Information online tests

An online test can consist of different types of tests. The most important types of tests are explained below.

Cognitive Ability test

A Cognitive Ability test measures certain cognitive abilities or skills. A capacity test usually consists of several tests. These tests measure various skills, for example spatial awareness, numeracy skills, language insight and speed. Some ability tests are adaptive. In an adaptive test, the difficulty of the questions is adjusted to your answers: after a correct answer you usually get a more difficult question and after a wrong answer usually an easier question. Based on the test, something can also be said at what level someone can do a training or perform a certain job.

• How do I prepare for a Cognitive Ability test?

You can't really study for a Cognitive Ability test, because the test measures different things than you learned at school. However, by looking at examples, you can prepare better. You will then know better what to expect and will probably be less nervous. This is also useful if you are taking an adaptive ability test. NOA offers you the opportunity to view examples and practice a bit:

Click here to practice with a Cognitive Ability test.

• How long does a Cognitive Ability test take?

That depends on the number of tests you get. The tests themselves don't take that long, from 4 minutes to 20 minutes. The duration of an adaptive Cognitive Ability test can vary, as the questions are selected based on your answers. In an adaptive Cognitive Ability test, there is a time limit for each question. In total, you usually spend one or two hours.

• How difficult is a Cognitive Ability test?

A Cognitive Ability test is usually tailored to the level required for the education or position. In a normal ability test, the questions often become progressively more difficult. In an adaptive ability test, the difficulty is always adjusted to your answers. As a result, you can get questions that you can find quite difficult. This is a normal part of the test and helps to determine your level accurately. Your results are usually compared to the results of people with about the same level of education.

Personality test

A personality test tries to measure what your normal way of reacting is in certain situations. People have different characteristics, different characters, which make them different and react from others.

Recent scientific developments in psychology show that personality can best be described in six independent dimensions.

These are the following dimensions:

• Being nice or friendly
• Being precise and sticking to rules
• Be focused on other people (being extroverted or introverted)
• Being open to new things
• Being emotionally stable
• Integrity and honesty

These traits are measured by asking you in the personality test whether you agree with certain statements.

Examples of questions:

	Strongly disagree	Disagree	Disagree and disagree	agree	Totally agree
I keep everything tidy	O	O	O	O	O
I easily talk to someone	O	O	O	O	O
I feel anxious quickly	O	O	O	O	O

Based on all the answers to these types of questions, a score is calculated and that score is compared with how a large group of other people scores. This way you can say whether someone is friendlier than most other people, for example.

Interest test

An interest test looks at what you like or what you think you would like to do. For example, some people like to help other people, others like to work on technical problems and still other people like to come up with new things.

In an interest test you will often find certain types of work, activities and professional sectors.

You are asked what you like.

Examples of questions:

	Not nice	A little fun	Nice
Advising customers on taking out loans or insurance	O	O	O
Organizing events and conferences	O	O	O
Detecting criminal networks on the internet	O	O	O

Based on all the answers to these types of questions, a score is calculated and that score is compared with how a large group of other people scores. This way you can say whether someone is more interested in the Economics sector than most other people, for example.

You can also take an interest test developed by NOA (for a fee): https://www.noa-online.net/noa-interesse/interessetest

Competency test

A competency test is about your skills and competences. What are you good at and what are you less good at. It's often about your behavior, how do you handle things, how do you work together, how often do you do something, etc.

You can distinguish many competencies, but often certain competencies are chosen depending on the goal, about which you have to answer questions.

Examples of questions:

	(almost) never	sometimes	regularly	often	(almost) always
I first look at how something works before I start	O	O	O	O	O
I help people I work with as much as possible	O	O	O	O	O
I analyze the advantages and disadvantages of a certain approach	O	O	O	O	O

Based on all the answers to these types of questions, a score is calculated and that score is compared with how a large group of other people scores. This way you can say whether someone works better together than most other people, for example.

 Good luck with the tests!