Hi,
This is the first in a series of videos that JobTestPrep's testing team has created
in order to give you some useful tips on how to cope with numerical reasoning tests.
Applying these tips will help you reduce response times, alleviate stress and increase the chances
of receiving a higher score.
Today we focus on how to avoid unnecessary calculations.
One of psychometric tests' most evident features is not their difficulty
but rather their rigorous time limits.
Unlike real University level maths problems,
here each question could definitely be solved within reasonable time frames.
It's just that when these time frames are 45-75 seconds per question,
we have a problem.
Tip number 1: Plan Your Calculations Course
Due to time pressure, we tend to rush into calculations, not bearing in mind that planning
your steps ahead for 20 precious seconds could, in fact, save a great deal of time in escaping
a lengthy calculation. Good examples for applying this tip are:
Let's look at an example which is considered to be of easy difficulty level.
A family’s monthly petrol expense in year 1 is £250. What would be the percentage change
in their annual petrol expense if in year 2 their monthly expenses are only £180?
To answer this, we can look to reduce the number of calculation needed. Instead of multiplying
each monthly expense by 12 in order to calculate the yearly expenditure, we can automatically see
that both years would be multiplied by the same factor and so that factor can be
cancelled out.
So, using our quick percentages trick we calculate:
By cutting down on the amount of calculations needed to reach the right answer,
you save time that can be used to review your answers or work on more difficult questions.
Let's look at another example.
Take 5 seconds to understand the graph.
In 2008, 400 auction contracts were offered for £22,200 each. In 2009, contract value
increased by 7%, and there was a 25% decrease in the number of contracts offered.
How much more money than Buildingo did Roads make?
Now some of us, who tend to rush into calculations frantically, might choose to do the following:
1. Calculate the Contract value in 2009; which is right.
2. Then, calculate the Number of contracts in 2009 after 25% decrease; which is also ok.
3. Then, see how many Buildingo contracts there were in 2009.
4. And how many were Roads
Finally, they would subtract Buildingo from Roads in the following way:
Some might even write each step's calculation result on a piece of paper.
Now, what we suggest is to spend just a few more seconds to see that we can avoid a few
steps in advance.
We were asked for the difference, which refers to the relative market share differences.
So, we'll still have to calculate the new contract price, but other than that everything
goes straight into one line in the calculator.
Notice the order of calculations so that in case you don't have a scientific calculator,
the deduction comes first, to avoid another line.
Tip number 2: Master the Calculator
This can definitely help us move faster on the test. Know your way around both simple
and advanced calculators so that you are familiar with all the shortcuts.
For example, no need for 0 when writing decimals,
using the % button, saving information with m+,
Etc…
Don’t reset after each calculation, rather use the information from the previous step!
We hope you found this helpful. Stay tuned for our next video in the series
and feel free to visit us for more tips and practice resources.