and create a kind of ambiguity that hinders observations. While most talented people have similar behavioral traits and characteristics, their translation depends on internal and external factors (psychological and social) that affect the child’s response.

As a specialized entity in discovering the gifted, “Mawhiba” summarizes the most important behavioral traits that a scientific team and experts specialized in talent have agreed upon. Every father, mother, and teacher should be aware of these traits and check them in their children or students. If they notice some or all of them, they should direct the child to register in the “Mawhiba Scale for Multiple Mental Abilities,” which is held annually with the aim of discovering and nurturing talent.

	Behavioral traits
1	Making comparisons to discover relationships between things.
2	Solve problems based on available information .
3	Interpret events in light of available information .
4	Generating diverse ideas .
5	Giving multiple alternatives to a single problem .
6	Providing answers to questions that are uniquely beyond his chronological age .
7	Highly accurate observation .
8	Linking results to causes .
9	Verifying hypotheses by collecting information and evidence .
10	Reaching general judgments based on previous information and results .
11	Using multiple methods to solve a single problem .
12	Trying new things .
13	Excellent comprehension of what is read .
14	Excellent oral expression .
15	Excellent comprehension of what is read .
16	Summarize the ideas given to him clearly and accurately .
17	Understanding various writing styles .
18	Defending his opinions in convincing ways .
19	Fluently draw conclusions from mathematical questions and problems .
20	Recognizing the areas , sizes and distances of shapes .
21	Easily understand mathematical principles and rules .
22	Understanding abstract concepts.
23	Dealing with numbers and mathematical symbols easily.
24	Continue working hard towards achieving the desired goal .
25	Leading colleagues in tasks they participate in in work groups .
26	Very imaginative.
27	Interacting with older people.
28	Work independently on assigned tasks .
29	It raises a lot of interesting questions .
30	Intuitive, fast response.
31	Confidence in himself and his opinions .