c




 


A dedicated, cross-functional team of experts is continuously working towards improving the pH
Test. The R&D spend on pH Test development is in excess of 30% of eLitmus revenue.

x 

 







eLitmus uses on-the-job performance feedback to continuously improve the test validity.
A section of eLitmus customers share the non-soft skill appraisal of the selected
candidates with eLitmus. On the reliability front, typical company tests have questions
randomly jumbled to generate multiple sets of question paper. Very basic research
establishes that the performance of a test-taker can vary across sets when questions are
jumbled randomly. Theoretical approaches like test re-test reliability etc. have also been
found wanting in completely randomly generated tests. Apart from employing such
theoretical approaches, eLitmus also uses a proprietary statistical measure which draws
significant inputs from on job performance as well.

x  Ê


0n Jan 2006, eLitmus advocated that time-challenged approach was not the best measure
given the change in 0ndia¶s education system. 0t moved to a content challenged test and
strongly advocated the same on multiple forums. The second big thing eLitmus
advocated was that classical English (including rarely used vocabulary words) was a
wrong measure. At the work place, day-to-day communication had to be effective. 0t was
evident given the performance feedback shared with eLitmus. People with high scores in
verbal section were rated poor team players and communicators. eLitmus stand stood
vindicated when CAT, an admission test to best top B Schools in 0ndia implemented both
the philosophies. 0n Nov 2006, CAT was no longer time challenged as it had fewer
questions than ever historically. 0n Nov 2008, CAT had 40 question in Verbal in contrast
to 25 each in Quantitative and Problem Solving sections. 0t was evident that the difficulty
level of verbal question was easy and hence less time per question was made available to
test takers.

x   


  

All necessary formulae are provided in the question paper. Additionally our team
continuously tracks the tricks being taught in the coaching institutes. The idea is to
minimize the advantage to test takers who have undergone ³excessive´ preparation
without actually improving their fundamental abilities.

x 
  




There are a plethora of online tests leading to a certification offered by the best names in
the technology industry. Why is it that most successful takers of such tests fail to impress
 recruiters anymore? A basic feature of online tests is a random pool of questions selected
from a large pool of questions. This creates a threat to test reliability (in lay-man's terms,
two instances of a test being of equal difficulty). This can be achieved with a high degree
of accuracy only if there is over standardization in selecting questions randomly.
Advanced algorithms to create reliability across tests without over standardization fail.
Over standardization can be cracked through excessive preparation. Besides, the
probability of question not repeating is greater than zero. 0nformation sharing amongst
test takers in 0ndia is very high leading to leaked questions. Offline test requires eLitmus
to develop only 18-20 question papers per year, with no test or question ever repeated.
Moreover in 0ndian context, the infrastructure for online test often crumbles midway
between the test. Additionally third party environments (like college networks), are prone
to being hacked. This enables a person to remotely answer the test for a test taker sitting
in front of the machine.

x  




eLitmus has identified 7 major skills and 2 sub skills. Every question is mapped to one of
these skills. Based on the job description and historical information about the company, a
different weight is assigned to each skill and the score customized to the company's
precise requirement. 0t's a little like how just over a 100 elements make billions of
compounds.

x  ‘
 


 


This has been developed by eLitmus with over 10 person-years of R&D. 0t is an

empirical approach that leverages the performance feedback of companies. While the
exact mechanics are proprietary to eLitmus, a couple of notable features follow. First,
negative marking based on resources utilized (similar to Duckworth Lewis methodology
in cricket) and the accuracy of wrong answers. For example a student who gets 4 wrong
answers out of 30 attempts is penalized higher for each wrong answers compared to a
student who gets 4 wrong anwers out of 40 attempts. Second, every question has close
wrong answers and irrelevant wrong answers. For example a question like ³What is the
capital of 0ndia?´ could have choices as Delhi, New Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore. A
person marking Delhi as an answer is treated differently as compared to a person marking
Mumbai or Bangalore.

x  



 
 

 




 
 Tests have an inherent bias
towards creating gradient at the
higher end of the talent pool,
thereby giving inaccurate results.
The normal curve figure along
side is self explanatory. The table
below has data gathered from
results of a leading MBA entrance
test in 0ndia, primarily designed
to cater to the needs of the very
top B Schools in 0ndia. The above
test due to its reputation is being
used by several other B Schools
to offer admissions. 0t is evident
that it is difficult to differentiate 

among the talent pool not at the

very top end of the performance.

 
3. All tests by default have this inherent bias of creating differentiation at the top end.
4. A decade ago, the top 2% of talent pool sufficed to fill up all positions in companies or
seats in leading MBA colleges. Lot of engineers from leading institutes used to find it
difficult to find jobs. Today the story is in stark contrast. The top 25% of the talent pool is
proving inadequate viz a viz the demand. The theory and science behind design effective
tests is yet to wake up to this reality and hence some of the best tests designed by
practitioners of psychometric principles produce below average employees or non
performing students.

x  ‘
  

 Typically test format or questions are extremely predictable for a company. A candidate
gets a long time to prepare for such tests and clear it with ease. Even the 00Ts recently
identified the long, systematic 'test' preparation by candidates as a reason for the falling
quality of their in-take.

Syllabus For Elitmus Test

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The pH test tests the employability skills of the test taker. 0t doesn¶t include any specific subject
in your graduation but just basics in Mathematics and English language.

pH test includes 3 sections,

erbal, this includes Reading comprehension, Sentence Correction/Completion, Analogy.

Quantitative aptitude, this includes Arithmetic, Geometry, Probability, Mensuration and other
basic mathematics.

Problem solving section that includes Critical reasoning, Puzzles, D0/DS.

Each section contains 20 questions.

The pH test result gives you the percentile score, which compares your score with other test
takers for that particular sitting.

Scores will be available online on eLitmus site approximately 1 week after the test date. After
which you can apply to companies (on eLitmus site itself) that are recruiting at that time.

Generally it is said that a percentile of 90% or more is considered as a good score with which
you can expect interview calls from Recruiters.

You can always take another pH test if you score less in first take.

Your pH score and percentile will be valid for 2 years from the date of the test.