Aptitude testing maths only?
Discussion
I had an aptitude test this morning and it had been years since I have previously sat through one. My last aptitude test was in 2009 and was for the military. Get a point for getting your name right type.
Since leaving the military I have been to university for computer science and trying to crack into my ideal career. I was brought in this morning and had expected the test to perhaps be a multitude of questions from various subjects. However, it was not. I had 33 questions to answer in 30 minutes. Just all maths. Some where actually rather tough and would have took more than expected (for me anyway). My wife is very strong in maths as she has a degree in chemistry and she thought it was a stretch to do them all in such a short time based on the questions I told her about. I do have an A level in maths but I am terrible at on the spot maths.
According to the HR guy, it is very rare that anybody gets beyond half way. Maybe he was being nice to me. The job is for software engineer but it is not finance sector nor is maths overly required. This is why I was shocked at only maths questions. Other testing I have done for these positions have all been IT related. Multiple choice on Java, C++ and HTML Headers etc.
Is it possible that it really is hard to do the whole test in 30 minutes and it is simply to see how people react? I did 20 of the questions. Without calculator and simply just in my head. He said that if my answers are suitable then I will be asked to the next round in about 2 weeks. I think I blew it but I at least know that this is a type of test that I should start practicing for future needs.
Any ideas on maths only testing?
Since leaving the military I have been to university for computer science and trying to crack into my ideal career. I was brought in this morning and had expected the test to perhaps be a multitude of questions from various subjects. However, it was not. I had 33 questions to answer in 30 minutes. Just all maths. Some where actually rather tough and would have took more than expected (for me anyway). My wife is very strong in maths as she has a degree in chemistry and she thought it was a stretch to do them all in such a short time based on the questions I told her about. I do have an A level in maths but I am terrible at on the spot maths.
According to the HR guy, it is very rare that anybody gets beyond half way. Maybe he was being nice to me. The job is for software engineer but it is not finance sector nor is maths overly required. This is why I was shocked at only maths questions. Other testing I have done for these positions have all been IT related. Multiple choice on Java, C++ and HTML Headers etc.
Is it possible that it really is hard to do the whole test in 30 minutes and it is simply to see how people react? I did 20 of the questions. Without calculator and simply just in my head. He said that if my answers are suitable then I will be asked to the next round in about 2 weeks. I think I blew it but I at least know that this is a type of test that I should start practicing for future needs.
Any ideas on maths only testing?
Yep, quite likely the HR guy was being honest.
I expect that there's plenty they can glean not just from how many you answered correctly in the time, but other things such as did you rush to attempt them all, or just work through them at your pace. Did you cherry pick the ones you attempted, if so what time of questions were you favouring.
I expect that there's plenty they can glean not just from how many you answered correctly in the time, but other things such as did you rush to attempt them all, or just work through them at your pace. Did you cherry pick the ones you attempted, if so what time of questions were you favouring.
PorkInsider said:
Yep, quite likely the HR guy was being honest.
I expect that there's plenty they can glean not just from how many you answered correctly in the time, but other things such as did you rush to attempt them all, or just work through them at your pace. Did you cherry pick the ones you attempted, if so what time of questions were you favouring.
I simply answered the question in sequential order. Number 1 to 20 is how far I got. Some were simply working out time zone differences between the US, UK and Japan. Others were to work out averages and then it got a tad harder as the wording on some was tricky. It was really trying to confuse people but behind that confusion was sometimes a very straight forward answer. I wondered if they were watching me doing the test. I was left alone in a room that did have a video conference system. I expect that there's plenty they can glean not just from how many you answered correctly in the time, but other things such as did you rush to attempt them all, or just work through them at your pace. Did you cherry pick the ones you attempted, if so what time of questions were you favouring.
Yeah - for some types of IT interviews, especially programming ones, it makes more sense than testing you on the syntax of different languages.
Basically, they want to see if you can solve logical problems from first principles, not that you can write an SQL query. That's easier to teach.
Now, if you were interviewing for QA or a helpdesk role, not so useful (though good testers are rare and valuable)
Basically, they want to see if you can solve logical problems from first principles, not that you can write an SQL query. That's easier to teach.
Now, if you were interviewing for QA or a helpdesk role, not so useful (though good testers are rare and valuable)
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