Mark Parkinson is a leading business psychologist and the co-designer of a nu...
How can we help you to maximize your success in the aptitude test process?
I suppose that I started to write books beacuse it brought together two of my passions: psychology and writing. In-fact I wrote my first book, which was about preparing for interviews, without a publisher in mind.
When I had finished the manuscript I sent it to three publishers and one of them accepted it immediately. And that was the start of it. I then moved onto books about psychometrics and testing because it seemed like the logical thing to do, as at the time I was designing tests and also training people to use them. Plus I was frequently contacted by people applying for jobs who wanted advice on how to prepare for tests, and writing books about it was the simplest way of helping them out!
Tests produced by reputable publishers are good ways of predicting performance, but it's important to use the right tests in the right way. Why? There are something like 5000 aptitude tests available measuring about 50 different human abilities. A truly mind-boggling thought. So to make sure that tests are applied sensibly employers need to be certain of what they are looking for, and that it's actually measurable!
Generally speaking though for most graduate and executive positions the core aptitudes that need to be assessed are verbal, numerical and abstract reasoning ability. There are stacks of tests that do this well, and in the UK publishers like SHL, OPP, ASE, Psytech and Team Focus are probably the ones to go for.
Naturally there are plenty of tests that aren't fit for purpose and the way to spot these is that they are supported by little (or no) research, and are often available with no training. Also I have to say that for most purposes IQ tests aren't very useful in selection situations. What you want to know is what somebody is intelligent at (ie: their pattern of aptitudes), not that they just have a whacking great IQ score.
Verbal and numerical reasoning tests are the classic selection combo. And drilling down into the sort of skills that you need to possess to do well in numerical tests, apart from the arithmetic ones, which you often need to be able to apply without a calculator, things like being able to understand and use length (distance), weight (mass), area and volume are critical. It's also particularly important to be able to identify which bits of numerical, quantitative or graphical information are relevant. This is because tests are often designed so that they contain too much information, some of which is redundant or deliberately distracting. So to summarise, make sure you practice your mental arithmetic, know the decimal system, understand graphs and tables, can work out percentages and ratios, and appreciate basic descriptive statistics (frequency, mean, mode, range). And realise that you will need to do some work in order to identify the bits of information that actively help you solve the question.
Aptitude tests do not usually really on the test taker having specialist knowledge. And apart from having basic English and the ability to add up, subtract, divide, multiply and work out percentages and such like, there isn't any particular magic to doing well in verbal and numerical tests, apart from obviously lots and lots and lots of practice.
Practice does make a difference, expecially with things like numerical tests, because if there's one thing that makes most people feel anxious it's maths!
So you can improve your score, but not by becoming a mathematical genius, just by getting familiar with the different types of questions and improving your confidence. Because the more confident you are, the more questions you will complete. And the more you complete, the better your chances of getting a higher score. It's all down to practice...
The latest version of my book helps people to do better because it explains all the main types of psychometric tests (and questionnaires), gives plenty of examples, and contains lots of practice questions. It's designed to get confidence up and anxiety down, and put people in the right frame of mind to do their best.
There are also links to a whole bunch of websites that contain thousands of practice questions and websites are good places to go for practice because tests can be presented in a realistic way, be timed, and also provide instant feedback. So the best prep is to warm up with my book and then to seek extra practice online.
It's perfectly natural to feel anxious at the prospect of being tested. A bit of anxiety is actually a good thing as it speeds up the thought processes. However too much can obviously be a problem. Practical things you can do to help you feel less stressed are to get plenty of sleep (nobody performs at their best when they are tired) and to eat normally (low blood sugar directly affects your ability to concentrate). Also make sure that you know where to go if you are being tested at an employer's premises (getting lost and arriving late are very stressful!), and practice any techniques that help you calm down - these can include Yoga, relaxation or breathing exercises (taking a few good deep breaths does reduce stress levels), or in-fact anything that works for you. And it goes without saying that completing plenty of practice tests is also a good way of preparing for the big day.
Personality questionnaires are not tests. They do not have 'right' or 'wrong' answers. Rather they are concerned with how you describe your personality. So technically questionnaires are concerned with what psychologists call 'self-report'. Of course this means that you can answer in any way you like, but be assured that when questionnaires are scored, people who are trying to be 'too good to be true' (too much positive spin), or who are just answering randomly, can be easily spotted.
By far the best advice to someone who is completing a questionnaire is just to be yourself. It also helps to have completed a standard personality questionnaire before - that's one that measures the 'Big Five' factors: Openness (to new experiences & ideas), Conscientiousness (sticking to things & doing a good job), Extraversion (personal warmth & interest in the outside world), Agreeableness (considering other people & their feelings) and Neuroticism (anxiety & stress).
this covers a lot of things that ive struggled with
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