alexmac said:
I had to do one of those kind of tests about 7 years ago. It had a number of parts.

One part it gave you a number of syntax rules and you then had to check that lines matched them. Another part had a "conceptual programming" language e.g. it had different symbols that represented different programming tasks e.g. triangle meant add 2.

I thought it went fine and it did fine apart from the above section where I got muddled up as to how this language worked. This error then carried through the other 10 questions on it meaning I got almost all of one section was wrong.

You can train for these kind of tests e.g iq type puzzels or that brain game on the Wii. Somewhat subjectively I am not sure they are necessarirly a good indicator of a good developer but guess it allows companies to cut their short list down. I think people with a maths background would score well on some of these type of things.
Well I don't feel like so much of an idiot now lol.

Yesterday I went for a pre-interview test for a programming / database admin position at a company; I wish I could remember the actual name of the test but I can't.

It consisted of three parts...
Part One
Questions: 25 (I beleive)
Time: 10 minutes

Example of step one questions:
Based on the following pattern select the next letter in the sequence:
a z b y c x  d w e v f
 1) G
 2) H
 3) U
 4) T
 ** The correct answer is 3) which is the letter "U" **

a h k c h k e h k g h k
 1) B
 2) H
 3) I
 4) L
 ** The correct answer is 3) which is the letter "I" because "HK" acts as a delimeter and every second letter is selected starting at "A" **


Part Two
Questions: 30
Time: 15 minutes

Example of step one questions:
Based on the following pattern select the next shape in the sequence:
 - 1. Square with black dot at top left
 - 2. Square with shaded dot at top right
 - 3. Square with outlined dot at bottom right

 1) Square with black dot at center
 2) Square with outlined dot at bottom left
 3) Square with empty interior; no dot
 4) Square with black dot at top left
 ** The correct answer is 3) which is the "square with no dot"**

Parth Three
Questions: 25
Time: 30 minutes

Example of step one questions:
Based on the following questions select the correct answer:

If a company prints 96,000 lines per printer and has two printers; one which can print 500 lines per minute and the other which can print 1,200 lines per minute.  When printer two is finished, how long will printer one still have to go?

 1) Approx. 1 hour and 30 minutes
 2) Approx. 2 hour and 30 minutes
 3) Approx. 3 hour and 30 minutes
 4) Approx. 4 hour and 30 minutes
 ** The correct answer would be 3) which is "3 hours and 30 minutes", atleast that's what I'm coming up with **


This is exactly what the test was comprised of.  I walked out of there thinking I did great on it, then when I got home a few hours later I go an e-mail from the HR guy saying I made a 54.5, and the company standard to move forward to an interview is 60.0; but he's going to talk to management to see how they want to move forward (I so hope they still let me go for an interview).

I'm not sure if thats 54.5 percent or if its 54.5 our of the total questions; either way apparantly I'm below their standard.. hope they will look away from that though.