Beating the Grid Challenge Test

Shir, Aon / cut-e Assessments Expert at JobTestPrep.

Have a question? Contact me at: ask_the_team@jobtestprep.com

What is the Grid Challenge Test?

 The Grid Challenge Test is a gamified assessment that evaluates your memorization and spatial orientation skills. You have 9 minutes to answer as many alternating memorization and spatial orientation questions as you can.

The fact that the test is in the form of an adaptive computer program makes it a lot more challenging, as the questions become harder every time you get one right, or easier (and therefore worth fewer points) every time you get a question wrong.

This last point is crucial: if you answer a question wrong, you will subsequently be presented with a simpler question – which will award you fewer points for answering it correctly than a harder one would. This means that the more questions you get wrong, the harder it is to recover and achieve a good grade on the test.

Each section of the test (also called a ‘round’) is made up of a sequence of questions – let’s see how this will look in the real test:

The Grid
Each question starts with a map, or a grid, of dots. One of these dots will be highlighted red, and the candidate is given only two seconds to remember its location relative to the others.

The Diversion
Next, the grid vanishes, and the candidate is given a spatial orientation question in one of three formats: Symmetrical, Rotation , or Combination. In the sample Symmetrical question below, the candidate must quickly decide whether the right and left grids are symmetrical:

The Grid - Again
You will now see the same grid that you saw at the beginning of the question, only now a different dot will light up and you will need to memorize it (while retaining the location of the dot that appeared earlier).

The Diversion - Again
The grid disappears, and you will be presented with another spatial orientation question. The example below is of a Rotation question, wherein the candidate is required to determine whether the two grids are similar in all but orientation, or indeed slightly different. If rotating one figure cannot make it identical to the other, the answer is 'no'.

The Challenge
After a set number of rounds (which gets higher as you progress), you will once again be shown the grid that appeared in the initial question, this time without a highlighted dot. You will have to click on the dots that were highlighted earlier in the round, in their correct order.

💡 Note: The number of memorization sections in the question may be between three and five, and the same is true also for the spatial orientation questions. The more memorization rounds, the harder it gets.

What Makes The Grid Challenge Test Challenging?

The SmartPredict Grid Challenge Test is considered by some to be the most challenging part of the Procter and Gamble Online Assessment. This is because AON has used several strategies in developing this test to make it more complex.

• The first feature of the test is that it is gamified. While this might make it sound fun and easy, the reality is that candidates cannot study for a gamified test without using special tools that imitate the actual test, as there are more factors besides knowledge being measured, such as reaction time and composition under pressure.
• The test simultaneously assesses spatial orientation and memory skills.
• The spatial orientation questions serve as distractors – they are placed between the memory skill questions to make it harder for you to remember the placement of the dots by overloading your short-term memory.
• There are several types of spatial orientation questions – some involving symmetry, others involving grid rotation – making it necessary to actively think about each question, which in turn makes it even harder to remember the information from the memory tests.
• At the end of each question, you will be tested on your retention of all the information in the previous memory questions.
• The test is adaptive, which means that questions get harder every time you get one right. If you get a question wrong, the following questions will get easier, but it will also mean you will receive fewer points for every question you answer.

The Grid Challenge Test is designed to stretch your skills and to see where the limit of your abilities lies.

The Three Types of Spatial Orientation Questions

The Grid Challenge Test contains three types of spatial orientation questions that test your ability to manipulate figures mentally. Let’s review each one:

• Symmetry questions: Here you must recognize if one figure is actually an inverted version of another figure, such as a mirror image.
• Rotation questions: You must recognize if one figure is actually a version of another figure that has been rotated around its center.
• Combination questions: You must look at three figures, and decide whether or not the third figure is a result of either adding the two figures together or removing one of them from the other. This is a more advanced way to test your spatial orientation skills.

While on the face of it, these questions appear different, they are actually testing the same mental aptitude: the ability to visualize changes to a given figure or item and to imagine what that item would look like if it were manipulated one way or another.

The AON SmartPredict Tests

AON is a test provider that has created a variety of gamified assessments that employers use to screen would-be employees (and therefore, that you as a candidate can expect to face). The Grid Challenge Test is often used in a package with other AON tests, such as the AON Motion Challenge, the Switch Challenge, and the Digit Challenge. These tests are all computer-based and adaptive and are intended to challenge the abilities that they test as much as possible.

The Procter and Gamble Assessment

To select new employees for a variety of positions, Procter and Gamble use the P&G assessment, a challenging combination of cognitive and behavioral assessments.

The Grid Challenge Test is used as part of the Procter and Gamble Assessment, alongside other cognitive ability tests such as the Switch Challenge and Digit Challenge, as well as a PEAK Performance Assessment. These together give P&G a broad view of your capabilities, and whether you are the right person to begin a lucrative career in this renowned organization.

To learn more about how you can prepare for P&G’s unique assessment, visit our Procter and Gamble Assessment page.

You can also try out some free sample questions here!