Teaching aptitude test | A comprehensive review with question-answers

If teaching is your calling, you’ll know that getting a job in this field will require certain qualifications. Apart from getting a degree in your chosen field as well as certification in teaching, you will typically also need to appear for a teaching aptitude test. In this article, we’ll go over what this test is, several teaching aptitude questions that you should be aware of, and how you can prepare for the same. 

What is Teaching Aptitude? 

Teaching is a unique profession that involves not just overloading students with information, but guiding students in a way that they can grasp and understand the subject matter. Since education is an important part of any country’s economy and society, teaching plays an integral and important role. That is why becoming a teacher requires more than just getting a degree.

Educational institutions will often perform pre-employment tests for potential candidates to check the applicant’s aptitude for teaching. This helps schools and universities understand whether a potential teacher will be able to do their job well. 

A brief note on aptitude tests

An aptitude test is designed to check a person’s skill, talent, and ability to perform a given task well before they are given the job. Based on your strengths, it seeks to measure your chances of being good or bad at a given role. An aptitude test has a narrow focus on a particular set of skills. The teaching aptitude syllabus and test will check your literacy, adaptability, and ability to relate to the students, while some tests also check your Maths and communication skills.

Besides, a teaching aptitude test may also be part of your teaching degree or included in your certification program when completing a teaching course. Hence, you may need to prepare for this test even before seeking employment at an educational institute. Now let’s get into a few commonly covered topics and questions in teaching aptitude MCQs and tests.

Some common questions in teaching aptitude tests 

Q1. How do you inculcate discipline in students?

1. Increase their responsibilities 
2. Use rules and regulations
3. Force the rules to be followed 
4. Suspend the student from classes 

Answer- A good answer will acknowledge that suspension and force are not long-term solutions for making students more disciplined. Hence, providing the students with more responsibilities is the right answer.

Q2. How would you promote cooperation among your students?

1. Teach about a book on cooperation 
2. Use multimedia to showcase movies or posters on cooperation 
3. Organize a cooperation class 
4. Make the students do a group task

Answer– Making the students perform a group task is the best way to provide practical experience and make them understand cooperation. The other methods can be additional supplements, but a practical task is vital.

Q3. If you need to grade a student’s assignment or project, you will-

1. Offer private tuition to students based on the assignment
2. Grade the assignments based on student behavior 
3. Grade the assignment based on purely academic performance in the assignment 
4. None of the above 

Answer- You should only grade your student’s academic work based on their academic merits, not on their behavior. Besides, you should not be partial to students that you tutor in your private time. 

Q4. What is the best way to ensure students are learning your subject matter?

1. Provide extensive homework on the subject matter
2. Provide extensive questions during the class
3. Make students memorize the concepts 
4. Provide practice questions and discuss the topic during class

Answer- While homework and a certain amount of learning topics are important, the most effective way to help students understand the concept is by providing practice questions and discussing topics during the class. 

Q5. To be a successful teacher you need to-

1. Be hard working 
2. Maintain a good relationship with the management 
3. Ensure that students have a happy time
4. Maintain the dignity of your post 

Answer- Having good relations with students and staff is important. However, the most important thing to do at all times is to maintain the dignity of your position as a teacher (which also includes being hardworking and honest). 

Q6. What should be the purpose of a test or exam?

1. To gauge students’ understanding of a concept
2. To revise a previously studied concept
3. Training students for an upcoming exam 
4. None of the above

Answer- The purpose of any test is to check the students’ understanding of a concept or subject as taught previously in the class. 

Q7. If a student is absent for a significant duration, what should you do?

1. Complain to the staff about the student’s absenteeism 
2. Leave the matter alone, it’s none of your business 
3. Try to find out the reason for the absence 
4. Issue a warning or corrective letter to the student 

Answer- It is best to understand the reason for a student’s absence before issuing any warning letters. Once you find out the reason, you will have a better understanding of the situation when you inform the management.

Key takeaways

As you can see, these questions will place you into various situations that you will come across as a teacher. The test covers a range of factors that include your comprehension skills, ability to deal with stressful situations, situational awareness, the likelihood of being successful as a teaching staff member, and ability to reason. 

Personality traits may also be gauged from these tests, while certain institutions may also include personality tests as a separate part of your job application. Before your test, there are certain things you can do to prepare yourself-

• Find and go through previous years’ teaching aptitude tests, and solve those. This will help you get an idea about what to expect, as well as it will prepare you mentally for the test. 
• Research best practices in the teaching profession, find out through online resources and teachers you know to understand the skills required in this profession. It might help you in getting a good score on your teaching aptitude test. 
• Be calm when you attempt your test. Keep that in mind and understand that stress will only lead to poor performance in any test. Lastly, ensure that your application is complete, as you may need to submit documents other than your aptitude test results. 

If you have any questions/suggestions, feel free to reach out to us or drop a comment below.

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FAQs

Q1.  How long do teaching aptitude tests last?

Answer- Typically, the teaching aptitude test lasts for about 45 minutes. However, it depends on the test you take and the institution conducting it.

Q2. What skills or personality traits do I need to succeed as a teacher?

Answer- Apart from having a good understanding of your preferred subject matter, you need to have good communication skills, the ability to empathize, leadership qualities as well as a knack for managing conflict. 

Q3. Why is this test required for teaching?

Answer- Educational institutions use teaching aptitude tests to separate viable applicants from the crowd. It is a useful tool to ensure that only capable teachers are hired and that the applicant will be able to manage the task of being a teacher under the usual work pressure.