MyAptitude
Career aptitude tests for students
Formerly the Cambridge Profile Aptitude Tests
MyAptitude is a psychometric aptitude test developed with Occupational Psychologist Dr Charles Johnson and backed by UK and Irish norms. It gives students valuable insights into the work and careers best-suited to their skills whilst highlighting key areas for development. And it helps staff understand students’ academic potential so they can better advise on next steps.
How does it work?
Allow about 90 minutes for the standard MyAptitude. Its 8 tests take 70 minutes, plus short pauses between tests. Optional Verbal Reasoning II test: 7 minutes. Optional Welsh spelling test for schools in Wales: 5 minutes. About 90 minutes still covers both.
Verbal Reasoning
Numerical Reasoning
Abstract Reasoning
2D Spatial Reasoning
3D Spatial Reasoning
Arithmetic Calculation
Working Quickly and Accurately
Spelling
Verbal Reasoning II
(Optional)
*Available in 22 languages, including Welsh, French, German, Chinese and Spanish
For Staff
For Students
Validation
Renowned occupational psychologist Dr Charles Johnson has analysed the results of the MyAptitude tests against the academic statistics of large populations of students in order to verify their effectiveness and accuracy.
For those who would like more in-depth information on the tests, a report on the technical evaluation is available on request. Read more on MyFutureChoice’s assessment philosophy here.
The report
Understanding your aptitude test results
Every student gets a personal report, online and as a PDF. It opens with a radar chart, Percentile vs Peers, so the shape of their strengths is clear at a glance. A results table then gives three measures for each test area:
PercentileHow the result compares with others of the same age. The 60th percentile means they did better than 60 out of every 100 students. Percentiles include a standard confidence range, so small differences are not significant.
SpeedHow many questions they attempted within the time limit.
AccuracyHow many of those they got right.
The report explains each result in words and gives examples of careers linked to the areas where the student scored highest. The 2D and 3D spatial tests give one combined Spatial Reasoning score, so there are seven test areas.
Free practice
Free career aptitude test practice
Want to see what the tests are like first? Each practice test is a short, timed version of a MyAptitude test with a few example questions. They are free, and you don’t need to register.
Verbal ReasoningUnderstanding and reasoning with written informationTry it →Numerical ReasoningSolving problems with numbers, tables and graphsTry it →Abstract ReasoningSpotting patterns and rules in shapesTry it →Spatial Reasoning (2D)Turning flat shapes in your mindTry it →Spatial Reasoning (3D)Picturing how a flat net folds into a solidTry it →Arithmetic CalculationQuick, accurate number workTry it →Working Quickly and AccuratelyChecking information fast without mistakesTry it →SpellingSpotting correct and incorrect spellingsTry it →
Practice tests are not scored against other students. The full MyAptitude assessment, taken through your school, gives percentile results and a report.
Aptitude test, career interest test or personality test?
An aptitude test measures how well you can do certain kinds of thinking, such as reasoning with words, numbers, shapes and patterns, under timed conditions. The questions have right and wrong answers, so the results show relative strengths rather than what someone likes doing.
MyAptitude
Aptitude test
Measures abilities such as reasoning, with right and wrong answers. It shows what a student does well.
MyCareerChoices
Career interest test
Asks what a student likes and dislikes, to suggest careers that match their interests.
MyCareerChoices is our careers interest questionnaire, with 300 questions.
Not used
Personality test
Describes how someone tends to behave, think or feel. We don’t use personality tests: young people are still developing, and every career needs a mix of personalities.
Taken together, MyAptitude and MyCareerChoices let students compare what they enjoy with what they do well, and see the career areas where the two meet.
Finding the right career path: aptitude plus interests
An aptitude test on its own doesn’t give you a list of careers. It shows what you are good at. To choose the right career, you need both: what you enjoy and what you do well.
In schools that use MyFutureChoice, students take MyCareerChoices for career recommendations based on their interests, and MyAptitude to see their strengths. Together they help students explore career paths that fit them, with information on over 500 careers in WORKBRIEF, and then research courses with MyUniChoices.
How to prepare for an aptitude test
- Try the free practice tests so you know the question types and the time limits.
- Read the instructions for each test carefully before you start.
- Work quickly, but check your answers. Speed and accuracy are both reported.
- If a question is taking too long, make your best choice and move on.
- Get a good night’s sleep and take the test somewhere quiet.
How accurate is a career aptitude test?
No test can tell a student which career to choose, and a good aptitude test should say how reliable it is and what it is compared against. For MyAptitude:
- British Psychological SocietyMyAptitude is registered with the British Psychological Society.
- Occupational psychologistDeveloped and evaluated under Dr Charles Johnson, Chartered Occupational Psychologist.
- UK and Irish normsStudents are compared with others of their age in their own country.
- ReliabilityAbove the accepted threshold on every scale. Full figures are in the technical evaluation, on request.
- ValidityResults correlate with GCSE, Junior Certificate and A-level outcomes.
- Irish Department of Education and YouthIncluded on the published list of psychometric assessments for post-primary guidance.
Use the results as one piece of evidence, discussed with a careers adviser, not as a final answer. Read the evidence behind MyAptitude
Free practice tests vs the full assessment
- Free practice tests: short versions of each test with a few questions and a short time limit. Not scored or compared with other students. Anyone can try them.
- Full MyAptitude assessment: eight full-length timed tests, taken through your school or college. You get speed, accuracy and percentile results for seven test areas, a radar chart of your percentiles and a personalised report, and the results can be linked with MyCareerChoices and MyUniChoices.
Look for patterns, not single scores
Where are your strongest results, and which subjects and careers use those abilities? Strong spatial reasoning is useful in engineering, architecture and design; strong verbal reasoning helps in law, journalism and teaching. Your careers adviser can help you connect your results with your interests and next steps.
Support is part of the assessment
Extra time, chosen section by section
MyAptitude includes display choices and optional extra time to support participation by students with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), additional support needs (ASN) or additional learning needs (ALN), alongside their school’s individual guidance.
MyAptitude
Optional 25% extra time
Students choose the support they need: 25% extra time in each section, chosen separately for each section rather than for the whole assessment.
MyAptitude
Display settings
Customisable fonts, a high contrast mode, a colourblind option and an optional dyslexia font give students several ways to change how the tests appear.
These are settings within the programmes. They are not a diagnosis, and choosing extra time in MyAptitude does not give a student extra time in school or public examinations.
Frequently Asked Questions
Discover more
Discover how we can help with careers advice and guidance to ensure individuals make better decisions for their own unique career journey. Download our full MyFutureChoice programme overview and see how we can help you.
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Programme Features
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Webinars/Training
MyCareerChoices
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How we support staff
Accurately interpreting results is key. As well as providing technical manuals and handbooks to accompany testing, we can help staff in two ways:
Interviewing services – where we interpret results and send our experts to your school to give the test feedback.
Where school staff interpret results and give feedback themselves, we offer various levels of training and support services.