Civil Service Aptitude test?anyone do it?

Beans_On

I did this during the week and have no idea how i got on.

I was relatively confident going into it as the sample q's were easy.However leaving the exam i was a bit miffed by how much i managed to get done.It seemed as if the time given was FAR to short.In one section i barely finished HALF the questions?!

sudzs

More details please!!!

I'm doing the test soon... was yours for Clerical Officer or whah?!

penexpers

I did it for EO before - maths, verbal reasoning and job simulation were the three categories. Maths was quite hard - I don't think many people will manage to finish it because you literally have 30 seconds a question. Verbal reasoning was nice and easy and job simulation wasn't too bad, although it is quite tricky. All in all, I found the whole exam pretty tiring, it's all done in one go with no breaks in between the exams.

universe777

I did the aptitude test for the Clerical Officer position back in December, I was interviewed 2 weeks ago and waiting to hear back from them...

Its relatively easy, just go over the examples and stuff on the website and you'll be grand, I didnt think i passed it, but did in the end..
the thing is, you wont get it all done, they dont give enough time.
i think this is the correct link to the examples and test questions on publicjobs..
https://www.publicjobs.ie/downloads/Familiarisation_CO_Dublin_2007.doc

Beans_On

Test is simple. believe me on this .But no matter how easy the q s are anyone will struggle to complete 31 maths questions in 15 mins.

miju

pal of mine works in the public appointments.... practially 99% fail to finish the full test and it's designed like that.

knowing this i adopted the tactic of making sure each answer was right rather than rushing to finsih every questoin resulting in me being marked 15th out of the 3,000 odd being tested from the last recruitment drive

so take your time and make sure your4 answer is right , if you get each sectoin finished but have most of them wrong then theres no real poinht is there?

J.S. Pill

Is anyone going for the AO exams that are coming up soon?

Quick question, are all the questions equally weighted? For example, if the maths section is relatively difficult, then would it make sense to leave them all till last as the ones you don't finish are more likely to be ones you aren't going to get anyway?

Any general advise would of course be appreciated.

Thanks

warrenaldo

ye im going for the AO ones. should be interesting. Id say it will be tough enough. cos AO is the highest level you can enter the CS at(i think)

cashback

miju wrote:

pal of mine works in the public appointments.... practially 99% fail to finish the full test and it's designed like that.

knowing this i adopted the tactic of making sure each answer was right rather than rushing to finsih every questoin resulting in me being marked 15th out of the 3,000 odd being tested from the last recruitment drive

so take your time and make sure your4 answer is right , if you get each sectoin finished but have most of them wrong then theres no real poinht is there?

Will take that on board then. Doing the CO exam in an hour.
Otherwise I think I might have been rushing to finish them all.

J.S. Pill

warrenaldo wrote:

it will be tough enough. cos AO is the highest level you can enter the CS at(i think)

Right on both

universe777

I did the aptitude test this morning for CO in Dublin City Council, i finished all the questions with time to spare and went back over them, all correct as far as i could tell..
easy enough!:D

miju

J.S. Pill wrote:

Quick question, are all the questions equally weighted? For example, if the maths section is relatively difficult, then would it make sense to leave them all till last as the ones you don't finish are more likely to be ones you aren't going to get anyway?

each section is completely seperate so you get fifteen minutes for the maths section (30 questions i think) then everyone stops and you go onto clerical speed and accuracy which you only get 8 minutes to do 60 questoins and then you stop pagain etc etc,

J.S. Pill wrote:

Right on both

actually wrong , you can enter as a HEO which is "slightly" above an AO , they will also shortly be advertising for a civilian assitant garda commisioner

copacetic

miju wrote:

actually wrong , you can enter as a HEO which is "slightly" above an AO , they will also shortly be advertising for a civilian assitant garda commisioner

You can enter above this too, I did the AP test last year. I found it ok, the only issue was the math section which you couldn't possible finish as mentioned above. Some peope got less than half done. I go about 2/3rds way through. The math one was just a cut off though. get a certain score and they then rank you on the other tests and I scored quite high on the maths section even with only about 2/3rds done.

J.S. Pill

miju wrote:

actually wrong , you can enter as a HEO which is "slightly" above an AO , they will also shortly be advertising for a civilian assitant garda commisioner

I always thought HEO was internal only - i.e. you get promoted from EO to HEO. But if I'm wrong...

miju

used to be that way JS Pill but the civil service are now trying to draw in expertise from the private sector so that has changed

parsi

copacetic wrote:

You can enter above this too, I did the AP test last year. I found it ok, the only issue was the math section which you couldn't possible finish as mentioned above. Some peope got less than half done. I go about 2/3rds way through. The math one was just a cut off though. get a certain score and they then rank you on the other tests and I scored quite high on the maths section even with only about 2/3rds done.

I did the AP as well last year and for the first time ever (and I mean ever!) I ran out of time in the maths. As it turned out I did fine in the maths.

copacetic

parsi wrote:

I did the AP as well last year and for the first time ever (and I mean ever!) I ran out of time in the maths. As it turned out I did fine in the maths.

yep I was surprised at how time consuming they were tbh, I expected it to be p1ss easy! You have to figure it was deliberate as mentioned above as like you I scored highly with at best getting 3/4 done..

Mrs. MacGyver

I agree about focusing on getting the q's right not trying to answer them all in as short a time as possible. (from experience).

Will give the AO a go though, did the test last time round and the maths were really hard.

stratospheres

How could I go for this exam?

Do you have to just apply for jobs on publicjobs?

I was just looking there and there aren't many, have I missed something?!

warrenaldo

not sure if still there but the answer to your question is YES.

you apply on public jobs. sure register and yu get emailed about any future jobs.


you then apply for the jobs befre the closing date. bingo bongo.

miju

stratospheres wrote:

How could I go for this exam?

Do you have to just apply for jobs on publicjobs?

I was just looking there and there aren't many, have I missed something?!

if your looking for a clerical officer position the current competition can be found here

https://www.publicjobs.ie/cand/jobdetails_eng.asp?JobID=2368&hdnJobID=1445

stratospheres

Thanks I only just figured it out for myself! bit slow on the uptake!

Beelzebub

I remember doing the CO exam in Ballsbridge some years ago.
Then going in to their offices on Grand Canal Street later on to do some practical stuff typing etc. It's all a blur now!

I got the job but I didn't take it.
wish I had have...the main reason I didn't take the job was the huge salary cut and I mean huge, around 30%. I am leaving the country soon though.


The best of luck to those taking the exam(s):)

daenis

I've applied for the AO exam and was pretty confident until i read this thread. Seems like it's going to be tough. Anyone have any idea how many people are being recruited and how many have applied? And if you actually do get through to the 2nd round, what are the interviews like?

J.S. Pill

daenis wrote:

I've applied for the AO exam and was pretty confident until i read this thread. Seems like it's going to be tough.

Don't take our word for it, have a look at the junior diplomat/AO familiarisation booklet on publicjobs.ie (think you have to be logged in to get it.) if you have difficulty finding it PM me and I'll e-mail it to you.

By the way, does anyone know WHEN these things are actually taking place!!?? I can't seem to find any information on this.

warrenaldo

they probably havent decided yet. shouldnt be too far away though. I did the EO one last year and it was ok. Time constraints were the only problem. I know the format of the AO one.

Verbal Reasoning
Numeric
Job Simulation

there will be a an awfull lot of people going for them. Theres was thousands going for the EO that i went for - so it expect similar if not more.

J.S. Pill

warrenaldo wrote:

Theres was thousands going for the EO that i went for - so it expect similar if not more.

That goes without saying really - do we have any kind of idea of when they're going to be on? I need to know so I can wean myself off my massive drug habbit in time...

m*pp*t

I did the AO exam before (for dept of finance) and found it grand. The interview was an absolute nightmare though. Complete and utter disaster so it was.

embraer170

Nightmare in what sense?

minnie_mouse

I did the clerrical officer aptitude test 5 weeks ago found out yesterday didnt pass got letter saying theyll send out a letter soon showing me where I went wrong, I imagine it was the maths only got about 4 questions done and pretty sure they were mostly wrong. best advice is to do the practice questions on the public jobs website. On the day its all done by computers which are real simple to use they give you practice questions to do before hand

miju

commiserations minnie_mouse

embraer170

How do people approach the The Job Simulation Exercise?

I presume the most honest course of action...

Scenario 1

You are working in a Government department on a busy project for which there are tight time deadlines. It is now Friday afternoon and you have an important task to complete by Monday afternoon. This involves preparing a report for the Minister about an important issue that the Minister needs to respond to.

A senior manager newly appointed to a different but related area in your department, asks you to photocopy a very large amount of material, to be ready first thing Monday morning.

You have no staff of your own and the staff who work with this senior manager have expressed their dissatisfaction with having to do additional work for you in the past.

Do you,

A. Approach the senior manager’s staff directly and ask them to carry out the photocopying work, indicating that it relates to their area of work.

B. Ask your own manager to return the photocopying work to the senior manager on your behalf, having explained the pressures that you are under.

C. Explain the pressures that you are under to the senior manager indicating that you cannot manage an extra task in the time frame.

D. Accept the work from the senior manager but do not do it, and explain to the senior manager later on that you were under too much pressure to do so.

E. Come in over the weekend and do the photocopying work yourself for the senior manager.

I'd hesitate between B and C.

Scenario 2

You are working in a section in a Government department, which is preparing to move its record keeping system from a manually based system to a computerised system. All the staff in the section are involved in the planning and design of the new system and the task is producing a good team spirit within the section.

You have a number of ideas for the new system, which you have discussed informally with a colleague. A meeting is held to discuss the arrangements for computerisation of the section and you had planned on suggesting these ideas at the meeting.

At the meeting your colleague submits a written proposal which is heavily based on your ideas, without any acknowledgment of your contribution. The proposal is received enthusiastically by the group and it looks likely to be implemented.

Although you are pleased that what you had suggested to your colleague was well received at the meeting and is likely to be implemented, you resent the way your colleague went about it.

What do you do?

A. Decide to say nothing about your resentment towards your colleague to anybody in the group, as you do not wish to disrupt the team spirit.

B. Approach the colleague concerned pointing out that the written proposal that was submitted was based heavily on your ideas, and that your contribution should be acknowledged at the next team meeting.

C. Co-operate fully with the implementation of your ideas but raise the matter privately with your colleague explaining that you are unhappy with what happened, and asking that your contribution be acknowledged at the next team meeting.

D. Approach your manager and explain that your ideas were taken by your colleague who did not acknowledge your contribution at the meeting.

E. Co-operate fully with the implementation of your ideas but do not discuss your ideas informally with any of your colleagues in that group again.



Again I'd hesitate between C and D.

Raskolnikov

Well I got an e-mail asking me to attend an assessment day for an AO position on the 19th of April. Is anyone else going for this?

By the looks of it there's going to be hundreds of people going for only a handful of jobs :eek:

embraer170

19th of April in Cork.

J.S. Pill

embraer170 wrote:

19th of April in Cork.

better book myself a half day...

daenis

27th April in Dublin, RDS

J.S. Pill

embraer170 wrote:

How do people approach the The Job Simulation Exercise?

I presume the most honest course of action...




A. Approach the senior manager’s staff directly and ask them to carry out the photocopying work, indicating that it relates to their area of work.

B. Ask your own manager to return the photocopying work to the senior manager on your behalf, having explained the pressures that you are under.

C. Explain the pressures that you are under to the senior manager indicating that you cannot manage an extra task in the time frame.

D. Accept the work from the senior manager but do not do it, and explain to the senior manager later on that you were under too much pressure to do so.

E. Come in over the weekend and do the photocopying work yourself for the senior manager.

I'd hesitate between B and C.

Honesty really is the best policy with these question.

In this example, A) might imply that you have a strong and reactive management style; C) implies that you have no problem talking thing over with your fellow workers to resolve problem; E) implies you're a bit of a pushover which may or may not be a bad thing.

You never really know what the employers are looking for. Maybe they want a stong dictatorial manager or maybe they want someone who'll shut up and do what they're told (B & D are just bad answers really). Its important to be honest aswell because there will often be questions further on in the test that will test previous answers for consistency.

Its very important also to always answer the questions in context - stick to the scenario given. Look at the questions from an employer perspective and try not to think of non work scenarios (e.g. for this one, try not to imagine what you'd do if the washing up had to be done over the weekend!).

Hope it helps

minnie_mouse

There is temporary clerical officer postions 300-400 of which in dublin and handful in other counties think the closing date is next week its all on the website anyway. I dont know if I read it wrong but dont think there is apitude test for that

Noreenee1

Hi everyone,
Just did part b of the test does any one know the pass mark for the numerical part of the test it was so hard and think I only got about 12 dine what u think?