critical thinking exam sample

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When Is Critical Thinking Used?

Critical thinking is used in several stages of the problem-solving and decision-making process:

Critical thinking tests can have several sections or subtests that assess and measure a variety of aspects.

In this section, you are asked to draw conclusions from observed or supposed facts. You are presented with a short text containing a set of facts you should consider as true. Below the text is a statement that could be inferred from the text. You need to make a judgement on whether this statement is valid or not, based on what you have read. Furthermore, you are asked to evaluate whether the statement is true, probably true, there is insufficient data to determine, probably false, or false. For example, if a baby is crying and it is his feeding time, you may infer that the baby is hungry. However, the baby may be crying for other reasons—perhaps it is hot.

Recognizing Assumptions

In this section, you are asked to recognize whether an assumption is justifiable or not. Here you are given a statement followed by an assumption on that statement. You need to establish whether this assumption can be supported by the statement or not. You are being tested on your ability to avoid taking things for granted that are not necessarily true. For example, you may say, "I’ll have the same job in three months," but you would be taking for granted the fact that your workplace won't make you redundant, or that that you won’t decide to quit and explore various other possibilities. You are asked to choose between the options of assumption made and assumption not made.

This section tests your ability to weigh information and decide whether given conclusions are warranted. You are presented with a statement of facts followed by a conclusion on what you have read. For example, you may be told, "Nobody in authority can avoid making uncomfortable decisions." You must then decide whether a statement such as "All people must make uncomfortable decisions" is warranted from the first statement. You need to assess whether the conclusion follows or the conclusion does not follow what is contained in the statement.

Interpretation

This section measures your ability to understand the weighing of different arguments on a particular question or issue. You are given a short paragraph to read, which you are expected to take as true. This paragraph is followed by a suggested conclusion, for which you must decide if it follows beyond a reasonable doubt. You have the choice of conclusion follows and conclusion does not follow.

Evaluation of Arguments

In this section you are asked to evaluate the strength of an argument. You are given a question followed by an argument. The argument is considered to be true, but you must decide whether it is a strong or weak argument, i.e. whether it is both important and directly related to the question.

Watson Glaser

For free Watson Glaser practice questions click here !

Critical Thinking Examples

As there are various forms of critical thinking, we've provided a number of critical thinking sample questions.

Example 1 – Underlying Assumptions

Proposed Assumption: Asking for a raise at her current place of work is not the best way to increase the wife's income.

A. Assumption made

B. Assumption not made

The correct answer is (B), Assumption not made.

Answer explanation:

The conclusion of the wife's statement: Soon we will increase our joint income. The evidence supporting this conclusion: I will begin to work an additional part-time job. The underlying assumption/s that must be true for the conclusion to be true: A part-time job will provide me with extra money. The proposed assumption: "Asking for a raise at her current place of work is not the best way to increase the wife's income" is not necessary for the conclusion to be true.

Example 2 – Interpreting Information

Proposed Assumption: Harold’s wife doesn’t feel unhappy.

A. Conclusion follows

B. Conclusion does not follow

The correct answer is (B), Conclusion does not follow.

Answer explanation: Harold’s wife is not mentioned in the passage, and, therefore, you cannot presume any information regarding her feelings.

Example 3 – Inferences

Proposed Assumption: There is more to the management's announced intentions than those mentioned by them in the passage.

B. Probably true

C. Insufficent data

E. Probably false

The correct answer is (B), Probably true.

Answer explanation: The text begins by introducing the management's announcement as a reaction to a negative trend—reduction in the number of student applications. While the announcement explicitly addresses both the college's staff and its students, it is likely that the issue at hand is not only a wish to achieve academic excellence but, in fact, a means to resolve the issue of reduced applications and college reputation, which has implications on the college's future. Therefore, the correct answer is probably true.

Professions That Use Critical Thinking Tests

Below are some professions that use critical thinking tests and assessments during the hiring process as well as some positions that demand critical thinking and reasoning skills:

Prepare for Critical Thinking and Critical Reasoning Assessments

The Critical Thinking PrepPack™ is designed to provide you with an inclusive critical thinking preparation experience, as our test questions, study guides, and score reports are all aimed at improving your skills. Start preparing today and ensure your success.

JobTestPrep is not affiliated with any specific test provider. Therefore, while our materials are extremely helpful and styled similarly to most critical thinking tests, they are not an exact match.

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Ace that Test!

Critical thinking tests assess your skills in examining and evaluating reasoning. Such reasoning can be on any subject and can use both verbal and numerical material. The skills of critical thinking include being able to analyze the sequence of claims in reasoning, to assess the strength of reasoning, to interpret meaning, to find implicit claims in reasoning, and to evaluate the possible significance of claims (including evidence).

These tests can be used for selection for higher education courses, and in the employment world as a pre-employment screening tool and as a personnel development tool.

Did you know?

Critical Thinking Tests measure a number of skills, including your ability to (1) recognize assumptions (2) evaluate arguments and (3) draw conclusions. Critical thinking tests are commonly used by academic institutions and in pre-employment testing. Thinking through questions logically and understanding what is being asked are two characteristics of people who do well on these types of tests.

Critical Thinking Questions Types

The sections below review the most common types of questions included in critical thinking tests and provide examples of question scenarios, answers, and solutions. Additional critical thinking sample questions for you to practice can be found on the free practice tab.

Judging Inferences

In this category, you are given a short passage containing evidence, and some inferences drawn from it. Your task is to judge degrees of truth or falsehood in relation to given inferences that have been drawn from the passage. The degrees range from “true” at one end to “false” at the other, with “probably true” and “probably false” within the range. In addition, there is a possible response of “insufficient data” which fits when none of the other judgments can be made. Though there are five possible options, since the same passage will be used for only two or three questions, not all of them will apply to the inferences that are given.

A worldwide study shows that there are behavioral shifts among consumers. 41% said that they are “increasingly looking for ways to save money.” Consumers are largely brand-loyal but shop around for the best prices. Only 12% of consumers have traded-down to buy cheaper brands (such as bottled water), with 11% trading up (with products such as cosmetics). There has been a big shift towards online shopping.

Proposed inference:

Not all consumer behavior is concerned with saving money.

Answer: True This inference can be drawn from the evidence that “Consumers are largely brand-loyal.” The inferential link between the words “largely brand-loyal” and “not all” emphasizes how this inference can be seen as true. It would cease to be true if the inference was given as “All consumer behavior is concerned with making money.”

Recognizing Assumptions

In this type of question, you are looking for what is taken-for-granted or assumed in an argument or in a statement of a position. In other words, though something has not been explicitly stated in an argument or in a position, it is necessary for its author to believe or accept it.

The main justification for taxation is to raise money to increase public welfare rather than to limit the choices available for private spending.

Proposed assumption:

Choices made by private spending will not maximize public welfare.

Answer: Assumption made This must be presupposed since, if the main justification for taxation is to increase public welfare, then it must be believed that private spending would not do this to the same degree.

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In these questions, you are asked to consider if a given conclusion necessarily follows from given statements. By this, we mean that, if the given statements are true (and, for these questions, we always need to take it that they are), then does a given conclusion have to follow? In other words, we are not dealing with conclusions that, at best, probably follow, but those which, given the logic of the argument, must follow.

Some economic predictions are accurate for the short-term. All economic predictions that are accurate for the short-term are inaccurate for the long-term. Therefore…

Proposed conclusion:

No economic predictions are accurate for the long-term.

Answer: The conclusion does not follow The conclusion does not follow since we cannot identify from the statements whether there are any economic predictions that are accurate for the long-term. If we look at the structure of the statements in a simplified form, we get “Some A are B. All B are C.” A logical conclusion to this will be “So some A are C.” Looking at this suggested conclusion in terms of the simplified structure, we see that this would not fit, since it would have to be “No A are D.”

Interpretation of Information

In these questions, you need to use the standard of “beyond reasonable doubt” in order to judge whether a given conclusion follows from the information that is given. (As with deduction, we need to take it that the information is true.) The criterion of “beyond reasonable doubt” is a strong one but it is weaker than the one used in deduction, which is that the conclusion necessarily follows, given the logical structure of the statements.

Economic forecasters tend to perform well with three to four-month predictions, but become much less successful beyond this timescale, especially with 22 months or more. The biggest errors occur ahead of economic contractions. This is because, though economies normally have steady but slow growth, when they contract, they do so sharply.

Short-term forecasts (up to four months) of an economy’s performance are normally accurate except when the economy contracts.

Answer: The conclusion follows This is drawn from the evidence on the normal success of short-term forecasts (“Economic forecasters tend to perform well within three to four-month predictions”) and the reason for the lack of success when the economy contracts (“though economies normally have steady but slow growth, when they contract, they do so sharply”). In this way, the evidence is sufficient for this conclusion to be drawn beyond a reasonable doubt.

Evaluation of Arguments

In these questions, you need to judge the strength or weakness of given arguments. You are given a question in the form of “Should x be the case?” and then an argument in the form of “Yes, because y” or “No, because y.” The relationship between x and y is then to be judged by evaluating whether the reason given provides weak or strong support.

Should tax evasion and theft be seen as equivalent crimes?

No; most people who commit tax evasion wouldn’t also commit theft.

Answer: Weak argument This doesn’t begin to address the issue since it doesn’t make any reference to the issue of equivalence. As a result, it does not provide a relevant reason.

Examining Definitions

In these questions, you are asked to use some information in what is given in a short dialogue in order to clarify how one of the two participants in the dialogue is using a term. There can be a dispute between the participants as to the meaning of the term.

“Are you happy with your investment in ABC Holdings?” asked Frank.

“Very much so – it has been a good investment,” said Mary. “I invested in them five years ago and they have given a good return over a period when other investments have achieved much less.”

Of the following, which is the best way to state Mary’s notion of a good investment?

Answer: The correct answer is 3 This is because it refers to the necessary aspects of the way in which Mary explains her use of the term. It refers to the return as “high” which can be seen to cover her use of the word “good” (since a good return would be seen as a high return). It also refers to the return on investment as being better in relation to returns on other investments, which is another feature of the way in which Mary uses the term. (1) is incorrect. We cannot tell from the way in which Mary uses the term “good investment” whether or not the return on her investment had been predicted as being lower than that which was achieved. (2) is incorrect. Though this captures part of the way in which Mary uses the term “good investment,” it does not make reference to the point that ABC Holdings has done well during a time when other investments have not done so well. In this way, (2) is not sufficiently specific to fit with the way in which Mary uses the term.

Judging Credibility

In questions on credibility, you are asked to judge between the believability of claims that are made about a given scenario. The scenario will be described in such a way that claims about it can be judged against relevant credibility criteria such as expertise, ability to perceive, motive, and reputation. In other words, you are asked to make a credibility judgment between statements, including identifying the possibility that neither statement is more or less believable than the other.

A research study on the language abilities of parrots has been running for a year. The head of the study, Dr. Polly Atkinson, has extensive experience in working on animal communication. She has recently published the first report on the research.

In the following question, two statements are given: (1) and (2). These statements are underlined and the source of them is given. You need to decide which of the two is the more believable but, if you think that neither one is more believable, then mark (3) as your answer.

(1) Parrots were able to use the majority of the words that they were taught (from “Parrots can talk better than young children” in an article based on the report by Dr. Atkins in “Modern Parenting,” a popular magazine).

(2) The parrots could mimic a large proportion (83.8%) of the words that they were given over a period of 100 days (from an article by Dr. Atkins in the journal “Animal learning and behavior”).

(3) Neither statement is more believable.

Answer: The correct answer is 2 This is more believable than (1) since it comes from the named expert in this research study. Though (1) is “based on” this expert’s report, it could be that it isn’t an entirely correct interpretation of her findings, especially with the word “use” rather than “mimic” and the reference to parrots being able to “talk better than young children” which is both vague and ambiguous (and is not necessarily claimed by Dr. Atkins).

Critical Thinking Test Tips

1. answer strictly based on the provided info.

Answer each question solely based on the conditions and facts provided in the question, and not by using your own industry knowledge. However, what is not mentioned may also be relevant for disproving a conclusion.

2. Read each question carefully and don’t skip paragraphs or sentences

You might encounter long questions which you may be tempted to skim through. Don’t! By quickly scanning the question, you may miss valuable information you will need to get the right answer. Read thoroughly and then make your decision.

3. Try finding logic in the statements

Answering each question requires finding a logical connection between the statements or the sentences of the passage. Analyze these and try to find logic between them.

4. Learn to manage the time

Since there will be both long and short questions, the time spent on each question is difficult to assess in advance. However, through practice, you should know how to manage time without skipping any question. Learn to pace and compete with time. This tip only applies to the timed version of the test.

5. Plan and practice

Lastly, to ace any test, precise planning, and continuous practice are a must! Therefore, practice as many questions as you can beforehand.

Critical Thinking Tests for Employment

The results of critical thinking tests reflect on how a job prospect decision making and problem-solving skills and were found to be a good predictor of work performance. Poor critical thinking skills may be costly for any business in terms of higher expenses, loss of revenue, and lower productivity. High scores suggest that the candidate is likely to discover crucial information and problems, evaluate the variables and risks properly, and develop quick and adequate solutions for the benefit of the organization.

Common Critical Thinking Tests

The following are the most used critical thinking assessments. These are mainly used in the employment field but are also utilized as a personal appraisal of critical thinking skills of candidates in various academic programs as an educational placement tool.

Disclaimer – All the information and prep materials on iPrep are genuine and were created for tutoring purposes. iPrep is not affiliated with publishers of Critical Thinking tests.

Get to know the most common types of questions in Critical Thinking Assessment Tests. Practice with these sample questions:

Question 1 of 7

First Type – Inference

A worldwide study shows that there are behavioral shifts among consumers. 41% said that they are “increasingly looking for ways to save money.” Consumers are largely brand loyal but shop around for the best prices. Only 12% of consumers have traded down to buy cheaper brands (such as bottled water), with 11% trading up (with products such as cosmetics). There has been a big shift towards online shopping.

Inference: Consumers who are brand loyal are less likely than those who aren’t to look for ways to save money.

The correct answer is Probably False.

The third sentence gives evidence that, although “consumers are largely brand-loyal,” they also “shop around for the best prices.” Together, these two pieces of evidence make it not probable that brand-loyal customers “are less likely than those who aren’t to look for ways to save money.” At one level, you could say that this is an example of insufficient data, but this category applies when the evidence is simply insufficient (very often, it’s completely absent). Here the evidence is sufficient to understand that it makes this inference a “probably false” one.

Question 2 of 7

Second Type – Recognition of Assumptions

Statement: “It’s clear that there will be an exponential speed-up of AI performance, with a correspondingly huge impact on business strategy.”

Proposed Assumption: The greater the speed of AI performance, the bigger the impact is on business strategy.

This assumption is made.

The relationship between AI performance and the impact on business strategy in the statement is such that the faster AI performance increases, the greater the impact on strategy must be. This can be seen if one looks at the original statement together with the negative version of the assumption.

“It’s clear that there will be an exponential speed-up of AI performance, with a correspondingly huge impact on business strategy.”

The greater the speed of AI performance, the less is the impact on business strategy.

As can be seen, this negative version does not fit at all with the statement, showing that the assumption must be made.

Question 3 of 7

Third Type – Deduction

Premises: All companies use ways to maximize their profits. Some companies use profit-sharing plans; such plans help to retain staff. Retaining staff is a way to maximize a company’s profits. Therefore…

Conclusion: Not all profit-maximizing companies retain staff.

This conclusion follows the premises.

In the diagram below, “A” represents all the profit-maximizing ways; hence, it represents all the companies because according to the first premise, “All companies use ways to maximize their profits.”

The next premises create a link between profiting-sharing plans, retaining staff, and maximizing profits. “B” represents the portion of the companies that follow this mechanism of maximizing profits.

This inference can be drawn from the first premise (“All companies use ways to maximize their profits”) and the significance of the second and the third, which together allow the conclusion that there are profit-maximizing companies that do not retain staff.

Question 4 of 7

Fourth Type – Interpretation

According to a 2018 survey, 76% of the US population considers someone with an annual income of $10,000 to be “poor,” and 56% considers someone with an annual income of $100,000 to be “rich.” The majority of people saw the category of “neither rich nor poor” as including annual incomes from $40,000 to $80,000. Almost equal percentages saw someone with an income of $90,000 as “rich” or “neither rich nor poor.”

Conclusion: To be considered “rich” in the US, someone needs to have an income of at least ten times that of the poor.

This conclusion does not follow beyond a reasonable doubt from the premises.

This neither takes into account the possible percentages for those seen as “poor” in income groups other than $10,000, nor the lack of full agreement on whether an income of $100,000 means that someone is “rich.” As a result, the evidence is insufficient for this conclusion to be drawn beyond a reasonable doubt.

Question 5 of 7

Fifth Type – Evaluation of Arguments

Question: Should tariffs on foreign goods be used as a way of protecting domestic jobs?

Argument: No; some domestic jobs are created as a result of importing foreign goods.

This argument is strong.

This provides both a relevant and important challenge to the question. If the focus is on the protection of domestic jobs, then risking the reduction of foreign imports through tariffs (by consequent price-increases) could reduce the number of jobs in some domestic industries.

Question 6 of 7

Sixth Type – Definition

“That’s an interesting piece of furniture,” said Anna.

“Interesting?” said Mike. “It’s more than interesting. It’s a real antique. It’s been made using a design that is well over 100 years old, using methods that are even older. You certainly don’t get craftsmanship like that anymore.”

“But does that make it an antique?” asked Anna.

Question: Of the following, which is the best way to state Mike’s notion of an antique?

The correct answer is (A).

Mike sees an antique item as having three features: an at least 100 years old design, made according to methods that are older (so also covered by “at least 100 years old”), and the current absence of skills to make it. This definition covers all three of these features.

(B) is incorrect. Mike’s use of the term “antique” does not include the necessity of the item having been made at least 100 years ago.

(C) is incorrect. This includes two of the features of Mike’s use of the term (methods of construction no longer seen and design that is at least 100 years old), but it does not include the reference to the methods being at least 100 years old.

Question 7 of 7

Seventh Type – Credibility

Professor Whitman of the Food Research Laboratory (FRL) has been conducting research on the effectiveness of meal-replacement products in helping people lose weight. Interim results from his research have shown that, so far, Product A has not resulted in any significant weight loss in those who have used it, but that there was evidence of an up to 12.5% weight loss in those who used Product B.

In the following question, two statements are given: (A) and (B). These statements are underlined, and their sources are given. You need to decide which of the two is more believable but if you think that neither one is more believable, then mark (C) as your answer.

The correct answer is C.

Both (A) and (B) are accurate claims made by the same person based on the information given. Since there is no reason to question the credibility of either (A) or (B) (given their sources), this means that neither of them is more believable than the other.

You have completed the Sample Questions section.

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About the course

Welcome to iPrep’s Critical Thinking test preparation course.

This course will help you boost your skills and with it your confidence towards your upcoming test. The course will provide you with the following tools and benefits:

Learning hours

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By the end of this course, you will be more knowledgeable and comfortable with critical thinking test questions – Knowledge and familiarity with the test are the two most significant factors that can help you maximize your score and improve your chances of success.

The course is comprised of two parts – guidance and the test simulations. In the guidance section, we will review each type of question, its purpose, and its underlying logical mechanism. You will also have a chance to practice several test-level questions before approaching the test simulation to get a feel for the challenge ahead.

Afterwards, you will proceed to the simulation test. Once done, you will be able to get full question explanations and even see how well you performed in comparison with other people who have taken the test.

Wishing you an enjoyable learning experience!

Skills you will learn

Recognition of Assumptions

Drawing Conclusions

About the author

Dr. Roy van den Brink-Budgen

Co-founder and Director of Studies of the Centre for Critical Thinking

Dr. Roy van den Brink-Budgen has been working in the field of critical thinking for over thirty years. His experience has included the development of various assessments in critical thinking, and teaching the subject to a wide range of groups (students from primary to postgraduate, teachers from primary to college, juvenile offenders, and business managers). He has also written seven books on the subject, many journal articles, and online courses for secondary students and MBA students (as well as having produced a critical thinking card game). He has given presentations to various international conferences on critical thinking and creative thinking.

His work in critical thinking has taken him to many countries (including France, India, Malaysia, New Zealand, Spain, the UK, and Singapore – where he is the Director of Studies at the Centre for Critical Thinking). He serves as a consultant on critical thinking to PocketConfidant, an international company that is developing AI for personal coaching. In addition, he runs a company that provides various services in critical thinking – if…then ltd – based in the UK.

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Watson Glaser Critical Thinking Tests

Complex and challenging critical thinking tests, including the Watson-Glaser, are used mostly by law firms.

Page contents:

About critical thinking tests and how they work, free practice critical thinking tests, the watson glaser critical thinking appraisal, what is measured by a watson glaser critical thinking test, what should i know before taking a watson glaser critical thinking test, major publishers' critical thinking tests, advice for all critical thinking tests, assessmentday's practice tests can help you to prepare for a critical thinking test, one final point, other test publishers.

Updated: 08 September 2022

Critical thinking tests, or critical reasoning tests, are psychometric tests used in recruitment at all levels, graduate, professional and managerial, but predominantly in the legal sector. However, it is not uncommon to find companies in other sectors using critical thinking tests as part of their selection process. This is an intense test, focusing primarily on your analytical, or critical thinking, skills. Some tests are still conducted by paper and pen, but, just like other psychometric tests, critical thinking tests are mostly administered online at home or on a computer at a testing center.

The questions are multiple choice, and these choices and the style of questions are explained in more detail further down the page. The tests will often follow these two common timings:

Critical Thinking can be defined in many ways and an exact description is disputed, however, most agree on a broad definition of critical thinking, that 'critical thinking involves rational, purposeful, and goal-directed thinking...by using certain cognitive skills and strategies.' An absence or lack of critical thinking skills at times may lead us to believe things which aren't true, because we haven't sufficiently analysed and criticized the information we've received or used this to formulate and independently test our own theories, arguments and ideas. These are all examples of critical thinking skills put into practice. Glaser (An Experiment in the Development of Critical Thinking, 1941) stated that to think critically involved three key parts:

Note: AssessmentDay and its products are not affiliated with Pearson or TalentLens. Our practice tests are for candidates to prepare for the Watson Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal; we do not sell tests for employers to select candidates.

Free Critical Thinking Test

Here, we have a full critical thinking test for you to practice for free. You can dive straight in and practice the full test (in blue at the bottom), or tackle each individual section one at a time.

All answers and explanations are included at the end of the test, or alternatively you can download the Solutions PDF. Each test has been given a generous time limit.

Critical Thinking Test 1

40 questions

Critical Thinking Test 2

Critical thinking test 3, critical thinking test 4.

TalentLens' Watson Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal (WGCTA) is the most common critical thinking test. You can visit their official site here: Watson Glaser . Most other critical thinking tests are based on the Watson Glaser format. More than 90 years' of experience have led to many modifications and improvements in the test.

The Watson Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal is widely regarded as a good predictor of work productivity and at identifying candidates with a good potential to become managers and occupy other positions as a senior member of staff. The latest edition of the Watson Glaser Critical Thinking Test has improved its validity, appealed more to businesses by focusing on business-relevant topics, switched to the Item Response Theory (IRT) for its scoring, updated norm groups, and integrated anti-cheat measures by having an online retest, which can be used to validate results.

Developed by Goodwin Watson and Edward Glaser, the Watson Glaser test is favored by law firms , keen to measure people's abilities to reason, reach conclusions and know when leaps in logic have been made. Skills which are required in the legal sector. The questions in each of the 5 sections aims to evaluate the candidate's ability to:

Did You Know

The most recent revision of the W-GCTA was published in 2011 with notable improvements being better face validity and business-relevant items, scoring based on Item Response Theory (IRT), updated norm groups, and an online retest which can be used to validate a paper and pencil test result.

A Critical thinking tests assesses your ability in 5 key areas mentioned above; assumptions, arguments, deductions, inferences and interpreting information. Often in this order. A short paragraph of text a few sentences long or a single sentence is used as a starting point. This passage will contain information which you will base your answer to the question on. Another sentence is then presented to you and you will be asked to judge something about this sentence based on the information in the short paragraph. The five sections are explained in more detail here:

If a watson glaser critical thinking test is used in the early stages of the application process it's likely to be used as a screening tool. This puts some pressure on candidates to meet a minimum pass mark, which will allow them to be selected to go on to the next stage of the selection process. If it's used at a later stage in the process, the results from this will be combined with performance in other assessments, tests, exercises and interviews. All the information you need to answer the questions will be in the test. Below the details of a few companies' critical thinking tests are pointed out.

Here is a list of critical reasoning tests on the market at present, which candidates may be likely to encounter for recruitment, selection or development.

Here is some general advice to help you perform to the best of your ability for your critical reasoning test.

The practice tests that we have cover all of the sections of the Watson Glaser Critical Thinking test and these overlap with many of the variations in Critical Thinking tests produced by major publishers. practice helps to increase your confidence, gives you a chance to learn from your mistakes in a risk-free environment, and can reduce stress before an exam.

The best place to get advice on taking a critical thinking tests is the test publisher's website, for example this one for the Watson Glaser .

If you have already successfully passed a few initial stages of the application process, it's unlikely that companies will focus solely on your results in the Watson Glaser Critical Thinking test when deciding whether or not to hire you. This type of selection by results on one test is more likely if it is part of the early stages of the process. However, towards the later stages the company will look at your results across interviews, group exercises, other aptitude tests and your résumé and will collate all of this information before reaching a decision. If you have been invited to undertake a critical reasoning test then the organisation clearly has an interest in hiring you, let that fact inspire confidence and perform to the best of your ability on your test, good luck!

You may also be interested in these popular tests sections.

Critical Thinking Test

Critical Thinking tests measure your candidates’ ability to conceptualise, apply, analyse and evaluate information in order to reach a meaningful conclusion.

This critical thinking test contains 4 questions. You will have 4 minutes to answer each question set.

This example test should not be used in recruitment. It is only intended as an example to candidates.

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Critical Thinking Tests

228 questions

Critical thinking tests, sometimes known as critical reasoning tests, are often used by employers. They evaluate how a candidate makes logical deductions after scrutinising the evidence provided, while avoiding fallacies or non-factual opinions. Critical thinking tests can form part of an assessment day, or be used as a screening test before an interview.

What is a critical thinking test?

A critical thinking test assesses your ability to use a range of logical skills to evaluate given information and make a judgement. The test is presented in such a way that candidates are expected to quickly scrutinise the evidence presented and decide on the strength of the arguments.

Critical thinking tests show potential employers that you do not just accept data and can avoid subconscious bias and opinions – instead, you can find logical connections between ideas and find alternative interpretations.

This test is usually timed, so quick, clear, logical thinking will help candidates get the best marks. Critical thinking tests are designed to be challenging, and often used as part of the application process for upper-management-level roles.

What does critical thinking mean?

Critical thinking is the intellectual skill set that ensures you can process and consider information, challenge and analyse data, and then reach a conclusion that can be defended and justified.

In the most simple terms, critical reasoning skills will make sure that you are not simply accepting information at face value with little or no supporting evidence.

It also means that you are less likely to be swayed by ‘false news’ or opinions that cannot be backed with facts – which is important in high-level jobs that require logical thinking.

For more information about logical thinking, please see our article all about logical reasoning .

Which professions use critical thinking tests, and why?

Typically, critical thinking tests are taken as part of the application process for jobs that require advanced skills in judgement, analysis and decision making. The higher the position, the more likely that you will need to demonstrate reliable critical reasoning and good logic.

The legal sector is the main industry that uses critical thinking assessments – making decisions based on facts, without opinion and intuition, is vital in legal matters.

A candidate for a legal role needs to demonstrate their intellectual skills in problem-solving without pre-existing knowledge or subconscious bias – and the critical thinking test is a simple and effective way to screen candidates.

Another industry that uses critical thinking tests as part of the recruitment process is banking. In a similar way to the legal sector, those that work in banking are required to make decisions without allowing emotion, intuition or opinion to cloud coherent analysis and conclusions.

Critical thinking tests also sometimes comprise part of the recruitment assessment for graduate and management positions across numerous industries.

The format of the test: which skills are tested?

The test itself, no matter the publisher, is multiple choice.

As a rule, the questions present a paragraph of information for a scenario that may include numerical data. There will then be a statement and a number of possible answers.

The critical thinking test is timed, so decisions need to be made quickly and accurately; in most tests there is a little less than a minute for each question. Having experience of the test structure and what each question is looking for will make the experience smoother for you.

There are typically five separate sections in a critical thinking test, and each section may have multiple questions.

Inference questions assess your ability to judge whether a statement is true, false, or impossible to determine based on the given data and scenario. You usually have five possible answers: absolutely true, absolutely false, possibly true, possibly false, or not possible to determine.

Assumptions

In this section, you are being assessed on your ability to avoid taking things for granted. Each question gives a scenario including data, and you need to evaluate whether there are any assumptions present.

Here you are given a scenario and a number of deductions that may be applicable. You need to assess the given deductions to see which is the logical conclusion – does it follow?

Interpretation

In the interpretation stage, you need to read and analyse a paragraph of information, then interpret a set of possible conclusions, to see which one is correct. You are looking for the conclusion that follows beyond reasonable doubt.

Evaluation of Arguments

In this section, you are given a scenario and a set of arguments that can be for or against. You need to determine which are strong arguments and which are weak, in terms of the information that you have. This decision is made based on the way they address the scenario and how relevant they are to the content.

How best to prepare for a critical thinking test

The best way to prepare for any type of aptitude test is to practice, and critical thinking tests are no different.

Taking practice tests, as mentioned above, will give you confidence as it makes you better understand the structure, layout and timing of the real tests, so you can concentrate on the actual scenarios and questions.

Practice tests should be timed. This will help you get used to working through the scenarios and assessing the conclusions under time constraints – which is a good way to make sure that you perform quickly as well as accurately.

In some thinking skills assessments , a timer will be built in, but you might need to time yourself.

Regular practice will also help you to identify if there are any sections of the critical thinking test that you need to work on. Most tests will provide an explanation to each answer, as in the examples above.

Publishers of critical thinking tests

The watson glaser critical thinking test.

The Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal (W-GCTA) is the most popular and widely used critical thinking test. This test has been in development for 85 years and is published by TalentLens .

The W-GCTA is seen as a successful tool for assessing cognitive abilities, allowing recruiting managers to predict job success, find good managers and identify future leaders. It is available in multiple languages including English, French and Spanish.

The test itself can be used as part of an assessment day or as a screening assessment before an interview. It consists of 40 questions on the 5 sections mentioned above, and is timed at 30 minutes. Click here for more information on Watson Glaser tests .

SHL critical reasoning test

SHL is a major aptitude test publisher, which offers critical thinking as part of its testing battery for pre-employment checks.

SHL tests cover all kinds of behavioural and aptitude tests, from logic to inference, verbal to numerical – and with a number of test batteries available online, they are one of the most popular choices for recruiters.

Cornell critical thinking test

The Cornell critical thinking test was made to test students and first developed in 1985. It is an American system that helps teachers, parents and administrators to confidently predict future performance for college admission, gifted and advanced placement programs, and even career success.

Prepare yourself for leading employers

5 Example critical thinking practice questions with answers

In this section, you need to deduce whether the inferred statement is true, false or impossible to deduce.

The UK Government has published data that shows 82% of people under the age of 30 are not homeowners. A charity that helps homeless people has published data that shows 48% of people that are considered homeless are under 30.

The lack of affordable housing on the sales market is the reason so many under-30s are homeless.

The information given does not infer the conclusion given, so it is impossible to deduce if the inference is correct – there is just not enough information to judge the inference as correct.

The removal of the five-substitution rule in British football will benefit clubs with a smaller roster.

Clubs with more money would prefer the five-substitute rule to continue.

Assumption Made

Assumption Not Made

This is an example of a fallacy that could cause confusion for a candidate – it encourages you to bring in any pre-existing knowledge of football clubs.

It would be easy to assume the assumption has been made when you consider that the more money a club has, the more players they should have on the roster. However, the statement does not make the assumption that the clubs with more money would prefer to continue with the five-substitute rule.

All boys love football. Football is a sport, therefore:

In this section we are looking for the conclusion that follows the logic of the statement. In this example, we cannot deduce that girls do not love football, because there is not enough information to support that.

In the same way the conclusion that all boys love all sports does not follow – we are not given enough information to make that assumption. So, the conclusion that follows is 3: boys are more likely to choose football than any other sport because all boys like football.

The British Museum has a range of artefacts on display, including the largest privately owned collection of WWII weaponry.

There is a larger privately owned collection of WWII weaponry in the USA.

Conclusion Follows

Conclusion Does Not Follow

The fact that the collection is in the British Museum does not make a difference to the fact it is the largest private collection – so there cannot be a larger collection elsewhere.

The Department for Education should lower standards in examinations to make it fairer for less able students.

In this case, we need to assess which argument is most relevant to the statement. Both 1 and 4 refer to students in particular situations, which isn’t relevant to the statement. The same can be said about 2, so the strongest argument is 3, since it is relevant and addresses the statement given.

Within two hours of practice I have improved my score from 50% correct to 88%.

Critical Thinking Tests FAQs

What are the basics of critical thinking.

In essence, critical thinking is the intellectual process of considering information on its merits, and reaching an analysis or conclusion from that information that can be defended and rationalised with evidence.

How do you know if you have good critical thinking skills?

You are likely to be someone with good critical thinking skills if you can build winning arguments; pick holes in someone’s theory if it’s inconsistent with known facts; reflect on the biases inherent in your own experiences and assumptions; and look at problems using a systematic methodology.

Hire better talent

At picked we help companies build perfect teams

Critical Thinking Tests Tips

The most important factor in your success will be practice. If you have taken some practice tests, not only will you start to recognise the way questions are worded and become familiar with what each question is looking for, you will also be able to find out whether there are any parts that you need extra practice with.

It is important to find out which test you will be taking, as some generic critical thinking practice tests might not help if you are taking specific publisher tests (see the section below).

2 Fact vs fallacy

Practice questions can also help you recognise the difference between fact and fallacy in the test. A fallacy is simply an error or something misleading in the scenario paragraph that encourages you to choose an invalid argument. This might be a presumption or a misconception, but if it isn’t spotted it can make finding the right answer impossible.

3 Ignore what you already know

There is no need for pre-existing knowledge to be brought into the test, so no research is needed. In fact, it is important that you ignore any subconscious bias when you are considering the questions – you need logic and facts to get the correct answer, not intuition or instinct.

4 Read everything carefully

Read all the given information thoroughly. This might sound straightforward, but knowing that the test is timed can encourage candidates to skip content and risk misunderstanding the content or miss crucial details.

During the test itself, you will receive instructions that will help you to understand what is being asked of you on each section. There is likely to be an example question and answer, so ensure you take the time to read them fully.

5 Stay aware of the time you've taken

This test is usually timed, so don’t spend too long on a question. If you feel it is going to take too much time, leave it and come back to it at the end (if you have time). Critical thinking tests are complex by design, so they do have quite generous time limits.

For further advice, check out our full set of tips for critical thinking tests .

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Reviews of our Watson Glaser tests

What our customers say about our Watson Glaser tests

Jozef Bailey

United Kingdom

April 05, 2022

Doesn't cover all aspects of Watson-Glaser tests but useful

The WGCTA uses more categories to assess critical thinking, but this was useful for the inference section.

April 01, 2022

Just practicing for an interview

Good information and liked that it had a countdown clock, to give you that real feel in the test situation.

Jerico Kadhir

March 31, 2022

Aptitude test

It was OK, I didn't understand personally whether or not the "cannot say" option was acceptable or not in a lot of the questions, as it may have been a trick option.

Salvarina Viknesuari

March 15, 2022

I like the test because the platform is simple and engaging while the test itself is different than most of the Watson Glaser tests I've taken.

Alexis Sheridan

March 02, 2022

Some of the ratios were harder than I thought!

I like how clear the design and layout is - makes things very easy (even if the content itself is not!)

Cyril Lekgetho

February 17, 2022

Mental arithmetic

I enjoyed the fact that there were multiple questions pertaining to one passage of information, rather than multiple passages. However I would've appreciated a more varied question type.

Madupoju Manish

February 16, 2022

Analytics are the best questions

I like the test because of its time schedule. The way the questions are prepared makes it easy to crack the original test.

Chelsea Franklin

February 02, 2022

Interesting

I haven't done something like this for ages. Very good for the brain - although I certainly experienced some fog whilst doing it.

[email protected]

January 04, 2022

Population/exchange rates were the hardest

Great test as it felt a bit time pressured. Very different types of questions in terms of difficulty.

faezeh tavakoli

January 02, 2022

More attention to detail + be more time conscious

It was asking about daily stuff we all deal with, but as an assessment it's scrutinising how we approach these problems.

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Critical Thinking Test: Sample Questions with Explanations (2023)

Last updated 12/2022.

Employers value and seek candidates who demonstrate advanced critical thinking skills. They often administer critical thinking tests as part of their hiring process. Critical thinking tests can be very difficult for those who don’t prepare. A great way to start practicing is by taking our critical thinking free practice test.

What Does The Critical Thinking Test Include?

The Critical Thinking Test assesses your capacity to think critically and form logical conclusions when given written information. Critical thinking tests are generally used in job recruitment processes, in the legal sector. These tests measure the analytical critical thinking abilities of a candidate.

Why Is Critical Thinking Useful?

Critical thinking is put into action in various stages of decision-making and problem-solving tasks:

What is Watson Glaser Test and what Critical Thinking Skills it Measures?

The most common type of critical thinking test is the Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal (W-GCTA). Typically used by legal and financial organizations, as well as management businesses, a Watson Glaser test is created to assess candidates’ critical thinking skills.

The test consists of 10 questions to be answered in 10 minutes approx (although there is no timer on the test itself). Our test is slightly harder than the real thing, to make it sufficiently challenging practice.

You need to get 70% correct to pass the test. Don’t forget to first check out the test techniques section further down this page beforehand.

Pass Percentage

The test is broken down into five central areas:

The Five Critical Thinking Skills Explained

1. Recognition of assumption You’ll be presented with a statement. The statement is then followed by several proposed assumptions. When answering, you must work out if an assumption was made or if an assumption was not made in the statement. An assumption is a proclamation that an individual takes for granted. This section of the tests measures your ability to withhold from forming assumptions about things that are not necessarily correct.

Charlie’s fundraising team is leading the charity event so that it can meet its goal.

SEE THE CORRECT ANSWER AND EXPLANATION

Correct answer: b.

Explanation:

Although the passage does state that Charlie’s fundraising team is doing its best so that the charity event can meet its goal, nowhere did it state that their team is leading the event.

Evaluation of arguments You will be presented with an argument. You will then be asked to decide whether the argument is strong or weak. An argument is considered strong if it directly connects to the statement provided, and is believed to be significant.

Should participation awards be given at every competition?

No, participation awards should not be given in every competition because studies have shown that this would cause the participants to put in less effort because they will get a prize no matter what the outcome is.

Correct Answer: A

This is a strong argument as it provides evidence as to why participation awards should not be given in every competition

3. Deductions In deduction questions, you will need to form conclusions based solely on the information provided in the question and not based on your knowledge. You will be given a small passage of information and you will need to evaluate a list of deductions made based on that passage. If the conclusion cannot be formed for the information provided, then the conclusion does not follow. The answer must be entirely founded on the statements made and not on conclusions drawn from your knowledge.

In a surprise party for Donna, Edna arrived after Felix and Gary did. Kelly arrived before Felix and Gary did.

Conclusion:

Kelly arrived before Edna.

For questions like this, jot down the clues to help you out. Use initials as a quick reference.

K | F&G | E

Looking at the simple diagram, “K”, which stands for “Kelly,” arrived before Edna “E” did. The answer is A.

4. Interpretation In these questions, you are given a passage of information followed by a list of possible conclusions. You will need to interpret the information in the paragraph and determine whether or not each conclusion follows, based solely on the information given.

A number of students were given the following advice:

“The use of powerful words is a technique, which makes you a better writer. Your choice of words is very important in molding the way people interaction with the article. You should use powerful words to spice up your article. Power words should be used liberally to enhance the flavor of what you write! ”

If Bruce was writing an essay, he should use powerful words to give his essay more flavor.

In the fourth sentence, it is stated, “Power words should be used liberally to enhance the flavor of what you write!”

Thus, if you were to write an essay, using powerful words can give more flavor to it.

5. Inferences An inference is a conclusion made from observed or supposed facts and details. It is information that is not apparent in the information provided but rather is extracted from it. In this section, you will be provided with a passage of information about a specific scene or event. A list of possible inferences will then be given, and you will need to decide if they are ‘true’, ‘false’, ‘possibly true’, ‘possibly false’, or whether it is not possible to say based on the information provided.

With the advancement of technology, the need for more infrastructure has never been higher. According to the plan of the current U.S. Administration, it aims to put a $1 trillion investment on improving infrastructure, a portion of which will include priority projects and technologies that can strengthen its economic competitiveness such as transportation, 5G wireless communication technology, rural broadband technologies, advanced manufacturing technologies, and even artificial intelligence.

It stated that it expects to work with Congress to develop a comprehensive infrastructure package, which is expected to have a budget of $200 billion for certain priorities.

The United States government is allocating $200 billion of the $1 trillion infrastructure budget to improve transportation, 5G wireless communication technology, rural broadband technologies, advanced manufacturing technologies, and even artificial intelligence.

Although it was mentioned in the passage that the U.S. government is to allocate $200 billion on certain priorities, it did not specify if these certain priorities were for ‘transportation, 5G wireless communication technology, rural broadband technologies, advanced manufacturing technologies, and artificial intelligence’ or if the aforementioned priorities will have a different allocation.

What we can be sure of, however, is that at least a portion of the $1 trillion infrastructure budget will be used on the mentioned priorities regardless, meaning that there is a chance that $200 billion will be used on those aforementioned areas.

Improve Your Score with Prepterminal’s Critical Thinking Course

The Critical Thinking test is difficult, but not impossible to overcome with practice. At PrepTerminal our psychometric test experts have developed a critical thinking preparatory test to provide you with the material you need to practice for your critical thinking test. Prepare with us to increase your chance of successfully overcoming this hurdle in the recruitment process.

Prepterminal’s preparatory critical thinking course features a structured study course along with critical thinking practice tests to help you improve your exam score. Our course includes video and text-based information presented in a clear and easy-to-understand manner so you can follow along at your own pace with ease.

*Note: EY Assessment and other trademarks are the property of their respective trademark holders. None of the trademark holders are affiliated with PrepTerminal or this website.

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