Why you should use COBOL Online Test?

The COBOL Online Test makes use of scenario-based questions to test for on-the-job skills as opposed to theoretical knowledge, ensuring that candidates who do well on this screening test have the relavant skills. The questions are designed to covered following on-the-job aspects: Understanding the basic syntax and structure of COBOL Knowing how to declare and use variables in COBOL Ability to handle data manipulation and calculations in COBOL Experience with COBOL data division and working with different data types Knowledge of COBOL procedure division and writing efficient code Understanding file handling in COBOL, including reading and writing files Experience with sorting and merging data in COBOL Ability to write and implement conditional statements in COBOL Knowledge of subprograms and functions in COBOL Capability to handle error handling and exception management in COBOL

COBOL Online Test

Q: What topics are covered in the COBOL Online Test?

COBOL Data Division COBOL Procedure Division File Handling Sorting and Merging Conditional Statements Subprograms and Functions Error Handling

About the test:

The COBOL Online Test uses scenario-based MCQs to evaluate candidates on their knowledge of COBOL programming language, including their proficiency in working with data types, control structures, file handling, and database access. The test also evaluates a candidate's familiarity with popular COBOL software tools and techniques for developing, maintaining, and deploying COBOL applications. The test aims to evaluate a candidate's ability to work with COBOL effectively and design and develop COBOL-based applications that adhere to industry standards and best practices.

Covered skills:

COBOL Data Division
File Handling
Conditional Statements
Error Handling

COBOL Procedure Division
Sorting and Merging
Subprograms and Functions

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9 reasons why

Adaface COBOL Test is the most accurate way to shortlist COBOL Developers

Reason #1

Tests for on-the-job skills

The COBOL Online Test helps recruiters and hiring managers identify qualified candidates from a pool of resumes, and helps in taking objective hiring decisions. It reduces the administrative overhead of interviewing too many candidates and saves time by filtering out unqualified candidates at the first step of the hiring process.

The test screens for the following skills that hiring managers look for in candidates:

Understanding the basic concepts and syntax of COBOL
Demonstrating proficiency in declaring and manipulating data in COBOL
Implementing logic and flow control using COBOL Procedure Division
Working with files and performing file operations in COBOL
Sorting and merging data in COBOL
Using conditional statements effectively in COBOL programs
Implementing subprograms and functions in COBOL
Handling errors and exceptions in COBOL
Writing efficient and optimized COBOL code
Understanding the structure and behavior of COBOL programs

Reason #2

No trick questions

Traditional assessment tools use trick questions and puzzles for the screening, which creates a lot of frustration among candidates about having to go through irrelevant screening assessments.

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The main reason we started Adaface is that traditional pre-employment assessment platforms are not a fair way for companies to evaluate candidates. At Adaface, our mission is to help companies find great candidates by assessing on-the-job skills required for a role.

Why we started Adaface

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Reason #3

Non-googleable questions

We have a very high focus on the quality of questions that test for on-the-job skills. Every question is non-googleable and we have a very high bar for the level of subject matter experts we onboard to create these questions. We have crawlers to check if any of the questions are leaked online. If/ when a question gets leaked, we get an alert. We change the question for you & let you know.

How we design questions

These are just a small sample from our library of 10,000+ questions. The actual questions on this COBOL Online Test will be non-googleable.

🧐 Question
Medium Decision Control Arithmetic Operations Decision Structures Data Types	Try practice test
Consider the following COBOL program: What will the program display when it is executed?
Medium Multi Dimensional Arrays Arrays Data Processing Subroutines	Try practice test
Consider the following pseudocode snippet in COBOL: After executing this program, what will be the final state of StrArr?
Medium VSAM File Processing in COBOL VSAM File Handling	Try practice test
Consider the following COBOL code snippet. The program aims to read from a VSAM Key-Sequenced Data Set (KSDS) named 'CUSTOMER-FILE' which contains customer records. The program reads the file in ascending order by 'CUSTOMER-ID', performs some processing (not shown here), and then displays the 'CUSTOMER-NAME' of the last record read. Assuming there are no syntax errors and the 'CUSTOMER-FILE' is present and accessible, what will the program display as the last customer's name after executing this COBOL program? A: The program will display the name of the customer with the highest 'CUSTOMER-ID'. B: The program will display the name of the customer with the lowest 'CUSTOMER-ID'. C: The program will not display any customer name. D: The program will display the name of the first customer in the 'CUSTOMER-FILE'. E: The program will display an uninitialized or random 'LAST-NAME'.

	🧐 Question	🔧 Skill
	Medium Decision Control Arithmetic Operations Decision Structures Data Types	2 mins COBOL	Try practice test
Consider the following COBOL program: What will the program display when it is executed?
	Medium Multi Dimensional Arrays Arrays Data Processing Subroutines	2 mins COBOL	Try practice test
Consider the following pseudocode snippet in COBOL: After executing this program, what will be the final state of StrArr?
	Medium VSAM File Processing in COBOL VSAM File Handling	2 mins COBOL	Try practice test
Consider the following COBOL code snippet. The program aims to read from a VSAM Key-Sequenced Data Set (KSDS) named 'CUSTOMER-FILE' which contains customer records. The program reads the file in ascending order by 'CUSTOMER-ID', performs some processing (not shown here), and then displays the 'CUSTOMER-NAME' of the last record read. Assuming there are no syntax errors and the 'CUSTOMER-FILE' is present and accessible, what will the program display as the last customer's name after executing this COBOL program? A: The program will display the name of the customer with the highest 'CUSTOMER-ID'. B: The program will display the name of the customer with the lowest 'CUSTOMER-ID'. C: The program will not display any customer name. D: The program will display the name of the first customer in the 'CUSTOMER-FILE'. E: The program will display an uninitialized or random 'LAST-NAME'.

	🧐 Question	🔧 Skill	💪 Difficulty	⌛ Time
	Decision Control Arithmetic Operations Decision Structures Data Types	COBOL	Medium	2 mins	Try practice test
Consider the following COBOL program: What will the program display when it is executed?
	Multi Dimensional Arrays Arrays Data Processing Subroutines	COBOL	Medium	2 mins	Try practice test
Consider the following pseudocode snippet in COBOL: After executing this program, what will be the final state of StrArr?
	VSAM File Processing in COBOL VSAM File Handling	COBOL	Medium	2 mins	Try practice test
Consider the following COBOL code snippet. The program aims to read from a VSAM Key-Sequenced Data Set (KSDS) named 'CUSTOMER-FILE' which contains customer records. The program reads the file in ascending order by 'CUSTOMER-ID', performs some processing (not shown here), and then displays the 'CUSTOMER-NAME' of the last record read. Assuming there are no syntax errors and the 'CUSTOMER-FILE' is present and accessible, what will the program display as the last customer's name after executing this COBOL program? A: The program will display the name of the customer with the highest 'CUSTOMER-ID'. B: The program will display the name of the customer with the lowest 'CUSTOMER-ID'. C: The program will not display any customer name. D: The program will display the name of the first customer in the 'CUSTOMER-FILE'. E: The program will display an uninitialized or random 'LAST-NAME'.

Reason #4

1200+ customers in 75 countries

With Adaface, we were able to optimise our initial screening process by upwards of 75%, freeing up precious time for both hiring managers and our talent acquisition team alike!

Brandon Lee, Head of People, Love, Bonito

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Reason #5

Designed for elimination, not selection

The most important thing while implementing the pre-employment COBOL Online Test in your hiring process is that it is an elimination tool, not a selection tool. In other words: you want to use the test to eliminate the candidates who do poorly on the test, not to select the candidates who come out at the top. While they are super valuable, pre-employment tests do not paint the entire picture of a candidate’s abilities, knowledge, and motivations. Multiple easy questions are more predictive of a candidate's ability than fewer hard questions. Harder questions are often "trick" based questions, which do not provide any meaningful signal about the candidate's skillset.

Science behind Adaface tests

Reason #6

1 click candidate invites

Email invites: You can send candidates an email invite to the COBOL Online Test from your dashboard by entering their email address.

Public link: You can create a public link for each test that you can share with candidates.

API or integrations: You can invite candidates directly from your ATS by using our pre-built integrations with popular ATS systems or building a custom integration with your in-house ATS.

Reason #7

Detailed scorecards & benchmarks

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Reason #8

High completion rate

Adaface tests are conversational, low-stress, and take just 25-40 mins to complete.

This is why Adaface has the highest test-completion rate (86%), which is more than 2x better than traditional assessments.

Reason #9

Advanced Proctoring

Learn more

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About the COBOL Assessment Test

Why you should use Pre-employment COBOL Online Test?

The COBOL Online Test makes use of scenario-based questions to test for on-the-job skills as opposed to theoretical knowledge, ensuring that candidates who do well on this screening test have the relavant skills. The questions are designed to covered following on-the-job aspects:

Understanding the basic syntax and structure of COBOL
Knowing how to declare and use variables in COBOL
Ability to handle data manipulation and calculations in COBOL
Experience with COBOL data division and working with different data types
Knowledge of COBOL procedure division and writing efficient code
Understanding file handling in COBOL, including reading and writing files
Experience with sorting and merging data in COBOL
Ability to write and implement conditional statements in COBOL
Knowledge of subprograms and functions in COBOL
Capability to handle error handling and exception management in COBOL

Once the test is sent to a candidate, the candidate receives a link in email to take the test. For each candidate, you will receive a detailed report with skills breakdown and benchmarks to shortlist the top candidates from your pool.

What topics are covered in the COBOL Online Test?

COBOL Data Division
COBOL Data Division is used to define data structures such as variables, records, and files. It is important to measure this skill to ensure that the candidate can effectively work with data and understand the different datatypes and data manipulation techniques in COBOL.
COBOL Procedure Division
COBOL Procedure Division is where the actual program logic is written. It includes statements such as perform, if-else, and do-while, among others. Measuring this skill helps evaluate the candidate's ability to write efficient and logical program logic using COBOL.
File Handling
File handling in COBOL involves reading, writing, and manipulating files. It is crucial to assess this skill as it determines if the candidate can work with external data sources and perform operations like record-level processing and file organization in COBOL.
Sorting and Merging
Sorting and merging involve arranging data in a specific sequence and combining data from multiple sources respectively. Testing this skill ensures that the candidate can effectively use sorting algorithms and understand merging techniques to perform operations like matching records and maintaining data integrity in COBOL programs.
Conditional Statements
Conditional statements in COBOL allow the program to make decisions and perform different actions based on certain conditions. Measuring this skill helps assess the candidate's ability to write accurate and efficient conditional statements to control program flow and make logical decisions in COBOL.
Subprograms and Functions
Subprograms and functions in COBOL are reusable code segments that can be called from different parts of a program. Evaluating this skill is essential to determine if the candidate can effectively modularize code, improve code maintainability, and reuse logic in COBOL programs.
Error Handling
Error handling in COBOL involves handling and reporting errors or exceptions that occur during program execution. Measuring this skill helps determine if the candidate can identify and handle errors gracefully, ensuring that the program continues to run smoothly and provides appropriate error messages or recovery mechanisms in COBOL.
Full list of covered topics
The actual topics of the questions in the final test will depend on your job description and requirements. However, here's a list of topics you can expect the questions for COBOL Online Test to be based on.
COBOL syntax
COBOL data types
COBOL variables
COBOL literals
COBOL constants
COBOL arithmetic operations
COBOL data definition
COBOL file structure
COBOL file access modes
COBOL record handling
COBOL I/O operations
COBOL file organization
COBOL file identification
COBOL sequential file handling
COBOL sequential file processing
COBOL indexed file handling
COBOL indexed file processing
COBOL relative file handling
COBOL relative file processing
COBOL sort verb
COBOL merge verb
COBOL conditional statements
COBOL IF-ELSE statements
COBOL CASE statements
COBOL PERFORM statements
COBOL nested IF statements
COBOL nested PERFORM statements
COBOL subprograms
COBOL CALL statements
COBOL external subroutines
COBOL internal subroutines
COBOL functions
COBOL error handling
COBOL ON ERROR statements
COBOL error codes
COBOL error routines
COBOL debugging techniques
COBOL performance optimization
COBOL code refactoring
COBOL program structure
COBOL program flow
COBOL program execution
COBOL program testing
COBOL program maintenance
COBOL program documentation
COBOL coding standards
COBOL program analysis
COBOL program design
COBOL code review
COBOL program deployment

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What roles can I use the COBOL Online Test for?

COBOL Developer
Senior COBOL Developer
Mainframe Developer
Legacy Systems Programmer

How is the COBOL Online Test customized for senior candidates?

For intermediate/ experienced candidates, we customize the assessment questions to include advanced topics and increase the difficulty level of the questions. This might include adding questions on topics like

Advanced understanding of COBOL syntax and language features
Expertise in COBOL data division and complex data structures
Proficiency in optimizing COBOL code for performance
Experience with advanced file handling techniques in COBOL
Ability to implement complex sorting and merging algorithms in COBOL
Expertise in writing conditionally complex statements in COBOL
Knowledge of advanced subprogram and function usage in COBOL
Capability to handle complex error handling scenarios in COBOL
Familiarity with COBOL debugging and troubleshooting techniques

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The hiring managers felt that through the technical questions that they asked during the panel interviews, they were able to tell which candidates had better scores, and differentiated with those who did not score as well. They are highly satisfied with the quality of candidates shortlisted with the Adaface screening.

85%

reduction in screening time

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COBOL Hiring Test FAQs

Can I combine multiple skills into one custom assessment?

Yes, absolutely. Custom assessments are set up based on your job description, and will include questions on all must-have skills you specify. Here's a quick guide on how you can request a custom test.

Do you have any anti-cheating or proctoring features in place?

We have the following anti-cheating features in place:

Non-googleable questions
IP proctoring
Screen proctoring
Web proctoring
Webcam proctoring
Plagiarism detection
Secure browser
Copy paste protection

Read more about the proctoring features.

How do I interpret test scores?

The primary thing to keep in mind is that an assessment is an elimination tool, not a selection tool. A skills assessment is optimized to help you eliminate candidates who are not technically qualified for the role, it is not optimized to help you find the best candidate for the role. So the ideal way to use an assessment is to decide a threshold score (typically 55%, we help you benchmark) and invite all candidates who score above the threshold for the next rounds of interview.

What experience level can I use this test for?

Each Adaface assessment is customized to your job description/ ideal candidate persona (our subject matter experts will pick the right questions for your assessment from our library of 10000+ questions). This assessment can be customized for any experience level.

Does every candidate get the same questions?

Yes, it makes it much easier for you to compare candidates. Options for MCQ questions and the order of questions are randomized. We have anti-cheating/ proctoring features in place. In our enterprise plan, we also have the option to create multiple versions of the same assessment with questions of similar difficulty levels.