Numerical reasoning tests

[Pubey]

Often you don't need a calculator - some of the answers are obviously wrong. This can save time, rather than taking a while working out exact answer look at the question, do a rough back of stamp calculation in your head and then select closest answer. For example in q5 - store A has 68% and store B has 70% - so answer is between 68 and 70 - only 1 answer is.

68.0% is between 68 and 70, and by the time you've worked out the 68 and 70 you might as well do the final step. i wouldn't recommend answering them by a process of elimination, when we write maths questions we look to create wrong answers that could be right is a simple error is made or if people are just eyeballing the question

 

[BLUEBLOOD]

68.0% is between 68 and 70, and by the time you've worked out the 68 and 70 you might as well do the final step. i wouldn't recommend answering them by a process of elimination, when we write maths questions we look to create wrong answers that could be write is a simple error is made or if people are just eyeballing the question

Schoolboy error from the pubester

 

[Pubey]

Schoolboy error from the pubester

:'(.......

 

[Matt the Shrimp]

On assessment test one, Q4, shouldn't they have compounded the growth and therefore come out with a disparity between the two figures of 1711? The question said that the figures grew "at 10% per year", not "annual 10% growth as against original stocks".

Still got 6/6, though - and I'm supposed to be innumerate.

;)

Paul - best of luck.

Matt

 

[Tinks]

Paul,
I have had to sit a couple of these over the past 2 years and I have to say I did struggle to begin with as it has been several years since I left school.

The art of it is to practice,practice and practice. I also got the book psycometric testing for dummies which I found really useful

 

[Holy Joe]

Yes, you've obviously never done one mate. They're a little bit more complicated than that.

It's been a while since I've done them. All I'm saying is to speed up you often don't need to work out the answer to the nearest 10th decimal place.

 

[Holy Joe]

68.0% is between 68 and 70, and by the time you've worked out the 68 and 70 you might as well do the final step. i wouldn't recommend answering them by a process of elimination, when we write maths questions we look to create wrong answers that could be right is a simple error is made or if people are just eyeballing the question

Ok to be more accurate greater than 68.0 and less than 70.0 - point remains for that question did not need to calculate the exact answer as only one of the options could have been correct - thus saving time - which I think was one the things MK said was a struggle (completing all the questions in the time allowed).

 

[Billy Bests boot laces]

I hope for everyones sake this doesn't involve calculating stopping distances.

Get back on the M25!

 

[Billy Bests boot laces]

as usual, the trick is to read the question carefully, and make sure you are clear what the data shows.

Numerical test 1.

Q1. 10,000, you're looking for the greatest difference between chairs and stools
Q2. you're given the total expenditure, so you can work out how much is spent on chairs from the given information. that leaves you with the amount spend producing stools. you know how many stools are produced from the graph so just divide this to get the price per stool
Q3. add up the total for chairs and stools. then add together the two totals to give total 6 year production. divide the chair total by the overal total to get the percentage
Q4. this is more involved. you are given percentage information so first you want to convert this into units. so take the total percentage for under a fiver for supermarket A (46%) and times it by the total (0.46x10600). so now you have the number of items under a fiver for SupA. do this for B as well.
now you want to increase it by 10% for three years. take your number of units and times it by 1.1 (110%) three times. for SupB do this for 1.06 (106%) three times. then find the difference between the two final amounts

Q5. Just take the total percentage for under£20 for each supermarket and work out the number (as before). add these together and add the total amounts for both supermarkets together and find the percentage.

Q6. you can't say, because the range is 0-1.99 but you don't know how items are distributed in this range and so you can't say if all prices increased by 50p how many would move up to over £2. (i.e. all the items in the price range 0-1.99 could be priced at £1, so they would all just increase to £1.50). we don't know, therefore we can't answer

As I said, you need to be happy moving numbers into percentage form and vice versa. other than that it's just important to understand the information that is given to you because it's not difficult, the good thing about maths is that there is an answer, you just need to know how to manipulate the information

Dear God, whatever happened to the interviews when you presented your c.v. to your interviewer, and then spoke for 20 minutes hoping to convince him (or her) that you are the ideal candidate for the advertised position?

 

[OldBlueLady]

Dear God, whatever happened to the interviews when you presented your c.v. to your interviewer, and then spoke for 20 minutes hoping to convince him (or her) that you are the ideal candidate for the advertised position?

I know! Bloody frightening isn't it?!

 

[Mad Cyril]

I know! Bloody frightening isn't it?!

Buyers market.

The last job I went for involved:

One phone interview
One hour on site exam paper where I had to write several programs and then answer questions from a panel.
Two seperate four hour sessions where I was interviewed by a total of ten people.

 

[BrettieAngell]

Buyers market.

The last job I went for involved:

One phone interview
One hour on site exam paper where I had to write several programs and then answer questions from a panel.
Two seperate four hour sessions where I was interviewed by a total of ten people.

jeez, sod that for a laugh!

 

[MK Shrimper]

jeez, sod that for a laugh!

Yep, NR is making massive redundancies. Last I heard there was 88 applicants for one job, and I'm sure I've got a battle on my hands to secure this one. The thing (I hope) I have in my favour is that applying for the job is my choice, not one that's being forced on me.

Dog eat dog, but at least I'll leave a position open for some other poor sod to fill if I get it.

 

[Pubey]

Mrs Pubey managed to bag a new job in sheffield and started a few weeks ago. she'd been job hunting for a year and found out today that there were 108 applications for the position she got, mental!

 

[BLUEBLOOD]

Buyers market.

The last job I went for involved:

One phone interview
One hour on site exam paper where I had to write several programs and then answer questions from a panel.
Two seperate four hour sessions where I was interviewed by a total of ten people.

Did you manage to get in on the Brinks Mat job after all that ??

 

[Mad Cyril]

Did you manage to get in on the Brinks Mat job after all that ??

No. Perhaps I should have interviewed for a job as a surveilance officer. The police managed to lose a Rolls Royce with a gold smelter hanging out of the boot that presumably would have led them straight to the gold.

 

[Billy Bests boot laces]

Buyers market.

The last job I went for involved:

One phone interview
One hour on site exam paper where I had to write several programs and then answer questions from a panel.
Two seperate four hour sessions where I was interviewed by a total of ten people.

My son has just started work for a huge healthcare company in New York. He had to attend SIX interviews with different personnel over a period of 9 weeks before being offered the post!. Never heard anything like it in my life.

 

[canveyshrimper]

My son has just started work for a huge healthcare company in New York. He had to attend SIX interviews with different personnel over a period of 9 weeks before being offered the post!. Never heard anything like it in my life.

Blimey. :stunned: I had an interview about 35 years ago that went on the lines of "Do you like football, beer & curry?" Yes to all three and the deal was sealed over 6 pints and a mutton vindaloo at the Halal Restaurant in Aldgate.

 

[BrettieAngell]

Blimey. :stunned: I had an interview about 35 years ago that went on the lines of "Do you like football, beer & curry?" Yes to all three and the deal was sealed over 6 pints and a mutton vindaloo at the Halal Restaurant in Aldgate.

Man if only all interviews were like that!

 

[pringlejon]

i'm doin a maths degree. just shows how stupid my degree is when the numerical reasoning test is nothing like what i'm doing. Where's the integration, matrices and newtonian viscous fluids in motion....honestly i have no idea what employers look for nowadays.

my advice anyway is to do as many of them as possible. if ur at uni, look out for any "interview days" where you can take the tests and get feedback.

also, dont worry if u dont finish the whole thing, few people do. My housemate got about 80% of the way through and is through to the next part of her job application!