Teaching Tests

A career in teaching is perfect for those who want to inspire the younger generation. You’ll find it fun, challenging, interesting and rewarding – not to mention the perks of the school holidays.

The QTS (Qualified Teacher Status) Skills Test examines your skills across a range of different areas, rather than your ability to teach a specific subject. It is used to assess and ultimately hire new teachers.

If you pass the QTS, you can start teaching straight away.

What is a teaching aptitude test?

The teaching aptitude tests look at your numerical and literacy competency, as well as more general skills such as your leadership, empathy and adaptability.

Preparing for the aptitude tests is really important if you want to give yourself the best possible chance of passing first time.

For the numerical reasoning section, brush up onbasic mathematical principles such as addition, subtraction and data interpretation.

The literacy section will look at your spelling and grammar skills, as well as your overall comprehension ability.

You can take the aptitude tests up to three times, but only your first attempt is free.

Why are tests used when hiring teachers?

Whether you end up teaching maths, geography or something else entirely, it’s important that you have a solid foundation of numeracy and literacy skills to help you be the best teacher possible for your students.

The academic aptitude of those you teach may vary considerably, so ensuring you have those core skills in place to educate and inspire all of your students is key.

As well as an aptitude for numbers, grammar, spelling and comprehension, you’ll also need to show you can work well under pressure, and possess certain strengths that are highly valued in the teaching industry, such as empathy, compassion and patience.

The tests have standardised the hiring process and helped governing bodies to assess thousands of prospective teachers in a fair and consistent way.

What key skills are required to be a teacher?

It’s not just an aptitude for maths and writing you’ll need if you want to become a good teacher.

When you deal with children of varying ages, academic levels and backgrounds, it’s critical to possess a number of skills beyond the academic world to help you navigate the various challenges and situations that may arise day-to-day. These include:

Communication

Explaining what you mean and ensuring everyone you teach understands you is one of the most important parts of being a teacher, which means strong communication skills are a necessity.

You may need to come at things from a different angle to ensure your message is getting through to those you’re teaching, so having a natural flair for communication will come in useful if you’re thinking of a career in education.

Comprehension

As well as an understanding of the subject(s) you’re teaching, you’ll also need to comprehend and respond to the various questions and demands you may receive from those you teach.

That doesn’t mean you need to be a genius in every subject, but it does mean you need to have an interest in the world around you and the education system as a whole.

Ability to deal with conflict

Whether it’s a conflict between children, or children struggling with being asked to do certain things by you or even another teacher, patience and an ability to calmly resolve conflict is an invaluable skill for all teachers.

Good literacy and numeracy skills

All good teachers have a solid education themselves, and even if not teaching maths and English directly, have a confident grasp over basic principles such as spelling, grammar, addition and subtraction.

The children or adults you teach will learn from everything you do, which is why it’s important you can showcase these fundamental skills.

Adaptability

Adaptability is a useful skill for most jobs, but especially in the unpredictable world of education.

Whether it’s changing tack in a lesson to bring a subject to life, adapting a plan to teach your class an important lesson, or reacting to everyday challenges such as arguments and sickness, adaptability is one of the most important skills a teacher can possess.

Empathy

Empathy is essential for teachers who want to get the most out of their students.

It may be empathy for a situation a student is going through at home, a tacit understanding of how they’re being treated by their peers or patience if they’re struggling with keeping up with the class — in all of these scenarios, empathy is crucial.

Leadership

Teachers are leaders. And without strong leadership skills, it’s likely you’ll have difficulty keeping your class engaged and motivated.

Strong leaders don’t have to shout and scaremonger to be understood. Instead, they command the attention of the classroom and demand a quiet respect that means students look up to them and listen to what they have to say.

What aptitude tests are used to assess these key skills?

To test you have the skills needed to become a teacher, you’ll need to take a series of aptitude tests as part of the QTS.

As well as your mathematical and literary aptitude, the tests will assess how you react to common challenges in the classroom. They will also delve deeper into your personality and character traits, to help build a more rounded picture of what kind of teacher you’re likely to be.

Literacy test

Your communication and literacy skills will be put under the microscope in the literacy test.

Once the test starts, you’ll have 45 minutes to complete 41 to 49 questions focused on your spelling and grammar, as well as punctuation and overall comprehension.

Preparing for the literacy test is really important if you want to give yourself the best possible chance of success.

Practice past papers in exam conditions and make sure you analyse how you did each time. This will help you to identify your strengths and weaknesses, so you know which areas you need to work a little harder on.

Practicing tests also means you’ll be familiar with what to expect on the day, which can be a real confidence boost.

Verbal reasoning test

Verbal reasoning tests assess an individual’s ability to read through a passage of text and extract the key information required to answer a series of multiple-choice questions.

The skills being examined are your overall comprehension, your ability to differentiate between fact and fiction, and how well you can keep calm under pressure.

As well as practicing past tests, it can be helpful to use your favourite books or an article from a newspaper or magazine to practice the key skills needed to pass the verbal reasoning test.

Numerical reasoning test

Whether you plan on teaching mathematics or not, a solid foundation of numerical skills is necessary if you want to become a teacher. And that’s exactly what the numerical reasoning test is designed to assess.

You’ll have 48 minutes to work through 28 numerical problems covering basic mathematical principles and data interpretation.

The key is to find a balance between speed and accuracy to ensure you can answer every question, and the best way to achieve this is through practice.

We always recommend practicing in exam-style conditions as it helps you to get used to what to expect on the day.

Situational judgement test

Situational judgement tests are used to get a better idea of how you’re likely to react to the common problems and challenges that may arise in the classroom.

Here, your ability to deal with conflict, adapt to unforeseen circumstances and remain calm under pressure are put under the microscope.

A situational judgement test presents you with a challenge and a series of possible responses. You’ll need to select the response that most closely matches what you’d do or say.

It’s important to be honest, while also bearing in mind the characteristics and traits most sought after in a prospective teacher.

Personality tests

And finally, you may be asked to take a personality test.

Just like a situational judgement test, this is designed to find out more about you as a person, and what sort of teacher you’re likely to make. Unlike the situational judgement test, the questions here won’t be so focused on hypothetical situations, but more on key characteristics and traits such as empathy and leadership.

Again, honesty is so important to ensure you end up in the right teaching job for you.

Top 5 tips for teaching tests

1. Practice past tests

It’s the best way to prepare yourself for the aptitude tests you’ll be asked to take.

As well as familiarising you with the format of the questions, it’ll also help you to sharpen your skills and ensure you know which areas you need to brush up on before the big day.

2. Do your research

It’s important to research what it means to be a teacher and the sort of skills you’ll need to show at every stage of the process in order to be hired.

3. Revision does not have to be boring

It might feel like an uphill task, but there are ways to make preparing for the tests that little bit more enjoyable.

If it’s maths you struggle with, try playing games with a numerical theme or bringing mental arithmetic into everyday activities such as calculating bills. For literacy skills, get a family member or friend to test you on a passage from your favourite novel.

You’ll still be learning, but there’s every chance you’ll take in more if it doesn’t feel like hard work.

4. Keep calm

It’s easier said than done, but trying to remain calm when you’re doing the QTS is really important.

If you’re struggling, take a deep breath and read through the question again.

If you really don’t know the answer to something, don’t panic. Just make an educated guess and move on. You can always come back to it at the end if there’s time.

5. Visualise the end goal

Try and remember the reasons you’re going through this testing process.

Visualising yourself fulfilling your dream of becoming a teacher can really help to motivate you if you’re feeling tired or stressed.