You look so fine that I really want to make you mine.
Bloody bollocks. I did an online intelligence test today. I'm really mad at the results, but I am even more mad at having had experience in these damned things. Here is a whingy summary.
The build up
So, after I got to this stage in the interview process, I was really happy. I thought, "hmm, they are asking me to do numerical reasoning and verbal reasoning tests". That terminology alone made me think that they were going to use SHL testing batteries (the psychometric tests have a notorious fame for trademarking their terminology). And since I've done these types of test before and have scored substancially higher than any graduate population pretty much anywhere in the world, I was pretty confident.
Then again, I wasn't THAT confident that I wanted to let my guard down. I was given a week to do the test, and I've been waiting for a moment when I'm not feeling tired. Being tired really fucks around with your intelligence testing. I wanted to make sure that my circaddian rhythyms were ok, that I wasn't going to be distracted, that I had just the right amount of preparation, all the equipment. Basically... I know too much about these fucking procedures to take one without wanting to excel.
It turns out that working two jobs, havig a builder constantly hammering and stuff is NOT conducive to good state to do this test, so I find myself doing it eleventh hour on the day it is due.
The Test
The test was indeed an SHL product. However, they've really revamped their testing equipment! It has gone online, and that is good and bad in several points. I can see right now why they would do it - they can control their centers without having to sell silly marking software/sheets/test papers, etc. It means more money for them, basicaly. It also means that the whole marking process is automated, meaning that scoring monkeys don't need to get paid. And the benifit goes to the hiring companies that subsidise the process, because they don't have to provide a venue and test administrators for their candidates.
The big badness comes at the user level itself. There is really not that much problem in computerdising these tests... in fact, it was nearly inevitable even before most of the paper and pencil tests came out. And to their credit, they were very well designed. I would personally have changed certain details, to make them more user friendly (in fact, if SHL hired me... I'd be characteristically telling them just how WRONG the design is, starting with the "next" button...). But the tests are pretty good, and I dare say that it won't even take 2 years before paper and pencil tests are abolished. The new generation of candidates won't give a toss, the older people already established in the industry shan't be too effected. However, old geesers like me are very used to the paper and pencil tests. For starters.. we can see how many questions we've done, and we can do the mad-cow dash at the end. You can also go back and forth on the questions. You also can't check answers if you finish before time. These don't seem like big differences, but they do make a difference in the standardisation. I could wax-intellectual about this for hours.
My results
Hmm, I didn't do as well as I'd liked. Partly, I would have liked to have done it at home. But my computer is next to a builder, and my sister's computer is retarded. The test was somehow not workign on her computer, so I had to go to uni, where there are noisy fucks all around me.
The results won't be too bad. I've been away from any sort of testing conditions for too long (I do essays, remember?), that the whole thing seemed novel, and I found it hard to get into the rhythym of it. This is unfortunate, since it is the part of a test that only tests how good you are at tests... if you know what I mean. I also failed to answer a few questions in the numerical test. This is normal... these tests are normally made so that you normally can't finish all the questions (makes separating scores in the top end easier). Yet I didn't do brilliantly.
If I had to guess my marks at the moment, I would say that I would certainly be within the 40th percentile (which is pretty shitty) in numerical, perhaps slightly higher. I would guess that verbal would be quite a lot higher - somewhere in the 20th I hope - but not brilliant. These are good enough scores to get through to any stage, I care to wager... but I'm not happy. I'm used to qutie high scores on these damned things. If it had been an abstract reasoning task, I would have been a lot happier.
But it is done now.... and I can't complain too much. I just really want this job.
On other news
The new job is going ok, I suppose. Rather quiet. If I could hook myself up to the internet whilst I was on shift.. I'd be a lot happier. I finished a comic strip during work today. That should tell you something. Some of the costumers where curious as to why I had a paint brush with me behind the counter. Silly people.
The bathroom is nearly completely finished, and the next victim is the ceiling in my room. The corridor has already been done. These are indeed exciting times.
The build up
So, after I got to this stage in the interview process, I was really happy. I thought, "hmm, they are asking me to do numerical reasoning and verbal reasoning tests". That terminology alone made me think that they were going to use SHL testing batteries (the psychometric tests have a notorious fame for trademarking their terminology). And since I've done these types of test before and have scored substancially higher than any graduate population pretty much anywhere in the world, I was pretty confident.
Then again, I wasn't THAT confident that I wanted to let my guard down. I was given a week to do the test, and I've been waiting for a moment when I'm not feeling tired. Being tired really fucks around with your intelligence testing. I wanted to make sure that my circaddian rhythyms were ok, that I wasn't going to be distracted, that I had just the right amount of preparation, all the equipment. Basically... I know too much about these fucking procedures to take one without wanting to excel.
It turns out that working two jobs, havig a builder constantly hammering and stuff is NOT conducive to good state to do this test, so I find myself doing it eleventh hour on the day it is due.
The Test
The test was indeed an SHL product. However, they've really revamped their testing equipment! It has gone online, and that is good and bad in several points. I can see right now why they would do it - they can control their centers without having to sell silly marking software/sheets/test papers, etc. It means more money for them, basicaly. It also means that the whole marking process is automated, meaning that scoring monkeys don't need to get paid. And the benifit goes to the hiring companies that subsidise the process, because they don't have to provide a venue and test administrators for their candidates.
The big badness comes at the user level itself. There is really not that much problem in computerdising these tests... in fact, it was nearly inevitable even before most of the paper and pencil tests came out. And to their credit, they were very well designed. I would personally have changed certain details, to make them more user friendly (in fact, if SHL hired me... I'd be characteristically telling them just how WRONG the design is, starting with the "next" button...). But the tests are pretty good, and I dare say that it won't even take 2 years before paper and pencil tests are abolished. The new generation of candidates won't give a toss, the older people already established in the industry shan't be too effected. However, old geesers like me are very used to the paper and pencil tests. For starters.. we can see how many questions we've done, and we can do the mad-cow dash at the end. You can also go back and forth on the questions. You also can't check answers if you finish before time. These don't seem like big differences, but they do make a difference in the standardisation. I could wax-intellectual about this for hours.
My results
Hmm, I didn't do as well as I'd liked. Partly, I would have liked to have done it at home. But my computer is next to a builder, and my sister's computer is retarded. The test was somehow not workign on her computer, so I had to go to uni, where there are noisy fucks all around me.
The results won't be too bad. I've been away from any sort of testing conditions for too long (I do essays, remember?), that the whole thing seemed novel, and I found it hard to get into the rhythym of it. This is unfortunate, since it is the part of a test that only tests how good you are at tests... if you know what I mean. I also failed to answer a few questions in the numerical test. This is normal... these tests are normally made so that you normally can't finish all the questions (makes separating scores in the top end easier). Yet I didn't do brilliantly.
If I had to guess my marks at the moment, I would say that I would certainly be within the 40th percentile (which is pretty shitty) in numerical, perhaps slightly higher. I would guess that verbal would be quite a lot higher - somewhere in the 20th I hope - but not brilliant. These are good enough scores to get through to any stage, I care to wager... but I'm not happy. I'm used to qutie high scores on these damned things. If it had been an abstract reasoning task, I would have been a lot happier.
But it is done now.... and I can't complain too much. I just really want this job.
On other news
The new job is going ok, I suppose. Rather quiet. If I could hook myself up to the internet whilst I was on shift.. I'd be a lot happier. I finished a comic strip during work today. That should tell you something. Some of the costumers where curious as to why I had a paint brush with me behind the counter. Silly people.
The bathroom is nearly completely finished, and the next victim is the ceiling in my room. The corridor has already been done. These are indeed exciting times.