What Types of Aptitude Tests Are There?

Employers choose to use psychometric testing during their recruitment process to help give a better overall evaluation of candidate’s and their suitability for the job that they’re applying for. Psychometric testing could help to gauge the future performance of candidate's and also improve employee retention by making successful hiring decisions.

The following are examples of commonly used aptitude tests:

Numerical Reasoning Test

Numerical reasoning tests are standardized psychometric assessment tests that provide the employing organization with information about a candidate’s general numerical aptitude. These tests are designed to measure a candidate’s ability to make correct decisions or inferences from numerical or statistical data. It is intended to measure the ability to work with numerical data in a realistic workplace context.

You can find more information on numerical reasoning tests here.

Verbal Reasoning Test

This type of test may be employed to gauge your understanding of written texts and how factual your drawn conclusions are from the written material. You may be given a small passage of text and asked to give a False, True or Cannot Say reply to every statement. Verbal reasoning tests may help recruiters identify those candidates who can understand, analyze and make their own accurate conclusions from written materials, no matter what the industry they are working in.

You can find more information on verbal reasoning tests here.

In-Tray and E-tray Exercises

In-Tray and E-Tray exercises are standardized psychometric assessment tests that provide the employing organization with information about a candidate’s general ability to manage and respond to a series of different tasks, negotiate conflicting demands and analyze different priorities.

The exercise is based on a fictional business-related scenario where candidates are given a particular job role. It is important to know that both tests are in general based on the same principle. The largest difference between the In-Tray and E-Tray exercise is that the E-Tray variant is presented on a computer and all your responses are entered on-screen. The In-Tray exercise is based on a series of paper-based materials.

In-Tray and E-Tray exercises are usually given to candidates at an assessment centre, however, they can be given at any stage and are sometimes given as a group exercise.

You can find more information on in-tray and e-tray exercises here.

Inductive Reasoning

Inductive reasoning tests are one of the most commonly used aptitude tests that come up during a job application. Inductive reasoning tests are standardized psychometric assessment tests that provide the employing organization with information about a candidate’s problem-solving abilities. This test is designed to measure a candidate’s ability to work flexibly with unfamiliar information and find solutions. People who perform well on inductive reasoning tests tend to have a greater capacity to think conceptually as well as analytically.

You can find more information on inductive reasoning tests here.

Mechanical Reasoning Tests

Mechanical reasoning tests usually target and assess your depth of ability and competency with mechanical concepts. Also, they may help measure your innate capacity to make use of applied engineering principles to come up with the correct answer. Usually, mechanical reasoning tests are used in the recruiting process of technical and engineering job positions. These tests may include problems relating to mechanical and engineering concepts and may be designed to gradually increase in difficulty while maintaining the same amount of time limitation.

Diagrammatic Reasoning Test

Also known as abstract reasoning tests, these tests’ usual purpose is gauging your ability to understand shapes, abstract ideas and how fast can you observe or extract rules from illustrations and apply them to new samples to come up with the correct answer. This test may be challenging since there will be no words or numbers, but only purely illustrations depicting different shapes, sequences, and patterns that may gradually increase in the level of difficulty. This type of aptitude test may be beneficial for some employers, as they will have a clear idea of the logical reasoning abilities of their employees that are not bound by linguistic or mathematical skills and knowledge. This test is commonly used when screening job applicants for positions that require decisive problem-solving abilities and initiative to work.

You can find more information on diagrammatic reasoning tests here.

Spatial Reasoning Test

Spatial reasoning tests are also called spatial awareness tests and may be used to measure your innate ability to clearly manipulate and remember shapes, still images and extract possible patterns that govern their sequence or their order.

Spatial reasoning tests are non-verbal, standardized psychometric assessment tests that provide the employing organization with information about a candidate’s ability to mentally re-arrange, rotate and manipulate shapes or objects without physically touching them. These tests are often used in technical sectors (such as engineering) but also in the military.

Spatial reasoning is essential for solving everyday problems, such as using a map and compass, merging into high-speed traffic, and orienting yourself in your environment. Other examples of tasks that require visual-spatial ability are determining the size of a box and how many objects fit in it, and using mirror images.

Spatial ability is also essential in many fields of study, such as mathematics, natural sciences, architecture, astronomy, engineering and economic forecasting.

You can find more information on spatial reasoning tests here.

Situational Judgement Test

This type of aptitude tests usually aims to gauge your understanding in a given workplace scenario and critically assess your judgment in making the most appropriate approach to solving problems related to work and situations that may involve other co-workers, the management and/or the whole company itself.

Situational judgment tests are one of the most commonly used aptitude tests that come up during a job application. Situational judgment tests are standardized psychometric assessment tests that provide the employing organization with information about a candidate’s general ability to choose the most appropriate action in workplace situations. These tests are designed to measure a candidate’s ability to handle situations that they could encounter in the job that they are applying for.

You can find more information on situational judgment tests here.

Mental Arithmetic Tests

Mental arithmetic tests are standardized psychometric assessment tests that provide the employing organization with information about a candidate’s general numerical aptitude. These tests are designed to measure a candidate’s basic numeracy and can be categorized as a speed test.

By practising mental arithmetic tests you can improve your performance during the real test by familiarizing yourself with the format and time pressure.

The equations and sums you will need to answer may contain positive as well as negative numbers. When doing calculation tests you will find the following mathematical equations:

Adding: In these mathematical equations, represented by the + sign, it is necessary to add the two numbers.
Subtracting: In these mathematical equations, represented by the – sign, it is necessary to subtract one number from the other one.
Multiplying: In these mathematical equations, represented by the x sign, it is necessary to multiply the two numbers.
Dividing: In these mathematical equations, represented by the ÷ sign, it is necessary to divide the first number by the second number.
Fractions: Just to make the test a little more difficult, you will also find fractions within the mathematical equations. Some of the numbers that you will need for a calculation can be switched into fractions. An example is ½, which equals 0.5.

You can find more information on mental arithmetic tests here.

Number Sequences

Number sequence tests, also called number series, are standardized psychometric assessment tests that provide the employing organization with information about a candidate’s general ability to logically reason with numbers. In this test, you are to find the missing number in a given sequence. This initial sequence has a defined pattern and you are to determine this pattern and thereby find the missing number.

To solve number sequences efficiently, you should first check the relationship between the given numbers and see if you can find some simple arithmetic relationship. Also, look at the intervals between the numbers and see if there is any relationship. If you can't find a clear relationship between the numbers themselves, then there may be two interleaved number sequences. In this test, you will find relationships between numbers that are established through multiplications, divisions, additions and/or subtractions.

You can find more information on number sequences here.

Verbal Analogies

Verbal analogies tests are standardized psychometric assessment tests (also used on SAT, GRE and other professional exams) that provide the employing organization with information about a candidate’s general verbal acuity and insight. Verbal analogies tests are designed to measure a candidate’s ability to recognize relationships between ideas, think methodically and fluency in the English language.

You can find more information on verbal analogies here.

Vocabulary Tests

Vocabulary Tests are standardized psychometric assessment tests that provide the employing organization with information about a candidate’s general vocabulary size.

You can find more information on vocabulary tests here.

Watson Glaser Critical Thinking Tests

The Watson Glaser critical thinking test also referred to as the critical reasoning test, is a commonly used aptitude test that comes up during a job application. Critical thinking tests are a widely used aptitude test for selecting candidates of graduate, professional and managerial level. The test measures:

Critical thinking ability
General understanding of the importance of evidence when making conclusions
The ability to differentiate between inferences, abstractions, and generalizations through applying logic
The ability to combine these skills above when making these decisions

Critical thinking plays a vital role in academic instruction and occupations that require careful analytics thinking to perform essential job functions. It is used in different fields, such as business, government, and education. Critical thinking tests predict judgment, problem-solving, creativity, openness to experience and more.

You can find more information on critical thinking tests here.

Syllogisms

Syllogism tests are one of the most commonly used aptitude tests that come up during a job application. Syllogism tests are standardized psychometric assessment tests that provide the employing organization with information about a candidate’s deductive and logical reasoning skills.

A syllogism is a type of logical argument composed of three parts, being 2 premises (a major premise and a minor premise), and a conclusion inferred from the provided premises. A premise is a proposition that is used as evidence in an argument, while a conclusion is asserted by the logical result of an argument based on the relationship of the stated arguments. Remember to always only focus on the information provided in the premises and conclusions; don’t use general knowledge when solving syllogism questions.

You can find more information on syllogism tests here.

Word Problem Tests

Math word problem tests are used in aptitude tests as well as in SAT and ACTs. Math word problem tests are standardized psychometric assessment tests that provide the employing organization with information about a candidate’s general reading comprehension skills, ability to visualize information and numerical aptitude.

By practising math word problem tests you can improve your performance during the real test by familiarizing yourself with the format and time pressure.

You can find more information on word problem tests here.

Logical Reasoning

Logical reasoning tests are standardized psychometric assessment tests that provide the employing organization with information about a candidate’s general problem-solving ability. This type of test usually does not require numerical or verbal skills, but there are different variations out there that do. Logical reasoning tests are designed to assess a candidate’s ability at skills such as how to interpret patterns and/or the relationships between shapes.

You can find more information on logical reasoning tests here.

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