Home : Aptitude tests : Numerical aptitude test guide : Interpreting your numerical test score
Your numerical aptitude test score is interpreted in ways similar to that of other aptitude tests (verbal and abstract reasoning). Your test score is given as a percentile, as your number of correct answers is compared to a benchmark that includes scores of others at an organisational level and occupation similar to the one you are applying for. For example, if you are applying for a role in marketing and are given a numerical aptitude test to complete, your raw score (or the number of correct answers) is then compared with a large number of scores from people who either work in marketing roles or have applied for roles in marketing. This enables employers to learn how good your numerical reasoning skills are in comparison to those of others in the area you have applied for. Though there is no 'passing' score for the numerical aptitude test, companies tend to have a threshold that they expect their candidates to pass.
How you may have a low verbal test score after correctly completing many test questions
As your numerical aptitude test result is calculated relative to that of others, you may find that even if you correctly answered most of the questions in the test, you may still get a low mark (or a low percentile score). How can this happen? Let’s look at the following example. You correctly answered 24 of 30 questions, and you interpret this to be a ‘good result’. However, other people in roles similar to the one you applied for also have very strong numerical reasoning skills and, on average, answered 26 of 30 questions correctly. This means that your ‘good result’ is actually a ‘bad result’ because it’s lower than the average for people who work in a similar role to the one you applied for.
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