General Aptitude Test to assess candidates' intelligence and job fit
The General Aptitude Test is a pre-employment aptitude test to determine an applicant's cognitive abilities, including reasoning, numerical, data analysis and verbal skills. Talent acquisition professionals use general aptitude tests as part of the recruitment process to gauge job candidates' suitability for specific roles in the organization.
About the Mercer General Aptitude Test
The General Aptitude Test is an assessment designed to understand a person's ability to apply logic to solve complex problems. It helps determine an individual's general learning propensity, which can be innate or acquired. Mercer's General Aptitude Test is designed to assess a candidate's cognitive abilities, problem-solving skills, and logical reasoning competencies, providing organizations with valuable insights into a candidate's potential to perform effectively across various roles.This holistic approach supports informed hiring decisions and targeted talent development aligned with organizational goals.
The importance of general aptitude tests
General aptitude tests can provide actionable insights into an individual's critical thinking, problem-solving, and learning agility. These competencies are essential and are often used in industries that mandate a high level of cognitive ability, such as engineering, finance, and management. Recruiters and hiring managers can use the aptitude test to screen applicants effectively, ensuring that only the most suitable candidate with a strong general mental aptitude proceeds to the next stage of the hiring process.
What is inside this General Aptitude Test?
The test includes forty-eight general aptitude questions with moderate difficulty levels to be completed in sixty minutes and is specific to the functions under consideration. The test helps employers make objective and data-backed hiring decisions, reducing the likelihood of partialities or prejudices in the selection process. These tests include carefully selected general aptitude questions to measure skills for success.
What skills does this General Aptitude Test cover?
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Numerical ability
Questions in this section span topics such as profit and loss, averages, percentages, ratios and proportions, time and work, and mixture and allegation.
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Data analysis
The data analysis section of the test includes questions on tables and graphs.
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Abstract reasoning
The abstract reasoning section of the test features unique questions based on the JC Raven Test.
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Analytical ability and problem-solving
Questions in this section cover topics such as coding and decoding, directions, blood relations, assignments, and arrangements.
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Critical thinking
The section comprises specific critical thinking questions based on drawing conclusions, evaluating arguments, and recognizing assumptions.
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Verbal ability
This segment covers questions on verbal ability topics, such as para jumbles, sentence correction, sentence completion, spot-the-error, fill-in-the-blank, and reading comprehension.
What roles can you assess using the General Aptitude Assessment?
- Administrative assistant: They oversee routine and advanced duties for other professionals. They organize files, create correspondence, and prepare reports or documents. They complete various clerical tasks, including managing calendars, sorting mail, and preparing invoices.
- Customer service representative: Their responsibilities include answering inbound phone calls, addressing customers' queries about services and products, and processing payments or returns.
- Financial analyst: They gather data, organize information, analyze historical results, make forecasts and projections, make recommendations, and generate Excel models, presentations, and reports.
- Sales manager: They oversee daily operations in the sales department, hire and train sales staff, relay information from upper management to department staff about sales quotas and generate leads to divide among sales representatives.
Sample questions for general aptitude assessments with answers
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Name a conjunction.
'Because' is an example of a conjunction.
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What per cent of 3.6kg is 72 grams?
The answer is 2%.
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A travels 25% faster than B. They started their journey from point P to point Q and arrived at point Q at the same time. The distance between P and Q is 85 km. On the way, however, A lost about 20 minutes while stopping for petrol. What was the speed of B?
The answer is 51 km/hr.
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If you are in a race and overtake the second person. What position are you in now?
If you overtake the second person, you take their place; therefore, you are now in second place.
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In a specific code, 'COMPUTER' is written as 'PMOCTUER'. How would 'KEYBOARD' be written in that code?
This question tests pattern recognition. In the code, the letters are rearranged in pairs. So, 'KEYBOARD' would be written as 'EKYABDRO'.
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The population of the town was 1,60,000 three years ago. If it increased by 3%, 2.5%, and 5% respectively in the last three years, what is the town's present population?
The answer is 1,77,366.
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The present ratio of ages of A and B is 4:5. Eighteen years ago, this ratio was 11:16. What is the total of their present ages?
The answer is ninety years.
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A, B, and C are doing business together. X would invest Rs. 6500 for six months, Y Rs. 8400 for five months, and Z Rs. 10,000 for three months. X wants to be a working member for which he was to receive 5% of the profits. The profit earned was Rs. 7400. Calculate the share of Y in the profit.
The answer is Rs. 2660.
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A boat travels 20 km upstream in 6 hours and 18 km downstream in 4 hours. What is the boat's speed and the speed of the water current?
The speed of the boat is 3.9167 km/hr and the speed of the water current is 0.5833 km/hr.
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If the day after tomorrow is a Wednesday, what day was it three days before the day before yesterday?
If the day after tomorrow is Wednesday, then today is Monday. The day before yesterday was Saturday, so three days before that was Wednesday.
SKILL LIBRARY
General Aptitude Test competency framework
Get a detailed look inside the test
General Aptitude Assessment competencies under scanner
General Aptitude Test skills
Competencies:
Questions in this section span the following topics: Profit and loss, averages, percentages, ratio and proportion, time and work, and mixture and alligation.
The data analysis section of the test includes questions on tables and graphs.
The abstract reasoning section of the test features unique questions based on abstract reasoning - JC Raven.
Questions in this section extend across the topics: Coding-decoding, directions, blood relation, assignments, and arrangements.
The section comprises specific critical thinking questions based on drawing conclusions, evaluating arguments, and recognizing assumptions.
This segment covers questions based on verbal ability topics, such as para jumbles, sentence correction, sentence completion, spot the error, fill in the blank, and reading comprehension.
Customize this General Aptitude Test
Flexible customization options to suit your needs
Choose easy, medium or hard questions from our skill libraries to assess candidates of different experience levels.
Add multiple skills in a single test to create an effective assessment. Assess multiple skills together.
Add, edit or bulk upload your own coding questions, MCQ, whiteboarding questions & more.
Get a tailored assessment created with the help of our subject matter experts to ensure effective screening.
The Mercer | Mettl Job Aptitude Assessment advantage
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
The Mercer | Mettl General Aptitude Assessment is tailored for recruitment. However, we can do benchmarking for custom sample sets as well. Please write to us about your request; we will gladly assist you.
Yes. In the past, we have been able to customize the reports of our Online General Aptitude Test based on the client's requirements. For more information and assistance with your request, please contact Mercer | Mettl for tailor-made solutions.
A general aptitude test evaluates key cognitive skills, including numerical reasoning, verbal reasoning, logical thinking, problem-solving, and abstract reasoning, to predict job performance and learning ability.
Most general aptitude tests take between thirty to forty-five minutes to complete, depending on the number of questions and test customizations.
Scores are typically broken down into overall aptitude and sub-scores for specific skill areas. Hiring managers use these scores to benchmark candidates against industry standards and identify strengths and development needs.
Yes, the test can be tailored by adjusting difficulty levels, combining with other assessments, and adding role-specific questions to better match organizational requirements.
