Psychometric Testing

[clackedions]

For those who underwent official psychometric testing, I'd like to know the details of your specific test and how 'well' (?) you thought you did.

Mine consisted of:

1. Several pictures, each with something obtuse of 'off' within. The obtuse features increased in subtlety as each new picture was provided.
I got all of them correct minus the last one (a snowy landscape with a barn, everything had a layer of snow on it except a cheeky pile of logs). I ranged from instant recognition of fishiness to about 45 seconds on the penultimate picture, to flat out failure on the last one.

2. Creating patterns out of blocks to match pattern in picture. Got them all right, probably longest taken was about 30 seconds

3. Language skills, identifying the meaning of a list of words. Aced it, unless I embarrassed myself by pronouncing a seemingly french word in a french accent when it was profoundly english.

4. Interpreting the meaning of phrases.. one of mine was 'one swallow doesn't make a summer'. I worked out that It seemed like it was representing pessimism after about a minute.

5. Put a series of five pictures in order of logical occurance with time. Yeah easy peasy.

6. Association test.. each number from 1-10 is represented by a different symbol. A minute to absorb the associations and then timed to see how many strings of numbers you could provide the correct symbols for. I think this was testing cross referencing and memory. Feel like a got a lot done.

7. General knowledge, good

8. Maths, sh**

There was more but I'm really bored, e.g. looking to find patterns etc increasing in difficulty blah blah blah blah, blah. Just summarise you're experience ok? =D How long did things take you, which ones do you think you did well at/bad at. I was sh** at maths and geography general knowledge so there you go.

 

[142857]

I love jobs where the main selection criteria is a test like this, or a knowledge test. Better than having to think on my feet, act confident, remember to look people in the eye, and talk the bullsh*t that seems to be expected at a face-to-face interview.

I tend to do well at the maths and in finding patterns in things. The way my brain works means that I am a lot better at these kind of tests than I am in real life situations - IQ and aptitude tests are totally misleading for someone like me. But I'm more than happy to be judged on the scores I get.

 

[clackedions]

I love jobs where the main selection criteria is a test like this, or a knowledge test. Better than having to think on my feet, act confident, remember to look people in the eye, and talk the bullsh*t that seems to be expected at a face-to-face interview.

I tend to do well at the maths and in finding patterns in things. The way my brain works means that I am a lot better at these kind of tests than I am in real life situations - IQ and aptitude tests are totally misleading for someone like me. But I'm more than happy to be judged on the scores I get.

Very good point, It's not fair is it =p An embryonic process in my lifelong quest for self-enlightenment came in the form of a careers test. Bloody expensive it was and the results suggested that I should become a proof reader. It doesn't seem like there is a knowledge and the catering for people like me, maybe you also, in the professional world. I have floated in and out of about 3 jobs because I end up despising them when initially I love them. I'm pretty sure I got let off from my job in a bank because I asked too many questions. I feel that as a result of those questions I was speedy at number crunching and got a hell of lot done. It wasn't until I got lobbed into the store cupboard that I lost lustre for life and didn't consider the implications of procrastinating and moaning.

What are these jobs you speak of that rely on these tests?

 

[142857]

What are these jobs you speak of that rely on these tests?

I got offered a computer programming job based on my results in a multiple choice test that basically suited my eye for spotting patterns and details. It would have paid 35 quid an hour for a minimum of 72 hours per week - but they were happy for me to work more than that pro-rata. This was 1998 and Y2K was bearing down on them, so they were hiring people who got very high marks in the test and relying on that being a good indicator of who could get the job done. And I turned it down for a different job that I thought was a better career move (it wasn't). Y2K was a good time to be a COBOL programmer.

I got accepted into a traineeship program for my first IT job in 1984 based purely on my results in a psychometric test - and I had absolutely no qualifications or experience with computers.

 

[tree]

I've done a Rorschach, a TAT, House/Tree/Person, and an MMPI.

The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory is pretty dry.
I did that one because of my major in school.

Drawing a house, a tree, and a person was ok.
The results are interpretive.
My pictures didn't look crazy or anything.
The guy administering the test notice the way I held the pencil
to shade what I was drawing, saying his girlfriend who was an
artist held the pencil that way, too. I learned it in art class.

The Thematic Apperception Test was ok.
It's telling what's happening in the pictures they show you.
That isn't hard to do.

The Rorschach was fun to do because there were so many
things to look at. I liked one picture that had lots of details
and was in color. One part looked like a dugong.

Some of these I had because my orthodontist recommended
it for all adult patients. It was pretty fun to me because for a
change I got to perform the tasks, instead of giving the
tests, like I had done when I was taking classes about them.