The ACT WorkKeys assessment is a challenging cognitive assessment tool administered at different levels depending on your job level and industry type.
Learn more about how to tackle this challenging test and prepare thoroughly with PrepTerminal’s ACT WorkKeys Prep Course.
I’m Matt, Prepterminal’s ACT Workkeys Test Prep Expert.
Any questions about the course? Let me know at matt@prepterminal.com
Considered as a key element in ACT workforce solutions, the ACT Workkeys assessment test measures the essential skills needed for success in the workplace.
The test is designed to not only recognize and solve day to day workplace problems but to also gauge various soft and hard skills that are useful to any job, regardless of level or industry type.
Those who successfully complete the exam will be given the National Career Readiness Certificate or NCRC, a credential that validates the abilities considered to be the most vital in any occupation. Leading companies and universities nowadays require their applicants to have NCRC as it helps the company select the most qualified manpower for their workforce.
In general, the ACT Workkeys test aims to verify a number of skills or proficiencies of the test-taker, namely in:
Furthermore, the ACT Workkeys Assessment Exam is also used as a national admissions test regularly used by schools to help them determine an applicant’s eligibility.
There are eight kinds of these assessment tests, each varying in the type of skills they measure.
As these tests are quite challenging, they require a good amount of preparation. Many examinees make the mistake of not familiarizing themselves with the exam’s mechanics with the common misstep being the miscalculation of the difficulty of the subject.
The way to earn a Workkeys certificate is by completing three assessment exams.
These are: Applied Math, Graphic Literacy and Workplace Documents. The objective of each assessment exam is to measure and certify the essential work skills needed in order to be an effective employee.
In this ACT Workkeys Test, the examinee’s mathematical skills are assessed in order to prove that they have the ability to tackle and overcome problems that are numerical or calculation-based in nature.
Such things are common to occur in the workplace on a day-to-day basis no matter what profession or industry, thus the creation of this particular Workkeys assessment. Fortunately, however,
On its own, the test contains 34 items to be answered in 55 minutes, both in the online and pen-and-paper version. Furthermore, the ACT Workkeys Test Applied Math Assessment has five ‘versions’, or rather, Levels, specifically, Level 3 to 7.
The Level 3 version of the test is considered as the least complex while Level 7 is considered as the most complex one. This is because the higher the Level you choose to take, the more skills are assessed and incorporated from the previous levels.
This means if you chose to take the Level 7 test, you will encounter questions that can only be solved if you have the skills from Level 3, 4, 5, and 6.
Let’s take a look at them:
Contains items in the form of word problems and the information is present and in choronological order, allowing the examinee to easily solve them.
Nearly similar like the previous level but here, the information may be presented out of order and that most questions may have unncessary information, forcing the examinee to figure out which are vital to the question. Tables, charts, and diagrams are added into the question bank as well.
Contains problems with characteristics from the previous Levels but with the addition of having to use several steps more and the use of logic before performing a calculation.
Most questions require multi-step calculation while some require the examinee to convert the figures or details from verbal into numerical such as having to use 50% or 0.50 if the question uses ‘half’ in it in order to create a coherent and solvable mathematical equation.
Questions encountered in this Level may require the examinee to infer or guess certain variables or values as information may be incomplete or implicit. To make things worse, most of the questions in this Level requires multi-step calculation, among other things from the previous levels.
In this ACT Workkeys Test subject, the test-taker’s ability to comprehend graphical data that is commonly used in the workplaced is assessed. This means they will have to answer questions that are focusing on charts, graphs, diagrams, and even floorplans, and it will be up to them to decide which information is necessary to the question and which is junk information.
The ACT Workkeys Test Graphic Literacy Assessment contains 38 items to be answered in 55 minutes, both in the online and pen-and-paper version. It also has five ‘versions’, or rather, Levels, specifically, Level 3 to 7.
Again, the Level 3 version of the test is considered as the least complex while Level 7 is considered as the most complex one. This is because the higher the Level you choose to take, the more skills are assessed and incorporated from the previous levels.
This means if you chose to take the Level 7 test, you will encounter questions that can only be answered if you have the skills from Level 3, 4, 5, and 6.
Let’s take a look at them:
Only one graphic is used in each question in the form of order forms, bar graphs, tables, flow charts, maps, gauges, or floor plans.
Graphical data may now include multiple levels of data within a single graph. In this Level, the number of graphs can now be a maximum of two per question. Bar and pie charts, diagrams, maps, and dashboards are now included in the types of graphs that one can encounter in the test.
A number of questions here uses graphics More complicated workplace graphics – may include unusual graphic types (i.e. proprietary-esque graphics or archaic ones). The number of data included in each graphic is further increased and may be condensed in the graphic, making it rather difficult to read. Each question has a chance to contain two or more graphics at a time.
The graphics presented here now contain more information, such as having three scales or axes per graphic, than the previous levels in addition to having multiple graphics per question.
Identify which of the presented graphics is the correct or most accurate one based on the requirements or details of the question.
The third ACT Workkeys Test subject that one will encounter in the ACT Workkeys assessment. The way the examinee’s skills are examined here are somehwat similar to the Graphic Literacy assessment but instead of charts and diagrams, the questions will provide passages in the form of company bulletins, announcements, policies, emails, contracts, and even website details.
In short, this test is meant to assess the examinee’s reading comprehension when it comes to workplace documents and how they apply to a particular situation.
This test contains 35 items to be answered in 55 minutes, both in the online and pen-and-paper version. It also has five ‘versions’, or rather, Levels, specifically, Level 3 to 7.
Level 3 version is considered as the least complex while Level 7 is considered as the most complex one. Once again, the higher the Level you choose to take, the more skills are assessed and incorporated from the previous levels.
Let’s take a look at them:
The passages or reading materials used in this Level is comprised of simple and short company policies, procedures, and announcements. Passages encountered here are direct and to the point, allowing the examinee to know what to do or what to focus on immediately.
Passages present in this Level are now slightly longer and more extensive to read, those with instructions now contain more steps to follow in addition to alternative ones if a certain development or complicatio occurs. In addition, more complex or technical words are introduced in some passages as well.
Intensive company policy, contracts, legal, and instructional documents are now included in the question bank. Reading materials are now significantly longer and more complex, some with needless details or information. The use of technical terms and industry-specific jargon are more common. ‘If-then’ problems are more prominent as well.
The passages contained in this Level are now more complex with the addition of more difficult vocabulary as well as the usage of more industry/company-specifica jargon and acronyms. Passages are also longer and may contain further needless details. The usage of context clues to discover the meaning of a term is more extensive.
The passages contained in this Level are highly complex and contain a lot of information, complicated concepts, unusual and undefined jargon and technical terms, and have difficult vocabulary.
Aside from the Workkeys assessments mentioned above, ACT also offers NCRC Plus, a certificate that can be earned by taking the Workkeys Talent assessment. Unlike the other exams that assess cognitive abilities, talent assessment measures the examinee’s behaviors and attitudes.
Four areas that are directly related to workplace success are measured here: work discipline, teamwork, customer service orientation and managerial potential. The test results will give an idea of the examinee’s personal characteristics and whether they will be the right fit for the job or not.
PrepTerminal’s ACT WorkKeys Preparation Course has been painstakingly composed by our expert instructional team, who have spent countless hours studying and preparing a curated module-based study guide to walk you through everything you need to know to ace your ACT exam; they have put in the legwork to gather all the correct and most up-to-date information so you won’t have to worry about it.
With their help, we were able to produce a full curriculum-based course for an optimal structured learning experience that covers everything in the ACT Workkeys test so that test-takers can prepare and succeed despite its difficult nature.
This means that our prep course has study guides, practice questions, and full practice tests that contain all of the subjects, questions, and question formats that will appear in the actual exam.
Here at Prepterminal, we know that there are no bad test-takers, only ones that are more informed and more prepared. Secure your future by studying and practicing today!
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The ACT WorkKeys assessment is a challenging cognitive assessment tool administered at different levels depending on your job level and industry type.
Learn more about how to tackle this challenging test and prepare thoroughly with PrepTerminal’s ACT WorkKeys Prep Course.
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