Aptitude · Test-day skills
Test-day skills for campus hiring tests
Knowing the methods is half of it. The other half is timing, smart guessing and staying calm. Here is what to do on the day.
⏱️ Time: about a minute a question
- Look at the number of questions and the time before you start, and work out your pace.
- Do one quick pass: answer what you can, ☆ mark what is slow, and come back.
- Never spend 3 minutes on one question while easy ones wait.
🎯 Guess smartly
- Check whether wrong answers lose marks. If not, never leave a question blank.
- Cross out options that are impossible (wrong units, too big, negative).
- Estimate: round the numbers and see which option is close.
🧪 The prompt task
- Your prompt is run on hidden inputs and the reply must match exactly.
- Say what the input looks like, give a rule for every tricky case, then: “Reply with ONLY …”.
- Test it yourself on tricky inputs before you submit: repeats, ties, empty input, capitals.
📊 Charts fast
- Read the title, axis labels and units first (in thousands? in %?).
- Check where the axis starts: a cut-off axis exaggerates differences.
- Write down only the numbers you need, then calculate.
🧩 Reasoning without panic
- Draw it: family trees, seats, directions and Venn circles.
- Place the surest clue first, then the rest.
- For “definitely follows”, try to find one picture where it fails.
🔢 Arithmetic shortcuts
- 10% is moving the decimal point; 5% is half of that.
- Percentage change = change ÷ the ORIGINAL × 100.
- Speed in km/h to m/s: × 5/18.
🖥️ The online test itself
- Use a laptop with a charger and a steady connection; close other tabs.
- Many tests watch for tab switching and copy-paste: stay on the test page.
- Read each question twice: “NOT”, “except” and “definitely” change the answer.