from staff
This weekend is the National Football League’s combine in Indianapolis. Over the course of three days, college players with NFL aspirations will be poked, prodded, measured, weighed and timed in everything from the 40-yard dash to odd-shaped shuttle runs.
They will also be tested — literally. Hundreds of players will take the Wonderlic test, an exam designed to measure a person’s overall knowledge under the pressure of a time clock. The exam is used more often by companies testing prospective employees. However, it’s during the NFL combine that the exam gains national attention. Players that score low become punch lines to jokes while others that do well are hailed. The 12-minute test starts out with several easy questions and gets progressively more difficult.
The following is a 15-question sample Wonderlic exam. Take it for yourself and see how you fare:
1. Look at the row of numbers below. What number should come next?
8
4
2
1
½
¼
2. Assume the first two statements are true. Is the final one:
The boy plays baseball. All baseball players wear hats. The boy wears a hat.
1. true
2. false
3. not certain
3. Paper sells for 21 cents per pad. What will four pads cost?
4. How many of the five pairs of items listed below are exact duplicates?
Nieman, K.M. Neiman, K.M.
Thomas, G.K. Thomas, C.K.
Hoff, J.P. Hoff, J.P.
Pino, L.R. Pina, L.R.
Warner, T.S. Wanner, T.S.
5. Resent/Reserve: Do these words
1. have similar meanings
2. have contradictory meanings
3. mean neither the same nor opposite
7. A train travels 20 feet in 1/5 second. At this same speed, how many feet will it travel in three seconds?
8. When rope is selling at $.10 a foot, how many feet can you buy for sixty cents?
9. The ninth month of the year is
1. October
2. January
3. June
4. September
5 May
10. Which number in the following group of numbers represents the smallest amount?
7, .8, 31, .33, 2
11. In printing an article of 48,000 words, a printer decides to use two sizes of type. Using the larger type, a printed page contains 1,800 words. Using smaller type, a page contains 2,400 words. The article is allotted 21 full pages in a magazine. How many pages must be in smaller type?
12. The hours of daylight and darkness in September are nearest equal to the hours of daylight and darkness in:
1. June
2. March
3. May
4. November
13. Three individuals form a partnership and agree to divide the profits equally. X invests $9,000, Y invests $7,000, Z invests $4,000. If the profits are $4,800, how much less does X receive than if the profits were divided in proportion to the amount invested?
14. Assume the first two statements are true. Is the final one:
Tom greeted Beth. Beth greeted Dawn. Tom did not greet Dawn.
1. true
2. false
3. not certain
15. A boy is 17 years old and his sister is twice as old. When the boy is 23 years old, what will be the age of his sister?
These are sample test questions and are intended for demonstration purposes only. The Wonderlic Personnel Test is published by Wonderlic, Inc.
Answers
1. 1/8
2. true
3. 84 cents
4. 1
5. 3
6. 4
7. 300 feet
8. 6 feet
9. September
10. .33
11. 17
12. March
13. $560
14. not certain
15. 40 years old