Administrative Officer 2020 in the Civil Service

mulligja

Got thrown an error message at the end of the Verbal Reasoning test so not sure if my test results actually sent. Have contacted the help desk but no word yet. I felt that was my worst part so might not make much of a difference anyway haha

belgowho

mulligja wrote: »

Got thrown an error message at the end of the Verbal Reasoning test so not sure if my test results actually sent. Have contacted the help desk but no word yet. I felt that was my worst part so might not make much of a difference anyway haha

Does it not say completed or gone from the outstanding list when you go into the tests page?

Aleece2020

The verbal and numerical reasoning were the exact same tests that a different graduate program ran this year (I think it was the ESB graduate program.) The questions were the exact same so I remembered the answers to a few.

mulligja

belgowho wrote: »

Does it not say completed or gone from the outstanding list when you go into the tests page?

Yeah says completed but didnt have the "sending data" thing at the end of the test, is probs fine but would hate to miss out because of a technical error if not!

PurpleRainx

When people say they could not see the question when looking through the verbal reasoning and numerical tabs- do you mean you had to scroll down below the tabbed information box or did you have to click a separate box/window to see the question?

newbie18892

PurpleRainx wrote: »

When people say they could not see the question when looking through the verbal reasoning and numerical tabs- do you mean you had to scroll down below the tabbed information box or did you have to click a separate box/window to see the question?

The tabbed information box covers the question when you click into it which I found distracting

Madra Maith

newbie18892 wrote: »

The tabbed information box covers the question when you click into it which I found distracting

They really threw me off too. I put it in the feedback form at the end.

exitstageleft

That was harder than any other tests I've done.

Damn those pesky AON writers!

Spore

exitstageleft wrote: »

That was harder than any other tests I've done.

Damn those pesky AON writers!

Yeah I bet the bastids are reading this thread and falling over their backgammon tables laughing until their monocles fall out :pac:

Seesee

PurpleRainx wrote: »

When people say they could not see the question when looking through the verbal reasoning and numerical tabs- do you mean you had to scroll down below the tabbed information box or did you have to click a separate box/window to see the question?

I had to click out of the tabbed info to see the question again, time wasting. in the end i made a quick note of info needed for question before i went looking in the tabs

belgowho

Seesee wrote: »

I had to click out of the tabbed info to see the question again, time wasting. in the end i made a quick note of info needed for question before i went looking in the tabs

In each tab, was there a lot of info or just a few lines

newbie18892

belgowho wrote: »

In each tab, was there a lot of info or just a few lines

Around 10-15 lines of info in each tab I'd say

cvb03

Does the my task list mean its completed successfully at the end ? Thanks in advance.

Minifox

Are candidates marked down for wrong answers?
I mean, is it better to spend the last 30 seconds just randomly answering the remaining questions?
I just did an AON practice tests and only got 14 right. Randomly guessing all 47 questions would have gotten me 15.
...this is no way to spend a long weekend!

FenFlynn

Just finished mine. It was a total disaster. Guessed more than half for verbal reasoning, only got about 6 or 7 right for deductive. Did the deductive first which was a really bad idea, I wouldn't recommend that to anyone who hasn't done it yet. It just stuck with me how many I got wrong, subsequently I couldn't focus for the verbal reasoning.
The easiest was probably the charAssessment, again no idea whether chose the right options or not but at least it wasn't stressful.

gaillimhjon

Just finished as well. Deductive logical was my worst enemy and I really struggled with it. Verbal + Numerical were alright, some questions vague but I carried on as quickly as I could - found the tabs really off-putting but hey. Hard to tell if I answered the chatassess correctly but at least it wasn't as stressful as that deductive logical thinking!

cvb03

Hopefully, we did enough to pass, did anyone do it last year? I did and failed one component of it last year, really hoping to pass this year.

FenFlynn

I think I failed numerical last year, actually did well in the deductive but this time a total disaster.
The civil service pack I bought was useless, despite finishing all lessons and practicing on the deductive numerous times. The different shapes from what I've been practicing was a real confusion

Buster97

Finished mine yesterday and I have the say I also found the deductive reasoning very challenging. In comparison to the verbal and numerical for EO I thought it was a breeze although I think I may have made a mess of the chat assess. I was trying to prioritise my responses so I was replying to the more senior employees first but in the end felt like I got caught it in a loop of just replying to the same 3-4 quickly and ignoring the rest.

Gus Ivey

So in the AON practice assessment page, the videos for numerical and verbal show the Question remaining below, even when you click onto different tabs.

Is the actual test not like this?

FenFlynn

Gus Ivey wrote: »

So in the AON practice assessment page, the videos for numerical and verbal show the Question remaining below, even when you click onto different tabs.

Is the actual test not like this?

No, the information tabs when you click on them they cover the questions, it's very disconcerting. One has to have a very good short term memory to not constantly going back and forth. In the end I just guessed them all and answered all questions in ample time, needless to say that was not a good idea. 😭😭

floorpie

I don't like that we were forced to reply with business babble during charAssessment. "I will gather the data and revert to you asap" :rolleyes: Do new AOs get to touch base with relevant stakeholders on blue sky thinking vis-à-vis useful phrases? Or do we just take the ball and run with it...

I also found it difficult that tabs hid the question. Oddly I did the same tests last week for ICT EO and it did not do this.

BhoyRayzor

I would have done a few Sudoku beforehand if I'd known that that's what the deductive was going to be effectively

rostalof

floorpie wrote: »

I don't like that we were forced to reply with business babble during charAssessment. "I will gather the data and revert to you asap" :rolleyes: Do new AOs get to touch base with relevant stakeholders on blue sky thinking vis-à-vis useful phrases? Or do we just take the ball and run with it...

I also found it difficult that tabs hid the question. Oddly I did the same tests last week for ICT EO and it did not do this.

Unfortunately this type of guff is everywhere in both the private and public sectors. In my previous department I noticed that a lot of the people who moaned about being on numerous panels but were never placed in a position spoke about 'going forward', touching base' and 'reverting'. Maybe there's a reason they weren't progressing? When I hear this crap emanating from anybody's mouth, alarm bells ring and I immediately brand them in my own mind as a bull****ter. Going Forward, whatever happened to good old In Future? The same goes for Touching Base, what's wrong with Speak To? As for Revert it makes no sense at all. Revert does not mean reply so it's completely misused. Revert means to do an about turn or to return to a previous position or viewpoint.


Undoubtedly to my own detriment, if I'm at a meeting and somebody starts spouting this sh!te, I find it hard not to lose interest in what they're saying.

furrybones

I was away with dodgy internet until yesterday. I tried to do the assessments around 10am yesterday morning but the whole thing went into perpetual loading.... loading .....loading...... I guess it wasn't meant to be. From the sounds of it, it was more stressful than anything.

The_Conductor

Don't worry- it'll come up again- and there will also be a series of specialised AO panels in the near future (same as last year) for those with specific HR, Finance, IT and Language skills.

Also keep in mind (for future competitions) that a set proportion of the posts will be ringfenced for those willing to conduct business through Irish (as happened in the recent EO).

The online tests were frustrating in the extreme- not least of all because of the technical issues that they seem to have been plagued with. I did the tests just to see what they were like- I had to do the various bits in 3 different browsers- and I eventually managed to get that blasted 'chat'/e-mail workskills part working on a laptop with an old version of Internet Explorer on it. Its supposed to be an online test- not an opportunity to have candidates trawl through their old equipment to try and find something that its compatible with.

I'm guessing I flunked (and badly too)- despite how I did in the previous panels.

belgowho

Next stage is likely supervised tests?

The_Conductor

belgowho wrote: »

Next stage is likely supervised tests?

I'd suggest anyone who gets through the initial online exam- would have to fill out a detailed application- which would be used to further weed-out candidates, then supervised tests (however, how do you do supervised tests in a time of Covid?)...........

belgowho

The_Conductor wrote: »

I'd suggest anyone who gets through the initial online exam- would have to fill out a detailed application- which would be used to further weed-out candidates, then supervised tests (however, how do you do supervised tests in a time of Covid?)...........

Ah yes, forgot we havent submitted for AO. Would be interested in how they do it for Third Sec since we already submitted a long form.

PhoenixParker

floorpie wrote: »

I don't like that we were forced to reply with business babble during charAssessment. "I will gather the data and revert to you asap" :rolleyes: Do new AOs get to touch base with relevant stakeholders on blue sky thinking vis-à-vis useful phrases? Or do we just take the ball and run with it...

I also found it difficult that tabs hid the question. Oddly I did the same tests last week for ICT EO and it did not do this.

The business jargon annoys me more in the verbal and the numeric. I don't have a business degree, I'm not applying for a job in a business yet both of those are filled with business jargon about FY this and Executive board that.

There's no need to build in that bias to the tests.