Programming Aptitude Test

[Garet Jax]

Has any one here written one of these? Impressions? Thoughts?

I wrote one yesterday. The questions were remarkably easy, but there were some things that made it difficult.

The time was very tight. Out of four people, I was the only one to finish all 5 questions. Two others didn't even get to question 5.

Another tricky issue was the amount of rewriting I needed to do. One of the questions was to order a list of 12 entries in reverse alphabetical order. The original list had a number beside each entry. The answer required me to use the original number and not the entry. Plus I needed to copy the answer for each question onto an answer sheet.

Finally, there were a lot of areas where someone could make a mistake. It required a ton of concentration to stay on track.

I don't know how I did. I am trying to find out.

 

[Garet Jax]

I find it hard to believe that no ones has thoughts on this issue.

 

[agnitrate]

Originally posted by: Garet Jax
Has any one here written one of these? Impressions? Thoughts?

I wrote one yesterday.

You wrote one or you took one? It sounds like you took one.

Where did you take it? I've never heard of such a thing.

I dislike many 'programming' tests because programming is mostly about planning and less about implementation while the tests only quibble about semantics. If it was more verbal, then I'd find it interesting since you can ask much more general questions.

-silver

 

[BennyD]

i have done a logic test in a job interview, i think thats largely the same thing.

it involved using say 4 numbers to come up with another number in 5 steps, and place the answer in the right box.

i did 7/8 questions in 45 minutes.

never found out how i did 🙁

 

[XZeroII]

Never heard of it. But I liked my one professor's policy. We are able to use our notes and books, and internet, etc... because in the real world, that's the way it's gonna be. You have to know how to look stuff up and find the answer, not just memorize the answer.

 

[rh71]

I've taken many of those Brainbench tests. They're no fun after the 10th question. It just gets tedious more than anything.

 

[DaveSimmons]

Originally posted by: Garet Jax
I find it hard to believe that no ones has thoughts on this issue.

I've never taken one, closest thing I've done was the Comp Sci GRE -- now _that_ was too much fun.

Is this test a HS test to see if you should study programming, or a job interview test?

And agnitrate is right, good software development involves design and planning at least as much as cranking out code. Or as the carpentry aphorism goes: "measure twice, cut once."

 

[notfred]

What the hell does putting things in alphabetical order have to do with programming?

 

[Descartes]

Originally posted by: notfred
What the hell does putting things in alphabetical order have to do with programming?

A futile attempt at discerning ones ability to implement a sorting algo?

 

[notfred]

Originally posted by: Descartes

Originally posted by: notfred
What the hell does putting things in alphabetical order have to do with programming?

A futile attempt at discerning ones ability to implement a sorting algo?

He didn't say anything about a sorting algorithim. He jsut said he had to put words in order.

1. Bird
2. Cat
3. Dog
4. Rabbit

Backwards alphabetical order:

Rabbit
Dog
Cat
Bird

oh, but wait, I have to use the number, not the word.

4, 3, 2, 1

Hey, I'm a programmer!

 

[Zebo]

Sounds like a good idea. I'll bet a lot of people in progamming should'nt be there.

My guess is if your good at math and puzzles you'll do well.

 

[Descartes]

Originally posted by: notfred

Originally posted by: Descartes

Originally posted by: notfred
What the hell does putting things in alphabetical order have to do with programming?

A futile attempt at discerning ones ability to implement a sorting algo?

He didn't say anything about a sorting algorithim. He jsut said he had to put words in order.

1. Bird
2. Cat
3. Dog
4. Rabbit

Backwards alphabetical order:

Rabbit
Dog
Cat
Bird

oh, but wait, I have to use the number, not the word.

4, 3, 2, 1

Hey, I'm a programmer!

I was operating under the assumption that the absurdity of the above "test" wouldn't actually be used to discern ones aptitude for anything without requiring implementation.

 

[notfred]

Originally posted by: Descartes

Originally posted by: notfred

Originally posted by: Descartes

Originally posted by: notfred
What the hell does putting things in alphabetical order have to do with programming?

A futile attempt at discerning ones ability to implement a sorting algo?

He didn't say anything about a sorting algorithim. He jsut said he had to put words in order.

1. Bird
2. Cat
3. Dog
4. Rabbit

Backwards alphabetical order:

Rabbit
Dog
Cat
Bird

oh, but wait, I have to use the number, not the word.

4, 3, 2, 1

Hey, I'm a programmer!

I was operating under the assumption that the absurdity of the above "test" wouldn't actually be used to discern ones aptitude for anything without requiring implementation.

If he was actually implementing this, why would it matter that there were 12? Also, he adds " Plus I needed to copy the answer for each question onto an answer sheet." As if this was another difficult part of the test. If copying the answers is tough, I doubt he could actually be expected to come up with a sorting algorithm.

 

[Descartes]

Originally posted by: notfred

Originally posted by: Descartes

Originally posted by: notfred

Originally posted by: Descartes

Originally posted by: notfred
What the hell does putting things in alphabetical order have to do with programming?

A futile attempt at discerning ones ability to implement a sorting algo?

He didn't say anything about a sorting algorithim. He jsut said he had to put words in order.

1. Bird
2. Cat
3. Dog
4. Rabbit

Backwards alphabetical order:

Rabbit
Dog
Cat
Bird

oh, but wait, I have to use the number, not the word.

4, 3, 2, 1

Hey, I'm a programmer!

I was operating under the assumption that the absurdity of the above "test" wouldn't actually be used to discern ones aptitude for anything without requiring implementation.

If he was actually implementing this, why would it matter that there were 12?

Good point. I concede and leave flabbergasted.

 

[gopunk]

this sounds more like an IQ test or something...

 

[Haircut]

I had to do something like that when I applied for a job a while ago.

It had 5 questions too:
First one was basically a big flow chart, you started with a number and each box that you came to told you to do a particular operation on your number and move to a particular box depending on the current value of the number.

They were all in a similar vein, just basic pattern following and logic stuff, anyone that had decent mathematical ability should do pretty well, even if they have never programmed before.

 

[Garet Jax]

Originally posted by: agnitrate

Originally posted by: Garet Jax
Has any one here written one of these? Impressions? Thoughts?

I wrote one yesterday.

You wrote one or you took one? It sounds like you took one.

Where did you take it? I've never heard of such a thing.

I dislike many 'programming' tests because programming is mostly about planning and less about implementation while the tests only quibble about semantics. If it was more verbal, then I'd find it interesting since you can ask much more general questions.

-silver

It was for a job application and it was 100% written.

I totally agree with you. However this test had nothing to do with semantics. In fact, it was not technology specific, but instead for a person's aptitude for programming and understanding complexity quickly.

 

[Garet Jax]

Originally posted by: notfred
What the hell does putting things in alphabetical order have to do with programming?

Nothing, but it has a lot to do with attention to detail with does have a lot to do with programming.

 

[Garet Jax]

Originally posted by: notfred

Originally posted by: Descartes

Originally posted by: notfred
What the hell does putting things in alphabetical order have to do with programming?

A futile attempt at discerning ones ability to implement a sorting algo?

He didn't say anything about a sorting algorithim. He jsut said he had to put words in order.

1. Bird
2. Cat
3. Dog
4. Rabbit

Backwards alphabetical order:

Rabbit
Dog
Cat
Bird

oh, but wait, I have to use the number, not the word.

4, 3, 2, 1

Hey, I'm a programmer!

Not quite true. First the things to be sorted were not words. They were 3 letters purposely chosen to confuse you like:

QQQ
QRQ
QSQ
QRS
RSQ
etc...

Second, it was not like a conventional sort ie QQQ before QRS. It said things like group all first lettered elements together and then reverse sort the 2nd character or if the second character is a vowel then normally sort the elements by its third character otherwise reverse sort the elements by their third character.

 

[Garet Jax]

Originally posted by: Carbonyl
Sounds like a good idea. I'll bet a lot of people in progamming should'nt be there.

My guess is if your good at math and puzzles you'll do well.

Exactly. I have a bachelor of mathematics and I was the only one to finish the test. The test questions could have been solved by anybody with enough time. The problem is that the descriptions were complex and the exercises were time consuming. It was testing your ability to make sense of complex tasks, perform these tasks quickly and attention to detail.

 

[Garet Jax]

Originally posted by: notfred
"Plus I needed to copy the answer for each question onto an answer sheet." As if this was another difficult part of the test. If copying the answers is tough, I doubt he could actually be expected to come up with a sorting algorithm.

When you have almost no time left and your brain is fried from thinking, it is not as easy as you might expect. The answers were not simply one number, they were a list of twelve numbers in differing orders.