Irish Civil Service Assistant Principal Test Prep

Arbel, Civil Service Tests Expert at JobTestPrep
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The assessment for Irish Civil Service Assistant Principal Officer includes AON Numerical and Verbal reasoning tests, along with the Adept-15 work-related-personality test. Unlike traditional reasoning test, which requires doing calculations and answering questions according to the given information, these reasoning tests demand critical thinking, as your 3 options for answering will be the following:

True
False
Cannot Say

This unique test format can definitely raise confusion and induce stress, which can be dealt with by gaining familiarity with the test format. Let's look at the test's questions:

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Civil Service Numerical Reasoning Sample Question

The Aon Scales Numerical test includes sets of questions based on five to six data tabs. In order to answer each question, you need to find the relevant tab for the question and answer accordingly. For example, if the statement concerns expenses, the correct tab would be "Operating Expenses."

This test consists of 18 questions and is 6 minutes long.

Let's go over how to solve a scales numerical question:

Numerical Reasoning Sample Question

Between fiscal years 1 through 5, the total maintenance cost was higher than £4.9 million.

True

False

Cannot Say

View Explanation

The correct answer is True. According to the table titled "Revenue/Expenses (Football Club)", we can see that although we only have information regarding fiscal years 2 through 4, the total cost of maintenance during those years alone is greater than £4.9 million:

1,273,429 + 1,677,876 + 1,957,540 = 4,908,845

Found it difficult? That can be changed. Practise more questions with such a test-mimicking format in our PrepPack.

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Civil Service Verbal Reasoning Sample Question

This test consists of 49 questions and is 12 minutes long.

The test assesses your ability to retrieve information and draw logical conclusions from verbal data. The information is organised in six tabs. Each tab contains a short text divided into 3-4 sections. In the actual test, you may only view one tab at a time, but you can move back and forth between them as many times as you need. Let's see a scales verbal question:

Verbal Reasoning Sample Question

Arclight has not been able to maintain a positive enough cash flow in the past two years, and has thus ceased its long-planned venture into new technologies.

True

False

Cannot Say

View Explanation

Finding the relevant tab for this question is a bit more difficult. As cash flow is a financial term, we may want to start with the "Finance management" tab. However, this tab does not mention the company's cash flow at all. We have no choice but to search all section titles under all other tabs and look for a title that seems relevant.
"Cash flow" is in fact a section found under the "Future expansion" tab. According to this section, "In the past two years [cash flow] has been strong enough to allow venturing into new technologies […]." This is the exact opposite of what the above statement suggests. The statement is therefore FALSE.

How to Ace the APO Assessment?

Practice with our precise, assessment-mimicking practice tests, which include detailed answers, tips, and score reports.

12 Full-Length AON-Style Numerical Reasoning Practice Tests
8 Full-Length AON-Style Verbal Reasoning Practice Tests
AON Adept-15 Practice Test
24 Study Guides & Video Tutorials

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Aon Adept-15 Sample Question

Adept-15 is a personality test designed to assess candidates’ behavioural tendencies in workplace scenarios. It aims to assist the recruiters in ensuring you are fit for a management position at the Irish Civil Service.

Unlike the previous reasoning tests, the Adept-15 does not have a time limit, and there is not a single concrete answer for each statement. Instead, you will be assessed on various personality traits and should try to fit your answers within a certain range of each trait, scaling between 1 and 10.

Let's take a look at one of these statements:

Which statement do you agree with more?

I like cooperative settings over hostile ones

I offer praise to others when they deserve it

Strongly Agree

Slightly Agree

Strongly Agree

Without knowing exactly which traits are being assessed and the preferred location your answers should indicate within each range, it will be hard to show the Civil Service team that you are fit for the position.

Discover the measured personality traits and recommended range location within our PrepPack Adept-15 detailed score report, and retake the test until you reach perfection.

Since it is such a critical management role, the hiring/promotion process for Assistant principal officers of the Civil Service can take more than 6 months. Typically, there are three parts of the assistant principal's hiring process:

A rather lengthy application form that will ask you for basic criteria information.
AON Numerical and verbal reasoning tests, along with the Adept-15 work-related personality test.
Face-to-face interview.

Looking for other Civil Service tests? Check out more of our practices:

Get the Complete Irish Civil Service Assistant Principal Officer AON-Style Test Preparation

Irish Civil Service Assistant Principal Officer Assessment Tests