Interdepartmental Higher Executive Officer 2020 - (Serving Civil Servants ONLY)

lucat

Uncle Pierre wrote: »

I did the tests myself last night and am just going to give up thinking about them....and reading about them here too.

For instance, I didn't get questions about a charity and absentee rates, and because of this whole "adaptive" thing, I don't know if that's because I wasn't doing well enough to get the "tougher" questions, or if that was actually supposed to be one of the "easier" ones and I was getting "tougher" ones instead.

Will say though that I got the shipping container ones and am confident that I worked them out properly, and that normally I do pretty well on numbers anyway.

As for the verbal ones....they didn't seem to get noticeably easier or harder as I went along. That could mean that either I was doing so poorly that even the "easier" ones didn't seem easier, or else I was doing so well that even the "tougher" ones didn't seem tougher!

Suppose we'll all find out in due course anyway. Good luck to all.

I had the same impression for verbal. As for numerical, for the first half they got noticeably harder. Then they seemed to reach a level of difficulty where the length of time I spent counteracted getting the answer right because they didn't change at all. Overall I spent waaay too long on numerical, probably 40 mins instead of 20 :eek:

Wonderstruck

It's just numerical and verbal right, no situational judgments etc yet?

mrtweed

any more hints on the content of the numerical section? doing mine tonight once the kids are gone to bed.

No real hints other than to get as much practice in. The % ones are the usual stuff. It can be hard to know which figure you're basing your percentage off, at times. The trick is to put yourself in the position of the correct element, and use that as your baseline.

e.g.......

Liverpool scored 43 goals so far this season
Man Utd scored 49 goals so far this season

Depending on how the question is phrased, you can have different answers.
a. Liverpool have scored 87.7% of the amount of Man Utd goals.......(43/49)
b. Man Utd are 12.2% ahead of Liverpool in goals scored........(49-43)/49
c. Liverpool must score 13.9% more goals to catch up........(49-43)/43

In b, you are Man Utd and basing the percentage of your figure so 49 is your baseline. Whereas in c, you're using Liverpool as the baseline, if you get me, so you need to increase your figure by a certain percentage.....so 43 is the figure you use.

Just because the answer you arrive at is one of the options available, doesn't mean you got it correct.

FWIW, I found it much easier than the tests for the last few EO ones I've done. I agree about one of the graphs not making sense in terms of how to calculate your answer. They were looking for the average weekly figure for X. When I added them up and divided by 7, it didn't look anything like the answers offered.
(Having typed this up now, perhaps I should have divided by 5 instead, using the work week instead of the actual week).

lucat

Deleted User wrote: »

No real hints other than to get as much practice in. The % ones are the usual stuff. It can be hard to know which figure you're basing your percentage off, at times. The trick is to put yourself in the position of the correct element, and use that as your baseline.

e.g.......

Liverpool scored 43 goals so far this season
Man Utd scored 49 goals so far this season

Depending on how the question is phrased, you can have different answers.
a. Liverpool have scored 87.7% of the amount of Man Utd goals.......(43/49)
b. Man Utd are 12.2% ahead of Liverpool in goals scored........(49-43)/49
c. Liverpool must score 13.9% more goals to catch up........(49-43)/43

In b, you are Man Utd and basing the percentage of your figure so 49 is your baseline. Whereas in c, you're using Liverpool as the baseline, if you get me, so you need to increase your figure by a certain percentage.....so 43 is the figure you use.

Just because the answer you arrive at is one of the options available, doesn't mean you got it correct.

FWIW, I found it much easier than the tests for the last few EO ones I've done. I agree about one of the graphs not making sense in terms of how to calculate your answer. They were looking for the average weekly figure for X. When I added them up and divided by 7, it didn't look anything like the answers offered.
(Having typed this up now, perhaps I should have divided by 5 instead, using the work week instead of the actual week).

I got maybe 1 percentage calculation question, so it just goes to show you these tests are very different for different people!

eroc79

Just finished. My connection dropped during the verbal. Working from home since march, not a bother but the one time I need it to be perfect. Typical.
The numeric took longer than I would have liked. I had a container question at the end, that was not like any numeric question I've seen in these exams before

lucat

eroc79 wrote: »

Just finished. My connection dropped during the verbal. Working from home since march, not a bother but the one time I need it to be perfect. Typical.
The numeric took longer than I would have liked. I had a container question at the end, that was not like any numeric question I've seen in these exams before

Was it a complicated question? I found a lot of my questions involved adding up long columns of figures. Not complicated, just v time-consuming.

insert name here 123

How did people find the recording bit of the test?

Is it all recorded?

Pudsy33

insert name here 123 wrote: »

How did people find the recording bit of the test?

Is it all recorded?

Not all recorded, you record yourself with your ID at the start followed by a 360 view of the room. Then at various points throughout the camera will come on and record you for a minute.

eroc79

lucat wrote: »

Was it a complicated question? I found a lot of my questions involved adding up long columns of figures. Not complicated, just v time-consuming.

I had tables and graphs mainly and then that container question. The graphs were a pain. Like others mentioned, you have to estimate what the figure is. Takes as long as working out the answer in some of them.
Glad to have it done

insert name here 123

I didn't get any graphs and probably messed up one of the camera recordings. Meh.

Wouldn't hold my breath to get to next stage, good to get experience of the tests. They should really put you out of your misery there and then lol

Good luck to those doing it.


You can redo the camera verification at the beginning. Couldn't see my passport properly so I hit the back button and re-recorded it.

lucat

insert name here 123 wrote: »

I didn't get any graphs and probably messed up one of the camera recordings. Meh.

Wouldn't hold my breath to get to next stage, good to get experience of the tests. They should really put you out of your misery there and then lol

Good luck to those doing it.


You can redo the camera verification at the beginning. Couldn't see my passport properly so I hit the back button and re-recorded it.

The camera thing was a pain. I just held the laptop in front of me and turned around! No idea what I the camera picked up. Also I wasn't able to read my passport details on my screen even though I was holding it as close as possible. We'll see anyway!

Fuzzybelle

I am going to do the exams in the morning.

Can anyone advise me if it is okay to use an external monitor with my laptop?
That is my standard setup in work as we all use 12" laptops.


I will leave the laptop open so the webcam can see me but will look at the larger screen.

Does this sound okay?

Maximus_1

Fuzzybelle wrote: »

I am going to do the exams in the morning.

Can anyone advise me if it is okay to use an external monitor with my laptop?
That is my standard setup in work as we all use 12" laptops.


I will leave the laptop open so the webcam can see me but will look at the larger screen.

Does this sound okay?

Sounds fine yea. Your camera will still be able to see the room when needed, second screen won't make any difference to the test. Good idea as larger screen will make it a bit easier

Fuzzybelle

Maximus_1 wrote: »

Sounds fine yea. Your camera will still be able to see the room when needed, second screen won't make any difference to the test. Good idea as larger screen will make it a bit easier

Thanks Maximus...I'd hate to do something stupid at this stage

T900i

insert name here 123 wrote: »

Hi, can I ask, for those applying for this comp.

How much experience do you have managing staff? I am right in thinking you would need to have good few years experience (managerial) before applying?

Just curious to get an idea. Don't need exact details, just generally speaking...

I think it’s swings and roundabouts I’ve many years in the private sector managing staff but lack an educational background but knowledge in my book comes in different forms. Hope this helps you

Longfordgal

Any idea when we can expect results to issue? Best of luck to everyone!

italodisco

Sweet jesus, I must have spent an hour doing it lol

I'd say I got the questions right, but boy oh boy did I struggle at home.

Based on the time I took I'd say I'm out.

Disappointed :-(

lucat

italodisco wrote: »

Sweet jesus, I must have spent an hour doing it lol

I'd say I got the questions right, but boy oh boy did I struggle at home.

Based on the time I took I'd say I'm out.

Disappointed :-(

Same. You win some you lose some I suppose

caarp

lucat wrote: »

I had the same impression for verbal. As for numerical, for the first half they got noticeably harder. Then they seemed to reach a level of difficulty where the length of time I spent counteracted getting the answer right because they didn't change at all. Overall I spent waaay too long on numerical, probably 40 mins instead of 20 :eek:

We had the exact same issue here Lucat. I definitely thought the first half were harder and in some of them, I was sure of my answer and then there wasn't even an option for my 'correct' answer. I was so sure of one of them that I did it twice from scratch and ended spending about 35-40 mins on the whole maths part. I wonder how much of a penalty that will cost me. Ugh.

italodisco

caarp wrote: »

We had the exact same issue here Lucat. I definitely thought the first half were harder and in some of them, I was sure of my answer and then there wasn't even an option for my 'correct' answer. I was so sure of one of them that I did it twice from scratch and ended spending about 35-40 mins on the whole maths part. I wonder how much of a penalty that will cost me. Ugh.

I was talking to someone more 'in the know' than myself who has knowledge from their civil service HR role, she said that you could still get through even if it took you 1.5 hours.

They need a certain amount of people through, first they'll take the high speed high scoring ones through, then they will look at the rest and they use a calculation based on amount correct vs time spent to fill the spots for interview.

Hopefully that's right.

I've had a zoom call today with 3 others who did the test this week and they all had the same worry regarding time spent.

Let's just wait and see, hope it doesn't take a month or 2 to hear back.

Brera

italodisco wrote: »

I was talking to someone more 'in the know' than myself who has knowledge from their civil service HR role, she said that you could still get through even if it took you 1.5 hours.

They need a certain amount of people through, first they'll take the high speed high scoring ones through, then they will look at the rest and they use a calculation based on amount correct vs time spent to fill the spots for interview.

Hopefully that's right.

I've had a zoom call today with 3 others who did the test this week and they all had the same worry regarding time spent.

Let's just wait and see, hope it doesn't take a month or 2 to hear back.

That makes sense. I know they claim that your time is used but it could be that it is used in the ranking order but it could be a case that it’s used if two people end up on the same score.

Anyway time will tell.

Now it’s just onto the dreaded wait for the txt / email from PAS !

caarp

italodisco wrote: »

I was talking to someone more 'in the know' than myself who has knowledge from their civil service HR role, she said that you could still get through even if it took you 1.5 hours.

They need a certain amount of people through, first they'll take the high speed high scoring ones through, then they will look at the rest and they use a calculation based on amount correct vs time spent to fill the spots for interview.

Hopefully that's right.

I've had a zoom call today with 3 others who did the test this week and they all had the same worry regarding time spent.

Let's just wait and see, hope it doesn't take a month or 2 to hear back.

Thanks Italodsico, I hope you're right. These tests, just the whole process takes so much out of you. I really need this promotion as it's just my wages keeping the family going at the moment. This pay rise would really make life a lot easier for us. Like a lot of other people too, no doubt. Hopefully, we won't wait long to find out.

italodisco

caarp wrote: »

Thanks Italodsico, I hope you're right. These tests, just the whole process takes so much out of you. I really need this promotion as it's just my wages keeping the family going at the moment. This pay rise would really make life a lot easier for us. Like a lot of other people too, no doubt. Hopefully, we won't wait long to find out.

Same here, just me keeping us afloat.

Managing now but when some normality returns to life then my family outgoings will increase which is the killer.

Gickyk

From my understanding, the next notification will be an invite to stage 1(b) then scores will issue.

'Overview

Stage 1 of the assessment process is broken down into 2 parts – Stage 1(a) and Stage 1(b).

For Stage 1(a), candidates will be invited to complete the following assessments:

Verbal Reasoning Assessment

Numerical Reasoning Assessment

Candidates must fully complete both assessments above, in order to be invited to Stage 1(b)

Candidates must meet the qualifying standard in both 1(a) and 1(b) in order to progress to stage 2 of the selection process. Those who reach the qualifying standard in both assessments will be ranked accordingly.'

Uncle Pierre

Gickyk wrote: »

From my understanding, the next notification will be an invite to stage 1(b) then scores will issue.

'Overview

Stage 1 of the assessment process is broken down into 2 parts – Stage 1(a) and Stage 1(b).

For Stage 1(a), candidates will be invited to complete the following assessments:

Verbal Reasoning Assessment

Numerical Reasoning Assessment

Candidates must fully complete both assessments above, in order to be invited to Stage 1(b)

Candidates must meet the qualifying standard in both 1(a) and 1(b) in order to progress to stage 2 of the selection process. Those who reach the qualifying standard in both assessments will be ranked accordingly.'

This is a bit like the verbal reasoning assessment.

"Scores for Stage 1(a) will not issue until Stage 1(b) has been completed".

Is this true, false, or cannot say?

My interpretation is cannot say.

eroc79

Uncle Pierre wrote: »

This is a bit like the verbal reasoning assessment.

"Scores for Stage 1(a) will not issue until Stage 1(b) has been completed".

Is this true, false, or cannot say?

My interpretation is cannot say.

It's normally the verbal and situational combined for the final ranking with numeric being pass/fail. If you fail any part, you're out. Not the most efficient method.

caarp

Uncle Pierre wrote: »

This is a bit like the verbal reasoning assessment.

"Scores for Stage 1(a) will not issue until Stage 1(b) has been completed".

Is this true, false, or cannot say?

My interpretation is cannot say.

Oh, this gave me a very needed belly laugh out loud! Well done!

lucat

caarp wrote: »

Thanks Italodsico, I hope you're right. These tests, just the whole process takes so much out of you. I really need this promotion as it's just my wages keeping the family going at the moment. This pay rise would really make life a lot easier for us. Like a lot of other people too, no doubt. Hopefully, we won't wait long to find out.

Yes they do, and I'm doing the SEO stage 2 this week too, which entails me recording myself answering competency based interview questions. If I pass then you get to do a live interview, yipee. I haven't done any preparation yet as I had to work today, so I'm going to get up early tomorrow morning, do some preparation like timing myself talking & then do the recordings at ab 12 when I'll have the house free.

eroc79

lucat wrote: »

Yes they do, and I'm doing the SEO stage 2 this week too, which entails me recording myself answering competency based interview questions. If I pass then you get to do a live interview, yipee. I haven't done any preparation yet as I had to work today, so I'm going to get up early tomorrow morning, do some preparation like timing myself talking & then do the recordings at ab 12 when I'll have the house free.

Best of luck with that.