With the emergence of thousands of different professions and industries in the Modern Age, whether you’re talking about new Industrial Sectors, the popular IT Sector or even something like pursuing newer discoveries in Medicine, it’s become hard for people to pick a profession. Assessment centres are often crucial in helping a person decide the line of work they want to go into, and they do this with the help of psychometric tests.
All of that probably sounds a bit complicated, so let’s talk about psychometric tests in simpler words. These are Graduate-level assessment tests that professionals use to identify a participant’s relevant skills, gauge the depth of their knowledge in various fields and get a general feel for their personality.
Different Types of Psychometric Tests
Personality and Aptitude Tests: A Difference in Scope
Psychometric tests used to assess job fitness for different fields are divided into two main categories, which are:
- Personality Tests: Personality tests are aimed towards getting a better feel for you as a person. The values and morals you use for decision-making, emotions and motivations which propel your desire for a career and even things like your ability to form relationships with your co-workers are all things gauged during a personality test.
Personality tests also explore your leadership skills, and how your character interacts with the organization overall, often making them a prerequisite to positions like Team Leaders or Managers.
- Aptitude Tests: By far the most common type of testing, psychometric tests that measure Aptitude are much more objective than personality tests. Their primary function is to understand whether you have the required skill set for a job position, regardless of what it might be. Aptitude tests are administered like a normal exam, with a time limit and invigilator, and are presented commonly in multiple choice format questions.
While there are actually several types of Aptitude tests, some are considered as absolute essentials to test job applicants. Consult the list below to know what they are:
- Error Checking: A short, timed exam meant to assess an applicant’s ability to identify, evaluate and correct errors in different types of data sets.
- Diagrammatic Reasoning: Diagrammatic Reasoning is based around the concept of understanding a person’s logical ability by deducing rules from a given diagram and applying them to a new set of pictorial scenarios.
- Numerical Reasoning: An applicant’s numerical aptitude shall be measured, and how well they are able to analyse sets of data and draw conclusions from them.
- Spatial Reasoning: Spatial Reasoning questions are designed around testing ability to manipulate both 2D and 3D objects. It also tests how well candidates are able to visualize changes in shape and draw conclusions and spot patterns in those changes.
- Verbal Reasoning: For a lot of people, Verbal Reasoning tests are the easiest. Basically, a grammar test to see how well you’re able to grasp the meaning of words, these tests are presented in the form of a medium-sized passage, with you having to respond with True, False or Cannot Say type of responses to questions.
Applications of Psychometric Tests Worldwide: A Conclusion
In short, psychometric tests are used to identify a field suitable to a particular person, making them very useful for recruiters and job agencies. However, even if they seem simple to understand, there are many different types of psychometric tests, with each one aimed towards a particular factor. In fact, the best thing about them is that they can be taken online, with almost no hassle. All you have to do is sign up for a site that administers them, and make sure you remain calm during the actual test itself.
Hundreds of cases where they could be applied, like in schools to help students choose streams, or even something couples could do together as a fun little activity, makes psychometric tests popular worldwide!
