Psychometric tests are now a common part of the assessment of job applicants. The term covers both ability or aptitude tests and personality questionnaires.

What are psychometric tests?

Individual psychometric tests can be used to assess a number of attributes. Some evaluate your reasoning abilities and skills, whereas others look at your preferences and likely responses or judgements in different situations.

The tests that employers use will have been carefully researched and trialled to ensure that they provide valid and reliable assessment of the people who take them. For example, properly developed tests will have clearly understood indicators for the accuracy and reliability of the test-taker’s score, and a known range of uncertainty. A candidate’s score will be evaluated against the results of a large, representative ‘norm group’ which has been used to calibrate the test scores: in graduate recruitment situations the ‘norm group’ may well be a sample of recent graduates or even the company’s previous hires into the positions applied to.

The companies that develop the psychometric tests will have provided information to the recruiting firms on the use and limitations of each test.

Why do recruiters use psychometric tests?

Employers frequently combine assessment methods to help identify candidates with the greatest likelihood of future success in the role and at that organisation. Psychometric tests are one of the tools they use to assess specific skills which the organisation considers most relevant and are a cost-efficient way to evaluate a large number of applicants. They offer recruiters a high-capacity tool, relatively free from bias, which can be used to make more accurate and objective assessments of candidates’ skills.

How are psychometric tests used?

You can come across psychometric tests at a number of places in a recruitment process.  Early in the process they can be used to screen large numbers of candidates, but 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, or may use specific tests that relate directly to the kind of positions sought (e.g. coding aptitude tests for software developer roles; spatial reasoning tests for engineering roles). These later tests will be just one point of evidence and a less-than-ideal performance on one tests may be compensated for by a good performance in other selection exercises.

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 should not be looking for a rigid or ‘typical’ personality profile for a specific role.  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, and people are frequently able to apply themselves and succeed by consciously behaving outside their core personality type; for example, a large proportion of highly successful actors are natural introverts, which at first may appear counter-intuitive.

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 a test 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 personality based tools to help people explore career ideas. Sometimes the insights gained from the test(s) provide enough direction to help the job-seeker move forwards, however we also encourage people who have used a personality test or our own Oxford Careers Compass to discuss their ideas and insights in one-to-one meeting with a careers adviser.

The careers service also offers a monthly three-hour group session on understanding your personal style using the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), which we consider most appropriate for researchers and alumni. These are led by our Alumni Adviser, and there is usually a charge attached 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 and the recruiters, 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 or critical thinking tests are used by many recruiters to assess candidates’ judgement when solving work-related problems. Candidates are presented with work-related scenarios and asked to choose the most effective option (and sometimes the least effective as well) from a selection of possible responses, or are asked to rank all the suggested responses in order of effectiveness.

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, it is worth remembering that you are taking a ‘Judgement’ test for a specific organisation. That is, there is a context for the test and the preferred answers may well have been determined by senior leaders or experts within the company to ensure that these properly reflect the organisation’s values and culture.

One quirk that derives from this is that these tests are not definitively about right and wrong. Answers that may rule you ‘out’ of the recruitment process for one organisation or job function may well keep you ‘in’ for a different organisation or function. 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.

Our consistent advice is that job seekers should make a relatively small number of well researched highly tailored applications rather than a large number of generic and relatively poorly researched applications. In preparing for SJTs for example, we recommend candidates try to get under the skin of the firm – to understand who they are, 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 organisations 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.

Usually you will also be given the chance to take some practice questions (and examine the answers) before taking any of these tests, providing 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), but remember, different firms with a different context and ethos may make different judgements and so one-size will not fit every organisation.

Gamification of psychometrics: new styles of test

Psychologists, recruiters and game developers are beginning to introduce new kinds of games into the recruitment mix to assess traits that companies believe reflect additional facets of future performance. These might include:

• speed and flexibility of thought;
• how you approach risk and reward;
• how many different facts or ideas you can hold in your head;
• you capacity to concentrate, or to follow a stream of increasingly complicated instructions or requirements;
• your reaction time and impulse control.

It is possible that you will have encountered some of these apps or games that you have played for fun, rather than in a recruitment scenario. Some examples that you can try to get a sense of what may be involved include Metro Trains Melbourne’s “Dumb Ways to Die” and the MENSA Brain training app (free 7 day trial) – if you find others, please let us know.

You can and should prepare for the tests you will be asked to complete during applications.

Psychometric tests assess your ‘potential’ rather than your ‘knowledge’ and are designed so that they are not evaluating your knowledge of specific ‘content’. The challenge is to work both quickly and accurately in the test so that you can demonstrate your maximum potential.

The primary goals for practice are to become familiar with each test’s style and to hone your test-technique so that during the test you focus your time and attention where it is needed, on finding the solutions rather than deciphering the test’s methodology.That is, practice and preparation will help you to:

• Understand the nature of the test and the time pressures you will face. How long you will have? How many questions there are? Do individual questions have a time limit? Will question difficulty increase as you get more questions right?
• Know what you must do to answer the questions. Are you picking one right answer in multiple choice or ranking options? If there is a graph or table of data, will there be just one question or a series of questions based on this? Can you use a calculator or not?
• Gain insight into the type of challenges posed. What common numerical calculations are required? What fine distinctions of language are judged in verbal reasoning questions? For diagrammatic questions, are you looking for a sequences or shared patterns, and is extra irrelevant information/noise included to obscure a pattern?
• Understand how will the test be scored. Is there negative marking for wrong answers, or do you simply add up correct answers?

Many tests are designed so that few people will complete all the questions, and may get harder as you go through them. Some computer-based tests also include adaptive questioning, so that the difficulty of the next questions increases or decreases according to whether you got the previous question correct, which allows the test to more accurately pinpoint each individual’s maximum level of performance.

If you are completely new to a test type or style you can expect practice to help you improve quickly at first. As you become familiar with the test you will need less time to decode how questions work and you can focus you time and energy on seeking the answers. However, once this familiarisation is completed, your test performance will begin to approach your maximal level of performance. With less and less scope for your performance to improve further, expect to find that additional time practising will provide diminishing returns.

How much time any individual should invest in practising any specific type of test will be a personal decision, but we’d encourage students to monitor their performance as they practise. Make a judgement about whether ‘that last 15 or 30 minutes practice’ has actually helped to improve your score or understanding of the test. For some, an hour or two will be sufficient to master one particular test type, and further hours spent doing more of the same will not be particularly beneficial. The same person may also find they need more practice on a different test type.

The only caveat to this is that we recommend candidates should always complete the practice questions offered by the company applied to because these are the last chance to double-check you will not be faced by a  new style of question that you have not practised.

Free practice tests offered by the Careers Service

Since the beginning of September 2018 the Careers Service has provided free access to a very extensive range of practice material provided by JobTestPrep. This service covers pretty much the full spectrum of recruitment psychometric tests and also includes practice materials specifically developed to mirror the tests used by individual named companies.

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 requests 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.

An additional free resource offering a whole bank of tests is provided for us by Practice Aptitude Tests. To access this service, you must register using an Oxford University email address (i.e. one ending .ox.ac.uk), and this can be used by University staff and others who do not have access to Career Connect. Additional free resources on the web are included in the External Resources section.

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; and
• 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 pay-as-you-go bikes?
• 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;

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 not be to massively complicated. For example, you may be given pricing information for four or five products and a graph showing sales volumes for each product over five or six months. The questions may range from simple (e.g. Which product was sold most in March?) to more complex and requiring some quick calculations (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 have not done well on a test, this does not necessarily mean that you lack ability because there can be a number of reasons for poor performance on the day. 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.

Remember that it’s inevitable that some test-takes will fall short of the bar set by a particular company. Firstly, this bar may be set ‘high’, with your performance assessed against a ‘high-performing norm group’, such as the firm’s previous graduate hires or management. Secondly, where that bar is set can be expected to vary with the company itself, the number of applications received, when the test is used in the recruitment process and the quality of candidates in that pool, so falling short in one selection process does not mean you will not succeed in subsequent applications.

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 them under the same 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 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 them for working in the UK, and so compensation for lack of ability in this area is likely to be minimal.

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
• 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
• 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
• TalentLens: Practice Tests – numerical reasoning and critical thinking tests
• Assessment Day Practice Aptitude Tests – includes numerical reasoning, verbal reasoning, inductive reasoning, psychometric tests and assessment centres
• Numerical Reasoning Tests app – practice questions on your mobile
• PracticeReasoningTests.com offers articles and advice on different test types alongside practice resources.
• 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.

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

• Psych Testing – contains a Guide to testing people with disabilities (use the search facility) with links to other organisations which can provide advice in this area