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Online verbal reasoning test

For an online verbal reasoning test what's a good score to have? Do law firms have a minimum mark and what is it usually?

Reply 1

Alexander

12

I'd imagine it would depend on how hard the test is, and what the firm's intent is in using it - some will be relatively easy tests to filter out obviously unsuitable candidates (so any serious applicant will be expected to get a very high percentage), while some will actually be meant as a real differentiator.

Reply 2

Desmond Hume

5

Law firms usually use an online verbal reasoning test as part of their first round of assessment after you submit a good application form.

From what I know, most firms have a pass mark that you have to meet in order to go through to the next round of assessment etc. With respect to what that pass mark is, I suspect it varies from firm to firm but from my experience its about getting as close to 75% of the questions correct as possible.

The way it usually works is that the law firm is able to see which percentile range you fall into - they receieve data for all the results of their applicants who have sat the test. They are able to distinguish between candidates on this basis.

Also, from recent feedback that I received from a large city law firm for which I had to sit a verbal reasoning test, they also are interested in seeing how many of the questions you were able to answer in the paper. There is something like 45-55 questions that you have to answer in about 30-40 mins (it varies from test-to-test and firm-to-firm). As a result, I also suspect they get to see exactly how many you got right from the number of questions you answer. I tried a strategy of concentrating on answering only 75% of the questions as I thought this would allow me more time to answer the questions correctly; the point is, i think its ok to use this strategy as long as you answer a respectable number of questions. On the other hand, its entirely up to you, these are just my experiences.

Reply 3

karlbyron

OP

bluedog

Law firms usually use an online verbal reasoning test as part of their first round of assessment after you submit a good application form.

From what I know, most firms have a pass mark that you have to meet in order to go through to the next round of assessment etc. With respect to what that pass mark is, I suspect it varies from firm to firm but from my experience its about getting as close to 75% of the questions correct as possible.

The way it usually works is that the law firm is able to see which percentile range you fall into - they receieve data for all the results of their applicants who have sat the test. They are able to distinguish between candidates on this basis.

Also, from recent feedback that I received from a large city law firm for which I had to sit a verbal reasoning test, they also are interested in seeing how many of the questions you were able to answer in the paper. There is something like 45-55 questions that you have to answer in about 30-40 mins (it varies from test-to-test and firm-to-firm). As a result, I also suspect they get to see exactly how many you got right from the number of questions you answer. I tried a strategy of concentrating on answering only 75% of the questions as I thought this would allow me more time to answer the questions correctly; the point is, i think its ok to use this strategy as long as you answer a respectable number of questions. On the other hand, its entirely up to you, these are just my experiences.

Thanks, i had to do a test straight after filling in my application form. I was a bit nervous about it. I answered them all so that's good i guess.

Reply 4

sanachan

5

hi, what firm was this for that you took an online test. (i haven't even started my application forms, i'm so nervous i have no idea what to write on them, thr questions are awful) :'(

Reply 5

Zarathustra

2

sanachan

hi, what firm was this for that you took an online test. (i haven't even started my application forms, i'm so nervous i have no idea what to write on them, thr questions are awful) :'(

It was probably Lovells or Clifford Chance.

Reply 6

litispendence

1

Or Eversheds. Last year they did both maths and verbal reasoning tests.

Reply 7

Desmond Hume

5

Does anyone know about Eversheds' new application methods for this year's applications. Last year, after submitting an application form (with all the standard long-answer questions) you were then invited to do the Numeracy test and if you passed that, the reasoning test. This meant that if you didn't reach the required standard on either of the tests, your application form wouldn't even get looked at. So I was just wondering whether for this year, you still have to do the tests after the application form or whether you are invited to submit an application form afterwards?

From the chatter I have heard , you do have to submit an application form before the tests this year but its only on your personal details - no long answer questions. Can anyone confirm any of this, I'd be interested to know. Thanks.

Reply 8

Zarathustra

2

Eversheds: The entire form consists of drop-down menus - there are NO long answers. Even positions of responsibility are done by drop down (which is kind of ridiculous - most of mine come out as Category: Other, Position: Other!). All of this is so that they can, basically, compute a numerical score for each applicant - supposedly fairer because it ensures that everything is taken into account and you aren't auto screened-out for low academics.

From what I've heard, as soon as the app is submitted your score is computed and you are invited to do a numeracy test followed by the verbal reasoning test.

Hope that helps.

Reply 9

Zarathustra

2

Do CC have numerical as well as verbal tests?

Reply 10

Desmond Hume

5

So they have completely abandoned long-answer questions altogether it seems. I like the sound of the new approach though. This quantative method of scoring applicants against each other sounds great. I've often wondered how firms do this: whereas with, for example, degree result breakdowns its (fairly) easy to compare applicants; with qualitative responses (like for the long-answer questions) it must be much more difficult.

I guess the downside is that it sounds awfully computerised. But then it would be incredibly inefficient and subjective for HR to score each answer on an application form as they say fit - 'I never liked horse-riding, so that gets nothing!'

Reply 11

Lewisy-boy

11

Most firms work on percentile: for example, the firm I'm training with progress people who are in the 61st percentile or better (i.e. those people better than 60% of applicants, although I'm not entirely sure of how it works!).

Reply 12

chrism2671

There's a good verbal reasoning practice test at the bottom of this page:
http://www.wikijob.co.uk/wiki/verbal-reasoning

It's quite a challenging one but it should be good practice. It's based on the SHL ones which most of the law firms use.

Hope this helps,
Chris.

Reply 13

ZaraW

6

Has anyone taken the Clifford Chance verbal reasoning test yet? Is the test provider SHL?

Reply 14

Peezda

1

Original post by ZaraW

Has anyone taken the Clifford Chance verbal reasoning test yet? Is the test provider SHL?

Yes, it is SHL. There are 10 passages with 3 questions each. You will have 19 minutes to complete the test.

Reply 15

ERBris

Hey! It's 10 passages in total but do they come up at different times, as in, they don't just present 1 passage then have 3/4 questions on it, rather the same passage crops up again at different points in the test?

Just that the practice SHL one does this, but all other online practice tests don't seem to!

Thanks

Online verbal reasoning test

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