SHL

I have been invited to ikeja for PWC graduate trainee test on the 6th of march. anyone with any useful info. thanks

The practise tests of SHL suck, they dont even tell you which questions you answered wrong, that doesnt help you to at all.

I agree. They are really bad practice tests.
They don't give you a detailed answer as to why the logical answer was this or that - that's for the verbal tests.
As for the numerical reasoning tests, they have way too much data to deal with for the time alloted.

Today I did the practise SHL Tests. They are some of the WORST tests I have ever taken. (and I did take quite a few tests).
The “logic” of the verbal “reasoning” tests is not logic. Besides, after you did the practise test, they don’t give you any explanation about why the correct answer is this and not that.

As for the numerical tests, they are not mathematically difficult, but they are very hard to do in the allotted time. ANYONE can make questions like those in the SHL numerical “reasoning” tests.
For example:
“John buys fruits and vegetables everyday. Of the total quantity of fruits and vegetables he buys everyday, 4% are tomatoes, 6% are cucumbers, 50% are apples, 15% are oranges and 25% are bananas. If the quantity of cucumbers bought today is 3% more than the quantity of oranges bought yesterday, which is 7% less than the quantity of bananas bought the day before yesterday which is 5 kilograms, what quantity of tomatoes did John buy today?”

How much time do you think you have for such a question? Well, (take a deep breath!), you have 1 minute!

Such questions are not a test of intelligence or a test of hard work, they are PURE STUPIDITY.

“Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex... It takes a touch of genius - and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction.” (Albert Einstein)

i agree with astro .. but can u tell if the employers offer such test as well ... like barclays group? i think they dont SHL test are really complicated ... but im still preparing for my numerical reasoining test for the HR scheme of barclays group ... any tips of help for me ?

SHL, like all psychometric tests are designed not just to test numeracry, problem solving skills but to obtain a deeper understanding of the intelligence of the applicant. I have had to do far too many in my time.

Astro, the question you quote is designed to test how you interpret a problem. The answer is straight forward 2.5 kg. 50% off apples are bought on any given day, 50% of the 5kg is 2.5kg. The rest of it is useless information and therefore the test is how you filter out such useless info and get to the root of the problem.

Asadwiki; Pratice makes perfect. It really is as simple as that. Numerical reasoning is all about how numbers and more specifically quantities relate to one another. Brush up on the basics, fractions, percentages, and estimation. My last aptitude test stumped me with a difficult question right in the middle of a series of very easy ones. If you get stuck and there is a time constraint it's best to skip the question and come back to it if you can at the end.

Does anyone have any tips on how to pass the SHL verbal test? I find the numerical ones are not so bad.

Peach_x,

pertaining to your answer, wasnt the question listed by ASTRO was about Tomatoes?

Peach_x,

I agree with your explanation on reasoning behind psychometric tests.

however, how on earth did you think 50% of apples is valuable information for a question asking for tomatoes?? the question is on quantity of tomatoes and is solved as follows; 5 kg x 93% x 103% x 4/6 = 3.193 kg.

Howmajesty

how did you come up with x 93% x 103% x 4/6
(where did each of those 3 numbers come from)

I also agree with astro, the way the questions are written are far to long winded and complected. This is made much worse by the fact that they usually use concepts most people are not familiar with (you are more likely to see a question that talks about share prices being 80% lower after being normalized to 100% than a question about apples and bananas)

People say that the idea is to see how you handle having huge amounts of irrelevant data but its is the tables and other data they give you which should be over the top not the question itself because the candidate has to read the question and understand it before he can attempt it once this has been done however he can look for the relevant information and ignore the rest no matter how much there is.

The apple/banana question was made up probably by astro and wd indeed not reflect the real hunch. i used logic.correct me if iam wrong.

quantity of tomatoes=4%
cucumbers=6%.
the only quantity given is 5kg of bananas for previous day. this is 7% less oranges. thus quantity of oranges=5 x (100%-7%)=5 x 93% = 4.65kg.
cucumbers are 3% more than oranges.this becomes 4.65 x 103% = 4.7895kgs.
tomatoes being 4% is derived by simple proportion with cucumbers. ie 4%/6% x 4.7895 = 3.193 kg.

does that make sense?

Howmejesty

yes the example given probibly was made up

but the if accuratly shows how the actual questions are written.

there is something i wish to point out.

3% more cucumbers than the oranges he bought yesterday is 18% (assuming that he bought his usual number of oranges yesturday). this is also 7% less than the number of bananas he normally buys
that means he bought the following

18% cucumbers today
25% bananas today (5kg)
4% toms
50% apples
18% oranges

that is a total of 115%
so clearly this question is flawed and cannot have a correct answer

so why have multiple people on this thread given an answer
and why have all the people i showed the question quickly given an answer before saying oh wait that is wrong.

the reason is because the way it is written is confusing
and the real questions have this problem as well!

Megaman70,

If u read the question properly you will note that its the TOTAL quantity that changes, but the percentage proportion of the fruits remain constant. it clearly states everyday the man buys same % proportion of the fruits and for you to say cucumbers will change from 15% to 18% just shows how candidates miss the point by not following the requirements of a question.

I agree some requirements in questions may not make much economic sense but hey, as long as the logical sense is there i would give it a go.

Howmejesty

you stated that only the total quantity changes but the proportions do not

Only one absolute proportion is given which means the questions cannot say anything about the TOTAL proportion changeing. For a change to occur at least 2 TOTAL ammounts muct be given or else there is nothign for the origninal ammount to have change to

in the first paragraph it tells you what his normal proportions are in %
in the second paragraph it tells you that on a specific day he bought different % so it was the proportions which changed.

which absolute proportiion are u referring to?? unless u learn that change in quantity is different frrom proportion change, and that a quantity can change without affecting % proportions this will be a difficult mountain for u to climb.

i suggest u search yourself first before criticising examiners, systems, others.thanks i now rest my case.

i was not the one who bought this up
someone else mentioned the shl number tests first and i just came around ang agreed

i have seen many others on different forums complaining about the number tests