HR Guide – 12 – Special Tests
PolyWogg’s (Completely Informal and Totally Unofficial) Guide to Competing for Jobs in the Canadian Federal Government
This section is an incredibly difficult one to design and write for two reasons.
First and foremost, there are a lot of special tests administered by the Public Service Commission. According to their website as of July 23, 2019, they have six tests designed for administrative support; eleven tests for officer level (plus two others that have been retired or replaced); twelve more for management level; and six “other” ones including three forms of second language ability, plus some other unique ones for management. That’s thirty-five possible tests that the PSC offers. All of them ranging from slightly to radically different, all of them separate tests. It is hard therefore to describe strategies that fit them in groups as opposed to analysing each test.
Second, and this is the really challenging part for giving advice, the methodology is quite soft for a lot of them. Almost all of them are designed to be automated to reduce cost, but in doing so, you force people to choose one of two or three or four options in multiple choice exams. If the test designers make the “right” choice obvious, then everybody gets it; if they make it more nuanced, people often argue with themselves (and others) about what the “right” answer is, including the hiring managers themselves. I’ll explain more later, but I have seen experienced managers looking at some of the sample questions, and not only disagreeing with each other over which is the best answer, they also disagree with the PSC over the right answer. These concerns are particularly acute for judgement tests.
Before I get to the particular techniques for responding, let’s look at how to group some of the tests.
| Administrative | Officer | Managers | Executives | |
| Writing | – Grammar, spelling, punctuation (GSPAT-120) | |||
| Basic Reasoning | ||||
| Cognitive |
Techniques
- Practice to spot types of questions
- Fast questions first, get the points
Detailed overview of tests
| Test | Format | Goal | Notes |
| Administrative Support Tests | |||
| Grammar, Spelling and Punctuation Test (GSPAT-120) | 75 questions in 45 minutes, pass mark is 60% | Literacy level equivalent to Grade 10 of high school | For all three areas, they give you a sentence with four areas highlighted, and you identify the error (#1-4) or choose #5 (no errors). Similar to the written exam for the Second Language Examination, but in your native language. Best preparation is a review of the sample questions online although the actual test may be harder than the examples. In addition, you can also find multiple online sites with general grammar rules to review. |
| General Competency Test: Level 1 (GCT1) | 50 questions in 1h45m, pass mark is 36% | Tests basic reasoning (written, number problems, logic) | Written questions are testing your understanding of the meaning of a paragraph. Number questions are simple situations (prices, overtime amounts) where you have to calculate the answer. Logic questions are often about applying a set of rules to a description of a situation to see which rule applies. Best preparation is a review of the samples and practice test on the PSC website, but note that the actual test may be harder than the examples. In addition, GMAT and GRE exams for university and college have similar sections, albeit often much harder, but many sample Qs for those can be found online. |
| Office Skills Test (OST-200) | 5 sub-tests of 15 questions each, 47 minutes total, pass mark is 50% | Speed and accuracy in clerical tasks (filing, math, verification, vocabulary, following directions) | Filing — alphabetical, numerical, chronological order (4 minutes) Math — basic addition, subtraction, multiplication and division (13 minutes) Verification — checking the accuracy of two lists (3 minutes) Vocabulary — match words to correct meaning (5 minutes) Following directions — applying instructions to a calendar and info list (22 minutes) Best preparation is a review of the samples and practice test on the PSC website, but note that the actual test may be harder than the examples. |
| Office Skills Test – (Filing-201) | 25 questions in 25 minutes, pass mark is 36% | Sorting in alphabetical, numerical and chronological order | More detailed version of the general test (OST-200). Best preparation is a review of the samples on the PSC website, but note that the actual test may be harder than the examples. |
| Office Skills Test – (Checking-203) | 25 questions in 20 minutes, pass mark is 36% | Verifying between two sets of data | More detailed version of the previous test (OST-200). Best preparation is a review of the samples on the PSC website, but note that the actual test may be harder than the examples. |
| Office Skills Test – (Following Direction-206) | 20 questions in 30 minutes, pass mark is 35% | Following instructions using written materials, some reasoning | More detailed version of the previous test (OST-200). Best preparation is a review of the samples on the PSC website, but note that the actual test may be harder than the actual test. |