Assess COBOL programming skills with ease using the COBOL Online Test

The Mercer | Mettl COBOL Test identifies and hires candidates with expertise in COBOL. When hiring COBOL programmers, assessing their skills and understanding of the continuously evolving COBOL, which forms an integral part of mainframe implementations worldwide, is crucial. The test is designed to evaluate a candidate's knowledge of COBOL topics and ability to work proficiently, as well as develop applications based on it in compliance with industry standards and best practices. By administering a COBOL Test as part of the recruitment process, talent acquisition experts can identify suitable candidates with the necessary skills and knowledge to excel in a development role requiring expertise in COBOL. It helps ensure that recruiting managers hire the most suitable applicant for the job.

What is the importance of the COBOL Test?

COBOL has been widely used and relied upon for decades in the business world. It served as the basis for developing many legacy systems and applications prevalent today in the insurance, financial, and government sectors. Developers with expertise in COBOL who can manage and update these systems and design and build new COBOL-based applications have always been in demand. Despite its vast popularity and lucrative avenues for COBOL developers, finding skilled COBOL experts can be challenging. A COBOL Online Test is instrumental in streamlining the recruitment process. Companies need a COBOL Skills Test to find qualified candidates with adequate skills and experience to make informed hiring decisions.

How can a COBOL Test help you hire?

Organizations can utilize a COBOL Online Test to screen and evaluate prospective hires. This test comprises conceptual and technical questions to assess an individual's knowledge of crucial COBOL skills, such as syntax, data types, loops and conditional statements, file handling, and subroutines. The test is an excellent way to determine a test-taker's ability to apply their COBOL knowledge and skills to real-world scenarios, helping select the most appropriate candidates with the required practical experience and expertise. A COBOL Online Test helps in an unbiased and consistent evaluation of candidates, identifying the most qualified candidate for the role in consideration. It saves considerable time and resources and allows companies to recruit COBOL talents to efficiently maintain and modernize legacy systems and develop applications that meet business requirements.

What is inside this COBOL Test?

This test contains thirty multiple-choice questions to be completed within sixty minutes. The questions are of a moderate difficulty level. Candidates with an experience level of two to four years are eligible for the test.

What skills does the COBOL Test cover?

This test evaluates the candidate's technical knowledge in the following subskills: basic syntax, data types and basic verbs, loop and conditional statement, string, file handling and verbs, table, subroutines, and database interface.

What roles can you assess using the COBOL Test?

• COBOL developer
• COBOL programmer

Sample questions and answers for the COBOL Test

1. Which of the following is not a VALID COBOL figurative constant?  

1. ZERO  

2. ZEROS  

3. ONES  

4. QUOTES  

Answer- c. ONES

2. In which mode will you open the sequential file to append the data in the end?  

1. APPEND  

2. INPUT  

3. OUTPUT  

4. EXTEND  

Answer- d. EXTEND

3. What is the 77 level used for?  

1. For RENAMES clause.  

2. For REDEFINES clause.  

3. For Elementary level item  

4. None of the above  

Answer: c. For Elementary level item

4. Which of the following is not a part of the program division in COBOL?  

1. Identification  

2. Environment  

3. Procedure  

4. Compilation  

Answer- d. Compilation

5. What is the 88 level used for  

1. For RENAMES clause.  

2. For condition names  

3. For REDEFINES clause.  

4. None of the above  

Answer: b. For condition names