ins and outs of aptitude tests?

uberwolf

I was surprised when I did a quick search how little there was on aptitude tests in this forum through the annals.

I have one next week for a job I'd really like. It's pre interview, post application form pruning stage.

I have no real idea what to expect how to prepare and how to approach the entire thing - where I hope you guys come in...

I'm assuming attire should be the same as if I were attending an interview.

This specific job doesn't require a specific skill set - so there won't be a coding (for example) test. SO what will they be hoping to learn about me and how do I show them?

Or is it really as simple as being honest and truthful?

cajun_tiger

there are lots of books you can get its all about speed and acurisy(i **** at spelling)

just read everything twice and go for it..

i've done 3 now not alot i know but they arent that bad...get your head in reading mode before hand

cajun_tiger

http://www.kent.ac.uk/careers/psychotests.htm

WhiteWashMan

if you tell us what sort of position you are going for and what sort of test it is, someone might be able to give you a better answer.

with regards to what you should wear, then yes, i would wear the same thing as i would if i were having an interview. you can only make one first impression, but you can also make bad impressions anytime.

apptitute tests are not there to trick you, so there really shouldnt be any lying or cheating or answering how you think they want you to answer.

but go with honesty. if its a psychometric test, then you should go with how you feel, because the can be quite accurate if done properly, and you dont want to reduce your chances.
there are plenty of books on psychometric test books, so if thats what you are doing, then buy one. otherwise, again, unless i know what type of test, i cant really advise at this point.

uberwolf

it's for a 'lending executive' graduate intake position. With Bank of Scotland.

On investigation the immediate tesing is only numerical and verbal reasoning which I ought acquit myself well on.

of more concern will be the assessment centres - team interaction etc?
and the interviews which are seperate to the formal interviews. These first interviews include self presentation - and doesn't specify if this is a passive or active exercise.

WhiteWashMan

as with any interview, the best thing you can do is prepare.
if you can somehow find out what these interviews are like, what each of these things entail, then you can at least prepare for whatever is going to happen.

as said above, just ensure you answer the questions that are asked, read everything twice!

Lump

Well for my BBC aptitude test there was a comparison section checking differences between an original document and a printed version and then a sychametric analysis... not sure if that's the correct spelling... but basically it was a fault finding excercise, a series of Coloured lights is put though a number of switches. Each switch does a different thing to different coloured light. Look at the resultant light configuration and determine what which is broken.

I was going for a technical job so, I'm sure the Fault finding wont be in yours... but the other part might pop up. They tend to be different for every job, you need to talk to some one who did one for a bank.

John

isolde

hey überwolf

i did numerical and reasoning tests for bank of ireland, if that's any help. i reckon they're pretty similar.

go to http://www.shldirect.com/ and try out the tests there. the actual ones i did for boi were very similar.

basically, for boi you had to do about 50 maths questions and around the same number of verbal reasoning questions. the tests are timed, you get around 30 minutes for each test. so it's basically a test of speed and accuracy.
you can use a calculator. for instance, you could get a company's budget for 3 years (by budget i mean a simplified version: income = X, advertising expenses = X, wages = X) and then asked how much the costs have increased since the first year or something like that. that's not a great example but ya probably get what i mean.

verbal reasoning was generally a paragraph about something or other, and then you had to say whether statements were true, false, or you couldnt say from the information provided. be careful, sometimes you know things are obviously false from your own common sense, but if it doesnt state it in the text then dont say its false straight out. Sorry im having problems explaining myself today!

anyway, what else, yea i think you should dress fairly formally. are you a guy? trousers and stuff anyway. go through the tests as calmly as you can because you cant waste time. sometimes they can be tricky so make sure you've read them right. dont stress too much if you don't get everything answered.

i havent got the results of my boi one yet so i dont know if im going to go on to an assessment centre, but i have been at a different graduate assessment centre - interviews, presentation, group exercise, etc. - which was unrelated to the banking world, but if you want to know how that works, let me know.

~ isolde.

uberwolf

anyway had that today. Twas grand. Thanks primarily to the mock ones those links gave. It was SHL who were providing it so the SHL links were ideal

hopefully I'll be on here bugging re assessment centres in a couple of weeks. Either way, thanks for the help.