Brilliant Numeracy Tests

CHAPT ER 9

Graduate-level

numeracy

tests

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I

n today’s fiercely competitive business world, organisations

only want to invest in the most promising graduate trainees.

As the number of graduates has increased dramatically in

recent years, employers have turned to ability tests in order to

distinguish between many qualified applicants. Numeracy tests

are one effective way of assessing large numbers of graduates. As

a result, they are commonly used on the graduate milk round.

You are also likely to encounter them at an interview for a first

or second job. You could also be asked to take a graduate-level

numeracy test as part of a development programme, or if you are

receiving career guidance to see how you would fare when

dealing with lots of complex numerical information.

How are they taken?

These tests are available in both pencil-and-paper and online

formats. Typically, if you pass an online numeracy test you will

be given a follow-up test at a later date. As a rule of thumb, the

tests usually contain between 20 and 40 questions and have a

time limit ranging from 25 to 35 minutes.You will be able to use

a calculator to answer the questions.

What do they look like?

Expect to be given a set of figures in either a table or a graph,

followed by several questions that ask you to interpret and

manipulate these figures. You might be given line graphs, bar

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188 brilliant numera cy tests

charts, pie charts – any format that can appear in business and

professional reports. There may be text-based questions, graph-

based questions or a combination of both, as per the practice

questions here.

It is worth thinking about the types of tables and graphs that you

would encounter in a business context: sales figures, attendance

figures, costs, budgets, and such like. That’s exactly the sort of

thing that appears in these tests.

How hard are they?

Just as there is a range of numerical ability amongst the

graduate population, graduate numeracy tests also vary in

difficulty level. The difficulty of the test you encounter will

reflect the degree of numerical complexity involved in the

role you are applying for. If the job is in Accounts or

involves managing large projects then you should expect to

be given one of the more difficult numeracy tests. Graduate

numeracy test questions will invariably be set in a work

context and will require you to interpret complex numerical

information.

If you want additional practice, you can answer the questions in

Chapters 8 and 10. The hardest UKCAT questions are of a

comparable standard to graduate-level tests. The senior mana-

gerial questions are more difficult than graduate-level tests, and

thus are a great way to challenge yourself in your practice ses-

sions.

brilliant

resources

There are many websites that offer free practice opportunities for this

popular test format. Search under ‘numerical reasoning test practice’ and

take your pick of the sites.

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Instructions

Always read every single word in the question very carefully.

Think through what the question is asking before diving into the

calculation.

Remember that the average length of time that you should use

to answer each question is approximately one minute. Try to

stick to this time limit when you complete the practice ques-

tions.

Graduate-level numeracy tests 189

brilliant

tips

G Keep things simple whenever possible so that you can focus on

getting the calculation correct.

G Don’t be distracted by complex business language, the size of

the figures or the measurement units. Nine times out of ten the

measurement units will be constant throughout the question

and answer.

G Also, if you can get the right answer by doing a rough

calculation then by all means do so.

G Similarly, if you can get to the answer by looking at trends in

the graph then great! Rather than spending valuable time on a

calculation you may only need to scan the graph to see where,

for example, the biggest and smallest differences occur.

Practice questions

1 A financial company’s balance sheet includes property

assets of £212 million and £40 million in derivative assets.

What is the effect on the balance sheet of the property assets

rising by a quarter and the derivative assets dropping by

three tenths?

(A) £265 million lower

(B) £41 million lower

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