Apple Assessment Tests

Apple Situational Judgement Test

1. Question 1 of 10

   You are a release coordinator. A customer has waited three weeks for a fix to a fault that stops her staff exporting their reports. The engineer who owns it says only that the cause is still not understood. The customer’s contact emails you asking for a date. Your team meets on Thursday and may know more then. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Reply today saying the cause is still being worked on, that you cannot give a date yet, and that you will come back to her on Thursday either way.
   2. Wait until Thursday so that your reply can carry something definite, rather than writing now with nothing useful to tell her about the fault.
   3. Reply that the fix is on its way and should reach her shortly, which is the answer she is hoping for and buys the engineer a little more time.
   4. Send her email over to the engineer who owns the fault so he can answer her directly, since he is the only person who knows where it currently stands.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: A. Reply today saying the cause is still being worked on, that you cannot give a date yet, and that you will come back to her on Thursday either way.

   Least effective: C. Reply that the fix is on its way and should reach her shortly, which is the answer she is hoping for and buys the engineer a little more time.

   B: Delays the decision: it treats having no news as a reason to send nothing, and leaves a customer who has already waited three weeks waiting in silence.

   C: Over-promises: it converts an unknown cause into a near-certain date, so when the fix does not arrive she has been misled by you rather than merely kept waiting.

   D: Passes responsibility to others: the engineer did not agree to write to customers, and the person she wrote to is the one who owes her the reply.

   The most effective response is to reply today saying the cause is still being worked on, that you cannot give a date yet, and that you will come back to her on Thursday either way. She needs to plan, knowing there is no date is something she can act on, and a promised Thursday reply gives her something to hold you to. It beats waiting until Thursday so your reply can carry something definite, because three weeks of waiting is what makes silence expensive. It beats sending her email to the engineer who owns the fault, because she wrote to the person who owns the release, and moving her adds a step without adding an answer. The least effective response is replying that the fix is on its way and should reach her shortly: it is worse than either of the other two, because both leave her with an accurate picture, late or second-hand, while this leaves her with a false one she will plan around. The principle: when you have no date, say so and commit to a next contact, rather than lending a customer a certainty you do not have.

2. Question 2 of 10

   You are a procurement assistant. A new tool your team wants must be signed off by two named reviewers before it can be bought, which takes about a fortnight. The supplier’s quoted price rises at the end of this month, four days away. Nobody has asked you to do anything about it; you noticed the date on the quote yourself. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Start using the trial version on live work now and put the paperwork through afterwards, so that the price is locked in before the reviewers ever reach it.
   2. Email the two reviewers explaining the price date and ask them to look this week, then wait to see whether either of them gets round to it in time.
   3. Let the price rise and buy the tool at the higher figure once both reviews are finished, on the basis that the process is the process and it is not yours.
   4. Tell your manager today that the quote expires on Friday and ask whether the review can be brought forward, so that somebody who can decide that is deciding it.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: D. Tell your manager today that the quote expires on Friday and ask whether the review can be brought forward, so that somebody who can decide that is deciding it.

   Least effective: A. Start using the trial version on live work now and put the paperwork through afterwards, so that the price is locked in before the reviewers ever reach it.

   A: Builds a workaround round a control: the fortnight is not an accident, it is the two reviewers, and this puts the tool into real use before either of them has looked.

   B: Asks once and treats the answer as out of your hands: the reviewers do not know the deadline is real, and nobody who could reorder their week has been told.

   C: Absorbs a cost nobody chose: the extra spend is real and avoidable, and the people who would have wanted the choice never find out it existed.

   The most effective response is to tell your manager today that the quote expires on Friday and ask whether the review can be brought forward. The deadline is real, the decision about hurrying a review is not yours, and telling the person who can make it costs one message. It beats emailing the two reviewers about the price date and waiting to see whether either gets round to it, because reviewers who do not know a date is at stake have no reason to reorder their week. It beats letting the price rise and buying at the higher figure once both reviews are done, because a rise you saw coming and mentioned to nobody is a choice made by default. The least effective response is starting to use the trial version on live work and putting the paperwork through afterwards: it is worse than either of the other two, because both leave the reviewers in front of the decision, late or expensive, while this puts the tool into live use with neither having seen it. The principle: when a control is in the way of a real deadline, take the deadline to whoever owns the control, not round it.

3. Question 3 of 10

   You are a deployment assistant. Nothing may go out this week while the customer support system is being migrated, and everybody has been told. You have found that a mistyped address means the daily summary email has been going to nobody for six days. The fix is one line and takes a minute. Nobody has noticed the email is missing. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Raise it with whoever set the freeze, explain that the summary has gone nowhere for six days and the fix is one line, and let them decide about this week.
   2. Wait for the freeze to lift on Monday and fix it then, and say nothing meanwhile, since six days of a missing summary plainly matters far less than a support system migration.
   3. Send the summary out by hand each morning until the freeze lifts, so that the people who should be getting it are not left without it any longer.
   4. Put the one-line fix out now. A freeze written for a system migration was never aimed at a typo in an email address, and nobody could reasonably object.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: A. Raise it with whoever set the freeze, explain that the summary has gone nowhere for six days and the fix is one line, and let them decide about this week.

   Least effective: D. Put the one-line fix out now. A freeze written for a system migration was never aimed at a typo in an email address, and nobody could reasonably object.

   B: Obeys the freeze without reporting the cost: waiting may well be right, and nobody gets to weigh six days of a missing summary because nobody is told.

   C: Solves the symptom by hand: it works for a week, it depends entirely on you remembering, and the mistyped address is still there on Monday.

   D: Breaches a stated freeze on your own reading of it: the week exists so that nothing moves during a migration, and one line is still something moving.

   The most effective response is to raise it with whoever set the freeze, explain that the summary has gone nowhere for six days and the fix is one line, and let them decide. Whether a freeze admits a one-line exception is a question for them, and those two facts are what they need. It beats waiting for the freeze to lift on Monday and saying nothing meanwhile, because obeying it may be right and nobody can reach that answer if the cost is never mentioned. It beats sending the summary out by hand each morning, because that depends on you every day and leaves the fault in place. The least effective response is putting the one-line fix out now: it is worse than either of the other two, because both leave the freeze intact, while this reads a week-long instruction as not covering the change you happen to want to make. The principle: take the exception to whoever owns the rule, with the size of the fix and the size of the cost, and never grant it to yourself.

4. Question 4 of 10

   You are a security analyst. A password reset system stopped working overnight and a manager asks you in the corridor what happened. You know a certificate expired at midnight. You have not confirmed that this caused the failure. Certificates expiring is the usual cause of this kind of outage, and he is on his way to tell his team something. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Tell him a certificate expired at midnight and that this is almost always the cause, so that he has something definite to give his team on his way past.
   2. Tell him a certificate expired at midnight and that you have not yet confirmed it caused this, and say when you will know, so that he can tell his team that much.
   3. Tell him the expired certificate caused the outage, even though you cannot yet show that it did. That is nearly always what this turns out to be.
   4. Tell him you cannot say anything until the investigation is finished, and ask him to hold off telling his team until there is a confirmed answer.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: B. Tell him a certificate expired at midnight and that you have not yet confirmed it caused this, and say when you will know, so that he can tell his team that much.

   Least effective: C. Tell him the expired certificate caused the outage, even though you cannot yet show that it did. That is nearly always what this turns out to be.

   A: Hands over a likely cause as a settled one: the qualification will not survive the retelling, and his team hears a confirmed explanation.

   C: States as fact the cause you assume: nobody has established the link, and an entire team is told a confirmed explanation that may be wrong.

   D: Withholds a fact you are sure of: the certificate did expire at midnight, and that alone is something his team can be told.

   The most effective response is to tell him a certificate expired at midnight and that you have not yet confirmed it caused this, and say when you will know. You have one certain fact and one open question, and separating them lets him tell his team something true. It beats telling him the expiry is almost always the cause so he has something definite, because that qualifier will be dropped in the retelling. It beats telling him you cannot say anything until the investigation is finished, because the expiry itself is confirmed and worth passing on. The least effective response is telling him the expired certificate caused the outage: it is worse than either of the other two, because one qualifies it and the other says nothing untrue, while this supplies a causal link nobody has established to a manager on his way to brief his team. The principle: separate what you know from what you assume, give both, and put a time on when the second becomes the first.

5. Question 5 of 10

   You are a procurement assistant helping to compare two training suppliers. One of them runs a half-day workshop you have wanted to attend, normally closed to non-customers. Their account manager says he can put you on next month’s session, and adds that he hopes the comparison is going their way. Your write-up is due on Friday. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Accept the gift of the place and write the comparison as you would have anyway, since half a day of training is small and the answer was never in any doubt.
   2. Say you cannot take the place while the comparison is open, and tell whoever owns the decision it was offered, so that they read your write-up knowing about it.
   3. Take the place but say nothing about it, since declining would be awkward and the workshop has no bearing at all on how the two suppliers actually performed.
   4. Ask the account manager to hold the offer open until after Friday, so that the place is not connected to the comparison and can be accepted cleanly afterwards.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: B. Say you cannot take the place while the comparison is open, and tell whoever owns the decision it was offered, so that they read your write-up knowing about it.

   Least effective: A. Accept the gift of the place and write the comparison as you would have anyway, since half a day of training is small and the answer was never in any doubt.

   A: Takes an advantage the role forbids: the place is offered by a supplier whose fate you are writing up, and its worth does not depend on whether it changed your mind.

   C: Keeps a benefit the decision-makers cannot see: they read the write-up without the one fact that would make them read it differently.

   D: Reschedules the problem rather than removing it: the offer still arrived while you were writing, and the timing is the only thing that has changed.

   The most effective response is to say you cannot take the place while the comparison is open, and tell whoever owns the decision it was offered. Your write-up is an input to a decision between two suppliers, so its value rests on being visibly uninfluenced, and reporting the offer settles that at no cost. It beats asking the account manager to hold the offer open until after Friday, because moving the date does not change that it was made by an interested party during the comparison. It beats taking the place and saying nothing about it, because the people deciding cannot weigh something they have not been told. The least effective response is accepting the place and writing the comparison as you would have anyway: it is worse than either of the other two, because both leave the timing or the silence as the only problem, while this takes the benefit and reasons that doing so was harmless because the answer was already settled. The principle: when you hold a say in who wins, decline what the parties offer and tell the people who own the choice that it was offered.

6. Question 6 of 10

   You are an operations analyst. A customer has rung three times today about an outage and has been passed between two teams. You have just read the engineering note: the service returns in about four hours and his overnight run will need repeating tomorrow. He is on the phone to you now, angry at being moved around. You are not the person who normally speaks to customers. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Apologise for the three calls, take his number, and promise that somebody from the customer contact team will ring him back within the hour with the detail.
   2. Tell him what the note says, that it is about four hours and his overnight run will need repeating tomorrow, then arrange with him who will confirm it later.
   3. Transfer him to the customer contact team, who own this conversation, since giving a customer timings on an open incident is not really your job to do.
   4. Tell him the outage is being worked on and that you cannot give him timings yourself, and ask him to wait for the official update coming out this evening.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: B. Tell him what the note says, that it is about four hours and his overnight run will need repeating tomorrow, then arrange with him who will confirm it later.

   Least effective: C. Transfer him to the customer contact team, who own this conversation, since giving a customer timings on an open incident is not really your job to do.

   A: Over-promises on somebody else's behalf: you cannot make that team ring within the hour, and if they do not, he has now been let down four times instead of three.

   C: Passes the problem on without owning it: it makes his fourth transfer of the day the answer to his complaint about being transferred three times.

   D: Withholds a timing you are holding: it is cautious rather than dishonest, but the two facts he needs to plan tonight are sitting on your screen unsaid.

   The most effective response is to tell him what the note says, that it is about four hours and his overnight run will need repeating, then arrange who confirms it later. He has two decisions to make tonight and you are holding both answers, and agreeing who confirms keeps the ownership somewhere rather than nowhere. It beats apologising, taking his number and promising a call within the hour from the customer contact team, because you cannot commit another team to that, and a fourth broken promise costs more than the delay. It beats telling him the outage is being worked on and asking him to wait for the evening update, because the timings exist and are in front of you. The least effective response is transferring him on because giving a customer timings is not really your job: it is worse than either of the other two, because both engage with the man on the phone, while this answers a complaint about being passed around by passing him around again. The principle: when you are holding the answer, the fact that customer calls are not usually your job does not make moving him on the right response.

7. Question 7 of 10

   You are a site reliability assistant. Restoring a customer’s data after an outage should be verified record by record, which takes a day. Restoring it without the verification takes an hour and is usually fine. The customer is unable to trade until the restore finishes and has asked every hour. Your manager is at a conference and reachable by phone. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Do the full verification and tell the customer it will be tomorrow, since the check exists precisely for restores like this one and a day is not unreasonable.
   2. Restore without the verification and tell the customer they are back, since it is usually fine and they have been unable to trade for most of the day already.
   3. Restore without verification to get them trading, and run the full verification overnight, telling the customer only if the check turns something up.
   4. Ring your manager now, set out the hour against the day and what the verification is for, and let her decide with the customer which of the two they want.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: D. Ring your manager now, set out the hour against the day and what the verification is for, and let her decide with the customer which of the two they want.

   Least effective: B. Restore without the verification and tell the customer they are back, since it is usually fine and they have been unable to trade for most of the day already.

   A: Chooses the safe option without letting the customer weigh it: they are losing a day of trade and nobody has asked them which risk they would rather carry.

   B: Breaches the check that exists for this case: the verification is there for restores exactly like this, and the customer is told they are back on data nobody read.

   C: Discloses on failure only: they spend the evening trading on unverified data and are never given the chance to decide whether they wanted to.

   The most effective response is to ring your manager now, set out the hour against the day and what the verification is for, and let her decide with the customer. This is a trade-off between somebody else’s lost day and somebody else’s risk, which makes it neither yours to take nor yours to decide quietly. It beats doing the full verification and telling the customer it will be tomorrow, because a full day of lost trading is a real cost and they have not been asked whether they would accept the risk instead. It beats restoring now and running the verification overnight, because trading overnight on unverified data is the same risk taken without telling them. The least effective response is telling the customer they are back because it is usually fine and they have lost most of the day: it is worse than either of the other two, because one keeps the check and the other at least performs it late, while this skips it entirely and reports them safely restored. The principle: when the choice is between a customer’s time and a customer’s risk, it belongs to the customer, reached through whoever can put it to them.

8. Question 8 of 10

   You are an automation tester. A fortnight of long days has left you behind, and a colleague’s slow answers to your questions are part of the reason. Yesterday you were sharp with her in front of two other people and you know it showed. This morning the delivery coordinator asks you in passing how the testing is going and why it is running late. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Say the testing is late, give the reasons including your own part in it, ask for either more time or fewer tests, and apologise to your colleague for yesterday.
   2. Say only that it is behind and that you have it in hand, and sort the delay out with your colleague yourself before anybody else needs to be involved in it.
   3. Raise her pace with the delivery coordinator behind her back, and let him decide whether she should stay on this piece of work for the rest of the fortnight.
   4. Say the delay comes from waiting on answers, without saying whose answers they were, so that the pressure comes off you without her being named to anybody.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: A. Say the testing is late, give the reasons including your own part in it, ask for either more time or fewer tests, and apologise to your colleague for yesterday.

   Least effective: C. Raise her pace with the delivery coordinator behind her back, and let him decide whether she should stay on this piece of work for the rest of the fortnight.

   B: Absorbs a problem that has grown past you: a fortnight of long days is not something you can fix privately, and the person who could reprioritise has just asked.

   C: Personalises the pressure: it turns a workload problem into a judgement on a colleague, delivered to somebody with power over her and without her in the room.

   D: Points at a cause you will not name: it is fair to you and useless to him, because he cannot act on a bottleneck that has been described but not located.

   The most effective response is to say the testing is late, give the reasons including your own part in it, ask for either more time or fewer tests, and apologise to your colleague for yesterday. It gives the coordinator the real cause and the choice between time and scope, and it deals with yesterday rather than leaving it under everything else. It beats saying only that it is behind and that you have it in hand, because a fortnight of overrun is exactly what the person asking is there to resolve. It beats saying the delay comes from waiting on answers without saying whose, because a cause described but not named cannot be acted on. The least effective response is raising her pace with the delivery coordinator behind her back: it is worse than either of the other two, because both keep the conversation about the work, while this makes it about her, to somebody with power over her, in a conversation she is not in. The principle: under pressure, take the workload to whoever can change it, and take anything about a colleague to the colleague.

9. Question 9 of 10

   You are a quality assurance analyst. Test plans need a second reviewer’s approval before testing starts. A colleague has sent you a forty-page plan and asked you to approve it this afternoon so his team is not held up. You have no time today and only a rough idea of what his area does. He has approved several of yours without comment. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Approve the parts you understand and note in the approval which sections you did not read, so his team can start on the areas that were covered.
   2. Tell him you cannot do it today and leave it at that, since you have no time and the plan is in an area you do not know well.
   3. Tell him you cannot approve forty pages today or judge his area properly, and take it to whoever assigns reviewers, so that his team gets somebody who can.
   4. Approve the plan unread this afternoon. He knows his own area far better than you do, and he has approved several of yours without any comment at all.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: C. Tell him you cannot approve forty pages today or judge his area properly, and take it to whoever assigns reviewers, so that his team gets somebody who can.

   Least effective: D. Approve the plan unread this afternoon. He knows his own area far better than you do, and he has approved several of yours without any comment at all.

   A: Splits an approval that is not divisible: the approval unlocks the whole plan, and a note about which sections were skipped travels less far than the approval does.

   B: Declines without offering a route: his team is held up and nothing has been done to find them a reviewer who could actually help.

   D: Breaches the control the approval exists to be: the second reviewer exists so that somebody else has read the plan, and the record will say one did.

   The most effective response is to tell him you cannot approve forty pages today or judge his area properly, and take it to whoever assigns reviewers. You cannot do what is being asked and his team still needs a reviewer, so handing the problem to whoever can assign one is the useful move. It beats approving the parts you understand and noting which sections you did not read, because the approval releases the whole plan and the note does not travel with it. It beats telling him you cannot do it today and leaving it there, because that leaves his team stuck with nothing changed. The least effective response is approving the plan unread because he has done the same for you: it is worse than either of the other two, because one reads something and the other leaves the plan unapproved, while this puts a second reviewer’s name on forty unread pages. The principle: when you cannot give the approval that is being asked for, say so and find the person who can, and never let a reciprocal favour stand in for a reading.

10. Question 10 of 10

    You are a security analyst. Three weeks ago a colleague in another team asked you to look at how her team’s data is stored. You meant to reply and did not. She has not chased. You have since heard that her team is about to sign a contract that depends on getting that storage arrangement right. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

    1. Leave it where it is, since three weeks without a chase means she has almost certainly found somebody else and would say so if she had not.
    2. Reply today, apologise for the three weeks, ask whether she still needs it, and say you can look this week if the contract turns on the storage.
    3. Ask around your own team whether anybody else picked her question up, and reply to her only if it turns out that nobody did.
    4. Look at the storage arrangement now and send her a full assessment, without asking first whether the question is still live for her.
    Show the answer

    Most effective: B. Reply today, apologise for the three weeks, ask whether she still needs it, and say you can look this week if the contract turns on the storage.

    Least effective: A. Leave it where it is, since three weeks without a chase means she has almost certainly found somebody else and would say so if she had not.

    A: Assumes the silence away: she may have stopped asking rather than found an answer, and a contract is about to be signed on whichever it is.

    C: Checks the wrong side of the silence: she is the one person who knows whether she still needs an answer, and asking her is quicker.

    D: Answers a question that may have moved: three weeks on, the contract may have changed shape, and the work could be aimed at the wrong thing.

    The most effective response is to reply today, apologise for the three weeks, ask whether she still needs it, and say you can look this week if the contract turns on the storage. Only she knows whether the question is live, the apology costs nothing, and the timescale gives her something to plan with. It beats asking around your own team whether anybody picked her question up, because they cannot tell you whether she still needs an answer and she can. It beats looking at the storage arrangement now and sending a full assessment, because three weeks is long enough for the contract to have changed. The least effective response is leaving it on the basis that she has almost certainly found somebody else: it is worse than either of the other two, because both try to close the gap, while this reads her silence as resolution when it is at least as likely to be her giving up on you. The principle: an unanswered request that has gone quiet is a reason to ask, because silence is evidence of nothing except silence.