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Capp Assessment Tests: Numerical, Verbal + Critical Reasoning

Capp Assessment Tests: Numerical, Verbal + Critical Reasoning
Capp Assessment Tests: Numerical, Verbal + Critical Reasoning

As Capp Assessment Tests become more common perhaps you have encountered one for the first time.

This can be a bit daunting and, since they look and feel a bit different to more traditional psychometric reasoning tests, it isn’t necessarily obvious what you need to do to be successful…

Don’t worry.

With the insight and tips we share with you below, you’ll be smashing your tests in no time.

FREE BONUS: Get free unlimited access to Capp test practice (for 30 minutes) on our partner website JobTestPrep.

What are Capp Assessment Tests?

Capp are a consultancy and psychometric test publisher who specialise in Strengths Based Assessments.

They also offer a number of different psychometric tests that are widely used many major organisations including Google, Atkins, Amazon and RBS.

Their Assessment Tests include critical reasoning, numerical reasoning, verbal reasoning.

Psychometric reasoning tests like these are very common.

This is because they are a cheap and efficient way for organisations to identify candidates who aren’t likely to be able to succeed in a particular job.

Because they are often used to filter candidates out of application processes, they are sometimes called screening tests or gateway tests.

Candidates like you have to achieve a particular level of performance in order to progress in the selection process.

With practice you can dramatically improve your performance. Practice is the best way to improve your test scores.

In the rest of this article we’ll show you how the tests work, suggest how you can prepare, and then direct you towards some practice tests so that when the big day comes you are ready.

Before you do anything else, take a look at the Capp website, where you can take free practice tests.

How do Psychometric Reasoning Tests Work?

In general, psychometric reasoning tests challenge users to answer a series of questions and compare their performance on a test with the average performance level of a reference or ‘norm’ group.

This is typically made up of individual with similar characteristics, such as education level, nationality or workplace seniority.

If you do better than most of the norm group you will receive a high score, whereas a low score suggests that your performance was weaker than most of the norm group.

Usually, a minimum standard of performance necessary for success in a role is identified at the start of an assessment process, and all candidates that don’t meet this level will be unable to progress through the process.

What makes Capp Assessment Tests Different?

Capp Assessments are ‘Next Generation’ psychometric aptitude tests; this means they might look and feel a bit different to other psychometric tests you have completed in the past.

The main difference between the Capp tests and more traditional psychometric ability tests is that the Capp tests are responsive.

This means that the actual questions presented to a candidate will depend upon their performance on the previous questions.

Capp say that the responsiveness of their tests and the size of their question bank mean that the chances of two candidates taking exactly the same test is currently less than one in a billion.

In practice, this means that if you’ve been able to quickly and accurately solve the previous questions, you can expect to be presented with incrementally more challenging questions.

By contrast, if you have made a number of errors, the test will present questions at a lower level.

The aim of the tests is to work out what your maximum ability is. Or put another way, what the most challenging level you are capable of working at is.

Another thing that makes Capp Tests feel different is that they have no time limit (although the time you take to complete the test does effect the score so you still need to work as quickly as you can).

This takes a bit of the pressure off and can make taking these tests rather less stressful than others.

Finally, the variety of question types and the format of the questions in Capp Tests can be different to those used by more traditional test publishers.

Let’s take a closer look at this:

Numerical Reasoning Tests

Traditionally numerical reasoning tests require candidates to select the correct answer from a number of potential options.

The Capp numerical reasoning test still does this, but it also requires candidates to rank potential answers or to type their answer into a free-text box.

This makes it harder to guess the correct answers.

Verbal Reasoning Tests

Verbal reasoning tests typically give you a passage of text to read and then ask you whether a number of subsequent statements are true or false, based on the information contained in the passage.

This question type is included within the Capp Verbal Reasoning Test, but there are also a number of different question formats included.

This means that as well as testing verbal reasoning, the Capp test can also assess verbal dexterity, comprehension, interpretation, and adaptability.

As well as traditional multiple choice questions, the test also presents:

  • Free text editing: This type of question requires you to type your answers directly into the question. You might be asked to correct spellings or grammar, or edit a passage of text.
  • Bucket sort: You will be presented with two categories/styles of writing; your task is to place each item presented to the category/style of writing that it best fits.
  • Drag and Drop: This type of question requires you to drag statements or words to the place that they best fit.
  • Ranking: These questions can be quite subtle and require you to really understand the nuance of language and language use. You will be presented with a number of statements and asked to rank these based on some feature of the text, such as positivity.
  • Selecting the most appropriate word to fill in the sentence: You will be presented with a passage of text with a number of blanks in it, for each blank space you must select the most appropriate word to fill the space from a drop down menu.

Critical Reasoning Tests

The Capp Critical Reasoning test evaluates your ability to think critically in a number of ways.

In each instance, a passage of information is presented followed by a series of statements, your task is to select the appropriate response from the drop down menu.

Questions focus around five areas:

  • Inference: rating the probability of truth of inferences based on given information
  • Recognition of assumptions: identifying unstated assumptions underlying given statements
  • Deduction: determining whether conclusions follow logically from given information
  • Interpretation: weighing evidence and deciding if generalisations or conclusions based on data are warranted
  • Evaluation of arguments: evaluating the strength and relevance of arguments with respect to a particular question or issue.

Capp Assessment Test Tips: How to Successfully Pass Tests

Psychometric tests aim to assess your innate ability or intelligence in particular areas and unfortunately there isn’t much you can do to change this.

However, you can improve your performance by becoming better at taking the tests, and we’ll share with you the procedures, questions and techniques you’ll need to successfully pass the tests.

Step 1. Practice, Practice, Practice

The more familiar you are with the tests and types of questions you are likely to encounter, the better you are likely to perform.

This makes sense – you wouldn’t sit any other exam without looking at practice papers or trying to understand what might be on the test – and psychometric tests are no different.

The more you practice similar questions the quicker you will be able to understand what is required.

You will have encountered more scenarios in the past so you will already know how to solve them.

You will be familiar with the format and requirements.

This means that you can focus your problem solving on the questions rather than working out how the test works and what you need to do on a very basic level.

Practice tests will also give you an indication of the speed you work at, and highlight any gaps in your knowledge or areas that you find particularly difficult, and this is important because it can help you focus your revision.

And talking of revision…..

Step 2. Revise Thoroughly

As with any test, you are likely to perform better if you have the knowledge you need at your fingertips - you don’t want to waste time trying to remember how to perform a basic calculation when you could be moving forwards.

Whilst you will never know exactly what questions will come up on your test, you can be reasonably sure what types of questions will come up.

Capp say that their Numerical Reasoning Test requires candidates to:

  • Identify relevant data to engage with and prioritise (including not being misled by distractor data)
  • Comprehend a range of numerical information (including but not limited to percentages, decimals, ratios and numerical abbreviations)
  • Interpret data presented in a variety of formats such as tables, graphs, charts and formats such as Excel.
  • Manipulate numerical data – for example performing appropriate mathematical calculations.
  • Decipher problems and make decisions, working out the commercial or practical meaning of the data.

Bearing this in mind, you should revise (as a minimum) basic arithmetic such as addition, subtraction, multiplication and division; percentages, fractions and ratios, and how they relate to one another; and averages and estimates.

There’s often not a lot of specific revision you can do to prepare for Verbal Reasoning Tests – the Capp Verbal Reasoning Test is different.

Its unusual format means that a greater range of verbal skills are assessed; this means preparation is needed in each of these areas:

  • Verbal Dexterity: error checking spelling, grammar and punctuation.
  • Verbal Comprehension: vocabulary and understanding of the meaning of words, particularly the subtle differences between commonly used words, rather than breadth of vocabulary.
  • Verbal Reasoning: evaluating and understanding a passage of written material and reaching valid conclusions based on the information presented.
  • Verbal Interpretation: Understanding the explicit and implicit meaning and the emotional salience of verbal material.
  • Verbal Adaptability: Recognising different styles of verbal material and being able to flex verbal style for different audiences and media.

Step 3. Being at Your Best

The Capp Assessment Tests are hard – they are meant to be, if they were easy there would be no point in running them.

With this in mind, you need to make sure that when you take these tests you are at your best, alert, focused and unlikely to be disturbed.

Here are some things that you might want to think about:

  • Make sure that you get a good night’s sleep before you complete the test. Avoid drinking alcohol or doing anything that might impair your performance.
  • Set yourself up for success by eating something light and healthy beforehand and choose a time when you have plenty of energy.
  • Ensure you have everything you need to hand. As a minimum think about having a pencil, scrap paper, calculator and a clock.
  • Make sure that you won’t be interrupted – put your phone on flight mode, disable notifications on your computer, and let people around you know that you’re not to be disturbed.

Step 4. Test Taking Strategy

Always take the time to double check the requirements of the questions, it can be really easy to miss things.

Similarly, double check your answers, particularly in the free-text questions as they give you no clue that you could be miles out.

Capp tests do not have a time limit, but they do take into account the amount of time you take to complete the test.

It is therefore important to work accurately but quickly, and keep an eye on the clock.

During the test, don't be tempted to skip a question if you’re not sure, and try to avoid guessing as the test is responsive and a mistake can be more costly on these tests than a standard psychometric test as it will alter subsequent questions.

Do your best but don’t be tempted to cheat. Most organisations will validate test performance by asking candidates to sit a second test under supervision so you need to be able to succeed on your own merits.

Need more practice? Try practice tests from JobTestPrep.


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