Conquer Your Applicant Journey: Mastering Online Assessments in the UK

Landing your dream student placement or graduate role can feel like an uphill battle. Acing the application is just the first hurdle. Many UK employers rely on online assessments to evaluate candidates beyond their CVs. But fear not! By familiarising yourself with the most common types of assessments and practising beforehand, you can approach them with confidence.

 

Psychometric Tests: Unveiling Your Potential

Psychometric tests are standardised online assessments designed to gauge your cognitive abilities, personality traits, and work styles. Here's a breakdown of the some main categories you might encounter:

Aptitude Tests: 

These assess your core skills in areas like:

👉🏻 Verbal Reasoning: You might be asked to identify the main idea of a passage, assess the strengths and weaknesses of an argument, or complete analogies. (e.g. Raven is to flock as bee is to: A) hive B) sting C) flower D) honey)

👉🏻 Numerical Reasoning: Prepare for questions involving data interpretation, calculations using percentages, or analysing graphs and charts. (e.g. A company's sales increased by 20% from last year. If they made £100,000 last year, what are their estimated sales this year?)

👉🏻  Logical Reasoning: These tests might involve identifying patterns in sequences, completing syllogisms (logical deductions), or solving puzzles based on rules. (e.g. In a group of shapes, all squares are blue, and all circles are red. Is it ALWAYS true that a blue shape must be a square?)

Situational Judgement Tests (SJTs):

SJTs present you with hypothetical workplace scenarios and ask you to choose the most appropriate response. They assess your judgement, decision-making skills, and understanding of the role's requirements. (e.g. You're a student intern tasked with completing a project. A team member keeps missing deadlines, and their work is substandard. How would you approach this situation?)

Personality Questionnaires:

These explore your personality traits and preferences to gauge your cultural fit within the organisation. These might be multiple-choice questions or statements where you rate your level of agreement. (e.g. I prefer to work independently. / I thrive in fast-paced environments.)

Gamified Assessments: 

These assessments take traditional psychometric tests (aptitude, situational judgement) and add game-like elements like points, progress bars, and leaderboards. They aim to make the assessment process more engaging while still measuring core skills and cultural fit. (e.g., Prioritizing tasks in a virtual inbox to test organization and time management)

Coding Challenges: 

These are practical assessments designed to evaluate a candidate's programming skills. They often involve solving coding problems within a set timeframe. Coding challenges can be a standalone test or part of a gamified assessment platform. (e.g., Writing code to sort data or build a specific functionality)

 

Why Practice Makes Perfect

While online assessments can seem daunting, practising with specific examples like the ones mentioned above can significantly boost your performance. Learn and Pass offers a comprehensive library of practice tests specifically designed for the UK recruitment market, allowing you to hone your skills in each area, including game-based assessments.

 

Taking Control of Your Success

Here's how Learn and Pass empowers you to conquer online assessments:

✅ Targeted Practice Tests: Focus on the specific skills and formats relevant to your chosen field, including practice tests designed to mimic game-based assessments used by some employers.

✅  Detailed Feedback Reports: Gain insights into your strengths and weaknesses to tailor your preparation. Learn and Pass can identify areas where you need more practice and provide tips for improvement.

✅  Time Management Techniques: Learn effective strategies to manage time pressure during the actual tests. Practice tests on Learn and Pass often come with time limits, mimicking the real assessment experience and helping you develop efficient test-taking skills.