20 Types of Aptitude Tests You Need to Know

Aptitude tests help recruiters have reliable insights into their candidates’ abilities and skills.

What most challenges the recruiters is their most significant struggle to validate their decision on the candidates’ final selection.

Organizations are widely using pre-employment aptitude tests to overcome the issues of selecting the most competent and high-potential candidates for various roles they offer.

Employers use conventional means of analyzing the candidates’ resumes to assess their standing by scanning their educational backgrounds, work experiences, and more, but several aspects don’t get reflected satisfactorily in a candidate’s resume.

For example, recruiters can’t get information about whether the candidate is good at decision-making.

Only then did they decide to use various types of aptitude tests to possibly get over such limitations.

Before looking into the types of aptitude tests, it’s vital to understand what aptitude is and how aptitude tests help evaluate it.

What is Aptitude?

Aptitude is a person’s natural proficiency to carry out specific tasks.

It’s an individual’s innate capacity to learn and reason that includes innate flair, cognitive competence, natural intelligence, and mental ability.

What is an aptitude test?

An aptitude test is a generally accepted means that recruiters use to assess a candidate’s intelligence and ability.

Depending on the required skills for the job role, an aptitude test can have various categories of testing formats.

These aptitude tests are designed with questions to measure up how candidates react to specific scenarios in addition to their ability to execute tasks or resolve issues.

Besides, aptitude tests are used by employers to impartially evaluate candidates by giving attention to their core competencies.

Competencies are described by organizations as a set of skills.

Therefore, hiring companies use aptitude tests to assess candidates according to their various competency structures.

Aptitude tests are an economical and fast means of the recruitment process adopted by employers to screen job aspirants in the first pre-employment stages.

Since filtering through a lot of applications is a difficult and time-consuming process of hiring, these techniques are used to enable zeroing in on suitable candidates in a huge talent collection.

For that reason, employers utilize diverse categories of aptitude tests to help them maintain impartiality, accuracy, and speed throughout the hiring process.

20 Types of Aptitude Tests You Need to Know

Here are different types of aptitude tests you need to know and prepare for if you are aspiring to pursue a dream job:

• Numerical Reasoning Test
• Verbal Reasoning Test
• Inductive Reasoning Test
• Abstract/Diagrammatic Reasoning Test
• Mechanical Reasoning Test
• Spatial Reasoning Test
• Situational Judgment Test
• In-Tray and E-Tray Exercises
• Clerical Aptitude/Concentration Tests
• Fault Diagnosis Test
• Data Checking Test
• Mental Arithmetic Test
• Logical and Critical Reasoning Test
• Word Problem Test
• Visual Reasoning Test
• Watson Glaser Critical Thinking Test
• Vocabulary Test
• Syllogism
• Number Sequence
• Verbal Analogies.

1. Numerical Reasoning Test

Employing organizations use the numerical reasoning test to get information about a candidate’s overall numerical aptitude.

This test is standardized and used as a psychometric assessment designed to evaluate a candidate’s ability to make accurate decisions or conclusions from numerical or statistical data.

It also serves as means by which a candidate’s ability to work with numerical data in a realistic workplace context can be measured.

2. Verbal Reasoning Test

This test category is adopted as a way to assess a candidate’s understanding of written texts and how honest their conclusions are drawn from the written material.

A candidate may be presented with a little passage of text and asked to provide a “True”, “False”, or “Cannot Say” response to each statement.

Recruiters employ verbal reasoning tests to identify candidates who can understand, evaluate, and make their own correct conclusions from written materials, regardless of the industry they are working in.

3. Inductive Reasoning Test

Inductive reasoning tests are one of the most commonly used aptitude tests used by hiring companies during a job application.

These are standardized psychometric assessment tests used by employing organizations to know about a candidate’s problem-solving skills.

Recruiters use this test to assess a candidate’s ability to work flexibly with unknown information and find solutions.

4. Abstract/Diagrammatic Reasoning Test

Abstract reasoning and diagrammatic reasoning tests assess your ability to identify the fundamental logic of a pattern and decide the solution.

Recruiters evaluate your abstract reasoning ability as the best indicator of fluid intelligence and your ability to learn new things fast.

These assessment tests are valuable particularly for hiring people for technical job roles that involve working with abstract ideas or concepts.

You will often find some questions of this type whichever specific tests you are given since they also offer the best measure of your general intellectual ability.

5. Mechanical Reasoning Test

Mechanical reasoning tests are used by employing organizations to measure your knowledge of physical and mechanical principles, such as simple electrical circuits, pulleys, levers, and more.

This type of aptitude test is employed in the recruiting process of technical and engineering job positions and includes problems relating to engineering and mechanical concepts.

Only your understanding of the principles is required to answer the questions involved as no special knowledge is needed.

The questions provided in this test are used for a broad range of jobs including the police forces, fire services, military (Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery), and a lot of engineering, craft, and technical jobs.

6. Spatial Reasoning Test

Spatial reasoning tests or spatial awareness tests are used to assess your natural ability to clearly control and memorize shapes, keep images at a standstill, and remove potential patterns that rule their sequence.

These are non-verbal, standardized assessment tests that are usually used in technical sectors like engineering and also in the military to provide the hiring company with information about your ability to mentally rearrange, rotate, and use objects or shapes without physically touching them.

Spatial reasoning can be used for solving daily problems, such as coming into high-speed traffic, orienting yourself in your surroundings, as well as using a map and compass.

Other tasks that involve using this test type include determining the size of a box and how many objects fit in it, and using mirror images.

Many fields of study such as natural sciences, engineering, architecture, mathematics, economic forecasting, and astronomy also have the need for a spatial ability.

7. Situational Judgment Test

The situational judgment tests target and measure your understanding in a given workplace situation.

In this type of test, you need to utilize your judgment in making the most correct move to solving problems related to work and situations that could involve other colleagues, the management, and the entire company.

Situational judgment tests are standardized psychometric assessment tests that give the hiring company information about your overall ability to choose the most appropriate action in workplace scenarios and one of the most commonly used aptitude tests that appear during a job application.

The tests tend to evaluate your ability to deal with situations that you may face in the role that you are applying for.

8. In-Tray and E-Tray Exercises

The hiring companies use the In-Tray and E-Tray exercises to know about your overall ability to manage and respond to a series of various tasks to negotiate conflicting demands and analyze diverse priorities.

As a standardized psychometric assessment test, the exercise is based on a fictional business-related situation where you are offered a specific job role.

The major difference between the In-Tray and E-Tray exercises is that the In-Tray exercise is offered on a series of paper-based materials, while the E-Tray is computer-based and all your answers are inputted on-screen.

Both exercises are often offered to candidates at an assessment center, although they can be given at any stage and are sometimes offered as a group exercise.

9. Clerical Aptitude/Concentration Tests

These tests are used to assess a candidate’s level of concentration and accuracy.

They are usually used when hiring candidates for clerical and administrative roles such as healthcare, financial, and legal services where errors may have severe or costly effects and are often scored based on both accuracy and speed.

10. Fault Diagnosis Test

Organizations use fault diagnosis tests when they need to hire a technical employee who can discover and repair faults in an electronic and mechanical role.

It’s becoming more vital to find people with the ability to approach problems logically so as to find the cause of the fault of various types of modern equipment on electronic control systems.

Fault diagnosis tests help employers to achieve this aim in a more accurate and possible way in their struggle to select the best fit for this position.

11. Data Checking Test

Candidates looking to take the data checking tests are often presented with columns of data to check for consistency and asked to mark any differences.

The candidate will be assessed to know how rapidly and perfectly they can spot mistakes in data.

Recruiters use this test to employ people for data input and clerical roles, mostly where accuracy is vital such as in banking and accounting.

12. Mental Arithmetic Test

Hiring companies make use of the mental arithmetic test as a standardized psychometric assessment test to assess a candidate’s general numerical aptitude.

The candidate’s basic numeracy will be evaluated using the test which can be classified as a speed test.

A good practice of the mental arithmetic test will help you get acquainted with the test format and improve your performance during the real test.

You will be required to answer questions based on equations and sums, which may include positive and negative numbers.

When performing the calculation tests you will find mathematical equations such as fractions, division, multiplication, subtraction, and addition.

13. Logical and Critical Reasoning Test

Employing organizations use logical and critical reasoning tests to assess candidates on their logical conclusions no matter their job roles.

They will be presented with information and statements and asked to make reasonable inferences on them.

Logical thinking is important in everyday life and different business situations.

Therefore, to deal with a problem you need a critical creative approach and that involves using comprehensive judgment and assumptions.

14. Word Problem Test

Math word problem tests are standardized psychometric assessment tests that give hiring managers information about a candidate’s overall reading comprehension skills, ability to visualize information, and numerical aptitude.

The test is used in aptitude tests as well as in ACT and SAT tests. If you can practice math word problem tests, you can get acquainted with the test format and improve your performance during the real test.

15. Visual Reasoning Test

This form of test is used to directly relate candidates’ visual reasoning abilities to their intelligence.

A mental image of an object will be created during the test to find a conclusion.

Visual reasoning can also be applied to making technological designs and assessing the candidate’s non-verbal abilities.

With visual reasoning skills, an individual can take a strategic approach to solve problems, learn new concepts and skills easily, as well as discovering better design-related solutions and designing product processes.

Letters and symbol series are used in measuring competency.

16. Watson Glaser Critical Thinking Test

Also referred to as a critical reasoning test, the Watson Glaser critical thinking test is a broadly used aptitude test used for hiring candidates of graduate, managerial, and professional levels.

The test, which appears during a job application, assesses the critical thinking ability of an individual, general understanding of the importance of proof when making conclusions, and the ability to distinguish between conclusions, abstractions, and generalization through the application of logic.

Critical thinking plays an important role in academic instruction and jobs that require careful analytics thinking to perform vital job functions.

Various fields where the test is used include government, education, and business.

Critical thinking tests forecast creativity, problem-solving, openness to experience, ability to combine various skills when making decisions, and lots more.

17. Vocabulary Test

Hiring companies use vocabulary tests to assess a candidate’s overall vocabulary volume.

The test is one of the standardized psychometric assessment tests you can find these days.

18. Syllogism

Syllogism tests are one of the standardized psychometric assessment tests and one of the commonly used aptitude tests that appear during a job application.

Recruiters use the test to assess a candidate’s logical and deductive reasoning skills.

Syllogism comes in the form of a logical argument made of three segments including two premises (a major premise and a minor premise), and a conclusion drawn from the provided premises.

A premise is a proposal that is used as proof in an argument, while a conclusion is emphasized by the logical outcome of an argument based on the correlation of the stated arguments.

Don’t use general knowledge when solving syllogism questions, but only focus on the information provided in the premises and conclusions.

19. Number Sequence

Number sequence tests are a piece of the standardized psychometric assessment tests that provide employers with the knowledge about a candidate’s overall ability to logically reason with numbers.

The test, which is also known as number series, offers candidates a series of numbers in which they need to find the missing one.

You are to determine this pattern and find the missing number from the first sequence that has a defined pattern.

The method to use in solving number sequences effectively involves checking first the relationship between the given numbers and seeing if you can find some simple arithmetic relationship.

In addition, consider the intervals between the numbers and see if there is any connection.

If you can’t find an understandable connection between the numbers, it’s possible that there are two interleaved number sequences.

You will find connections between numbers that are established through additions, subtraction, multiplications, and divisions.

20. Verbal Analogies

Verbal analogies tests are part of the standardized psychometric assessment tests that are also utilized on GRE, SAT, and other specialized tests.

Recruiters use the test to assess how competently candidates can differentiate relationships between ideas and think logically and smoothly in the English language.

Conclusion

Aptitude tests are part of pre-employment psychometric assessments to determine if you are perfectly fit for a job.

Psychometric tests are used by 75 percent of the world’s top employers as part of their recruitment process for high-ranking jobs.

Learning about the various aptitude tests available will help you to effectively prepare for them and come up with high scores.

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