Barrett - Aptitude Personality and Motivation Tests

APTITUDE,
PERSONALITY AND
MOTIVATION TESTS

Analyse your talents
and personality and plan your career

3rd edition

JIM BARRETT

London and Philadelphia

Whilst the author has made every effort to ensure that the content of this book is accurate, please note that occasional errors can occur in books of this kind. If you suspect that an error has been made in any of the tests included in this book, please inform the publishers at the address printed below so that it can be corrected at the next reprint.

Publishers note

Every possible effort has been made to ensure that the information contained in this book is accurate at the time of going to press, and the publishers and authors cannot accept responsibility for any errors or omissions, however caused. No responsibility for loss or damage occasioned to any person acting, or refraining from action, as a result of the material in this publication can be accepted by the editor, the publisher or any of the authors.

First published in Great Britain and the United States as Test Yourself! in 2000 by Kogan Page Limited

Second edition, 2004 published as Aptitude, Personality and Motivation Tests

Third edition, 2009

Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study, or criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, this publication may only be reproduced, stored or transmitted, in any form or by any means, with the prior permission in writing of the publishers, or in the case of reprographic reproduction in accordance with the terms and licences issued by the CLA. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside these terms should be sent to the publishers at the undermentioned addresses:

Jim Barrett, 2000, 2004, 2009

The right of Jim Barrett to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

ISBN978 0 7494 5651 1

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Barrett, James.

Aptitude, personality and motivation tests : analyse your talents and personality and plan your career / Jim Barrett. -- 3rd ed.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-0-7494-5651-1

1. Occupational aptitude tests. 2. Vocational interests--Testing I.

Title.

HF5381.7.B67 2009

153.94-dc22

2009012988

Typeset by Jean Cussons Typesetting, Diss, Norfolk

Printed and bound in India by Replika Press Pvt Ltd

eBook by Graphicraft Limited, Hong Kong

Contents

In this third edition I have included an explanation, or rationale, by which readers may check the answers to the abstract reasoning tests: Visual reasoning, Numerical reasoning, Verbal analysis and Sequential reasoning. The only practical test where it is necessary to do this is the Figurework test, where a revision of the arithmetical rules may prove useful. Otherwise, understanding of Spatial recognition and 3-D is not rendered easier but is made tortuous by comparing the angles, shapes and volumes, Systems can easily be checked and Vocabulary can be referred to a dictionary.

Explanation of the abstract tests and figurework seems to me to give readers a greater means by which they can prepare for tests they might encounter in other situations; it has always been my objective to demonstrate that test items they may get wrong or simply leave out because they look too difficult are often achievable when it is understood what is exactly that is required of them. My experience is that many people under-perform when they are being tested so that they risk losing out on something important to them (such as a job!) and, by the same token, the people who are doing the testing also lose out because they are not revealing the person being tested as they truly are.

By studying the explanations for the answers readers are likely to discover that most items are often simpler than they at first appear; even with abstract tests, there is always a process that can be discovered when the problem is systematically broken down into its components. Therefore, I trust that readers will find even more in this edition and that this will enable them to attain at the best of their ability on real life tests as well as being guided as accurately as possible to careers provided in the career database.

How to use this book

Aptitude, Personality and Motivation Tests provides you with comprehensive, well-proven, psychological methods that enable you to understand and make full use of your abilities.

If you follow the instructions to each chapter you will be able to build a personal profile of attributes and skills. You can use this knowledge:

• for career guidance, career planning, career development or career review;
• as a preparation for selection or assessment situations;
• for personal awareness and effectiveness;
• to gain insight into the behaviour and personality of others.

Aptitude, Personality and Motivation Tests contains three types of test:

• Aptitudes. These are designed to give you information about types of intelligence that are relevant to different skills and careers. Completing all of the tests will allow you to establish your likely strengths and weaknesses in order that you can: 1) know what your strengths are and find a way to use them; 2) know your weaknesses, at the same time not allowing yourself to be limited by them.
• Personality. These are designed to help you consider: 1) how your own style may suit some areas of work more than others, which might also suggest how you might grow into or move on to new, different areas of work; 2) how your understanding of behaviour helps you to work with others, who may often be very different from yourself, in order to do your best as team members.
• Motivation. These are designed to check out what sorts of activities appeal to you in order to relate these in a structured way to different sorts of activities. These tests should help you select work in which you are going to be interested so that you enjoy what you do.

Each of the chapters contains:

• a test, most benefit being obtained from following the rules for taking the test very carefully, especially the amount of time you should allow yourself where this is appropriate;
• instructions on how to mark the test;
• comments on what the test measures;
• advice on how to use the information from the test.

The tests can be taken in any order depending upon your interest or need.

Testing

The use of tests is increasing. Whether you like tests or not, it is becoming difficult to avoid them. Many employers use them routinely because they find them more reliable indicators of what people can contribute than examination results, or even than someones experience. For the individual, they can often help establish where opportunities might be available, even though an individual has no previous knowledge or experience of that area.

Here are some of the reasons you might benefit from the tests:

• to obtain some independent advice;
• to become familiar with tests in order to be less apprehensive about them in future situations where you may be tested professionally;