Testing times – how to approach psychometric tests

At the Careers Service we see many students who are asked to do psychometric tests as part of the recruitment process for placements and graduate roles.
These can be Numerical, Verbal and Logical Reasoning tests. Some employers may also ask your to give your opinion on a case study or to say how you might behave in a setting and these are called ‘Situational Judgment’ tests.
There are a number of ways these can be administered. You may be given individual login details and asked to complete them online, or you may be asked to do a paper and pencil test at an employer’s premises or at some other place, say as part of an assessment centre.
Either way the tests will be strictly timed and if ‘on line’ the test questions will close and if in a test centre the administrator will tell you to stop working.
Most tests are multiple choice and give say a choice of 1 out of 5 options. Often 2 options can be quite similar so you need to be really careful when answering.
There are many practice tests available online. See our Assessment Centres page for a selection.
You cannot predict what will come up in the test but these practice tests should give you some idea of what to expect.

Here are some tips on how to approach them.
Keep practising. Some test publishers argue that you can’t improve your score but taking timed tests will probably help you gain more confidence when taking them in a real life situation under timed conditions.
Some test sites will also give you feedback on performance.
The advice is work as quickly as you can but not so quickly that you start to make mistakes. The number of correct answers will be counted.
If you really struggle go back to basics and consult books on basic grammar and mental arithmetic which may help with key principles.
Read an article and edit it to say half the content whilst keeping the main points. Have you grasped the meaning and key points?
Don’t give up… they can seem daunting at first but with practice and thought they should start to become more familiar and a bit easier to deal with.

Julie via Compfight