Eight Psychometric Assessment Publishers You Need To Know About Before Your Next Aptitude Test

Eight Psychometric Assessment Publishers You Need To Know About Before Your Next Aptitude Test

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Psychometric or Aptitude Testing is a prevalent part of the job interview process across the world. Companies want to know what you’re going to be like as an employee before you accept the job offer, and these assessments provide the answer.

The bad news, psychometric testing is being used more and more across the interview process. Still, the good news is that there are only a few companies, across the testing sphere, and therefore, we can easily prepare for any psychometric assessments.

Ten Psychometric or Aptitude Testing

Test Partnership is a UK-based psychometric provider that specialises in tests for selection and development of candidates to a broad range of companies from SMEs to multinational’s across a full range of sectors. Typically, they have four critical assessments within their assessment range;

  • Numerical Reasoning – which focuses on two subtests with the first being calculations and the second focusing on making decisions using statistical data.
  • Verbal Reasoning – which focuses on two subtests with the first being identifying abstract relationships between words and the second subtest is more similar to traditional verbal Reasoning.
  • Inductive Reasoning – It comprises two subtests, the first subtest focuses on identifying abstract relationships between words, and the second subtest is more similar to traditional verbal Reasoning.
  • Personality Questionnaires – These are standard personality questionnaires where candidates answer multiple-choice questions that have no right or wrong answers.

Watson Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal is currently the most common critical thinking test across the USA, given its 85 year’s worth of development. The assessment was initially developed by Goodwin Watson and Edward Glaser to be a critical thinking test while assessing a candidate’s ability to look at situations and understand them from multiple perspectives while separating facts from assumptions. The assessment is usually online, and either consists of 40 questions in 30 minutes, or there is a much longer assessment that includes 80 questions.

If you’re taking an online assessment from a law firm, it’s a good chance that you will be taking an assessment from the Watson Glaser Collection as it measures the critical skills that are necessary for presenting in a clear, structured, well-reasoned way, a certain point of view and convincing others of your argument, however, it’s also used for developing managers and possible future leaders. The Watson Glaser contains five sections to include;

  • Assumptions – Where a statement will be presented with the candidate deciding if an assumption has been made in making the statement.
  • Analysing Arguments – Where a candidate will be given a scenario, and a list of arguments for or against and will need to assess if each case is strong or weak, based on how relevant it is and how well it addresses the question.
  • Deductions – Where the candidate will be provided with a passage of information and candidates will need to evaluate a list of deductions made based on that passage.
  • Inferences – Where candidates will be provided with a scenario and need to rate if they are true, false or not possible to say based on the information in a provided passage.
  • Interpreting information – Where candidates will be provided with a paragraph of information and a list of possible conclusions. Candidates will need to interpret the information in the paragraph and decide if each conclusion follows based on the presented information.

If you’re being asked to take a Watson Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal then it’s likely to be used as a screening tool, and poor performance means that you will not even be given a chance to interview. As a result, the key to passing this assessment is to practice previous assessments to ensure that you familiarise yourself with the techniques and answers needed. Watson Glaser Critical Thinking appraisals are published by TalentLens it is best to visit their website here – TalentLens Personality Questionnaires.

Kenexa Online Assessments are often used especially given that Kenexa is a highly established recruitment provider across the world, however, the assessment side of the business is slightly newer, but still covers every facet of online assessments. As a psychometric test provider, Kenexa has a portfolio of over 2,000 different assessments which will be tailored to the needs of their client’s organisation. However, the key test’s that you’re likely to come across include;

  • Kenexa Advanced Reasoning Test which combines both verbal and numerical reasoning test’s
  • Kenexa Career Fit which is a competency test that has been designed to identify a candidates strengths and weaknesses which can then be compared to a job profile to decide whether a candidate is correct for the role.
  • Kenexa Culture Fit which is very similar to the career fit above with the only difference being that you are looking at a candidate’s values in the workplace and then comparing those to the companies own values.

Kenexa is another straightforward company to prepare for given that they have test examples on their websites and there are plenty of cases across the internet to practice with and ensure that you’re up to date with the test designs and samples.

Talent Q Adaptive Testing might be one of the newcomers to this market, but it’s also a firm favourite with many companies across work given they are available in over 45 languages covering much of the world, but also given that it’s one of the only companies that use adaptive testing meaning that each question automatically increases or decreases in difficulty depending on the candidate’s performance in the previous question. Not only does this reduce the time to take each test, but it also helps to decide on the top candidates. Talent Q has three key ability test’s that cover psychometric testing and personality/competency questionnaires.

The Elements series of online testing is split into three parts, Verbal, Numerical and Logical and has been designed to be across all sectors and seniority levels from professional to managerial levels.

  • Elements Verbal – which measures your verbal reasoning ability, i.e. your ability to understand written information and to evaluate arguments about this information.
  • Elements Numerical – Which measures your numerical reasoning ability, your ability to understand tables of numerical data, as well as your ability to make logical deductions.
  • Elements Logical – Which measures your inductive/, your ability to work flexibly with unfamiliar information and to find solutions.
  • The Dimensions and Aspects series of tests have been designed to look at a candidates personality and values and ensure that they fit into a company’s own values. Both Dimension’s and Aspects are questionnaire-based testings with no right or wrong answers.
  • The Dimension and Aspects online testing do not need to be prepared for, as they are both simple questionnaires outlining your preference when compared to a group, however, you will need to prepare for the Elements series of assessments given that are slightly more difficult and technique is very important. What’s great about Talent Q as a company is that they have a dedicated website TryTalentQ.com that has been designed specifically for candidates to prepare to take their online tests.

Saville’s Consulting – was founded by Professor Peter Saville who also co-founded SHL below, is a significant player across the world given that it’s used by many international companies to assess candidates based on a range of skills. Saville’s psychometric tests are known to be well researched before publication and therefore offer the most valid assumption across the psychometric testing world. Typically there are two key types of psychometric test’s that Saville’s provides, Aptitude Testing and Personality questionnaires. Typical Saville Consulting Tests Include

  • Verbal Aptitude – which has been designed to assess a candidates ability to understand written information based on logical assumptions.
  • Numerical Aptitude – which had been designed to evaluate a candidates ability to analyse numerical data.
  • Diagrammatic Aptitude – which has been designed to assess a candidates analysis of processes and operators.
  • Error checking Aptitude – which has been designed to determine a candidates ability to identify verbal, numerical and coding errors.
  • Personality Questionnaires (Wave Professional) – which have been designed to assess personality and behavioural preferences in the working environment.

Saville’s online assessments are very similar to SHL’s below, partly given that Peter Saville also set up SHL before founding his own company. If you’re going to take a Saville’s online assessment, make sure that you prepare by heading to both the Saville’s website and the SHL website below.

SHL CEB Aptitude Tests – SHL is now owned by CEB and is probably the most well-known and widely used psychometric testing across the world. Currently, SHL operates in 30 languages, in over 150 countries and has clients that include FTSE 100 corporations, Fortune 500 companies, as well as thousands of small and medium-sized companies across the world. If you’re being asked to take psychometric tests, it’s likely that SHL CEB will design it. Typically SHL’s range aptitude tests include;

  • Numerical Reasoning Test – that have been designed to assess your understanding of numerical, statistical and financial data while being asked to solve realistic mathematical problems
  • Verbal Reasoning Tests – that have been designed to evaluate your understanding of written data while answering questions
  • Inductive Reasoning Tests – that have been designed to assess your problem-solving ability and Logical Reasoning.
  • Personality Tests – that has been designed to explore your personality qualities while to provide insight into your personality and potential strengths.

SHL Management and Graduate Item Bank (MGIB) – this online assessment has been developed to assess graduates and junior management level positions and consists of assessments compromising of verbal, numerical and productive psychometric assessment. Typically this assessment is considered to be very challenging, and therefore candidates will need to prepare if they hope to do well.

SHL Psychrometric tests provide candidates with an overall score that is constructed not only from your correct answers but also from your speed, accuracy and caution. As a result, it’s important that you head over to the SHL preparation website at SHLDirect.com, but also that you google SHL and complete as many practise papers as possible.

Cubiks is an International psychometric provider with an advanced portfolio of assessments across over 1,500 companies in more than 50 countries across the world. Based in the UK, Cubiks offers a range of psychometric tests of which the most common is the reasoning for a Business test which include four parts across Verbal, Numerical, Diagrammatic and Problem solving to really test a candidate’s abilities. The Reasoning for Business Includes the following areas;

  • Verbal Reasoning – this test is aimed at both managers and graduates, is 20 minutes long and has 44 questions. The test has been developed to test a candidates ability to digest written information when compared against written arguments. Typically companies will use real-life situations or relevant case studies to the workplace
  • Numerical Reasoning – this assessment comes in two parts, a slightly more complicated version for the managers, and somewhat easier assessment for the graduates. The aim of which is to assess a candidates ability to analyse numerical data present in the form of graphs, diagrams and statistical tables. The assessment has 30 questions and lasts 20 minutes.
  • Diagrammatic Reasoning – last for 30 minutes and has 60 questions aiming at measuring a candidates ability to analyse and draw logical resolutions from diagrammatic data.
  • Problem-solving tests: These tests have been designed to assess how accurately a candidate solves new problems.

Criterion Partnership is very much a UK focused provider but with a long list of clients, from retail to government, across the UK market. If you’re doing a psychometric test and it’s not from one of the top three, it’s likely to be from criterion partnership.

Typically, there are two assessments they use. The Utopia series which comprises of a very standard numerical, verbal, and abstract critical reasoning tests and a Situational Judgement Tests (SJT) that trys to assess how a candidate would react to certain workplace scenarios.

Criterion Partnership assessments are known for their generous time limits which make them slightly more relaxed and more enjoyable given there are no time constraints. This doesn’t mean you don’t need to prepare, but merely time is not a problem with these assessments.

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Nick Jones

My name Nick Jones, I am a professional Head-Hunter with over 20 years of experience working all over the world. I specialise in out-of-the-box job search strategies to get your CV directly to the hiring manager, thus skipping any ATS portals or recruiters who think they're important.

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