Reading Comprehension Test to assess a candidate's comprehension skills

The Mercer | Mettl Reading Comprehension Test measures a candidate's English comprehension skills. It assesses a test-taker’s ability to comprehend, think logically, and derive objective conclusions based on the verbal content in the English language. Mercer | Mettl's Online Comprehension Test helps employers identify talented candidates from an ocean of resumes, enabling them to make objective hiring decisions. The test significantly reduces the administrative overhead of assessing and interviewing too many candidates and saves ample time while filtering out unqualified candidates.

What is the importance of the Reading Comprehension Test?

Reading comprehension plays a vital role in employees' understanding of what their coworkers, supervisors, or clients are trying to communicate. Comprehension skills are suggestive of an individual's overall communication skills and attention to detail. Moreover, proficiency in comprehension skills further affects other learning areas in the workplace, such as reading and writing, problem-solving, presentation, and more.

Why do employers use the Reading Comprehension Test?

Comprehension skills help retain large amounts of data in a workplace by summarizing all the essential key points, which further helps make business decisions more effectively. Candidates with good comprehension skills are highly likely to read texts quickly and accurately and produce quality, error-free work. Mercer | Mettl's Reading Comprehension Test allows recruiters to identify candidates who can understand textual information and use analytical thinking to draw logical conclusions. Employers use this test to recruit in several profiles that require a candidate to be proficient in English, such as in sales, marketing, customer or technical support. The test is used while employing freshers with work experience of zero to one year. It can also be used in learning and development to understand the current proficiency level of an employee and train and develop employees effectively.

What is the reading comprehension test format?

This Reading Comprehension Test comprises questions containing a passage of varying lengths. Candidates need to read and answer these questions based on their understanding of the passage. Questions can vary from direct (stating the facts/figures mentioned in the passage) to inferential (such as, “What is the crucial conflict that the author highlights in the passage?”).

What is inside this Reading Comprehension Test?

Designed by subject matter experts, this Online Comprehension Test includes twenty-four questions to be completed in forty-five minutes. Moreover, the candidate's skills are evaluated on three levels - easy, medium and difficult.

What skills does this Reading Comprehension Test have?

• Reading comprehension  

This Reading Comprehension Test can assess the candidate's ability to read, process, retain and synthesize a large amount of written information and quickly comprehend significant written texts.  

• Vocabulary  

This verbal reasoning section measures the ability to use the appropriate word or set of words depending on the message's context, tone, and gravity.

What roles can you assess using the Reading Comprehension Test?

• Graduates/undergraduate trainees  
• Entry-level profiles across industries 

Sample reading comprehension test questions

• If a person suddenly faces a terrible danger, the change of nature one goes through is equally significant. Sometimes, fear numbs the senses. One stands still, just like animals, powerless to move a step in fright or lift a hand in defence of our lives, and sometimes one is seized with panic and acts more like an inferior animal than a rational being. On the other hand, in the event of a sudden extreme peril that one cannot escape by flight and must instantly face, even timid men, as if by miracle, become possessed with the necessary courage, sharp, quick apprehension and swift decision. It is a miracle very common in nature. When confronted with almost certain death, man and the inferior animals alike 'gather resolution from despair', but there is no trace of the debilitating feeling in the person fighting or ready to fight for life. During such times, the mind is more precise than ever; the nerves are steel, and nothing is felt but an incredible strength and daring. Looking back at certain difficult moments, I remember them with joy, not because of any excitement, but because they broadened my horizons and lifted me for a time above myself. 

1. Which of the following titles best suits the passage?

A. The willingness to fight  

B. The miracle of confronting danger  

C. Courage and panic  

D. The change of nature  

Answer: Option B, "The miracle of confronting danger", captures the essence of the passage.  

  

2. A man may react to sudden danger in three ways. What are they?  

A. He may flee in panic, fight or stand still.  

B. He may be paralyzed with fear, run away or fight.  

C. He may feel fearful, powerless, and may panic.  

D. He may be shaken with fear, seized with panic, or, as if by miracle, possessed of the necessary courage to face danger.  

Answer: The answer is option 'D'. The paragraph identifies three ways:  

Sometimes, fear numbs our senses............. an inferior animal than a rational being.  

On the other hand, in cases of sudden extreme peril...............quick apprehension and swift decision.

 

3. Which of the following is the meaning of the word debilitating?  

A. enfeeble  

B. strengthen  

C. debase  

D. thriving  

Answer- The correct answer is option 'A'. 'Debilitating' means' weak' or 'feeble'.  

  

4. What is the meaning of the phrase 'gather resolution from danger'?  

A. Find peace during difficult times.  

B. A state of utter hopelessness makes one determined to face difficulty.  

C. To be calm and not lose hope.  

D. To be enthusiastic and brave against the odds.'  

Answer: Option B means one gathers the courage to make decisions in times of difficulty. The word 'resolution' means resolving or determining an action or course of action.  

  

5. Why does the author feel joyful while remembering the dangers he faced and how he overcame them?  

A. That was a novel experience.  

B. It added a fresh perspective and lifted him for a time above himself.  

C. These experiences increased his confidence.  

D. He felt elated as he was alive.  

Answer: The answer is option 'B' as described in the last few lines.  

  

• According to their position in life, an extravagant man is either admired or loathed. A successful businessman does nothing to increase his popularity by being prudent with his money. A wealthy person is expected to live a luxurious life and be lavish with his hospitality. He may seem mean if he is not that way, and his business reputation may suffer. The paradox is that if he had not been careful with his money in the first place, he would never have achieved his present wealth. Among the low-income group, the values differ. The young clerk, who gifts his wife a new dress as a present when he still needs to pay his house rent, can be regarded as extravagant. Often, being careful with money to the point of being mean is seen as a virtue. Nothing in this man's life is more worthy than paying bills. In this case, the ideal wife separates her housekeeping money for rent and children's shoes, is satisfied with her economizing ways and does not know the guilt of buying something she can't afford. As for myself, I fall into none of the above categories. When I have money to spare, I become extravagant, but when, as is usually the case, I am hard up, then I am the meanest man imaginable.  

  

6. Which option of the following is the most appropriate title for the passage?  

A. Being extravagant is condemnable.  

B. Extravagance is a cause of poverty  

C. Extravagance is a part of the rich and the poor.  

D. Stingy habits of people with low incomes.  

Answer: Option C is the most appropriate title as the author highlights the rich person's life in the first paragraph and discusses the life of a person who belongs to the lower strata of society in the second paragraph.  

  

7. What is the meaning of the phrase 'lavish with his hospitality'?  

A. Thoughtful in spending on guests and strangers.  

B. He is concerned with treating his friends and relatives.  

C. Stinginess in dealing with his relatives.  

D.Extravagance in entertaining guests.  

Answer: Option D., "hospitality", refers to receiving and treating guests and strangers in a friendly and warm way.  

  

8. What is the meaning of the word 'paradox'?  

A. Statement based on popular opinion  

B. A statement seems self-contradictory but indicates a possible truth.  

C. Statement derived from facts  

D. A term highlighting the hidden meaning  

Answer: Option B indicates the meaning of "paradox".  

  

9. What is the meaning of the word "equanimity"?  

A. Calmness  

B. Dubious  

C. Discomp "sure  

D. Equivocal  

Answer: Option A. "equanimity" refers to emotional or mental stability, especially under tension.  

  

10. As per the passage, the person who is a successful businessman and wealthy is-  

A. Expected to have a lavish lifestyle.  

B. Not concerned about popularity.  

C. Popular if he is wasting away his time.  

D. It must be extravagant before achieving success.  

Answer: Option A is given in the fourth line of the 1st paragraph.: "If he .........consequence."