Cognitive Ability Test

About the test:

The cognitive ability test assesses a candidate's general intelligence- ability to think abstractly, understand complex ideas, draw logical conclusions and learn quickly. Research has shown that cognitive ability is the strongest predictor of job performance for all employment levels across industries.

Covered skills:

Abstract reasoning
Diagrammatic reasoning
Inductive reasoning
Pattern matching
Creativity

Critical thinking
Deductive reasoning
Problem-solving
Spatial reasoning

See all covered skills

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9 reasons why

Adaface Cognitive Ability Test is the most accurate way to shortlist Data Analysts

Reason #1

Tests for on-the-job skills

Importance of Cognitive Ability Testing in the Workplace

Cognitive ability assessments are crucial in predicting job performance

Cognitive ability is said to explain, on average, a whopping 42% of job performance. In the correct hands, this kind of predictive power will make hitting talent jackpot a regular thing in both promotion and hiring decisions.

Cognitive ability assessments give more insight in less time

In most cognitive ability assessments like predictive index, it only takes 12 minutes. These 12 minutes provide you more information about someone’s likelihood of success than a 1-hour interview.

Cognitive ability assessments help you find amazing learners

The core of cognitive ability’s relationship with job performance is rapid knowledge absorption. Usually, people with higher cognitive scores are those who outperform others because of their ability to quickly absorb all of the incoming information and knowledge. In other words, they acquire new skills quickly and they figure things out fast, which translates into greater performance gains.

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.

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 ->

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.

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

🧐 Question
Medium Increasing monthly gross profit	Solve
The CEO of Snipr. Inc wants to grow monthly gross profit by 4%. If costs stay the same, what does the sales turnover need to be in February to achieve this goal?
Medium Magic bag Algebra	Solve
Alex’s uncle is a magician who gave them a magic bag in which coins get doubled each time you put those coins into it. Initially, Alex had few coins with them. So, Alex put all the coins, and the coins got doubled. Alex took out all the coins and gave a few to their friend and then again put the remaining coins back in the bag. The coins doubled again; Alex took out all the coins again and gave a few coins to their second friend. Alex then put the remaining coins in the bag and the coins doubled again. Alex took out all the coins and gave a few coins to their third friend. There were no coins left with Alex when Alex gave coins to the third friend and Alex gave an equal number of coins to each friend. What is the minimum number of coins Alex had initially and how much did Alex give to each friend? A: Started with 3 coins B: Started with 5 coins C: Started with 6 coins D: Started with 7 coins E: Started with 9 coins F: Gave 3 coins in every turn G: Gave 4 coins in every turn H: Gave 5 coins in every turn I: Gave 7 coins in every turn J: Gave 8 coins in every turn K: Gave 9 coins in every turn
Medium Three Clocks Time	Solve
In my house, there are three clocks of different shapes – a round clock, a square clock, and a rhombus clock. The rhombus clock is always accurate whereas the round clock gains 2 minutes every day and the square clock loses 2 minutes every day. I checked the clocks on July 22nd, 2007 at 10 PM, and they were showing different times. Two hours later, when I checked, the clocks were showing the same time, then on which date will all three clocks show the same time again? A: 17 July 2008 B: 23 Sep 2007 C: 25 July 2009 D: 19 Aug 2008 E: 26 July 2008 F: 28 Nov 2007 G: 11 June 2008 H: 15 Aug 2007
Hard Assemble Triangle	Solve
Which of the following set of shapes can be assembled to create the shape displayed:
Easy Odd One Out	Solve
Shown below is a group of 4 objects, which might be rotated in different directions. One of the 4 objects is different from the other 3 in some way. Can you figure out which one?
Medium Four Blocks Direction	Solve
The city has been divided into 4 blocks. Block 1 in the north and Block 4 in the east of the city. A postman, who delivers the letter in the city is standing at the intersection of the two lines. The postman travels the city in the following order: 1. North-West 20 steps 2. South-West 30 steps 3. South-East 40 steps 4. North-East 50 steps 5. North-West 15 steps Now, find the location where the postman is standing? A: Block 3 B: Block 2 C: Block 4 D: Block 1 E: On the line intersecting Block 1 and Block 4 F: On the line intersecting Block 3 and Block 4
Medium Missing element	Solve
Which of the following figures do you think would complete the pattern shown below?
Hard Missing element	Solve
Which of the following figures do you think would complete the pattern shown below?

	🧐 Question	🔧 Skill
	Medium Increasing monthly gross profit	2 mins Numerical Reasoning	Solve
The CEO of Snipr. Inc wants to grow monthly gross profit by 4%. If costs stay the same, what does the sales turnover need to be in February to achieve this goal?
	Medium Magic bag Algebra	3 mins Numerical Reasoning	Solve
Alex’s uncle is a magician who gave them a magic bag in which coins get doubled each time you put those coins into it. Initially, Alex had few coins with them. So, Alex put all the coins, and the coins got doubled. Alex took out all the coins and gave a few to their friend and then again put the remaining coins back in the bag. The coins doubled again; Alex took out all the coins again and gave a few coins to their second friend. Alex then put the remaining coins in the bag and the coins doubled again. Alex took out all the coins and gave a few coins to their third friend. There were no coins left with Alex when Alex gave coins to the third friend and Alex gave an equal number of coins to each friend. What is the minimum number of coins Alex had initially and how much did Alex give to each friend? A: Started with 3 coins B: Started with 5 coins C: Started with 6 coins D: Started with 7 coins E: Started with 9 coins F: Gave 3 coins in every turn G: Gave 4 coins in every turn H: Gave 5 coins in every turn I: Gave 7 coins in every turn J: Gave 8 coins in every turn K: Gave 9 coins in every turn
	Medium Three Clocks Time	3 mins Numerical Reasoning	Solve
In my house, there are three clocks of different shapes – a round clock, a square clock, and a rhombus clock. The rhombus clock is always accurate whereas the round clock gains 2 minutes every day and the square clock loses 2 minutes every day. I checked the clocks on July 22nd, 2007 at 10 PM, and they were showing different times. Two hours later, when I checked, the clocks were showing the same time, then on which date will all three clocks show the same time again? A: 17 July 2008 B: 23 Sep 2007 C: 25 July 2009 D: 19 Aug 2008 E: 26 July 2008 F: 28 Nov 2007 G: 11 June 2008 H: 15 Aug 2007
	Hard Assemble Triangle	2 mins Spatial Reasoning	Solve
Which of the following set of shapes can be assembled to create the shape displayed:
	Easy Odd One Out	2 mins Spatial Reasoning	Solve
Shown below is a group of 4 objects, which might be rotated in different directions. One of the 4 objects is different from the other 3 in some way. Can you figure out which one?
	Medium Four Blocks Direction	2 mins Spatial Reasoning	Solve
The city has been divided into 4 blocks. Block 1 in the north and Block 4 in the east of the city. A postman, who delivers the letter in the city is standing at the intersection of the two lines. The postman travels the city in the following order: 1. North-West 20 steps 2. South-West 30 steps 3. South-East 40 steps 4. North-East 50 steps 5. North-West 15 steps Now, find the location where the postman is standing? A: Block 3 B: Block 2 C: Block 4 D: Block 1 E: On the line intersecting Block 1 and Block 4 F: On the line intersecting Block 3 and Block 4
	Medium Missing element	2 mins Ravens Progressive Matrices	Solve
Which of the following figures do you think would complete the pattern shown below?
	Hard Missing element	2 mins Ravens Progressive Matrices	Solve
Which of the following figures do you think would complete the pattern shown below?

	🧐 Question	🔧 Skill	💪 Difficulty	⌛ Time
	Increasing monthly gross profit	Numerical Reasoning	Medium	2 mins	Solve
The CEO of Snipr. Inc wants to grow monthly gross profit by 4%. If costs stay the same, what does the sales turnover need to be in February to achieve this goal?
	Magic bag Algebra	Numerical Reasoning	Medium	3 mins	Solve
Alex’s uncle is a magician who gave them a magic bag in which coins get doubled each time you put those coins into it. Initially, Alex had few coins with them. So, Alex put all the coins, and the coins got doubled. Alex took out all the coins and gave a few to their friend and then again put the remaining coins back in the bag. The coins doubled again; Alex took out all the coins again and gave a few coins to their second friend. Alex then put the remaining coins in the bag and the coins doubled again. Alex took out all the coins and gave a few coins to their third friend. There were no coins left with Alex when Alex gave coins to the third friend and Alex gave an equal number of coins to each friend. What is the minimum number of coins Alex had initially and how much did Alex give to each friend? A: Started with 3 coins B: Started with 5 coins C: Started with 6 coins D: Started with 7 coins E: Started with 9 coins F: Gave 3 coins in every turn G: Gave 4 coins in every turn H: Gave 5 coins in every turn I: Gave 7 coins in every turn J: Gave 8 coins in every turn K: Gave 9 coins in every turn
	Three Clocks Time	Numerical Reasoning	Medium	3 mins	Solve
In my house, there are three clocks of different shapes – a round clock, a square clock, and a rhombus clock. The rhombus clock is always accurate whereas the round clock gains 2 minutes every day and the square clock loses 2 minutes every day. I checked the clocks on July 22nd, 2007 at 10 PM, and they were showing different times. Two hours later, when I checked, the clocks were showing the same time, then on which date will all three clocks show the same time again? A: 17 July 2008 B: 23 Sep 2007 C: 25 July 2009 D: 19 Aug 2008 E: 26 July 2008 F: 28 Nov 2007 G: 11 June 2008 H: 15 Aug 2007
	Assemble Triangle	Spatial Reasoning	Hard	2 mins	Solve
Which of the following set of shapes can be assembled to create the shape displayed:
	Odd One Out	Spatial Reasoning	Easy	2 mins	Solve
Shown below is a group of 4 objects, which might be rotated in different directions. One of the 4 objects is different from the other 3 in some way. Can you figure out which one?
	Four Blocks Direction	Spatial Reasoning	Medium	2 mins	Solve
The city has been divided into 4 blocks. Block 1 in the north and Block 4 in the east of the city. A postman, who delivers the letter in the city is standing at the intersection of the two lines. The postman travels the city in the following order: 1. North-West 20 steps 2. South-West 30 steps 3. South-East 40 steps 4. North-East 50 steps 5. North-West 15 steps Now, find the location where the postman is standing? A: Block 3 B: Block 2 C: Block 4 D: Block 1 E: On the line intersecting Block 1 and Block 4 F: On the line intersecting Block 3 and Block 4
	Missing element	Ravens Progressive Matrices	Medium	2 mins	Solve
Which of the following figures do you think would complete the pattern shown below?
	Missing element	Ravens Progressive Matrices	Hard	2 mins	Solve
Which of the following figures do you think would complete the pattern shown below?

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

Reason #5

Designed for elimination, not selection

The most important thing while implementing the pre-employment Cognitive Ability 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.

Reason #6

1 click candidate invites

Email invites: You can send candidates an email invite to the Cognitive Ability 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 & comparative results

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

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Why You Should Use This Cognitive Ability Assessment

The Cognitive Ability Assessment helps recruiters and hiring managers to identify qualified candidates from a pool of resumes and take objective hiring decisions. It reduces the administrative overhead of interviewing too many candidates and saves expensive engineering time by filtering out unqualified candidates.

The Adaface Cognitive Ability test screens candidates for the typical skills recruiters look for in a potential employee:

The ability to process verbal and written information and data
The ability to gather information, reach conclusions, and make decisions based on text, data, and symbols
Understanding of basic mathematical concepts such as ratios, proportions, simple interest, and discounts
The ability to use rational thinking

The Cognitive Ability Online test is designed to test candidates for on-the-job cognitive skills:

Quantitative Ability: These questions are designed to evaluate a candidate's knowledge and application of basic mathematical concepts such as ratios, proportions, simple interest, and discounts.
Critical Reasoning: These questions are designed to evaluate a candidate's abilities in gathering information, analyzing and differentiating objective and subjective information, reach inferences, and analyze arguments.
Logical Ability: These questions are designed to evaluate a candidate's ability to make decisions based on text, data, and symbols. This test evaluates a candidate's inductive reasoning, abductive reasoning, and deductive reasoning skills.
Abstract Reasoning: These questions are designed to evaluate a candidate's ability to analyze data, detect trends and patterns, and apply the same in a new situation.
Verbal reasoning: These questions are designed to evaluate a candidate's ability to read and comprehend the given data.

The insights generated from this assessment can be used by recruiters and hiring managers to identify the best candidates for the role. Anti-cheating features enable you to be comfortable with conducting assessments online. The Cognitive Ability test is ideal for helping recruiters identify which candidates have the aptitude skills to do well on the job.

About Cognitive Ability Job Roles

A large percentage of I/O psychologists that believe cognitive ability is the best predictor of job performance. Candidates who rank well on pre-employment cognitive ability tests are more likely to be successful in their job, have better problem-solving skills, and adapt quickly to fast-changing work environments. More than 80% of Fortune 500 companies make use of pre-employment assessments to screen candidates based on their cognitive abilities.

The Cognitive Ability Online test is designed to test candidates for on-the-job cognitive skills:

Quantitative Ability
Critical Reasoning
Logical Ability
Abstract Reasoning
Verbal reasoning

The test is designed to filter out candidates based for job roles like:

Business Analyst
Data Analyst
Accountant
Consultant

What roles can I use the Cognitive Ability Test for?

Data Analyst
Graduates
Freshers
Managers
System Admin
Front-office roles

What topics are covered in the Cognitive Ability Test?

Understanding of where an object's body is in space in relation to the other objects

Spatial awareness

Refers to the ability to understand physical and mechanical concepts

Mechanical reasoning

Ability to understand and logically solve concepts and problems expressed in words

Logical reasoning

Ability to understand concepts framed in words and think constructively

Verbal reasoning

Ability to solve numerical problems within a set time

Numerical reasoning

Logical ability

Mechanical ability

It involves the ability to understand and think with complex concepts that, while real, are not tied to concrete objects, people, experiences, or situations

Abstract reasoning

It is the intellectually disciplined process of skillfully and actively conceptualizing, analyzing, synthesizing, applying, and/or evaluating information

Critical thinking

Tests inductive pattern recognition, and problem-solving abilities

Diagrammatic reasoning

It is the process of making an inference based on the accepted facts and premises

Deductive reasoning

Process of making broad generalizations from specific observations

Inductive reasoning

Problem solving

The process of checking the presence of a sequence of tokens, characters, and data among the given data set

Pattern matching

Spatial reasoning

The Raven’s Progressive Matrices

Guilford’s test of Divergent Thinking

Torrance Test of Creative Thinking

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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

View Full Case Study

FAQs

What is Cognitive Ability?

Cognitive ability may be defined as a mental capability that involves the ability to plan, solve problems, reason, think abstractly, learn quickly, comprehend complex ideas, and learn from experience.

What type of questions will the Cognitive Ability Online Test include?

The test is designed to enable recruiters and hiring managers to quickly identify which candidates should be invited to an interview.

This test will assess candidates on their fundamentals and depth of Cognitive Ability with questions on:

The ability to process verbal and written information and data.
The ability to gather information, reach conclusions, and make decisions based on text, data, and symbols.
Understanding of basic mathematical concepts such as ratios, proportions, simple interest, and discounts.
The ability to use rational thinking.

The questions are designed to test for on-the-job Cognitive Ability skills as opposed to just theoretical concepts. Test the situational and problem-solving ability of your candidates.

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.

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
Web proctoring
Webcam proctoring
Plagiarism detection
Secure browser

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.