The FBI test measures the critical thinking skills required for a Special Agent job position. An FBI agent must study large amounts of information and identify important information from this.
The test is made up of five sections: Logical Reasoning, Figural Reasoning, Personality Assessment, Situational Judgement, and Preference & Interests.
The logical and figural reasoning tests and nuanced, difficult questions assess a candidate’s ability to think logically and figuratively accurately, and quickly.
The logical reasoning questions ask a candidate to analyze information from a text, which will be one paragraph long.
The figural reasoning tests are visual and candidates need to accurately identify the subsequent logical iteration in a sequence of images or graphics.
The next three parts of the FBI exam measure personality, approach to teamwork and work quality, honesty, self-awareness, and professionalism.
The questions featured in the personality assessment part are like the questions seen in a psychological personality exam. They give two unrelated statements from opposite personality traits and request that a candidate selects one. There is no room for a neutral answer.
The preferences and interests part outlines one attribute of a professional personality characteristic. For example, “I regularly work extra hours so that I meet all my work deadlines. I also work hard to make sure that all parts of my work are accurate and complete.” The candidate needs to mark a “strongly disagree – strongly agree” five-point scaled answer.
The situational judgment questions part provides a more in-depth paragraph that outlines a scenario a Special Agent may typically encounter. The candidate will then be given five distinct descriptions of responses.
The candidate will need to select the response that most accurately matches what their response would likely be.
