Wonderlic practice test

About this practice page

IQ Octopus is not affiliated with or endorsed by Wonderlic. We do not have, copy or imitate Wonderlic questions. Per Wonderlic's own candidate information, the timed cognitive section of Wonderlic Select has 50 questions in 12 minutes, answered without a calculator or dictionary, and the full three-section assessment takes most people about 35 minutes (Wonderlic: FAQ). Wonderlic also says the current test gives no single numerical cognitive score and has no universal good or average score (Wonderlic: FAQ). The full guide is the Wonderlic test, explained; check your invitation for the version you will take.

What this page offers is practice for the Wonderlic in the general sense: answering reasoning questions quickly and accurately when the clock is the main obstacle. The ten questions lean toward number series, with shape puzzles mixed in, and every question has its own 30-second timer.

The mix, and why it is weighted toward numbers

Four of the ten questions are number series, two of them in the first two slots. Number items are where speed pays off most directly, because a good routine turns many of them into a ten-second job. The rest of the set keeps you switching formats, which is its own skill under time pressure:

• Number series (four): find the rule, choose the next number from six options.
• Shape sequences (two): name the change from tile to tile and apply it once more.
• Figure analogies (two): A is to B as C is to which tile?
• Odd one out (one): five figures share a rule; find the one that breaks it.
• 3x3 matrix (one): complete the grid from eight options.

A ten-second routine for number series

Practice this until you do it without thinking:

1. Gaps. Subtract each number from the next. Equal gaps: add the gap. Done.
2. Gaps of the gaps. If the gaps grow by the same step (3, 5, 7, 9), the next gap is one step larger.
3. Ratios. If numbers grow fast, divide. A steady ratio of 2 or 3 means doubling or tripling. If doubling misses by the same amount each time, it is “double, then add” or “double, then subtract.”
4. Every other number. If the gaps zigzag, read positions one, three, five and then two, four, six. Two simple series are probably taking turns, or two operations are alternating.

Example: 6, 11, 9, 14, 12. The gaps go +5, -2, +5, -2, so the next step is +5 and the answer is 17. The zigzag was the tell. You can work more of these on the number series puzzle pages.

Quick methods for the shape questions

For sequences, compare only the first two tiles and list every difference: a turn, an extra shape, a size step, a new fill, a dot moving around the edge. For analogies, do the same between A and B, then apply each change to C. For the odd-one-out set, ignore size, tilt and fill and check one of two things: how many straight sides each figure has, or whether the dot sits inside both outlines, one of them, or neither. For the matrix, read the first row, confirm on the second, glance at the columns, and describe the missing tile before you look down.

How to treat the clock

On a tightly timed test, the biggest losses rarely come from not knowing how to solve something. They come from spending too long on one item. A few rules of thumb:

• Classify the question in your first second or two. The format tells you the first move.
• If you have no rule by the halfway point, use the options: test each against the pattern and eliminate.
• Never leave a question blank. Here, when the 30-second ring empties, the question counts as unanswered and the next one appears, which scores the same as a wrong answer. A guess can only help.

What the practice score means

At the end you see how many you got right out of ten, with a plain description of that practice performance. It is not a Wonderlic score, it is not an IQ, and it does not predict either. Use it diagnostically: if you missed early number series, the routine above needs practice; if you ran out of time on the later shape items, the switching is the issue.

Employers use cognitive tests because, across large groups, general mental ability relates to job performance; a meta-analysis of 85 years of research put that relationship at 0.51 (Schmidt & Hunter, 1998). That is a trend across many people. It is not a judgment of any individual, and a practice score is further still from one.

What practice can do

Practice is worth doing. A review of retesting research found that taking a cognitive ability test again raises scores by about a quarter of a standard deviation on average, roughly 4 IQ points, and by more on the same form (Hausknecht et al., 2007). Most of that comes from knowing the formats and the pace. Two or three practice sets with fresh items before a timed test is a sensible amount; repeating the same ten until you remember the answers is not.

Keep going

The number sequence test is ten number series in a row, good for drilling the routine. The CCAT practice test uses a similar mix. To see where your general reasoning stands, the full IQ Octopus test reports an estimated IQ with a confidence range; it is a personal estimate and cannot be used for employment screening.