


Your score will be compared to the scores of the people in the norm group, and this will allow the assessor to understand your performance relative to others who are similar to you. This means that your performance on the test will be compared to a “norm group.”Ī norm group is a group of people with similar characteristics to the candidate, a group of graduate trainees for example. The position for which the test is being given may also determine the complexity and length of the assessment, i.e., the higher-level the job, the more questions and more complex questions are likely to be asked.

While some aptitude tests will only focus on one type of thinking (either verbal or numerical reasoning, for example) some will have multiple sections that will test various different types of skills.Ī multi-part assessment such as that will often take about an hour to complete.Įach section will be roughly 10 to 30 questions, depending on how complex each question is on a particular test.īasically, if there are more complex questions, the assessment section will have fewer questions. The more questions the candidate answers correctly within the time limit, the better their score will be. Typically, tests present the candidate with some information and ask them to use this information to answer a question, usually providing a number of possible answers. This is to put the candidate under pressure and try to understand what their maximum level of performance is. Tests generally have challenging time limits and often increase in difficulty throughout the test. Aptitude tests are typically quite short, often less than 15 minutes long, and are usually completed online.
