Did you know that many employers, including nursing schools, require applicants to take a Wonderlic Test prior to either employment or acceptance into the school? More and more, pre-employment / pre-acceptance screenings are using tests like the Wonderlic to assess student’s abilities and determine whether or not that applicant has the aptitude to excel in the program. For this reason, practicing for the Wonderlic Test is imperative for any person applying to any educational program or professional position.
What to Expect on the Wonderlic Test
The Wonderlic Test, just like its counterpart the Wonderlic SLE Test, is one continuous examination. It is not divided into parts or sections like many tests but, rather, it is one unbroken string of 50 questions. The test-taker has 12 minutes to complete these questions. Questions can be skipped or left unanswered however, we suggest that every question be answered before time elapses. Incorrect answers do not count against the overall score and correct answers contribute to a higher score.
The Nursing School Wonderlic Test encompasses two primary areas of testing which are then subdivided into more specific areas of focus. The two primary areas are math skills and verbal skills. The following breakdown illustrates the sub-topics tested under each:
Mathematics Skills
- Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication, Division — The test-taker must know the basic mathematical functions that form the basis of all math knowledge.
- Order of Operations — This tests the order which is generally followed to complete mathematical operations. It can be remembered by PEMDAS or, Parenthesis, Exponents, Multiplication, Division, Addition, Subtraction. While the order of operations itself is not directly tested, the test-taker must know the correct order of operations to successfully solve many of the problems listed.
- Time & Date — Questions may involve the manipulation of clock time and / or mathematical operations on calendar dates such as adding and subtracting minutes / hours / days to an established schedule.
- Percentages & Fractions — Both percentages and fractions are tested independently as well as together. The successful test taker will know by memory common conversions between percentages and fractions.
- Money — Many math-based questions revolve around basic financial calculations such as earnings per hour / day / week / month or a new or old salary before or after a raise is received.
- Word Problems — Almost all of the mathematical problems on the Wonderlic Test are written out in paragraph form such that the test taker must first decipher the question being asked before solving the problem.
Verbal Skills
- Word Knowledge — Two words are presented to the test-taker and the question is often whether the words are similar in meaning, opposite in meaning, or have unrelated meanings.
- Statement Evaluation — Typically, three statements are presented to the test-taker. The first two statements are assumed to be true. The test-taker then must determine if the third sentence is true based on the information given.
- Perceptiveness — The test-taker is presented with two lists and he or she must quickly decide how many items are identical between those two lists.
- Correct Sentence Structure — These questions typically occur in the form, “Choose the word that correctly completes the following sentence.” Some of the questions provide different forms of the same word (e.g. walk, walks, walking, walked, etc.) and other questions provide completely different word choices based on the sentence provided.
The Wonderlic Test that is used for nursing school, other trade schools, universities and job screenings is no joke. It is a very difficult test especially when you consider that you only have about 14 seconds to answer each question. If your goal is nursing school or even CNA school, we strongly suggest that you take our practice Wonderlic Test as many times as you need to feel comfortable.