Critical thinking test: Pre-employment skills assessment for hiring the best candidates

Summary of the Critical thinking test

This online critical thinking screening test evaluates candidates’ skills in critical thinking through inductive and deductive reasoning problems. This pre-employment skills test will help you identify candidates who can evaluate information and make sound judgments using analytical skills.

Covered skills

  • Analyzing syllogisms

  • Making inferences

  • Recognizing assumptions

  • Weighing arguments

Use the Critical thinking test to hire

Any role that involves a high degree of critical and independent thinking to solve complex problems, such as analysts, executive positions, legal roles, computer and data scientists, among others.

Type

Cognitive ability

Time

12 min

Languages

English, Spanish, French, Italian, Japanese, Dutch, Portuguese

Level

Advanced

About the Critical thinking test

Effective critical thinking requires the ability to actively and skillfully conceptualize, apply, analyze, synthesize, and evaluate information to make a judgment or formulate an innovative solution. Employees with strong critical thinking skills can solve issues skillfully and independently and devise new approaches to complex problems using analytical skills.

This Critical Thinking test evaluates candidates’ abilities to solve syllogisms through deductive reasoning, to interpret sequences and arrangements and draw sound conclusions, to assess cause and effect relationships, and to recognize assumptions. The test presents candidates with single or multiple statements and asks them to analyze the information and use logic to identify the right answer.

If you are looking for candidates who think independently, solve complex problems, and generate innovative solutions, this is the right test. This is a great test to include to check candidates' overall analytical skills.

The test is made by a subject-matter expert

TestGorilla Assessment Team

TestGorilla's Assessment Team is responsible for the delivery of leading edge, science-based measurement, assessment content, insights and innovation. The team is comprised of organizational psychologists, data scientists, psychometricians, academics, researchers, writers, and editors. Collectively, the Assessment Team boasts more than 15 advanced degrees, more than 100 scientific publications and presentations, and almost 100 years of assessment and talent acquisition industry experience.

Crafted with expert knowledge

TestGorilla’s tests are created by subject matter experts. We assess potential subject-matter experts based on their knowledge, ability, and reputation. Before being published, each test is peer-reviewed by another expert, then calibrated using hundreds of test takers with relevant experience in the subject.

Our feedback mechanisms and unique algorithms allow our subject-matter experts to constantly improve their tests.

What our customers are saying

TestGorilla helps me to assess engineers rapidly. Creating assessments for different positions is easy due to pre-existing templates. You can create an assessment in less than 2 minutes. The interface is intuitive and it’s easy to visualize results per assessment.

David Felipe C.

VP of Engineering, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)

Review from G2

Any tool can have functions—bells and whistles. Not every tool comes armed with staff passionate about making the user experience positive.

The TestGorilla team only offers useful insights to user challenges, they engage in conversation.

For instance, I recently asked a question about a Python test I intended to implement. Instead of receiving “oh, that test would work perfectly for your solution,” or, “at this time we’re thinking about implementing a solution that may or may not…” I received a direct and straightforward answer with additional thoughts to help shape the solution.

I hope that TestGorilla realizes the value proposition in their work is not only the platform but the type of support that’s provided.

For a bit of context—I am a diversity recruiter trying to create a platform that removes bias from the hiring process and encourages the discovery of new and unseen talent.

David B.

Chief Talent Connector, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

Review from G2

Use TestGorilla to hire the best faster, easier and bias-free

Our screening tests identify the best candidates and make your hiring decisions faster, easier, and bias-free.

Watch what TestGorilla can do for you

Create high-quality assessments, fast

Building assessments is a breeze with TestGorilla. Get started with these simple steps.

View a sample report

The Critical thinking test will be included in a PDF report along with the other tests from your assessment. You can easily download and share this report with colleagues and candidates.

Critical thinking test

Why a Critical thinking test is important

A critical-thinking test evaluates applicants’ skills through two forms of reasoning: deductive and inductive. This test will help you find the candidates who make great decisions based on analytical thinking from the information they have at their disposal.

And that’s what critical thinking is: Taking in limited information, analyzing it, figuring out the best possible course, and then taking action. Candidates with these skills will carefully look at the pros and cons, advantages and disadvantages, strengths and weaknesses, and then make a decision with all the data and information in mind.

In a business setting, this can be the difference between one employee who is on their way to a promotion and another who can’t seem to close a sale.

And critical thinking has many applications in the business environment.

Critical thinking in the workplace

There are many ways in which an employee can use critical thinking in the workplace. Here are some situations where a candidate with great critical-thinking skills could make a difference.

Sales. People with great critical-thinking skills can really amplify their sales results. When talking with potential clients, they can use their critical-thinking skills to handle any objections that the prospect might have and influence them to make a buying decision.

• Marketing. Candidates with critical-thinking skills would use them to create marketing campaigns that send a message in a creative way, staying within their budget but reaching a wider audience because of the way the message is conveyed. And on top of that, candidates with great critical-thinking skills will take input from their team members to get more information before making a decision.

Product development. Critical-thinking skills are essential in the product development team because the employees who work here have to figure out how to create new features and benefits for a product so that it appeals to their customers.

• HR. When conducting a performance review or an exit interview, a person with critical-thinking skills will handle both instances better than someone without. When doing a performance review, they will ask probing questions to figure out why the team member didn’t hit their goals – or even better, they will work out why the employee achieved their targets with ease. In an exit interview, they will know how to ask the right questions of the individual leaving the organization to get the most important information.

Critical thinking test

Critical-thinking competencies for candidates

A candidate with critical-thinking skills will have a number of competencies:

Observation skills: Candidates with critical-thinking skills will be observant. They will always try to get information. Sometimes, they will have people tell them the information, but they will also observe their environment and the people around them.

• Analysis: When they observe their environment and the people in it, they are able to analyze the data and the situation at hand. They can use analysis in a new situation that requires fast thinking, but they can also slow down and analyze situations by asking questions and carrying out research. They know the importance of data so they try to analyze it as thoroughly as possible with the time they have at their disposal.

Decide: After observing and analyzing the data, it’s time to make a decision. This decision will always be based on partial data, but the candidate will be sure to analyze every piece of information they have so that the decision is based on the data.

Communication: A great critical thinker also knows the importance of communicating their decisions to those around them. Critical thinking produces decisions and people with this skill know that they need to explain their position to others.

Problem-solving: Problem-solving is all about execution. After the candidate has observed, analyzed, decided, and communicated their decision, it’s time to implement the solution. Even though the decision won’t always produce the desired results, it will be the right decision if the candidate took into account all the information they had before making it.

What happens when a candidate doesn’t have critical-thinking skills

Critical-thinking skills require candidates to slow down, take a breath, and analyze a situation to come up with the best possible solution to it.

A candidate with fewer critical-thinking skills will jump to a conclusion without taking into consideration the data or information at hand. This can create quite a lot of turmoil in the workplace. Not only that, but this kind of behavior can create a lot of problems when dealing with customers and clients.

For example, if a client doesn’t answer their emails for a couple of days because they are in the middle of negotiations, a candidate with no critical-thinking skills might rush to send an email to the customer demanding an answer. This could create a bad experience for the potential client, resulting in the breakdown of negotiations.

On the other hand, a candidate with critical-thinking skills will slow down and wait for a little while because there could be a number of reasons why somebody has not responded to their email for a couple of days.

Critical thinking test

How the critical-thinking test can help recruiters hire

The critical-thinking test can help recruiters hire people who have this skill. Including it in an assessment provides bias-free, objective, numerical results that can be used to identify the top candidates for your hiring manager to interview.

With a pre-employment test, you can prevent the bias that creeps in during the CV screening process. Not only that but giving your candidates a critical-thinking test is simple and fast: whether your hiring manager has 50 or 300 applicants, they can send the test to all of them with a single click.

In summary

Critical-thinking skills are essential for any business environment. To properly evaluate them, you should give your candidates a critical-thinking test. TestGorilla’s science-backed critical-thinking test enables you to rank your applicants according to who performs best, based on fair, objective, bias-free results. So be sure to use a pre-employment critical-thinking test to assess the critical skills of all your candidates at the start of your hiring process.

FAQs

Related tests

Basic Math Calculations

This Basic Math Calculations test evaluates candidates’ ability to solve addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division problems. This test will help you identify candidates who can solve calculations that use double- and triple-digit integers.
10 min

Mechanical reasoning

This mechanical reasoning test evaluates candidates’ understanding of basic mechanical and physical concepts. This test helps you identify individuals with good mechanical reasoning skills who can apply mechanical principles to solve problems.
10 min

Understanding Instructions

The understanding instructions test evaluates a candidate’s ability to understand and follow instructions in many different forms, and in a variety of contexts. This test helps you identify candidates who can process and follow instructions correctly.
10 min

Attention to detail (visual)

This attention to detail (visual) test evaluates candidates’ ability to pay attention to visual details and information. This online skills assessment helps you identify candidates who can pay close attention to visual cues and can handle visual material carefully and thoroughly. The attention to detail test is designed by a subject matter expert to screen candidates who can find differences in images and match identical images. It also assesses candidates’ ability to distinguish small details in an image and to identify patterns. You can send this online attention-to-detail (visual) assessment to your prospective job applicants and screen them objectively before inviting them to an interview.
10 min

Intermediate math

The intermediate math test evaluates candidates’ ability to solve math equations and problems involving fractions, decimals, percentages, ratios, and time calculations. This test will help you identify candidates who can work well with numbers.
10 min

Basic triple-digit math

This basic triple-digit math test evaluates candidates' ability to solve mathematical equations using triple-digit numbers. The test helps you identify candidates who can solve equations using addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.
10 min

Basic double-digit math

This basic double-digit math test evaluates candidates’ ability to solve mathematical equations using double-digit numbers. The test helps you identify candidates who can solve equations using addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.
10 min

Attention to detail (textual)

This attention-to-detail pre-hire skills test evaluates candidates’ ability to pay attention to textual detail while processing information. The attention to detail (textual) test helps companies identify candidates who can thoroughly and carefully handle intricate processes using analytical skills.
10 min

Problem Solving

This Problem Solving test evaluates candidates’ ability to define problems and analyze data and textual information to make correct decisions. This test helps you identify candidates who use analytical skills to evaluate and respond to complex situations.
9 min

Numerical reasoning

This numerical reasoning test evaluates candidates’ general aptitude with numbers and their skill in interpreting them for a wide range of applications. This test will help you identify candidates with strong numerical skills.
10 min