Administrative Officer 2020 in the Civil Service

Nekro Man

I've run through the sample questions for the situational and can't break above middle band for the life of me.

Can anyone offer any pointers for it?

MrsBean

Read the competencies over and over. Put yourself in the mindset of an AO when you do the tests. Ask yourself 'what would/should an AO do in this instance?.

5p9arw38djv2b4

mulligja wrote: »

Thanks for tip! Have bit the bullet and am practicing with them. Quick question for you though - do you happen to remember whether there were any deductive-reasoning or inter-relations question on the very first online assessment? Or are these done in a later assessment?

Hi Mulligja, you mentioned that you bought the course. Can you say if it looks worth it? Does it have enough deductive reasoning and chat assess options? I wasn't clear from the website if they will actually be the same ones in the training pack that match the examples we've been set in the familiarisation. Grateful for any insight before I click purchase!

Nekro Man

MrsBean wrote: »

Read the competencies over and over. Put yourself in the mindset of an AO when you do the tests. Ask yourself 'what would/should an AO do in this instance?.

Tried it with them open beside me and still middle band.

I sent the link to an AO friend and they also got middle band.

Must be a huge band :P

job seeker

LadyLabyrinth wrote: »

Hi Mulligja, you mentioned that you bought the course. Can you say if it looks worth it? Does it have enough deductive reasoning and chat assess options? I wasn't clear from the website if they will actually be the same ones in the training pack that match the examples we've been set in the familiarisation. Grateful for any insight before I click purchase!

I bought the CS thing and I find the verbal reasoning great. there is a verbal reasoning lesson. (this is basically teaching you how to do the test in a stratigic manner etc. and explains it in detail), then two guided exercises, 7 exercise tests. Each has a practice and time test (both the same). I have't looked at any other test yet.

I think the verbal reasoning alone is fantastic! But just make sure you set a few hours aside to use the material each day.

5p9arw38djv2b4

job seeker wrote: »

I bought the CS thing and I find the verbal reasoning great. there is a verbal reasoning lesson. (this is basically teaching you how to do the test in a stratigic manner etc. and explains it in detail), then two guided exercises, 7 exercise tests. Each has a practice and time test (both the same). I have't looked at any other test yet.

I think the verbal reasoning alone is fantastic! But just make sure you set a few hours aside to use the material each day.

Ace, thanks for the review, it's hard to tell from the website if it would be worth it but I love a real life review!

job seeker

LadyLabyrinth wrote: »

Ace, thanks for the review, it's hard to tell from the website if it would be worth it but I love a real life review!

No problem! Glad to be of service! I think personally for me, it has been well worth it for anyway.

FenFlynn

job seeker wrote: »

I bought the CS thing and I find the verbal reasoning great. there is a verbal reasoning lesson. (this is basically teaching you how to do the test in a stratigic manner etc. and explains it in detail), then two guided exercises, 7 exercise tests. Each has a practice and time test (both the same). I have't looked at any other test yet.

I think the verbal reasoning alone is fantastic! But just make sure you set a few hours aside to use the material each day.

That's brilliant! I was in two minds on purchasing it or not, I don't think the AO job is for me and I find the selection process really tough. Even after stage 1, there are 2 or 3 more stages to go through, including a presentation which I'm terrible at. Having said that, I wouldn't like not to give it my best either.
Trying to make sense of whether we got practice material with the familiarisation material or not, couldn't find any for verbal, numerical and deductive.

belgowho

Does the CS provide CUT-E style questions with the 6 tab format?

Thrillhouse11

So the tests are from Aon, the same place the recent ICT specialist role tests were from. Those turned out to be a lot easier than the EO assessment oddly enough, for verbal and numerical at least, so hopefully that's the case here too. EO was unreasonably difficult.

job seeker

belgowho wrote: »

Does the CS provide CUT-E style questions with the 6 tab format?

The verbal reasoning has a question and 6 tabs with separate paragraphs of text. Is that what you're wondering?

job seeker

FenFlynn wrote: »

That's brilliant! I was in two minds on purchasing it or not, I don't think the AO job is for me and I find the selection process really tough. Even after stage 1, there are 2 or 3 more stages to go through, including a presentation which I'm terrible at. Having said that, I wouldn't like not to give it my best either.
Trying to make sense of whether we got practice material with the familiarisation material or not, couldn't find any for verbal, numerical and deductive.

CS is very good IMO. Sure give it a go and see what happens.

mulligja

LadyLabyrinth wrote: »

Hi Mulligja, you mentioned that you bought the course. Can you say if it looks worth it? Does it have enough deductive reasoning and chat assess options? I wasn't clear from the website if they will actually be the same ones in the training pack that match the examples we've been set in the familiarisation. Grateful for any insight before I click purchase!

Can 100% recommend to you. It has the tab-style verbal reasoning questions and some deductive reasoning practice exercises too (about 60 questions). Doesn't have anything for the chatAsssess thing unfortunately and doesn't give a whole lot of prep material for situational judgement in general but does give some advice on how to pass that section.

mulligja

Nekro Man wrote: »

I've run through the sample questions for the situational and can't break above middle band for the life of me.

Can anyone offer any pointers for it?

Where are you finding these sample questions? The only thing I can find are the two example questions for the chatAssess thing?

belgowho

job seeker wrote: »

The verbal reasoning has a question and 6 tabs with separate paragraphs of text. Is that what you're wondering?

Exactly it. Thanks

MT0

Thrillhouse11 wrote: »

So the tests are from Aon, the same place the recent ICT specialist role tests were from. Those turned out to be a lot easier than the EO assessment oddly enough, for verbal and numerical at least, so hopefully that's the case here too. EO was unreasonably difficult.

Hi can you tell me how you know the test provider is Aon and not Sova which was the EO test provider?

MT0

MrsBean wrote: »

Read the competencies over and over. Put yourself in the mindset of an AO when you do the tests. Ask yourself 'what would/should an AO do in this instance?.

Hi thanks for all the advice. When completing the questionnaire do you put yourself in the mindset of being a new AO who would obvs have to run things by the AP or are you in the role already so making your own decisions?

MT0

FenFlynn wrote: »

That's brilliant! I was in two minds on purchasing it or not, I don't think the AO job is for me and I find the selection process really tough. Even after stage 1, there are 2 or 3 more stages to go through, including a presentation which I'm terrible at. Having said that, I wouldn't like not to give it my best either.
Trying to make sense of whether we got practice material with the familiarisation material or not, couldn't find any for verbal, numerical and deductive.

Hi guys thinking of buying this but can you tell me if it is any use for the job sim/questionnaire i.e does it give you guidance on the correct answers?

job seeker

mulligja wrote: »

Can 100% recommend to you. It has the tab-style verbal reasoning questions and some deductive reasoning practice exercises too (about 60 questions). Doesn't have anything for the chatAsssess thing unfortunately and doesn't give a whole lot of prep material for situational judgement in general but does give some advice on how to pass that section.

MT0 wrote: »

Hi thanks for all the advice. When completing the questionnaire do you put yourself in the mindset of being a new AO who would obvs have to run things by the AP or are you in the role already so making your own decisions?

As above. No questions..

5p9arw38djv2b4

job seeker wrote: »

As above. No questions..

I bought it too. Re deductive at least 3 of the answers in the samples are incorrect, I had a friend who is a math teacher also do them to make sure. Basically they plot the method to the answer in their answers but if you complete out the grid there are mistakes in a few. It's still great experience to try them though but they only seem to have 4x4 and I think the guidance note says it may go up to 5x5 and 6x6.

Have not tried the verbal/ numeric yet.

job seeker

LadyLabyrinth wrote: »

I bought it too. Re deductive at least 3 of the answers in the samples are incorrect, I had a friend who is a math teacher also do them to make sure. Basically they plot the method to the answer in their answers but if you complete out the grid there are mistakes in a few. It's still great experience to try them though but they only seem to have 4x4 and I think the guidance note says it may go up to 5x5 and 6x6.

Have not tried the verbal/ numeric yet.

I didn't do the deductive yet.. That's quite disappointing..

The verbal reasoning is quite good as far as I'm concerned. The maths, seems quite easy in the lesson. However, I have not yet progressed far enough to make a fair judgement..

FenFlynn

LadyLabyrinth wrote: »

I bought it too. Re deductive at least 3 of the answers in the samples are incorrect, I had a friend who is a math teacher also do them to make sure. Basically they plot the method to the answer in their answers but if you complete out the grid there are mistakes in a few. It's still great experience to try them though but they only seem to have 4x4 and I think the guidance note says it may go up to 5x5 and 6x6.

Have not tried the verbal/ numeric yet.

Does it also have presentation and interview tips or not?
Or is it just preparation for the 1st stage?

job seeker

FenFlynn wrote: »

Does it also have presentation and interview tips or not?
Or is it just preparation for the 1st stage?

There are interview video tips. But I didn't watch them yet.

Thrillhouse11

MT0 wrote: »

Hi can you tell me how you know the test provider is Aon and not Sova which was the EO test provider?

The familiarisation doc they sent to your public jobs portal a few days ago contains this link:

https://assessment.aon.com/en-us/online-assessment/practice-assessments

BellaCiao

Hi guys,

When I opened the email from PublicJobs on Friday the familiarization booklet attached had no hyperlink so I couldn't download it. I have emailed them but they have yet to get back to me, would anyone be able to post the Familiarization booklet up here in the meantime?

Would really appreciate it.

Ernesto Guevara

BellaCiao wrote: »

Hi guys,

When I opened the email from PublicJobs on Friday the familiarization booklet attached had no hyperlink so I couldn't download it. I have emailed them but they have yet to get back to me, would anyone be able to post the Familiarization booklet up here in the meantime?

Would really appreciate it.

Copy and paste the link in your browser, that will open it.

BellaCiao

Ahh I was certain I had tried that already but obviously not!

Thanks

job seeker

belgowho wrote: »

Exactly it. Thanks

Just a hesds up.. The numerical reasdoning is a similar layout of 6 tabs with a choice of True, False or Cannot say.

Nekro Man

Anyone gotten their link to the tests yet?

tgdaly

Nekro Man wrote: »

Anyone gotten their link to the tests yet?

Just got it moments ago

exitstageleft

Nekro Man wrote: »

Anyone gotten their link to the tests yet?

Yup. Got them there. Probably do them this evening and get it out of the way.

Aleece2020

job seeker wrote: »

Just a hesds up.. The numerical reasdoning is a similar layout of 6 tabs with a choice of True, False or Cannot say.

If you did the EO, would you say they’re the same or very similar in difficultly or style?

Nekro Man

tgdaly wrote: »

Just got it moments ago

same!

exitstageleft wrote: »

Yup. Got them there. Probably do them this evening and get it out of the way.

I'm getting an AP application out of the way first tomorrow, could push these off until Thursday/Friday possibly...

FenFlynn

Does anyone know if you click start, is it straight to the tests or do we get to practice some first? And if there are practices, could you just do the practice and leave the test for another time?
I'm afraid to click start and going straight to the test

mulligja

Aleece2020 wrote: »

If you did the EO, would you say they’re the same or very similar in difficultly or style?

I did EO. These tests are a different format, they actually seem a bit easier.

FenFlynn

LadyLabyrinth wrote: »

I bought it too. Re deductive at least 3 of the answers in the samples are incorrect, I had a friend who is a math teacher also do them to make sure. Basically they plot the method to the answer in their answers but if you complete out the grid there are mistakes in a few. It's still great experience to try them though but they only seem to have 4x4 and I think the guidance note says it may go up to 5x5 and 6x6.

Have not tried the verbal/ numeric yet.

I see what you mean about the deductive test being incorrect, I just encountered one, no matter which way I looked it didn't work out. It's a shame really, spent 120 to get something that is incorrect

La Bamba

Has anyone purchased the jobtestprep one by any chance?
Its a lot cheaper than the other course shared so am curious on the quality of it

tgdaly

Just did all my tests there, was in a frame of mind and wanted to get them out of the way. While the actually questioning for the verbal and numerical was fine, I thought the time limit was tighter than ever. It always feels every time I do these tests that they are asking more and more questions but only giving you 12 minutes to answer.

I was a bit thrown off by the deductive -logical thinking, not knowing how many questions I should be at least aiming to answer was difficult. Not sure if I answered enough. The chatAssess was fine I thought.

Usually alway pass the first go of tests for these competitions but not feeling too confident this time. Won't be too disappointed if I don't progress, hoping for a shot at HEO next year if they run a comp

FenFlynn

tgdaly wrote: »

Just did all my tests there, was in a frame of mind and wanted to get them out of the way. While the actually questioning for the verbal and numerical was fine, I thought the time limit was tighter than ever. It always feels every time I do these tests that they are asking more and more questions but only giving you 12 minutes to answer.

I was a bit thrown off by the deductive -logical thinking, not knowing how many questions I should be at least aiming to answer was difficult. Not sure if I answered enough. The chatAssess was fine I thought.

Usually alway pass the first go of tests for these competitions but not feeling too confident this time. Won't be too disappointed if I don't progress, hoping for a shot at HEO next year if they run a comp

Hi thanks for sharing that.
Were you given a chance to do any practice beforehand? I remember vaguely last year there were a few practice questions before actually doing the test. I'm reluctant to click start now as I can't commit to finishing it now.

tgdaly

FenFlynn wrote: »

Hi thanks for sharing that.
Were you given a chance to do any practice beforehand? I remember vaguely last year there were a few practice questions before actually doing the test. I'm reluctant to click start now as I can't commit to finishing it now.

Yeah there were a few practice questions beforehand to explain how it works. The format was slightly different to past one's I had done but nothing confusing about it

PurpleRainx

Hi there, just catching up on thread now and wodnering what CS stands for? When I google search "CS practice tests" no suitable options are appearing. Thinking of purchasing practice tests. Thanks for your help :-) !

rostalof

PurpleRainx wrote: »

Hi there, just catching up on thread now and wodnering what CS stands for? When I google search "CS practice tests" no suitable options are appearing. Thinking of purchasing practice tests. Thanks for your help :-) !

If you are hired by the CS, you'll soon realise that theres an abbreviation or an acronym for absolutely everything. CS is just Civil Service.

KRedzer

PurpleRainx wrote: »

Hi there, just catching up on thread now and wodnering what CS stands for? When I google search "CS practice tests" no suitable options are appearing. Thinking of purchasing practice tests. Thanks for your help :-) !

Probably the course given by CareerServices.ie that has been discussed previously. I purchased it, and have begun working away at it. It's helpful for the numerical anyway so far.

Artemisia87

Hi all, good luck to everyone this week

Does anyone know if points are deducted for incorrect answers (or is it worth doing a mad dash of guessing at the end!)?

Also does anyone know how many correct answers we need to pass?

Thanks so much everyone!

FenFlynn

Artemisia87 wrote: »

Hi all, good luck to everyone this week

Does anyone know if points are deducted for incorrect answers (or is it worth doing a mad dash of guessing at the end!)?

Also does anyone know how many correct answers we need to pass?

Thanks so much everyone!

Don't think there is any negative marking, but not sure how many are needed to pass, I think depending on the amount of people attending a mark is set for each aptitude. We probably won't know now how many questions are needed to be correct to pass.

Em2157

La Bamba wrote: »

Has anyone purchased the jobtestprep one by any chance?
Its a lot cheaper than the other course shared so am curious on the quality of it

I did. It's pretty good

Em2157

La Bamba wrote: »

Has anyone purchased the jobtestprep one by any chance?
Its a lot cheaper than the other course shared so am curious on the quality of it

I should probably elaborate on this. Job Test Prep tailors their practices for each test by provider of the tests, and there are plenty of tips, lessons and enough practices to get you confident. I practiced the SOVA tests for EO recently on it, and extended my membership to practice AO in cut-e/AON format. It's simple, goes through what they are looking for with you, and explains what you did wrong if you get it wrong.

Seesee

I recently did the EO tests and found them difficult but doable and scored reasonably well. However, the format of these AO tests scares me a bit and the deductive logic really scares me from looking at the AON videos!! Anyway, I'll give them a shot tomorrow or Thursday.

Is the chatAssess the same thing as an eTray test which people are talking about over on the EO thread? I'm a first-timer!

Good luck to everyone doing the tests.

job seeker

Aleece2020 wrote: »

If you did the EO, would you say they’re the same or very similar in difficultly or style?

I was referring to the career services material as opposed to the actual tests. I have not even attempted the practice tests on AON that we were sent yet..

I did the EO and failed it miserably. So I can't really compare them to anything, due to leaving it all to chance..

Em2157

Seesee wrote: »

I recently did the EO tests and found them difficult but doable and scored reasonably well. However, the format of these AO tests scares me a bit and the deductive logic really scares me from looking at the AON videos!! Anyway, I'll give them a shot tomorrow or Thursday.

Is the chatAssess the same thing as an eTray test which people are talking about over on the EO thread? I'm a first-timer!

Good luck to everyone doing the tests.

The etray is different to chat assess. The chat assess is basically a situational judgement test where you pick an answer and submit from a list. Its formatted like an email inbox if it's the same as last year and is designed to see how you would react to different situations. You should study the AO competencies, as this is what they are looking to see. The ETray for the EO comp I am yet to complete, but as far as I know its completing different tasks whilst queries from different levels come in to you to reply to. It aims to test your skills and prioritisation. Hope this helps