The Office of Instructional Research and Evaluation has sent a letter to 600 freshmen and seniors inviting them to take tests designed to measure students' personal development over four years of college.

The tests will challenge students' abilities for learning new material, developing arguments and perceiving verbal nuances, Dean K. Whitla, director of the office, said yesterday.

They include a section on what the letter calls "ethical development" in which students make moral decisions in contrived situations.

The tests were made possible by a grant from the Fund for the Improvement of Post-Secondary Education, a branch of the Department of Health, Education and Welfare. Students from Boston State College and Newton Junior College will also take the tests.

Whitla said he hoped the experiment would eventually lead to "better information with which the Faculty can make decisions" about possible curriculum changes and other issues.

"Harvard has long lived merely on the reputations of its graduates," Whitla said. "We would like to look at the college experience in a different light."

Whitla called previous attempts to evaluate personal development at college "superficial."

Money for Their Time

Students will take the tests in two two-and-one-half hour sessions either Tuesdays or Thursdays in the next two weeks, and receive $12 for their time.

Geoffrey Stevens, a data clerk in Whitla's office, said yesterday that 150 of the invited students have agreed to take the tests, adding that he hopes twice that many will sign up before Monday afternoon's deadline.

Whitla said he hoped students will find the tests "interesting." He said the tests ideally will stimulate students to further thought about their own personal development at Harvard.

Depending on the results of the tests, Whitla's office will probably re-administer them in the spring to a different pool of students.