Macquarie's 4h psychometrics exam

They will set it up in a location close to your proximity. It's all on the computer, but you do get pencil, paper and calculator.

Took it last spring. There is not much you can do to prepare, but I recommend this website (http://www.psychometric-success.com/). Based on MY experience, I would focus on the abstract reasoning, data interpretation and spatial ability sections of the website. The other parts of the test were reading comprehension and a set of 100 personality questions.

Reading comprehension you should be familiar with, and the personality questions should be easy to answer. You know what type of person they are looking for, so you can either fudge your answers or be honest. If you're going to fudge, make sure to be consistent because the questions essentially repeat themselves 4 or 5 times, just with different wording.

good answer concealed. it's basically an IQ test. there is some time pressure. you can't really prepare but just do the normal pre-test taking thing (sleep, eat well, etc)

definitely fudge the personality section but be careful because it basically asks the same 2 questions in 50 different ways each.

completely unaware of this psychometrics exam...can someone give slight elaboration as to why you'd want to/need to take it? as some sort of entrance exam to grad school (never heard of it but who knows)

I don't know why they ask for the test, all I know is that I've got to take it next week !

you only take this as part of the interview process for macquarie, no other reason. you have no choice if you want to work there (I don't but have taken the test). the firm just wants a base level of intelligence in all of its employees i guess. i know they use it to weed out candidates. not really sure beyond that.

So what was the outcome for you ponzi ?

i made it past the test stage but didn't get an offer after final round

Moi aussi.

The test is easy, I passed it and got an offer. The personality section is just annoying and long. Sets of 4 items pick most and least, as long as you are consistent they don't really care. Use the practice test they give you just to know what its like and it'll go easily.

guy above is right, just be consistent. the other abilities section just keep a watch out for time.

Consistency is definitely important for the personality test. Don't rush yourself, the personality test isn't timed.

With the abstract reasoning, make sure you work quickly, but get the first 20 questions or so right even if you don't end up finishing it. (from memory it was 30 questions for that section?) I personally ran out of time with about 8 questions left in that section and still got invited to the final interview (and eventually got the offer)

The numerical testing is just reading charts and graphs and picking up the trends, calculating the % changes, etc. Basic stuff you should be familiar with if you're interested in banking.

The verbal test requires you to read a passage and answer a few questions based on it. Make sure you read it carefully, scrutinizing how the words are used in the sentence.

The final part (after the personality test) is a sales type questionnaire. It asks you things like "if you had to sell a new product what % of your sales would come from people you know?" "would you sell a product which you did not personally find useful, if it was required of your job?" etc. Obviously they're looking at how your personality fits with the pitching/selling requirements of the job.

Look for any decent psychometric testing prep book at a bookstore (or possibly a careers centre), I found it reasonably helpful.

I've written quite a few of these tests over the years throughout my intern job search + FT job search processes

Standard Chartered (Passed)
HSBC (Passed 2x, Failed 1st time during freshman year--Had no idea what the heck it was and ran out of time)
Macquarie (Passed)
RBC (Passed)
CLSA (Passed)

The verbal and numerical parts are fairly easy. If you can't do them.. you probably shouldn't be in banking. Abstract I found much harder. Especially with the time limits.

Once I got this super-weird puzzle where I had to decipher the codes on library books. Not so fun.

Just buy a book off Amazon.com on psychmetric tests if you are worried...

macquarie testing is fairly standard with other banks

they end up comparing you to the macquarie employee population to see whether you are above avg, avg or below avg