What is the Wonderlic Test?
After the US economy began to dip in the late 2,000’s, companies looked for a way to enhance their hiring processes and choose the best candidates possible for any given position. To accomplish this, a wide spectrum of companies administers Wonderlic Testing.
Before you begin practicing, let’s see what the test covers: The cognitive test, which measures ones ability to solve problems and absorb information; the personality test, which looks at how ones personal character will affect job performance; the behavioral test, delves into human nature, mainly agreeability, conscientiousness, and neuroticism; lastly the hard skills test, focuses on topics such as English, math, and science.
Additionally, Wonderlic offers a number of specialized tests including, the SLE, the BST, the CAT, and the Wonscore. Let’s take a deeper look into what each test entails and who is required to take them.
Wonderlic Personnel Test (Wonderlic Cognitive Ability Test)
The Wonderlic Cognitive Ability Test, formerly referred to as the Wonderlic Personnel Test, comes in two different formats.
WPT-Q - Wonderlic Cognitive Ability Pretest & WPT-R - Wonderlic Personnel Test
The WPT-Q is the abbreviated version of the test, which can be taken from a remote online location (like at home.) This version of the CAT is a pre-qualifier and helps the company narrow the bank of applications before inviting them in-house. The WPT-Q contains 30 questions, which must be answered within just 8 minutes. Question will focus on cognitive aspects of the job, including problem-solving, learning, and adapting.
The full test, WPT-R follows the same format as the WPT-Q, but is only administered on site and contains 50 questions to be answered within 12 minutes.
Wonderlic Scholastic Level (SLE) Exam
The Wonderlic SLE is used as part of the acceptance process in universities across the United States, to help them better assess your likely ability to succeed in the chosen program. In many cases, the test is a significant factor in the acceptance process and failure to succeed will result in a rejection letter.
The test scores will be based on math, logic, verbal reasoning, and general knowledge and comes into variations, the SLE and the SLE-Q, here is a brief overview of each variation:
- Wonderlic Scholastic Level Exam (SLE) – This test includes 50 questions with a 12-minute time limit.
- Wonderlic Scholastic Level Exam Quicktest (SLE-Q) – The version of the test differs in that it contains only 30 questions with a 8 minute time slot.
Wonderlic Basic Skills Test (BST)
This is the basic skills test, which fulfills several roles. By checking the general educational development of the test taker, the exam reveals how the perspective candidate (student or employee) will succeed either entry level or advanced positions.
The test will cover verbal and quantitative reasoning, below you can find a brief description of each section:
Verbal Segment: This segment includes 50 questions, focusing on various skill-sets related your language skills. Questions will fall under the following categories with regard to language
- Comprehension
- Meaning
- Interpretation
Quantitative Reasoning Segment: The segment includes 45 questions focused on high school level mathematics. However, the questions will be formatted in three ways.
- Practical or applied application.
- Quantitative evaluation and direct computation.
- Inferential use charts, diagrams, graphs, and tables.
Wonscore
The Wonscore test is the newest test devised by Wonderlic and combines the Personnel, Characteristics Inventory, and the Motivation Potential Assessment. This idea is to give the employer a total package by which they can asses incoming applicants. Let’s take a look at the various segments of the test.
Personnel – This 12-minute segment includes 50 questions on subjects such as logical thinking, verbal comprehension, and math.
Personal Characteristics – This hour and a half segment includes 150 questions to evaluate you on qualities such as agreeableness, openness, neuroticism, extraversion, and conscientiousness.
Motivation Potential - The last segment is used to ensure that you can fit nicely into the company culture. The 30 questions look at factors like if you have the confidence to succeed if you are able to form strong bonds with co-workers, and loyalty among other influences.
Who Uses Wonderlic Tests?
Subway - In order to become a Subway franchise owner, you will be required to take the Wonderlic Basic Skills Test (BST).
The NFL - The National Football League requires that candidates take the Wonderlic Cognitive Ability Test (CAT).
Educational Institutions - Many educational institutions require their candidates to take entrance exams, which include the Wonderlic Scholastic Level Exam (SLE).
Wonderlic Test Tips
- The math on the test is mainly simple algebra, make sure to brush on the basics.
- Practice pacing yourself correctly by working within 14 second time slots per answer.
- If you have no clue to an answer, don’t sit on it, move on and try to answer it and the end of the test.
The video below is one example of how you can perform better on the Wonderlic Test.
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