Clerical Positions in the Civil and Public Service

RobbingBandit

shalalala wrote: »

I missed the last question in every section of the numerical bit. Not enough time!!! The grammar one was fine. The mistakes one was ok but again the timing was tough

Missed a couple myself on the numerical, it is done now, that's all that matters.

shazzer86

Just finished it there. Numerical and verbal were fine. But ran out of time in all the error checking grrrr grrr grr. Don't expect to hear from them. Good luck everyone. Deep breath and calculater and pen is helpful for numerical section. Xx good luck everyone.

swht

Seriously hard, found the error checking very tough, a simple thing like lines between the fields would have made it much simpler. Left average of 2 questions blank in each section and wouldn't be confident of getting the others correct. I'd say that's me out.

hynesie08

Didn't take half as long as I thought but I went into machine mode and completely blanked out the world. Don't think I did too badly anyway.

pharmaton

anyone having any difficulties logging in? it not recognising my details or email

edit .sorted..

Technocentral

griffdaddy wrote: »

I'm not sure if it's been said here already bit usually you only have to pass the maths section but are ranked on the other two sections

Hi, how do you know? If thats the case I have know chance, thought it would be a third of the marks for each section.

Starscream25

Was there any indication how many had applied for the positions that will be on offer?

The_Conductor

Technocentral wrote: »

Hi, how do you know? If thats the case I have know chance, thought it would be a third of the marks for each section.

Pass mark is determined by how many people are to be brought through to the next round- and order of merit then by scoring of the other two sections. Pass mark can be 60-70-80% (depends entirely on how people do)- but it has no bearing on your place should you proceed to the next stage.

the_syco

Ugh. My brain is fired. Used Chrome, and found the boxes didn't always work unless you clicked pretty much dead centre. Thankfully it's over, but found I didn't complete two of the boxes during the error checking. Ah well, wait and see time, I suppose.

pharmaton

I'm only finished the first part and I've made a complete shíte of it. I've sort of lost the will to live.

Technocentral

Starscream25 wrote: »

Was there any indication how many had applied for the positions that will be on offer?

Loads of post on here already, circa 28,000 applicants for 400 - 600 places (Source Irish Independent)


http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/news/28500-scramble-for-civil-service-jobs-at-11-an-hour-30444949.html

Technocentral

pharmaton wrote: »

I'm only finished the first part and I've made a complete shíte of it. I've sort of lost the will to live.

Relax, do the sample aptitude tests and just get stuck in, loads of people (including me) felt we've made a bags of it You are not alone!

pharmaton

Technocentral wrote: »

Relax, do the sample aptitude tests and just get stuck in, loads of people (including me) felt we've made a bags of it You are not alone!

Thanks but I suspect it's for the bin. I really messed up on the first two, the numerical was painful although I flew through the error checking part. Just glad it's done now. Best of luck to everyone, hope it comes good for you.

bulmersgal

That's was awful, glad it's done with. Hopefully the pass mark is really low otherwise I'm fecked!

Baron Kurtz

Technocentral wrote: »

Relax, do the sample aptitude tests and just get stuck in, loads of people (including me) felt we've made a bags of it You are not alone!

Just in relation to the sample aptitude tests, I'm wondering if I got the correct link. It appears nothing in the link to where I can get some samples underway.



"You are also reminded that you can complete practice tests before taking the real test by clicking on the following link:"

https://www.savilleconsulting.com/comprehension-practice


Just realised that Safari was the issue. Works fine on Chrome.

donnem33

hi all, was just wondering if the deadline to apply for the job has passed?

aisinikins2121

The numerical part just turned my brain into mush

FloatingVoter

donnem33 wrote: »

hi all, was just wondering if the deadline to apply for the job has passed?

Clerical 2014 Campaign

The closing date for applications was 3rd July, 2014. There is no extension to this date.

Thats from the publicjobs.ie website so yes it has.

davydoc

Just curious, when is the closing date for part 2. When is the last time you can log on and do it ?

Baron Kurtz

The numerical was a little unwieldy when deciding to write it down, use a calculator or give a good estimate.

I managed to complete everything - the verbal and error checking were pretty straightforward so didn't get caught for time. Would have liked another stab at the numerical though. Just that little bit rusty with my percentages and fractions.

Baron Kurtz

davydoc wrote: »

Just curious, when is the closing date for part 2. When is the last time you can log on and do it ?

This Thursday @ 14.00 iirc.

FloatingVoter

davydoc wrote: »

Just curious, when is the closing date for part 2. When is the last time you can log on and do it ?

My deadline was noon on the 31st. It should be in the email that you got.

davydoc

Aye I know when mine was, but I have a question about the test that might give someone who hasn't done theirs yet an unfair advantage over the rest of us, so can't post it till the last one has theirs done...

Cyber Ghost

I actually have a degree in maths and a few of the numerical questions caught me off guard.

The first one about how many tennis balls or whatever I was like jesus.
After trying and failing to work it out in 90 secs I realised I had left no time for the other questions.
In the civil service you only need to "pass" the numerical - it doesn't go towards your overall score (apparently cause women suck as maths)

The verbal ones I feel you could have argued a case for a couple of "wrong" answers tbh.

The_Conductor

Cyber Ghost wrote: »

I actually have a degree in maths and a few of the numerical questions caught me off guard.

The first one about how many tennis balls or whatever I was like jesus.
After trying and failing to work it out in 90 secs I realised I had left no time for the other questions.
In the civil service you only need to "pass" the numerical - it doesn't go towards your overall score (apparently cause women suck as maths)

The verbal ones I feel you could have argued a case for a couple of "wrong" answers tbh.

Passing the math- is a movable feast though. Its used as a method of culling the field- so the pass mark could be 60 or 70% in order to leave 1000 candidates- who in turn would then be ranked according to their scores on the other tests.

bottlebrush

Hi. Am about to sit mine today. How long does it take to complete?

swht

The_Conductor wrote: »

Passing the math- is a movable feast though. Its used as a method of culling the field- so the pass mark could be 60 or 70% in order to leave 1000 candidates- who in turn would then be ranked according to their scores on the other tests.

Do you know if it's a case of getting the pass grade on the maths alone and then being ranked on the other 2. Or is it a combined pass rate for all 3 eg. 70% and then the numerical is disregarded and the other 2 combined to rank the remaining candidates?

Clutching at straws here because I was fairly happy with the numerical.

shar1445

Just finished mine, verbal and error checking went ok I hope, as for the maths my god I don't have much hope for a decent score in that. Oh well best of luck to everyone

The_Conductor

gonzo.phd wrote: »

Do you know if it's a case of getting the pass grade on the maths alone and then being ranked on the other 2. Or is it a combined pass rate for all 3 eg. 70% and then the numerical is disregarded and the other 2 combined to rank the remaining candidates?

Clutching at straws here because I was fairly happy with the numerical.

They look at all the maths scores. They will have an idea of how many people they intend to bring through to the next round. They use the maths to determine an appropriate cut-off to bring sufficent numbers through.

For example- and this is only an example- in the current competition they may intend to interview 1000 people.

A certain number of people will have failed any of the 3 tests outright (less than 40%). They are discarded. They then decide a pass mark for the maths (of say 65%)- once again I'm pulling these out of thin air)- which leaves 4000 candidates left who have achieved >65% in the math and passed the other two tests.

So- you've passed all 3- and achieved sufficiently to bring you to the supervised test. This is confirmation of the remote testing- and where your score diverges significantly (whatever that means) from the score you got on the remote test- you're disqualified.

Now- we have a smaller cohort, who achieved the required standard at the remote test- and repeated a similar test and got similar scores- at supervised exams.

At this stage- they discard the math score altogether- and tally the other two scores. You are then assigned a place in the order or merit for interview.

After interview- you will be assigned a fresh place in the order of merit (or dropped from the process as an unsuitable candidate).

At each stage- its back to the beginning again- you may have barely scrapped into the next qualifying round at the beginning stages- but could potentially be placed at the very top of the order of merit, when you have eventually gone through the process- its a process of elimination- but also of trying to determine the very best candidates.

Using tests like this- is brutal- there will always be some people who would be brilliant staff members- who are just bad at aptitude tests- but similarly- there are some people who may ace them- only to fall down at interviews and presentations (I don't think the COs have to make presentations- some other grades do- which can be pretty hair raising).

Best of luck to everyone.

swht

The_Conductor wrote: »

They look at all the maths scores. They will have an idea of how many people they intend to bring through to the next round. They use the maths to determine an appropriate cut-off to bring sufficent numbers through.

For example- and this is only an example- in the current competition they may intend to interview 1000 people.

A certain number of people will have failed any of the 3 tests outright (less than 40%). They are discarded. They then decide a pass mark for the maths (of say 65%)- once again I'm pulling these out of thin air)- which leaves 4000 candidates left who have achieved >65% in the math and passed the other two tests.

So- you've passed all 3- and achieved sufficiently to bring you to the supervised test. This is confirmation of the remote testing- and where your score diverges significantly (whatever that means) from the score you got on the remote test- you're disqualified.

Now- we have a smaller cohort, who achieved the required standard at the remote test- and repeated a similar test and got similar scores- at supervised exams.

At this stage- they discard the math score altogether- and tally the other two scores. You are then assigned a place in the order or merit for interview.

After interview- you will be assigned a fresh place in the order of merit (or dropped from the process as an unsuitable candidate).

At each stage- its back to the beginning again- you may have barely scrapped into the next qualifying round at the beginning stages- but could potentially be placed at the very top of the order of merit, when you have eventually gone through the process- its a process of elimination- but also of trying to determine the very best candidates.

Using tests like this- is brutal- there will always be some people who would be brilliant staff members- who are just bad at aptitude tests- but similarly- there are some people who may ace them- only to fall down at interviews and presentations (I don't think the COs have to make presentations- some other grades do- which can be pretty hair raising).

Best of luck to everyone.

Thanks for this, really helpful and has given me a glimmer of hope that I might have scraped by the error checking.

Just one other question, is the original questionnaire a simple pass/fail usually?