Psychometric tests are now a common part of the assessment for job applicants, and can be encountered early in the process.

What are psychometric tests?

Psychometric tests fall into two broad categories:

• Tests of ability, including verbal, numerical, spatial reasoning and critical thinking aptitude tests.
• Personality and trait-based tests, which may include personality questionnaires examining your preferences, or ask you to make judgements about different work scenarios.

You can expect the tests you encounter to have be designed around well established psychological traits, and to have been rigorously developed, trialled and tested to ensure that they measure what they are intended to measure and do this consistently. The tests used by employers will have been created by psychologists, often working for firms specialised in the field. The test developers will provide the recruiting firms with information and training to ensure they are used appropriately.

A candidate’s performance will be evaluated against the results of a large, representative ‘norm group’ which has been used to calibrate the test scores: in a graduate recruitment situation the ‘norm group’ may be a sample of recent graduates or even the company’s current staff working in related roles, which helps each organisation to calibrate the testing process to their own needs.

Why do recruiters use psychometric tests?

Psychometric tests are one of a range of tools employers will use in recruitment. Often they are used alongside other assessment processes to identify candidates with the greatest likelihood of future success in a role and at that organisation.

One benefit for recruiters is that psychometric tests can be used as a cost-effective high-capacity method, relatively free from bias, which provides an objective assessment of candidates’ skills. They can therefore be used even early in the recruitment process to evaluate a large number of applicants.

How are psychometric tests used?

You can come across psychometric tests at a number of points in a recruitment process, and usually tests will be used alongside other evaluation methods.

Early in the process they may be used to screen large numbers of candidates, and will usually be used alongside evaluation of a candidate’s written application. Companies that use tests for screening purposes should set their ‘pass’ mark conservatively to avoid screening-out high calibre candidates (false-negatives).

It is not uncommon for candidates to complete psychometric tests at a later stage as well. For example, some organisations will re-test candidates at an assessment centre. Tests may also be used to evaluate abilities or specific skills related to a role, such as coding aptitude tests for software developer roles, spatial reasoning tests used in recruitment to engineering roles, and numerical reasoning tests for financial roles.

Ability tests – verbal, numerical & abstract reasoning

Ability tests, sometime called aptitude tests, seek to assess 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 will usually consist of a timed series of multiple-choice questions, and be computer-based. For tests of ability, candidates need to work both quickly and accurately and the tests are often designed so that few candidates will get to the end, so do not worry if you cannot complete every question.

The section below on preparing for specific test types includes more details about the kind of content you can expect to meet when taking ability tests.

Personality questionnaires

Personality questionnaires explore the way you tend to react to, or prefer to deal with, different situations. They are ‘self-report’ questionnaires and, unlike aptitude tests, there are no right or wrong answers, and tend not to be completed against a time limit. Your profile is based on your responses to questions or statements linked to personality factors, such as how you relate to other people, your ability to deal with your own and others’ emotions, your motivations, determination and general outlook. They capture information about your preferences and behaviour, and can be used to clarify which fields of work and what kind of role(s) someone may find intrinsically satisfying.

Personality profiles are not generally used for selection, although occasionally they may be used as the basis for discussions in an interview to understand your motivation and work habits. This is because recruiters will not usually be looking for a rigid or ‘typical’ personality profile for a specific role.

However, companies may use a personality test to identify which of the many different roles or positions available might be the best fit for you, and a few offer these tests on their career pages which you can take (without fear of being evaluated) to help you make that judgement for yourself. Similarly, the Careers Service recommends that using personality based tools to help explore career ideas.  If you have taken a personality test and have any questions about how to use the insights offered, it can be helpful to discuss these in a one-to-one meeting with a careers adviser.

The Careers Service offers:

• Access to our new Career Weaver app, which provides a range of exercises to help you explore your values, motivations and core skill and strengths.
• Monthly three-hour group sessions on understanding your personal style using the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), led by our Alumni Adviser. These sessions are most appropriate for researchers and alumni, and there is usually a charge to cover the costs of the MBTI test. Details can be found on the event calendar on CareerConnect .

The best way to approach personality questionnaires is to answer them as straightforwardly and honestly as you can. Trying to second-guess what the employer or questionnaire is looking for is difficult, and can be counter-productive because tests will also evaluate the internal consistency of your answers and anyone trying to ‘game the test’ is likely to have their results red-flagged as unreliable (and therefore, unusable). Even if you do successfully mislead the tool, it’s worth considering whether you actually want to take on a job which is unlikely to really suit you and your preferred style.

Situational Judgement & Critical Thinking Tests

Situational judgement and critical thinking tests are used by many recruiters to assess candidates’ judgement when solving work-related problems. Candidates will be presented with a variety of work-related scenarios and asked for their judgements. Scenarios may still be presented as a short written situation, but companies are now using video and occasionally VR technologies to make scenarios more accessible and engaging.

Read instructions carefully and be sure you understand how you are expected to answer each question, even if you have already completed other SJTs. Usually each question includes four or five suggested responses, but there are a number of different answer styles companies can use, for example:

• select what ‘you are most likely’ and ‘least likely’ to do.
• identify the ‘most effective’ and ‘least effective’ options.
• rank all the options from most effective to least effective.
• for each action, rate how effective the action is likely to be, but note:
  • you may only be allowed to use each rating once in each question; or
  • it may be possible for some (or all) actions to be rated with the same level of effectiveness, and not all points on the scale need be used.

Typically candidates are advised that the best way to approach these tests is to consider the detailed implications of the possible responses and then make an honest judgement, rather than trying to second guess the “best” response.

However, remember that the context for your ‘Judgement’ includes the organisation and role, and that the subject matter experts who helped develop the test will have done so in relation to the organisation’s values and culture. We recommend therefore that in your research you should aim to understand the organisation, how they see themselves and what that might mean in relation to the people they choose to hire and promote. Look at all of the advice on the company’s website.

• Start with the recruitment pages: the ‘person specification’ and job descriptions for new graduate hires, and read other statements about ‘who they look for’.
• Examine the company’s competency framework to evaluate how it reflects the range and style of working behaviours and decision making in the organisation.
• And look beyond these pages for additional clues to the organisation’s values and culture, from the ‘founding myths’ in their history, the awards and achievements they promote, their CSR programmes and the talking-head videos of recent hires.

If you can, meet people at career fairs and presentations – or through your networking – ask them about the organisation’s culture. Seek examples that show:

• “How we do things things around here”.
• What attracts praise and promotion.
• What kind(s) of people seem to thrive in the organisation.

Before taking any of these tests you will usually be given the chance by the organisation to take some practice questions (and examine the answers). This is another opportunity to get an insight into the company’s way of thinking. If you get the practice questions right, then great – but for any you get wrong, review your answer against their answer with a view to understanding the subtleties of how the organisation’s stated values and competencies are reflected in that choice.

Some organisations provide practice questions anyone can try and then review your answers (e.g., Diageo and the Civil Service Fast Stream). However, different firms with a different context and ethos may make different judgements and so one-size will not fit every organisation. For example, what may be required of someone seeking a business development or sales role in a highly competitive industry will be different from someone applying to service oriented role in say the healthcare sector.

Gamification of psychometrics: new styles of test

Some of the larger companies are beginning to use ‘game based assessments’ (GBAs) taken on a computer or your mobile device. GBAs are designed to be easily accessible and not biased towards people with gaming experience. They are also intended to offer a more enjoyable experience for the test-taker, and test providers cite very high completion rates and positive feedback from candidates who have taken their tests.

As a candidate, you will be provided with a link to the test platform to take a series of video based exercises. Whilst they have the look and feel of quite simple games, they have been developed to measure well researched psychological traits and it is still an assessment, so take them seriously and approach these tests with focused attention and a readiness to perform at your best. Also, read all instructions carefully before starting each exercise even if you have met the same test before with a different company.

We recommend that you ensure you have:

• a stable internet connection;
• sufficient time to complete the exercises undisturbed – perhaps 20-30 minutes.

Typically there will be many short games to play, perhaps 12 or more. These will collect thousands of data points on each candidate, each linked back to a variety of distinct personality traits used to create your candidate profile. Data for each of the traits being measured will be gathered from multiple games, making it extremely difficult to ‘fake’ results. Your candidate profile will be compared with the profiles created for the recruiting company, most usually by using current employees’ performance on the tests to calibrate the assessments.

Each exercise will appear relatively simple and will not require particular expertise or ‘gaming experience’. Nor do companies offer ‘practice’ resources: they encourage you to take as much time as you need to understand the instructions, but once you hit play, data for that game is being gathered, so be ready to ‘go’. The range of traits being assessed can be quite extensive and is likely to include some or all of the following:

• Speed and flexibility of thought.
• How you approach risk and reward.
• Your concentration.
• Your reaction time and impulse control.
• Short term memory: ability to follow a stream of increasingly complicated instructions or repeating numerical, word or visual patterns.
• Resilience and response to difficulties or failure within a task.

Although GBAs rarely offer you any ‘practice’ resources, you may well have encountered similar tests in games that you have played for fun, rather than in a recruitment scenario. Two good free resources which include games similar to those used in GBAs include:

• Metro Trains Melbourne’s “Dumb Ways to Die” and
• the MENSA Brain training app, which you can download as a free 7 day trial.

You should prepare properly for any tests you are asked to complete during applications.

Psychometric tests of ability are designed to assess your ‘potential’ rather than being a test of your ‘knowledge’. Preparation and practice should be focused to on becoming familiar with the test(s) and honing your test-taking technique as you need to work both quickly and accurately to maximise your performance. When taking a psychometric test you should be entirely focused on seeking the correct answer to each question; you do not want to use (waste) time trying to understand what you are required to do.

There are four main areas where practice can help you improve performance:

• Understand the nature of the test and the time pressures you will face. How long the test takes and how many questions there are? Do individual questions have a time limit? Will question difficulty increase as you get more questions right? Can you use a calculator?
• Know what you must do to answer the questions. Mostly questions are multiple choice, but are you selecting one answer, multiple answers or ranking options, and do questions sometimes include a ‘none‘ or ‘all‘ of the options offered? If there is a graph or table of data, will there be just one question or a series of questions based on this?
• Gain insight into the type of challenges posed. What common numerical calculations are required? What fine distinctions of language are being judged in verbal reasoning questions? For diagrammatic questions, are you looking for a sequences or shared patterns, and have the test designers added extra irrelevant information/noise included to obscure a pattern? Can you use a calculator or not?
• Understand how will the test be scored. Is your score simply the number of correct answers or is there negative marking where you are penalised for wrong answers?

If you are completely new to a test, you can expect your initial practice to improve your scores quite quickly. However, once you are familiar with a test your performance should quickly approach your maximum potential offering you less headroom to improve further. You can therefore expect additional practise to deliver lower or no further improvement, so monitor your performance as you practise. For example, pause every half-hour to assess whether the last 15 or 30 minutes has helped to improve your score or understanding of the test.

How much time anyone should invest in practising for a particular test is a personal decision. Some may find an hour or two is enough to master one particular test type, but the same person may also find they need much more preparation for a different test.

Finally, we recommend candidates should always complete any practice questions offered by the company before taking their tests. This is an important last check that the test you are about to take does not include a new style of question that you have not met in your practice.

Free practice tests offered by the Careers Service

Since September 2018 the Careers Service has provided free access to a very extensive range of practice material provided by JobTestPrep. This service covers the full spectrum of traditional recruitment tests and also includes practice materials specifically developed to mirror the tests used by individual named companies. Importantly, whether practising one question at a time or taking practice tests under timed conditions, you can review your answers and see full explanations of the correct answers.

Matriculated students and alumni must apply to the Careers Service for an Access Code. This will give you 12 months free access to the site from the first time that you log in with the code. You should not share your code with anyone else. To request a code, sign-in to your Oxford CareerConnect account and submit a query via the Queries tab using the title: Request for JobTestPrep Access Code.

For staff and students with an Oxford University email address (i.e. one ending .ox.ac.uk), we offer a second free practice resource. Users must register using their Oxford email on the landing page provided for us by Practice Aptitude Tests.

A number of additional free resources on the web are listed in the External Resources section.

If you prefer video to reading, there is a series of free short training videos online with 12 Minute Prep that will help you understand the variety of cognitive ability tests you are likely to encounter most frequently. The videos also provide tips on how to prepare for each test type. Whilst the videos may be helpful, we recommend you also undertake some focused practice to deepen and reinforce your learning.

The companies that develop and sell tests also often provide access to free practice tests using questions that are still in development. However, whilst you will get an overall score on your test performance you will not normally be able to review responses question-by-question against the correct answers because the companies may want to use these questions in live assessment tests at a later date.

Numeracy reasoning skill 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. Different test will include different elements, but expect tests to include:

• addition, subtraction, division, multiplication.
• calculations using fractions, percentages and ratios.
• the ability to find and interpret information in charts, graphs and tables.

If you are unsure about your maths, or you are worried that your mental maths is a bit rusty, it will certainly also help if your start exercising your maths brain, and practise core mental arithmetic skills as well as with a calculator. In Michaelmas Term, the Careers Service offers workshops on preparing for tests and improving your maths skills, but you can make a start by playing mathematical games and puzzles and setting yourself challenges as you go through your day:

• estimate how many passengers were on the train to Oxford, and what percentage of seats were unoccupied (both on the way to Oxford and when the train pulled out again).
• calculate how many times will your bike wheel rotate between College and the Careers Service/your department; or to the sports ground/boathouse/your parents’ home?
• how many lamp-posts are there in Oxford, or man-hole covers?
• add up the costs of your shopping basket as you fill it, or ‘beat the barstaff’ to calculate the cost of a round of drinks.
• take time to examine graphs and tables in press and magazine articles to understand what they show before reading the explanation in the article.
• use online GCSE revision tools and maths development games to practise (see suggestions listed in External Resources: Basic Numeracy below).

Also, seek out data tables and graphs, for example by reading financial reports and studying charts in the quality/financial press. One accessible starting point is the FT’s weekly Chart that tells a Story: sign up for free access using your Bodleian Library membership. Practise understanding these data sources quickly, for example by using titles, checking the labelling on axes and the other information provided to understand the information presented through the table/graph, the units and timescales covered, and so on.

In the tests themselves, the data tables and graphs used tend to be relatively simple, and the test is how quickly and accurately you can extract information. For example, you may be given pricing information and sales volumes for four or five products across five or six months. The questions posed can range from simple (e.g. Which product was sold most in March?) to more complex question which and require you to make some quick calculations or estimates (e.g. Which product showed the greatest percentage increase in sales revenues between May and June?).

Verbal reasoning skills

There is quite a range of question types you can encounter for verbal reasoning skills. The most frequently used are tests of comprehension and logical reasoning which assess your reading accuracy, your ability to extract information, and capacity to accurately judge whether or not the information provided allows you to identify subsequent statements as true or false, or if you have insufficient information.

Other tests may be a test of vocabulary and verbal dexterity, or ask you to identify and correct errors, and so it is worth knowing a few definitions, (e.g. what are antonyms; synonyms; homonyms) and being clear on differences between words and phrases that are commonly confused or misspelled (their/there; whether/weather; your/you’re; it’s/its)

Use the free resources sign-posted above to practice the range of tests to discover your strengths. Beyond this, reading unfamiliar academic and business journals, manuals and technical reports may help, and you can practise extracting and summarising the main points from passages of information.

Tips for sitting the test

You can be asked to do a test online in your own time, or in a formal test-setting as part of an assessment day, and don’t be surprised if you are re-tested at an assessment centre as this is quite common. If you have a disability which may affect your capacity to access the test fairly, you can expect the employer to make reasonable adjustments, but you will need to let them know this in advance of the session.  See the section below for a fuller explanation.

Our advice to all candidates is:

• Before starting, ensure that you know exactly what you are required to do – do not be afraid to ask questions if there is a member of the recruitment team present.
• Follow the instructions you are given exactly – usually you will be given ‘reading time’ for the instructions before starting any test.
• 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.
• Both speed and accuracy are important, so:
  • 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.
  • Don’t worry if you do not finish all the questions in the time – often tests are designed to stretch even the most able candidates.

If you do finish early on a paper and pencil test it can be useful to quickly check over over your answers again – but with an online test, the system may record how quickly you took the test as well and finishing early (without losing accuracy) tells the assessors something extra about your core ability.

Whether it is advisable to guess if you do not know the right answer will depend on how the test is being marked, so always try to find out the marking scheme before you star to chose your strategy. Where your score is a simple count the correct answers, eliminating definitely wrong answers will improve the chances of guessing right, and quickly guessing answers to remaining questions right at the end of the test time can help lift your score. However, when wrong answers are scored negatively, it makes little sense to guess answers.

If you do not progress after sitting psychometric tests it can be hard to be sure why you were not successful.

• Firstly, you will not know if you were just below the cut-off, nor will you know how many other candidates there were and thus the likely proportion of candidates who will have also been screened out.
• Secondly, it can be hard to judge your own performance: for example, many tests are designed so that few people sitting them will complete all the questions. In this situation,  you cannot know whether completing 28 of the 35 questions was high or low in comparison to other test-takers or the ‘norm group’ used to anchor the scoring system.
• Moreover, computerised tests can now include adaptive questioning, so that the difficulty of the next question you face will vary depending on you performance on the previous question(s) – a useful methodology that allows the test to more accurately pinpoint an individual’s maximum level of performance.

Remember, it is inevitable that some test-takes will fall short, and falling short in one selection process does not mean you will not succeed in subsequent applications. Where the pass-mark is set by a particular company can be affected by a number of factors. For example:

• performance may be assessed against a ‘high-performing norm group’, such as the firm’s previous graduate hires or management.
• the point in the recruitment process when the test is used.
• the number of applications received and quality of other candidates.

Review your performance on the day and consider whether you really were at your best. How good was your preparation and practice? Were you feeling tired or under the weather? How was your test-taking technique on the day – your focus and  concentration? Was you set-up good – no technical concerns, interruptions or disruptions? Were you answering questions too slowly or did you panic or freeze? Do you need to prepare differently next time?

If you are concerned, you may decide that further practice will be sufficient, or decide to undertake some specific development work to further develop particular abilities or skills. In Michaelmas Term the Careers Service will run one or two preparation sessions, and at any point you may want to discuss your test technique with a Careers Adviser.

Disabled students

A number of major graduate recruiters have policies and processes that are proactive in recruiting students and graduates from diverse backgrounds. To find out the policies and attitudes of employers that you are interested in, explore their equality and diversity policies and see if they are a Disability Confident employer or are recognised for their policy by such indicators as ‘Mindful Employer’ or as a ‘Stonewall’s Diversity Champion’.

Psychometric tests can be useful to counteract the biases inherent in other evaluative techniques, such as interviews, because everyone who takes a psychometric test is given an equivalent assessment, and takes it under the similar conditions. However, to ensure that tests are fair and to provide a ‘level playing field’ for everyone, most companies will make reasonable adjustments where candidates have a disclosed disability. These adjustment may be similar to those you can expect for your academic work, such as allowing time to sit the test, setting a lower pass mark, providing a personal reader/writer or signer, or providing specialised equipment (e.g. loop systems/Braille keyboards).

The British Psychological Society’s Test Takers Guide contains general information information for people with disabilities.

The UK law protects you from discrimination due to your age, gender, race, religion or beliefs, disability or sexual orientation. For further information on the Equality Act 2010 and to find out where and how you are protected, and what to do if you feel you have been discriminated against, visit the Government’s website on discrimination.

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 organisations recruiting into UK based positions.

Practice tests

The Careers Service has a partnerships with JobTestPrep to provide matriculated students and alumni with free access to a very extensive range of practice material provided. The JobTestPrep resources include not only the core numerical, verbal and abstract reasoning tests, but also extensive resources for Situational Judgement Tests; the Waston Glaser tests (frequently used by law firms); practice e-tray exercises; and an expanding number of practice tests designed to match tests used by specific employers. Apply for your personal Access Code via the Queries tab in CareerConnect.

An additional free resource offering a whole bank of tests to anyone registering with an Oxford University email address (i.e. one ending .ox.ac.uk) is provided for us by Practice Aptitude Tests.

Many employers who use these tests also offer practice versions on their own websites, and we recommend you use these to practise and prepare too if applying to that particular employer.

Books

General 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 Data 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 And 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
• You’re Hired! Assessment Centres, Ceri Roderick
• You’re Hired! Psychometric Tests: Proven Tactics to Help You Pass, Ceri Roderick And James Meachin
• Tips for Passing Psychometric Tests, Bernice Walmsley
• Psychometric Tests for Graduates, Andrea Shavick
• The Testing Series: Psychometric Tests, Richard McMunn
• The Advanced Numeracy Test Workbook, Mike Byron

Postgraduate study in the USA

• 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).

Civil service tests

• How to Pass the Civil Service Qualifying Tests, Mike Byron (Kogan Page) – based on the old test but still very useful.

Personality questionnaires

• Every month we run interactive, three-hour group sessions on understanding your personal style with the MBTI. See the event calendar on CareerConnect for further information.

Numerical, verbal & abstract reasoning

• Job Test Prep – An extensive range of preparation and practice tests across many different test types, and including practice tests designed to mirror tests used by some named companies. The Careers Service offers free access to current students and recent graduates: Request your personal Access Code by using the Queries tab in CareerConnect. 

• Practice Aptitude Tests offers a wide range of free tests for Oxford students. Register on the Oxford landing page with your university email address [i.e. it must end @….ox.ac.uk]

Other advice and free sites you can use include the following, but please note that inclusion of a resource here is not carry any endorsement of the content or quality of the materials offered as we are not able to evaluate all the providers listed.

• Psych Testing – information from the British Psychological Society on tests and test usage
• TargetJobs: Psychometric Tests – a useful overview and links to free practice tests
• Prospects: Psychometric Tests – provides a range of aptitude tests and personality and career development assessment examples
• SHL Direct – examples of verbal, numerical and diagrammatic tests plus practice tests and feedback from one of the largest UK test publishers
• Morrisby – contains advice and sample abstract, verbal, numerical, perceptual, shape and mechanical test questions.
• Psychometric Success.com – free practice tests in a range of reasoning skills
• Assessment Day Practice Aptitude Tests – includes numerical reasoning, verbal reasoning, inductive reasoning, psychometric tests and assessment centres
• PracticeReasoningTests.com offers articles and advice on different test types: the articles on verbal, numeric and inductive reasoning provide a link to one free test example. In 2018 they added guide to tests for university students.
• Assessment-training.com offers unlimited practice with fully worked solutions, and a personal progress tracking system to find weak spots.
• Mensa – not aptitude tests as such, but the pages might get you used to thinking quickly in test situations. Also, try down the free 7-day trial of the Mensa Brain Training App for short games to test your Memory, Concentration, Agility, Perception and Reasoning.
• 12 minute prep.com – Series of free short introductory videos on different types of tests and advice on practise and maximising your performance.
• Test Partnership – examples of numeric, verbal, inductive reasoning and critical thinking tests and some personality/style questionnaires. Use the “Candidate Preparation” button to launch a practise test.
• TryTalentQ – click the Try Elements Ability Test to register for their free tests
• Cubiks: Practice Tests – take free five-minute verbal and numerical reasoning tests (answers given, no feedback). Click on ‘Cubiks online – Ability tests’ to access them
• TalentLens: Practice Tests – numerical reasoning and critical thinking tests

Personality questionnaires

• Team Technology: Personality Tests – useful introduction to personality questionnaires with links to several examples
• Diagonal Thinking Test. A free test offered by the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising (IPA) that helps you check whether your skill-set fits a career in the advertising sector.

Situational judgement & critical thinking tests

• Assessment Day – free practice test
• Job Test Prep – online preparation and limited free practice tests.

Sector-specific tests

• GRE – for a comprehensive set of materials for the GRE tests for postgraduate study in the USA
• Civil Service: Fast Stream
• Teaching: Professional Skills Tests

Basic numeracy

• Math Centre – offers quick guides, practice and revision materials on many branches of maths
• Centre for Innovation in Mathematics Teaching – countless puzzles on which to practise your numerical reasoning skills
• BBC Bitesize – all the basics covered, along with questions to test your understanding

Equal opportunities

• The British Psychological Society’s Test Takers Guide provides general information about preparing for a test, information for people with disabilities, what happens during and after a test session and what psychological tests measure.