Bennett Mechanical Comprehension Test: 20 Important Facts you need to Know

The Bennett Mechanical Comprehension Test, popularly abbreviated as BMCT, is frequently used by major companies like Coca-Cola, Delta Airlines, and Nestlé as part of their recruitment processes.

The Bennett Mechanical Comprehension Test is not a test that you can expect to score well in without considerable preparation.

Pearson Assessment developed the Bennett Mechanical Comprehension Test in 1940, and since then the test has been widely used throughout the United States by companies who have the need to assess an individual’s mechanical reasoning ability.

The latest and superior version of the Bennett Mechanical Comprehension Test is known as BMCT-II, while the former one is called BMCT-I.

Companies use the Bennett Mechanical Comprehension Test to effectively discover individuals that have a natural aptitude for mechanical processes and reasoning, as well as excellent spatial perception.

The Bennett Mechanical Comprehension Test is helpful in sorting out those without enough knowledge of a specific role.

20 Important Facts about BMCT you need to Know

Here are important facts about Bennett Mechanical Comprehension Test you need to know:

1. What is Bennett Mechanical Comprehension Test?

Pearson Education, which was formerly known as the Psychological Corporation, published the Bennett Mechanical Comprehension Test, BMCT, in 1940.

The two types of this test are BMCT-I and BMCT-II. The test was formerly offered as BMCT-I in a paper-and-pen form until it was renamed as BMCT-II to be taken online.

As a multiple-choice test, BMCT makes use of diagrams and images based around four key areas, including mechanical comprehension, spatial visualization, deduction of how things work, and knowledge of basic mechanical and physical laws.

The BMCT relies on a technical aptitude when used as a recruitment tool and is regarded as a proven predictor of performance for industries.

It is an easy and effective way to evaluate candidates for roles that need some inborn mechanical ability.

2. What are the skills that the Bennett Mechanical Comprehension Test assesses?

The Bennett Mechanical Comprehension Test assesses your mechanical reasoning ability, particularly on topics such as levers, pulleys, gears, and springs.

Therefore, in order to be successful on this test, you need to build self-confidence in all of the various areas of the test.

The BMCT assesses your mechanical intelligence and your ability to interpret technical drawings. It also assesses your understanding of diagrams of technical devices and their work, as well as your ability to solve engineering tasks.

The Bennett Mechanical Comprehension Test evaluates your abilities in four major areas, such as:

• Mechanical reasoning
• Spatial perception
• Familiarity with the basics of mechanics and physics
• Understanding how machinery works.

3. Which jobs use the Bennett Mechanical Comprehension Test?

In a role where mechanical and technical abilities are required, the Bennett Mechanical Comprehension Test is used to indicate whether a candidate is suitable for that job position.

The test is utilized in several different industries and multinational companies as part of the application and retention process.

Below is a list of jobs that use the Bennett Mechanical Comprehension Test:

• Machine operation
• Skilled trades
• Emergency services, especially the fire service
• Airlines – mechanics and engineers
• Manufacturing operators
• Automobile mechanics.

4. What is the format of the Bennett Mechanical Comprehension Test?

The Bennett Mechanical Comprehension Test consists of 55 questions with a time duration of 25 minutes to complete. The questions are easy to be completed within the time frame.

You will be given two practice questions that are untimed at the beginning of the test. This will make you relax with the layout, language, and the way you need to answer the questions.

The answers are multiple-choice, and each question is presented as a graphic with a question. The topics of the questions include:

• Pulleys and levers
• Gears and belt drives
• Declaration of forces, centrifugal force, and inertia
• Structures, planes, and slopes
• Gravity and velocity
• Acoustics and optics
• Shape and volume
• Miscellaneous
• Centre of gravity
• Hydraulics
• Electricity
• Heat

5. What is the scoring pattern of the Bennett Mechanical Comprehension Test?

After completing your BMCT, a score report from Pearson containing your raw score and a percentile ranking will be issued by the company you are testing for.

The company will compare your results against a normative group using the percentile rating and making generalizations in each percentile range about the scores.

• 0 –19 percentile range

This would be a pass for nearly all applications. You would need very close supervision and additional training, although you might show some understanding of mechanical reasoning.

• 20–39 percentile range

If you also scored highly on other parts of the application, this range might make you a candidate as you have shown a basic ability to use mechanical reasoning to solve problems.

• 40–59 percentile range

This is seen as a hiring range for a lot of roles. You will study at a steady pace and show a good aptitude for applying mechanical principles.

• 60–79 percentile range

This would be considered a great score for more technical roles, and recruiters would expect you to show self-confidence with mechanical principles.

• 80+ percentile range

Your demonstration of a strong grip of mechanical principles and excellent spatial awareness is needed in this range. Most technical roles accept this as their average required score.

6. What is the best way to prepare for a Bennett Mechanical Comprehension Test?

There are some basic physics and mechanics questions that you might want to answer in preparation for your Bennett Mechanical Comprehension Test.

The Bennett Mechanical Comprehension Test consists of many topics that have a minimum of 3 questions on every subject. Sometimes there are as many as 12 questions.

You need to have an understanding of the mechanics of a lever as most questions come from the ‘pulleys’ and ‘levers’. It will help you considerably.

You should take some practice tests to help you assess your performance and highlight the areas you might need to study more if you feel you need to practice more on some areas of mechanical reasoning.

Practice will help you become familiar with the styles and timings of the Bennett Mechanical Comprehension Test.

7. How difficult is the Bennett Mechanical Comprehension Test?

The Bennett Mechanical Comprehension Test isn’t designed for complexity. The difficulty of the test comes from the level of your understanding of the questions and how you answer them.

Your ability to answer the questions quickly will make the test to be simple.

8. What are the basic principles of the Bennett Mechanical Comprehension Test?

Some of the basic principles of the Bennett Mechanical Comprehension Test you might need to know are:

• Pulleys
• Force and movement
• Fluids
• Thermodynamics
• Electricity
• Wheels Gears
• Acoustics
• Optics

9. The Bennett Mechanical Comprehension Test Tips

Here are some of the Bennett Mechanical Comprehension Test tips you need to understand:

• Read the question carefully

You need to read the questions thoroughly in order to understand them as they are not complex, and it will help you to know how best to answer them.

• Make use of the graphics

Every question presented comes with a graphic or picture that displays the mechanical rule that is being evaluated.

You just have to apply the correct mechanical reasoning. The picture really contains the answer.

• Practice

Practice is the best way to prepare and succeed in a mechanical reasoning test. According to Pearson, individuals who often practice can increase their score by 4 points on average.

It’s obvious that practice is one of the determinants of whether you will pass the Bennett Mechanical Comprehension Test or fail it.

• Be fast

You don’t seem to have all the time in the world to complete 55 questions in just 25 minutes. So, your ability to answer quickly and accurately will make you succeed.

• Make use of your knowledge

The Bennett Mechanical Comprehension Test makes use of your previous knowledge and your competence at mechanics and physics.

Therefore, your knowledge is required to determine your overall performance.

10. What is the usefulness of the Bennett Mechanical Comprehension Test?

The Bennett Mechanical Comprehension Test is used to analyze how well an individual can utilize mechanical principles to resolve issues in a realistic environment.

This assessment test can prove your natural aptitude for mechanics and make you succeed in a role where this skill is required.

11. How reliable is the Bennett Mechanical Comprehension Test?

Each correct answer you present adds to your general profile in the Bennett Mechanical Comprehension Test. If these scores aren’t interpreted appropriately, they are rather useless.

Besides, the Bennett Mechanical Comprehension Test is known for its accuracy in describing limitations for assessing an individual’s fitness for a position.

Recruiters actually trust the results from the Bennett Mechanical Comprehension Test and the predictions it makes about an individual’s potential.

The Bennett Mechanical Comprehension Test is most appropriately used in combination with other tests that cover the other skills for jobs that require a variety of aptitudes.

The Bennett Mechanical Comprehension Test has been utilized for more than 50 years, which proves the authentication of the versatility and effectiveness of the test.

12. Reasons for taking the Bennett Mechanical Comprehension Test

There are a lot of reasons why an individual may want to take the Bennett Mechanical Comprehension Test.

One of these reasons is that the test has been the most common part of an assessment process for organizations and businesses looking to employ people for roles that require mechanical competence.

The Bennett Mechanical Comprehension Test is mainly used as a screening process to rule out candidates who don’t have the innate aptitude in mechanics.

The test can also be used to discover weaknesses in workers so that they might be trained to improve their skills in specific fields.

13. The job roles where you might be asked to take the Bennett Mechanical Comprehension Test

There are several job roles you might look up to in your fight for a new or change of career, but you first need to possess the concept of the basic functions of tools, acquire a good knowledge of spatial perception, and develop the ability to rapidly understand and apply basic mechanical concepts.

The job roles where you might be asked to take a Bennett Mechanical Comprehension Test include:

• Auto mechanics
• Equipment operators
• Electricians
• Engineers
• Carpenters
• Plumbers
• Truck drivers

14. What are the Question Categories of the BMCT-II?

There are 12 BMCT-II question categories, including:

i. Acoustics and optics

Analyzes the basic physical properties of optics and acoustics, with the speed of light/sound, light reflections, and the Doppler Effect.

ii. Center of gravity

Evaluates the ideas of physical balance, the movement of an object, how the center of gravity can influence the effort that must be used to perform an action, and more.

iii. Electricity

Analyzes your basic understanding of electricity, and pays specific attention to simple electric circuits and conduction.

iv. Gravity and velocity

Presents various scenarios that consist of moving objects in the form of either horizontally moving objects (velocity), vertically moving objects (gravity), or a merger of both these forces (for example trajectory of a thrown object).

v. Pulleys and levers

Questions generally compare two different measures of the same features of the machine’s levers and pulleys – particularly looking at the mechanical advantage that they offer.

For example, pulley questions will look at the number of pulleys and ropes in a pulley system and their influence on the forces required in lifting the weight.

Lever questions will look at properties including the length of the arms and the location of the weight on the force required to lift the weight.

vi. Gears and belt drives

This offers diverse situations involving different rotating gears that are either connected with a belt drive or engaged together. Questions about the speed need to be answered.

vii. Resolution of forces, centrifugal force, and inertia

Scenarios from different fields will be shown. Questions will be based on the communication between two forces and force movement.

viii. Shape and volume

Evaluate your knowledge of geometrical properties and the correlation between various shapes and volume.

ix. Structures, planes, and slopes

These questions could compare a variety of arrangements for their durability, or for the force required to jump or climb them.

x. Hydraulics

Features of hydraulics will be tested through these situations, with the outcome of the altitude, the volume, and the diameter of a pipe/vessel on water pressure.

They could also measure you on the compressibility of fluids and the effect of water pressure on different materials.

xi. Miscellaneous

This involves other daily scenarios that don’t fall into any of the categories mentioned here, or scenarios that combine various mechanical occurrences.

xii. Heat

This assesses the effect of varying temperature (cold and heat) over the physical elements of materials, like the nature of cooler and hotter gases.

They could also test you on different scenarios that produce heat (i.e. through fiction).

15. Common names of the Bennett Mechanical Comprehension Test

There are other names of the Bennett Mechanical Comprehension Test, including:

• Bennett Mechanical Comprehension Test II
• Pearson Bennett Mechanical Comprehension Test
• Bennett Mechanical Aptitude Test
• Bennett Mechanical Test
• Bennett Test
• BMCT Test
• BMCT

16. How does the Bennett Mechanical Comprehension Test scoring work?

You won’t receive a raw score on this test since the questions vary in difficulty. But you will be given your percentile score as it is ranked among your peers.

The minimum required score on the Bennett Mechanical Comprehension Test is 43 to 48, but that depends on the job.

Therefore, you need to answer 80 percent of the questions accurately to pass the exam and to be selected for the role. It’s always good to pursue 90 to 100 percent accurate responses.

In order to outrank the competition, you need to try as much as you can to score higher than others.

To achieve this, you will have to study before you take the test.

17. What does your Bennett Mechanical Comprehension Test score say about you?

Potential employers and schools use your score to analyze whether you will likely succeed in a career that requires mechanical comprehension.

Doing well on the test proves proficiency in concepts and principles and signifies that you will be able to complete tasks that are handed over to you.

18. What are the skills and abilities assessed on the Bennett Mechanical Comprehension Test?

Mechanical comprehension is the ability and skill required to understand and apply the main principles underlying the workings, maintenance, and repair of machinery and equipment, as well as the capacity to utilize mechanical and physical concepts.

The Bennett Mechanical Comprehension Test is designed to screen individuals with excellent mechanical comprehension abilities and those with an aptitude to understand and apply mechanical concepts and principles to solve problems.

19. What are the languages in which the Bennett Mechanical Comprehension Test can be taken?

The languages that the Bennett Mechanical Comprehension Test can be taken include:

• US English
• US Spanish
• Castilian Spanish
• Canadian French
• French
• Dutch

20. The questions you encounter on the Bennett Mechanical Comprehension Test may include basic math

Having basic math skills is an essential aspect of mechanical ability and part of the Bennett Mechanical Comprehension Test, such as making simple calculations based on the information provided and your knowledge of mechanical principles.

There are some questions you cannot answer without knowing some simple formulas.

For example, the areas of shapes like rectangles, circles, and triangles, as well as some simple geometry like Pythagoras Theorem.

You have to also become familiar with imperial units including inches, feet, and yards.

For instance, you need to know that there are nine square feet in a square yard, something that is surprising to a lot of people using only metric units.

Some of the questions you meet on the Bennett Mechanical Comprehension Test may require knowledge of basic mathematics, including:

• Fractions
• Decimals
• Ratios
• Percentages
• Averages

Try to develop the knowledge of forces and energy, including:

• Kinetic/potential energy
• Work and power
• Acceleration
• Gravity
• Pressure
• Friction

Bennett Mechanical Comprehension Test Practice Questions and Answers

Here are some Bennett Mechanical Comprehension Test practice questions and answers to help you get familiar with the format of the test and how the questions will look like:

Question One:

Which of the men carries more weight? Mark C if they are equal.

The correct answer is B. Because the box is nearer to the man at ‘B’, he will be carrying a heavier load than the man at ‘A’.

The mechanical principle of this question speaks about distribution of weight based on the positioning of the load in relation to the supporting factors (in this case the two men).

It is not a compound question relating to stylish concepts in physics, but it does put the individual’s understanding of basic principles to the test.

The diagram is easy to understand, and the question is written in a simple, perceptive way.

Question Two:

The question requires you to select the spot that will be the least bumpy during the ride.

The correct answer is C. The middle point is often less bumpy as, like a see-saw, the middle moves the least.

This question follows the same format since it provides the test taker with an easy-to-understand diagram and a question relating to a mechanical concept.

As you will have noticed, the questions are multiple-choice, so there is not often a need for any complex calculations to find the correct answer.

Question Three

If two cogs are rolling together, one having 30 teeth and the other having 20, how many revolutions would the smaller cog have rolled if the bigger cog had turned 15 times?

• A) 21
• B) 21.5
• C) 22
• D) 22.5

The smaller cog turns 1.5 times faster than the bigger since there are 1.5 times more teeth on the latter cog.

Thus, the cog having 30 teeth has turned 15 times; the smaller cog will have rotated 1.5 times more.

Therefore, when you multiply 15 by 1.5 you will have 22.5 (D), which is the answer.

Conclusion

The Bennett Mechanical Comprehension Test is used by potential employers to assess candidates for mechanical comprehension and to reveal an individual’s natural aptitude rather than what they acquired through training.

For this reason, you need to get familiar with the format of the test and the types of questions you will likely meet. Practice will help you to be on the success side.

>> Are you billed to take a pre-employment assessment test with a company? If you are, then it is wise to learn about the test and prepare effectively for it with lots of practice questions and answers. Start your preparation for your coming test here: Make Top Scores in Employers’ Assessment Tests.