Question-type guides
What each question type is really testing
Entry-level civil service exams are built from a small set of abilities. Each one has a way of being worked that beats reading harder, and each has a trap that costs well-prepared candidates marks. 21 guides, free to read, no signup.
No exam tests all of these. Which abilities appear — and what they are called — is set by the body running your examination, so every guide below names the exams on RankHigh that test it. Find your exam to see the ones that apply to you.
Reasoning and judgment
Working from what is printed in front of you — applying a rule, finding the pattern, putting steps in order, noticing what is wrong.
Deductive reasoning
Applying a stated general rule to a specific case and reaching the right result.
16 exams on RankHigh · 14 question formats
Inductive reasoning
Inferring the rule or pattern that connects a set of specific facts.
5 exams on RankHigh
Information ordering
Placing steps or items in the sequence a rule or procedure requires.
14 exams on RankHigh · 10 question formats
Problem sensitivity
Recognising that something is wrong, or is about to be, without being told to look for it. An aptitude measure, distinct from scenario-response formats.
7 exams on RankHigh · 2 question formats
Logical reasoning
Deciding which conclusion validly follows from a passage taken as true — and which does not — from the quantifiers and conditionals it uses rather than from knowledge of the subject.
4 exams on RankHigh · 4 question formats
Situational judgment
Judging how effective a possible response to a workplace situation would be, against a published scale of likely outcomes. Distinct from deductive reasoning, which states the rule that decides the case, and from problem sensitivity, which is noticing that something is wrong rather than choosing what to do about it.
1 exam on RankHigh
Reading and writing
Reading a procedure or a report and answering from it, and choosing wording that cannot be misread.
Reading comprehension
Reading supplied prose — a procedure, a regulation, a report — and answering from what it says rather than from prior knowledge.
17 exams on RankHigh · 12 question formats
Written expression
Choosing wording that is clear, complete and correct. Usually tested as selecting the best of several phrasings.
18 exams on RankHigh · 15 question formats
Spelling
Recognising the standard spelling of a word in context. Usually tested by presenting one word in several spellings.
4 exams on RankHigh · 4 question formats
Vocabulary
Knowing what a word means as used in a given sentence. Usually tested as selecting the closest synonym or definition.
2 exams on RankHigh · 2 question formats
Numbers
Arithmetic under time, and working out which calculation the question is actually asking for.
Number facility
Performing given arithmetic — addition, subtraction, multiplication, division — quickly and accurately. The operation is already determined; the measure is execution.
3 exams on RankHigh · 2 question formats
Mathematical reasoning
Determining which mathematical operations a described situation requires, then applying them. The arithmetic is deliberately light; selecting it is the measure.
4 exams on RankHigh · 4 question formats
Practical mathematics
Arithmetic, fractions, decimals, percentages, rates, angles, area and volume applied to quantities that arise in the work rather than as abstract exercises.
1 exam on RankHigh
Memory, attention and space
Holding material you are shown once, comparing things that look alike, and reading a map or a drawing.
Memorization
Retaining details of written or pictorial material studied for a fixed period, then answering about it after the material has been withdrawn. Distinct from reading comprehension, where the material stays available.
6 exams on RankHigh · 4 question formats
Spatial orientation
Determining one's own position relative to a place, or a place relative to oneself, and how that changes with movement. Anchored to a viewpoint. Requires a diagram.
4 exams on RankHigh · 2 question formats
Visualization
Determining how an object will appear once it is rotated, reflected or rearranged. No viewpoint is involved — the object moves, the observer does not. Requires a diagram.
3 exams on RankHigh
Visual comparison
Counting the details that differ between two or more otherwise identical pictures, working through them systematically rather than stopping at the first difference.
1 exam on RankHigh
Selective attention
Holding accuracy through a repetitive comparison — checking a string of characters against copies of it and finding the one that matches exactly, without losing your place or tiring into a guess.
3 exams on RankHigh · 3 question formats
Alphabetic filing
Placing near-identical names in alphabetical order and reading a position off that order — comparing a whole surname before any given name, and holding the sequence when the names separate only at the fifth or sixth letter.
1 exam on RankHigh
Technical and published material
Abilities measured against material you can read beforehand — a published document or a physical principle — rather than against general aptitude.
Mechanical reasoning
Reading a mechanical arrangement — a lever, a pulley system, a belt or gear drive, a fluid ram — and working out what it does before it is operated.
1 exam on RankHigh
Legal and policy knowledge
Knowing what a body of source material — a criminal code, a traffic statute, decided case law, or an agency's standing directives — actually requires, and applying it to a situation without the text in front of you. Distinct from deductive reasoning, which supplies the rule and tests only whether it can be applied.
12 exams on RankHigh · 51 question formats
Find the prep built for your exam
Reading method is the cheap half. Every exam in the catalog opens with a free twelve-question diagnostic that shows you which of these abilities is actually costing you marks.