Guide to Apprenticeship Aptitude Tests

Last updated 22 Jan 2019

Apprenticeship jobs come across a whole range of sectors from IT to accounting, with retail, media, law and engineering apprenticeships in between.

Employers are looking for a certain set of skills from their apprentices, and may use an aptitude test or tests to measure them.

What is an apprenticeship aptitude test?

An aptitude test is a test aimed at measuring intelligence, knowledge or skills. The purpose of these tests is to assess whether you have the skills needed in your future apprenticeship.

The most common types of aptitude tests are verbal, numerical and abstract reasoning.

Aptitude tests are usually timed, and the questions in the test are usually relevant to the job that you are applying to.

They are also usually taken on a computer, but you may also find that you are asked to take a second test on paper at an assessment centre.

The tests used in various sectors

Construction, Planning and Built Environment: Numerical and Spatial

Arts, Media and Publishing: Verbal, Numerical and Personality

Business Administration and Law: Numerical and Verbal

Engineering and Technology: Numerical, Literacy, Mechanical and Situational Judgement

Retail and Commercial Enterprise: Numerical, Abstract, Verbal and Situational Judgement

Health, Public Services and Care: Personality and Situational Judgement

Information and Communication Technology: Numerical

Definitions of tests

Verbal Reasoning: This tests your level of English understanding; how much you’ll need will depend on the job you are applying for. You may have to answer questions based on a passage of text, correct sentences, or complete a sentence with missing gaps.

Numerical Reasoning: The ability to work with numbers, from basic mental arithmetic through to identifying information from a wider piece of data to answer a question.

Abstract Reasoning: Reasoning skills without words or numbers.

Mechanical Comprehension: Understanding basic mechanical principles, and how they are applied to gears, levers, or simple structures. There will be similarities to physics.

Diagrammatic Reasoning: Applying a set of drawn rules from one scenario to another.

Spatial Reasoning: Visualising shapes and the relationship between different views of the same shape.

Error Checking: Checking over material, comparing information and spotting mistakes.

Personality: gives employers a feel for how well your personality and work values fit the job description and company’s values for the job you are applying to.

Situational Judgement: Responding to scenarios that could happen in day-to-day work life.