The British Council Logical Reasoning Test

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Ben Hopgood Updated:

About The British Council logical reasoning tests

The British Council looks for employees with a high logical reasoning ability. Applicants have to pass a logical test before being offered a position.

The British Council logo

The British Council use the following tests in their selection process:

  • Numerical reasoning test
  • Verbal reasoning test
  • Logical reasoning test
  • Situational judgement test

The British Council is an international organisation specialising in providing services relating to the English Language, Arts, Education and Society.

Logical reasoning tests are a fair and objective way for The British Council to assess a wide range of applicants, each having different experiences and different qualifications. By analysing the results of a standardised logical reasoning test, The British Council are able to quickly see which candidates are suitable for the role and which are not. This sort of information about candidates’ skills is difficult to glean from interviews and qualifications alone, so they use professional psychometric tests.

The British Council Application Process Stages

Stage 1

Online Application

You will need to set up a user account and input details such as your personal information, employment and education. The supporting statement section of the application form will ask you to give an example from your employment or educational history where you have shown each of the six British Council Behaviours.

Stage 2

Interview

Interviews for the British Council normally take place over the phone and will give you a chance to convey your skills and experience in more detail.

Stage 3

Online assessment

As part of the interview process, you may be asked to complete a numerical, verbal, logical or situational judgement test (depending on the area that you are applying to).

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The British Council Logical Reasoning Test Questions

Like most logical tests, the one used by The British Council look at your ability to interpret abstract data, such as patterns created from shapes and shades, and answer questions which require identification and extrapolation of these patterns. The logical test will be assessing your speed and accuracy. The answers are multiple choice and you should try to work quickly within the time limit, but also accurately. Negative marking is unlikely to be used but do not guess answers, as this will show up in your accuracy score. Sometimes you will find that you can make a best guess estimate by deducing that some of the answer options are incorrect. This approach to logical tests will come with practice, and you will become familiar with the type of logical tests used by companies such as The British Council.

Logical reasoning tests and who uses them

Companies are using logical reasoning test more and more in their application process that candidates must go through. Logical reasoning tests are favoured to assess a candidate's general level of abstract intelligence or reasoning ability. A person's score in a logical reasoning test is a good indicator of their ability to work well with new concepts and to spot patterns. This can be important in any sector or position.

So as a graduate or senior candidate applying for a job at The British Council you might feel like the logical reasoning test is an unnecessary hoop to jump through. But you should bear in mind that The British Council are asking you to complete the logical test as much for your own benefit as theirs; if you are not suitable for the role, a psychometric test will usually identify this. Research has shown that psychometric tests, such as those used by The British Council, are a better predictor of job performance than traditional selection metrics such as level of degree achieved.

What you should know before taking your logical reasoning test

The logical operations required in standardised logical tests are of a level which most applicants can achieve. The difficult aspect comes with identifying the patterns, especially when there are multiple differences in each example of the pattern, quickly and accurately within the time limit. Here is a list of the most common operations you can expect in your logical test:

  • Changes in size of shape
  • Reflection
  • Transformation
  • Division
  • Greyscale shading or other ways of making shapes more distinct
  • Rotation

Different types of logical tests

Most questions in most logical reasoning tests follow a standard format displaying a pattern of images, the question and answer options on screen. These can be arranged differently, but each test will stick to the same layout throughout. The images may contain shapes, such as squares, triangles, and circles, or more symbols, such as arrows, currency signs, and other special characters. The question text may contain extra information which adds to what's given in the sequence of images, this might also be necessary to answer the question correctly. You might have to guess which answer option is the next in the sequence, or which options represents a missing step in the sequence. Lastly, the answer options are almost always multiple choice. Multiple choice answers can vary, however. You may have 4 options to pick from, 5, maybe 10, or more. The more answer options to pick from, the slimmer the chances are that you can obtain the correct answer by guessing.

Answered questions

How difficult are your tests?

The same difficulty as real tests. Generally real employer selection tests don't differ that much in terms of difficulty which is why they compare your score against norm groups. Our practice tests are pitched roughly at graduate level, but this means they are actually suitable for preparing for all levels of job: entry; apprentice; graduate; senior; director.

Are they compatible with my Mac / Tablet / Phone?

Yes, and PC, and Linux and smartphone and Android and...everything. Our practice tests will run on all systems and they are responsive so they will work well on tablets and smartphones too!

How many times can I take the tests?

Unlimited. You can take our practice tests as many times as you like; there is no limit. But to be honest, after taking the same test a few times you start to remember the answers, so that’s why we have lots of tests.