Algemene cognitieve capaciteitentest voor selectie

How the general cognitive ability test holds up against AI help

Each candidate gets a different set of questions drawn from large pools, in a different order, with the answer options shuffled. The browser receives one question at a time, and answer keys never leave HireValid's servers. Timing runs on the server, so reloading the page brings back the same question with only the time that was left, and candidates cannot go back to an earlier question.

Question text cannot be copied or selected, and a blocked copy attempt is recorded in the timeline. Each invitation link is personal and expires. HireValid records signals such as time away from the test tab, pastes into answers and very fast answers, and summarizes them in an Integrity Score with an evidence timeline for the employer to review. It never decides on its own. With the candidate's consent, the employer can also turn on webcam photos.

How to use the result with a work sample and interview

A reasoning result tells you how someone takes in new information. A work sample tells you whether they can do the job's tasks now. Read the two together, and never use the test result alone.

For an office or operations role, the sample might be organizing a short list of tasks with conflicting deadlines. For a support role, it might be answering a customer request against a short policy. Then hold a structured interview with the same questions for everyone. Look at the four sub-skill results as prompts for what to explore, for example a strong verbal result and a weaker attention to detail result, rather than as a verdict. The pre-employment testing guide shows how the pieces fit together.

Who should use this cognitive aptitude test?

Use this cognitive aptitude test when a role asks people to learn new tasks and solve problems, and no single kind of reasoning clearly dominates. It is the broadest of HireValid's reasoning tests, because it samples four areas in one sitting: working with numbers, reasoning with words, finding the rule in a pattern of shapes, and reading tables with care.

That makes it a good fit for operations, administration, customer support and sales roles, and for trainee and junior professional hires, where there is little work history to go on. It pairs well with a practical test of the tools or communication the role needs, for example in an assessment for an office administrator, a customer support agent or a general hire.

If one kind of reasoning clearly matters most, a focused test usually tells you more. A role built on figures may get more from the numerical reasoning test, and a role built on written policies from the verbal reasoning test. Avoid stacking several reasoning tests for one role: it lengthens the assessment for candidates without adding much new evidence. The test library lists every option side by side.

Cognitive ability or aptitude: what is the difference?

In everyday hiring language the two terms overlap, and many employers use them interchangeably. The useful distinction is scope.

Cognitive ability usually means general reasoning: how well someone learns and solves unfamiliar problems across many kinds of material. The U.S. Office of Personnel Management describes the general trait as general mental ability, and notes that tests may report one overall score or separate scores for specific areas. See the glossary entry on the cognitive ability test.

Aptitude usually means potential in a particular area, such as numbers or language, or for a particular kind of work. A numerical aptitude test is narrower than a general cognitive ability test. The glossary entry on aptitude explains the term.

This test is general in that sense: it mixes numerical, verbal and abstract reasoning and attention to detail, and reports each area as well as the whole. That makes it a sensible default when you want a reasoning measure and do not yet know which area matters most for the role.

Using a cognitive ability test for employment fairly

Any cognitive ability test for employment needs care on fairness. The U.S. Office of Personnel Management notes that cognitive ability tests typically produce larger racial and ethnic differences than other valid predictors, such as structured interviews, and recommends combining them with other assessment methods to lower potential adverse impact.

This test is written to keep irrelevant barriers low. Questions use everyday workplace situations and common words, with no money symbols, idioms or local knowledge, metric units, and names from many backgrounds. The shape patterns differ in form, shading, size, position and turn, never in color. Scratch paper is allowed for every candidate, and the numbers are chosen so no calculator is needed.

In practice, treat the result as one input, never the whole decision. Use the test only for roles that genuinely need broad reasoning, combine it with a work sample and a structured interview, and say in every invitation how to request an accommodation such as extra time. After each hiring round, compare selection rates across groups; the four-fifths rule is a simple first check.