Psychometric and aptitude tests NZ employers use, and how to prepare

The four test types and what each measures

• Numerical reasoning: reading tables and charts and working out percentages, ratios and changes under time pressure. It is about interpreting data quickly, not advanced maths.
• Verbal reasoning: reading a short passage and judging whether a statement is true, false or cannot be told from the text alone.
• Abstract or inductive reasoning: spotting the rule in a sequence of shapes and picking what comes next. It is designed to test reasoning without relying on knowledge.
• Situational judgement: choosing the best and worst responses to realistic work scenarios, which shows how you approach problems and people.

Alongside these, many employers use a personality questionnaire, which asks how you prefer to work, and some add a skills test for the job itself, such as a typing test or a mechanical comprehension test. Tests are usually online and timed, and some are adaptive, getting harder or easier depending on your answers.

Which NZ employers and programmes use them

Many large employers and graduate programmes include tests, and they say so on their own careers pages. For example:

• NZ Police uses a 30-minute adaptive ability test of verbal, numerical and abstract reasoning, and a personality profile. An applicant who does not pass the ability test must wait at least six months to resit it.
• The NZ Defence Force sets a general mental ability test and a mechanical comprehension test, with a three-month wait after a first fail, twelve months after a second, and at most three attempts.
• Graduate programmes in the public service, such as the Department of Internal Affairs' finance programme, list a psychometric assessment as a stage.
• Professional services and banks use them too: KPMG's early-careers process includes verbal, numerical, abstract and situational judgement questions, and ANZ's graduate programme uses game-based assessments and a personality questionnaire.

Read the employer's own page before you start, because it often names the test and links to its practice material. Our guides to graduate programmes and public sector applications cover where tests fit in those processes.

Free practice that is worth doing

Knowing the format helps, so practise the question types under real time limits before the real thing. NZ Police, for example, points applicants to practice tests while saying its test measures underlying ability and needs no extensive preparation. The best practice is the one the employer points you to: NZ Police and the Defence Force both link to practice tests from their test pages, and many test publishers offer free samples.

A few habits help on the day. Use a computer rather than a phone, in a quiet room with a reliable connection. Read the instructions and the practice questions carefully, because they are often not timed. Keep an eye on the clock and do not spend too long on any one question. Some tests let you skip and come back; adaptive tests usually do not, so check which kind you are sitting.

If you have a disability that affects how you take a test, ask the employer for an adjustment before you sit it, such as extra time, a different format or a break. The Human Rights Act makes disability discrimination in employment unlawful, and the Human Rights Commission's guidance is that disabled people have a right to ask for reasonable changes, which an employer should make unless it can show they would cause risk of harm, serious difficulty or cost. Employment New Zealand adds that tests must be relevant to the safe and proper performance of the job.

Personality tests: there is no right answer

A personality questionnaire is not pass or fail in the way an ability test is. It asks how you prefer to work: with people or alone, with structure or flexibility, quickly or carefully. Employers use the results to see how you might fit the role and the team, and often to shape interview questions.

Answer honestly and consistently. Trying to guess the ideal profile rarely works: many questionnaires ask about the same traits in several ways, and some flag answers that contradict each other. It also risks landing you in a job that does not suit you.

Recording results so you remember for next time

After each test, write down what it was, how long it took, which parts felt hard, and anything you would practise before the next one. If you get feedback or a report, keep it. Over a job hunt, those notes show where practice will help most.

In jobtracker.co.nz, you can add each test to the job's dates as an "Assessment / test", so it appears in your calendar. Once it has passed, you are prompted to write it up: what they asked, what wobbled, and your next move. There is no score field, so put any result in those notes. You can see how dates and write-ups sit beside each job in the demo, which needs no account.

Keep every test with the job it belongs to