PSYCHOMETRIC TESTS

Psychometric tests are now a common part of the assessment of job applicants. The term covers both ability or aptitude tests and personality questionnaires. The first part of this sheet gives an overview of the different types of tests you may come across, while the second part lists some of the extensive resources available for test practice. For information about Case Studies, often used in management consulting assessment centres, please see the Information Leaflet on Case Studies. WHAT ARE PSYCHOMETRIC TESTS? Psychometric tests are designed to assess your reasoning abilities or how you respond to different situations. The tests that employers use should have been carefully researched and trialled, to ensure that they provide valid assessments of the people who are likely to take them. WHY DO RECRUITERS USE PSYCHOMETRIC TESTS? Employers use a variety of methods to select the right people. The greater the variety of situations in which a selector can see you perform, and the greater the number of skills that are being tested, the more accurate and objective the assessment should be. Tests are simply one way of assessing the competencies relevant to a specific job, and should ideally be designed with that type of work in mind. From an employer's point of view, tests are also a reasonably cost-efficient way of assessing a large number of applicants; this probably explains why many organisations use them to pre-select candidates on-line for (comparatively expensive) interviews. HOW ARE PSYCHOMETRIC TESTS USED? Employers use psychometric tests at different stages during the recruitment process. Some (the Fast Stream Civil Service, for example) use tests to assist in the decision on whom they should invite to interview; others use them at a later stage, as part of a series of selection exercises. You are quite likely to come across psychometric tests in a recruitment context, but they can also be used as a tool to help you to understand where your strengths lie and what career areas might be most appropriate and of most interest to you. WHAT TYPES OF TESTS ARE USED? APTITUDE TESTS VERBAL, NUMERICAL, ABSTRACT These test either your logical reasoning or thinking performance, usually in verbal, numerical or abstract reasoning; they are neither tests of general knowledge nor of intelligence. Tests usually consist of a timed series of multiple-choice questions, and are usually computerbased. It does not matter if you do not finish the test (although you should complete as many questions as possible); it is the number of correct answers which counts. Your score is then compared with the results of a norm group which has taken the tests in the past. Selectors are

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then able to assess your reasoning skills in relation to others, and to make judgements about your ability to cope with the tasks involved in a given job. The significance of the pass point will vary, depending on where the tests are used in the selection process. Organisations which use these tests to select candidates for first interview are likely to make their decision based solely on your test score (i.e. as a pass/fail gate). Organisations which use the tests a little later in the selection process are more likely to use your results as just one of the criteria for overall selection. A less-than-ideal performance on one of the tests, for example, may be compensated for by a good performance in other selection exercises particularly those measuring the same competency/ability. PERSONALITY QUESTIONNAIRES Personality questionnaires explore the way you tend to react to, or prefer to deal with, different situations. They are self-report questionnaires (meaning that a profile is drawn up from your responses to a number of questions or statements), and focus on a variety of personality factors, such as how you relate to other people, your ability to deal with your own and others' emotions, your motivations and determination and your general outlook. Unlike aptitude tests there are no right nor wrong answers, and questionnaires are usually completed in your own time. From your responses the recruiter gains information about your style of behaviour, your preferred type of personality of how and why you do things in your own way; occasionally it might form the basis for discussion at a subsequent interview. The recruiters will not be looking for a rigid, typical personality profile. Whilst certain characteristics may be more or less appropriate for particular jobs or organisations the fact is that a mix of types is good for any part of an organisation. Questionnaires exploring either your interests or values should not be used for selection. These are designed to clarify what fields of work interest you, or what factors make work worthwhile for you. You are more likely to come across them either in a careers guidance setting or in an appraisal/development context once in work. We, for example, offer the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) as a guidance tool. See our Information Leaflet about the MBTI. The best way to approach all of these questionnaires is just to answer them as straightforwardly and honestly as you can. Trying to double-guess or out-think what the employer/the questionnaire is looking for is difficult, and could well be counter-productive for tests are designed to check the consistency of your answers and under pressure you may not spot all of the underlying questions. Do consider also whether you would want to be given a job which really does not suit you. PREPARING FOR APTITUDE TESTS There are a number of things you can do to prepare yourself. Playing with word games, mathematical teasers and diagrammatic puzzles may help to get you into a logical and analytical frame of mind, and the following ideas may be of help to develop particular abilities: Numerical reasoning skills - practise basic mental arithmetic with and without a calculator. Addition, subtraction, division, multiplication and calculations of percentages and ratios are commonly required, and the ability to extract information from charts and graphs can be as important as the actual calculations in these tests. Remember that, unless a job requires a very high level of numeracy, numerical tests are not likely to be pitched higher than GCSE-level maths. Reading financial reports and studying data in charts (e.g. in the quality or financial press) could be useful, but see also the list of practice resources below. The Careers Service also offers sessions to refresh numeracy skills for aptitude tests.

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Verbal reasoning skills - these are more difficult to brush up quickly than mathematical techniques. Reading manuals, technical reports or academic and business journals may help. Practise extracting and summarising the main points from passages of information.

The best thing that you can do is to sit a practice aptitude test. You can take practice tests online. The Careers Service has arranged free online access to a series of complete aptitude tests typical of those used by graduate recruiters. See Practice resources below for details. A WORD OF WARNING Practice can help you to feel more confident about sitting these tests, but remember that the tests are intended to assess your natural aptitude. Be realistic about the return on spending a lot of time preparing for tests - especially if you are in your final year; your degree result will be more significant in your future career than an aptitude test result. TIPS FOR SITTING THE TEST You could be asked to do a test online in your own time, or in a formal test-setting as part of an assessment day. Either way, if you have a disability and you require special provision, discuss this with the employer in advance of the test session. Ensure that you know exactly what you are required to do - do not be afraid to ask questions. Follow the instructions you are given exactly. Read through the questions and answer choices very carefully. Eliminate as many wrong answers as possible. For example, with numerical tests a quick estimate may help you to discard several of the options without working out every alternative. Work as quickly and accurately as you can. Both speed and accuracy are important - don't spend too long on any one question, and keep an eye on the clock. Do not waste time on difficult questions. If you are stuck on a question, leave it and move on. Whether it is advisable to guess answers will depend on how the test is being marked. Some tests simply award marks for correct answers, whilst others also penalise wrong ones. If you are not told the marking policy during the introduction to the test, you can always try asking, to help determine your strategy. The best approach is probably to go for your best choice but to avoid wild guessing. Don't worry if you do not finish all the questions in the time, but if you do, go over your answers again to check them. NOT GETTING THROUGH THE TEST STAGE? If you have not done well on a test, remember that there can be a number of reasons for poor performance. These could include feeling tired or under the weather, being unable to concentrate due to personal problems, misunderstanding what you had to do, answering questions too slowly or panicking. Poor test results on the day do not necessarily mean that you lack ability, so you may like to discuss your test technique with a Careers Adviser, or to sit a practice test to get feedback on what might be going wrong. Whilst everyone has certain innate abilities, it is possible (given time) to further develop particular abilities using some of the practice resources suggested on this sheet. It is, however, a fact that some people will not reach the required standard. This does not reflect on your intelligence - it may mean only that you are not primarily a logical person. You may have a much more intuitive approach to solving problems, which could be equally valuable. WHAT IF I HAVE SPECIAL NEEDS? Psychometric tests are an important tool for selecting people with special needs (such as those with a disability), as they are less open to the biases emanating from other systems, such as interviews. Everyone who takes a psychometric test is given the same questions, and takes them under the same conditions. By discussing beforehand what your needs might be, you will ensure that reasonable adjustments can be made to ensure a level playing-field. These might include

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setting a lower pass mark, providing a personal reader/writer or signer, allowing extra time to do the test or providing specialised equipment (e.g. loop systems/Braille keyboards). INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS NON-NATIVE ENGLISH SPEAKERS If English is not your first language, you may be anxious about the effect this might have on your performance in psychometric tests, in particular in verbal reasoning tests. While recruiters may take your concerns about your level of English into account, different companies will be more or less flexible about this. Test providers sometimes give employers an idea of the extent to which language ability may affect scores. Remember though that good English language ability will be important to them for working in the UK, and so compensation for lack of ability in this area is likely to be minimal. PRACTICE RESOURCES TAKE A PRACTICE TEST AND RECEIVE FEEDBACK The Careers Service offers free online tests typical of those used by graduate recruiters. You can take up to three tests and receive detailed feedback on your performance by email. The tests available are: Verbal reasoning Numerical reasoning Abstract reasoning These are timed tests, each lasting 20 minutes. You will need to choose a time to do them when you will not be distracted. Access them via the Careers Service website. Log in to CareerConnect and select Online Aptitude Tests on the Subscriptions menu. Many employers who use these tests also offer practice versions on their own websites, so you can use these to practice and prepare too. NUMERICAL, VERBAL, ABSTRACT REASONING http://www.prospects.ac.uk/psychometric_tests.htm - provides a range of aptitude tests and personality and career development assessment examples (go to: Jobs & Work Applications & Interviews Test Yourself). http://students.efinancialcareers.co.uk/numerical_test.htm access three free numerical tests similar to those used by major investment banks. www.shldirect.com - examples of verbal, numerical and diagrammatic tests plus practice tests and feedback from one of the largest UK test publishers. http://www.insidebuzz.co.uk/buzz_board/view/practice-free-verbal-and-numerical-tests - free verbal and numerical tests. http://practicetests.cubiks.com/ - take free five-minute verbal and numerical reasoning tests (answers given, no feedback). Click on Cubiks online - Ability tests to access them. www.morrisby.com - contains advice and sample abstract, verbal, numerical, perceptual, shape and mechanical test questions. www.kenexa.com/assessments/assessment_guidance - free practice tests from a HR consultancy http://www.psychometric-success.com/ - free practice tests in a range of reasoning skills http://www.kent.ac.uk/careers/tests/verbaltest.htm - wide range of practice resources and links. www.psychtesting.org.uk/ - information from the British Psychological Society on tests and test usage. http://www.talentlens.co.uk/practice-aptitude - currently a Numerical Reasoning practice test but Watson Glaser tests will be made available shortly.
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BOOKS The Careers Service has the following books on psychometric tests: Brilliant psychometric and other selection tests, Susan Hodgson Brilliant psychometric tests, Robert Edenborough Brilliant tactics to pass aptitude tests, Susan Hodgson How to master psychometric tests, mark Parkinson How to pass advanced aptitude tests, Jim Barrett How to pass advanced verbal reasoning tests, Mike Byron How to pass graduate psychometric tests, Mike Bryon How to pass interpretation tests, Mike Bryon How to pass numerical reasoning tests, Heidi Smith How to pass professional level psychometric tests, Sam Al-Jajjoka How to pass psychometric tests, Andrea Shavick How to pass selection tests, Mike Bryon and Sanjay Modha How to pass the QTS numeracy and literacy skills test, Chris Tyreman IQ aptitude tests, Philip Carter The complete personality assessment, Jim Barrett and Hugh Green The graduate psychometric test workbook, Mike Bryon The numeracy test workbook, Mike Bryon The verbal reasoning test workbook, Mike Bryon Youre hired! Assessment centres, Ceri Roderick Youre hired! Psychometric tests: proven tactics to help you pass, Ceri Roderick and James Meachin

RESOURCES ON BASIC NUMERACY Refresher in Basic Mathematics (R N Rowe, DP Publications). Improve Your Numeracy and A Numeracy Refresher (University of Bristol and University of Birmingham) also online at http://www.mathcentre.ac.uk/students/types/practice-andrevision/numeracy-skills/ www.mathcentre.ac.uk - offers quick guides, practice and revision materials on many branches of maths. CRITICAL REASONING Watson Glaser Critical Reasoning Appraisal - practice booklet available at the Careers Service. Designed to find out how well people can reason analytically and logically; used to test staff who will be involved in complex decision-making. Similar to GMAT. PERSONALITY QUESTIONNAIRES Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) - separate Information Leaflet available. From time to time we also run interactive, three-hour group sessions on understanding your personal style with the MBTI. See the Whats On section of our website for further information. www.teamtechnology.co.uk/personality-tests.html - useful introduction to personality questionnaires with links to several examples. POSTGRADUATE STUDY IN THE USA GRE, ETC The Careers Service has a wide selection of GRE, GMAT and LSAT workbooks (standardised tests used by American universities for entry on to their graduate programmes). www.gre.org - for a comprehensive set of GRE materials. See also the files on Postgraduate Study in the USA in the Resource Centre.

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CIVIL SERVICE SELECTION TESTS www.faststream.gov.uk. How to pass the Civil Service Qualifying Tests (Mike Byron, Kogan Page) based on the old test but still very useful. OTHER SECTOR-SPECIFIC TESTS http://www.psychometrics-uk.com/page26.html - Berger Aptitude for Programming Test (B-APT) - three sample questions from this test, which assesses your aptitude for learning computer programming languages. EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES www.psychtesting.org.uk - contains a Guide to testing people with disabilities (use the search facility) with links to other organisations which can provide advice in this area.

NEED MORE ADVICE? SEE A CAREERS ADVISER Some of our careers advisers are trained to administer and give feedback on psychometric tests. Please telephone 01865 274646 to establish availability.

GENERAL RESOURCES CAREERS ADVISERS Sometimes you just need a little help whether its feedback on your CV, preparation for interviews, or figuring out what to do next. Our Careers Advisers have direct experience in a wide range of sectors (e.g. in banking, medicine, consulting, teaching, charities, research and many more) and each has a special interest and shares their knowledge so that any of them can help you with your initial enquiries. We offer up to thirty-six 15 minute 1:1 sessions every day between 10:30am and 4:30pm (late night on Thursdays in term time) that you can book online on CareerConnect. Some extra sessions run in departments, colleges and Exam Schools. Our new Career Lounges run every day; you can drop in and discuss anything from assessment centres to applying for internships see the website and newsletter for further details. In the vacations we can also give advice by phone or Skype. See http://www.careers.ox.ac.uk/our-services/see-a-careers-adviser. THE CAREERS WEBSITE www.careers.ox.ac.uk is the central source to download all our publications (including this one), find links to other useful sites and much more. For example, you can see whats on at the Careers Service, read tips about interviews at different companies, listen to podcasts, and find out what alumni have gone on to do. CAREERCONNECT The password protected area of our site is your portal to contact over 2,400 alumni mentors, book workshops and advice sessions, upload your CV, download books and search for jobs and internships almost 8,000 opportunities were added during the last academic year. To find out more and log-in, see http://www.careers.ox.ac.uk/our-services/careerconnect/. THE RESOURCE CENTRE At 56 Banbury Road you can browse books in our careers library; read the latest sector periodicals; take away leaflets, booklets and brochures from national careers publishers and see a Careers

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Adviser. Were open every weekday, except university and bank holidays, generally 9am -5pm, with 10am start on Thursdays and 7pm finish on Thursdays in term time. To check opening times, see our website at www.careers.ox.ac.uk. E-NEWSLETTER We email everyone a weekly newsletter in term-time - giving a summary of the next weeks events by sector, further study opportunities, special events, fairs, highlighted job of the week and hints and tips on how to boost your CV. Theres always something for everyone, so keep your eye on your inbox! SOCIAL MEDIA FACEBOOK Join us at www.facebook.com/oxfordcareers to get reminders of our major events straight to your newsfeed, as well as last-minute news from employers. TWITTER Want to know what those in your chosen field are talking about? Use Twitter to listen in on the conversation, find out about opportunities or ask questions. Start by following us at www.twitter.com/OxfordCareers to get careers related news and tips, and check out our lists to find a ready-made batch of interesting Twitter feeds for your chosen field. Twitter is also a great way of demonstrating your interest in a sector - theres a reason its called micro-blogging! LINKEDIN If employers search for your name and university, a LinkedIn page ensures they find what you want them to know. Its a place to showcase your skills and qualifications, and to get publically recommended by those youve worked with. Its also a phenomenal research tool to find people to contact, and learn about the background of those in your ideal job. We run a regular talk on how to create a profile on LinkedIn, and how to use the site to network. If you already have a profile, join our group: www.linkd.in/OxfordCareers.

Oxford University Careers Service, September 2013, www.careers.ox.ac.uk