'Devirginized' : My First Aptitude test.

When I was called for an Aptitude test, I was both excited and nervous. First, i hoped that it would have very general questions. I sampled quite a number of exercises available on the internet and I must agree that anyone fresh from high school would score tremendously well in such. Particularly because in High school we were so 'chonjo' about everything. Anything to get that A! ,especially in subjects like Mathematics.

No one told me about how time is such a key factor during aptitude tests; or how it is better not to guess on the multiple questions. My first question was timed out as i had honestly not gotten the hang of it yet. Do you panic a lot? I don't..but today I did. The feeling of getting timed out was too bad because in essence, the questions asked were not difficult, but just needed a bit more time to arrive at the correct answer. After about 2 or 3 timeouts, i was not in the mood to enthusiastically continue with the calculations as i had taken up on them in the beginning. At a certain instant, i even started day dreaming about this guy i have a very huge crush on.

I think the automated questions have a way of soothing your bruised ego because after a timeout blow, they would bring a much simpler question. To be quite honest, i took a guess in some instances so as to avoid a timeout experience: something which i feel like pinching myself for. I noticed the room had CCTV cameras and it immediately reminded me of 'The Exam'...

Aptitude tests, especially those in line with logical/mathematical reasoning help in discovering a potential employee's fluid intelligence, which is their ability to reason and think abstractedly. It also tests how you can solve problems almost instantly and strategically plan; almost like 'thinking on your feet'. Many organisations will however use it as a means of screening applicants and while some may argue with the pros and cons of it being a good interview procedure, future/potential employees should simply embrace it.

I left the room with so much on my mind. I hate to disappoint myself, because I like 'ME' so much. Hopefully I did not do too bad in my first aptitude test. For me its always entirely about being positive no matter what. Meanwhile, I have found a few techniques that will help better performance in such tests. Practice makes perfect, yes? So promise to practice them too so that you will be ready for your first test:

• Always work with puzzles to strengthen your mathematical prowess and inner genius. Make Sudoku your friend. 
• Do a lot of practice on different mathematical problems as you time yourself. This helps in gaining speed and accuracy
• Check out various online free aptitude tests. Some are very cool and will give you variety from verbal, abstract and numerical reasoning to more complex ones such as spatial visualization tests.
• Know your weak points, focus on them and make sure you gain clear understanding of their building concepts. 
• Discover patterns in the little ordinary things you come across.
• Try and memorize numbers, dates etc.