Laid off and facing an aptitude test: what employers send and how to practise

What employers send after you apply

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission says cognitive tests assess reasoning, memory, perceptual speed and accuracy, and skills in arithmetic and reading comprehension, as well as knowledge of a particular function or job. In a job search that usually arrives as an email a few days after an application, with a link, a deadline and a timed test; check your invitation for how long it runs once you start it.

The invitation normally names the kinds of question, and sometimes the publisher of the test. It also says whether you can go back to a question, whether a calculator is allowed and how long you have. Read it twice before you practise anything: those rules change how you should spend the clock.

The test is one step among several. It is usually scored on how many questions you get right in the time, and an employer reads it next to your application and interviews. A test result is rarely the only thing that decides an offer.

The formats, one by one

Verbal questions give a short passage and a statement to judge true, false or cannot say from the passage alone. Numerical questions give a table or a chart and one calculation, usually with a calculator. Logical questions give a few statements and ask which conclusion must follow. Abstract questions give a grid or a series of shapes and ask which comes next.

Some employers send a mixed paper instead: many short questions of every kind on one clock, often 50 questions in 12 to 15 minutes, without a calculator. Nobody is expected to finish those, and the skill is moving on from a question that stalls.

Each format has a drill on this site, twelve questions on its own clock with the working shown after every answer, and there are sittings at the pace common employer tests are set at.

Two weeks to a test date

If the test date is close, a little practice each day works better than one long evening. A plan can look like this:

• Days 1 and 2: one drill for each format, untimed in your head, so no kind of question surprises you.
• Days 3 to 6: the drill for the format that cost you most, once a day, against the clock.
• Day 7: a full mock, all four sections on one clock, then rest.
• Days 8 to 13: a short set each day, plus the questions you missed coming back for review.
• Day 14: a light warm-up only; sleep matters more than one more paper.

The practice plan on this site builds a version of this to your own test date and practice days, with a calendar file, and the review deck brings back the questions you missed on the days they are due. Both are kept on your device, and only if you ask.

Asking for adjustments

You can ask the employer or the test provider whether extra time or breaks are available, and how their accommodation process works, before you start the test. Ask early, so there is time to set it up.

This page is not legal advice, and the process belongs to the employer and the test provider, not to us. Their invitation or help page usually names a contact for it.

What a practice score does and does not tell you

A practice result here tells you how many questions you got right on our original questions, how far you got and how your pace compares with the format's. That is useful for choosing what to practise next.

It does not predict the score a real test will give you, and it is not a percentile: there is no group of test takers behind these questions to compare you with. Treat it as a map of where your time goes, not as a verdict.