Research Analyst Exam is timed. I believe you are given 1.5-2 hours to complete 15 short answer/multiple choice questions and an essay. *My online exam actually abruptly shut down on me before I had finished and well before the allotted time had run. I informed the exam coordinator via e-mail and she was able to make arrangements for me to take conclusion of exam.
Test instructions encourage you to show your work for short answer questions. Examples of questions asked:
- At Smith Corporation, you have 5 execs making salary in the amount of $100,000, 3 managers making salary in the amount of $75,000, and 8 associates making salary in the amount of $45,000. What is the weighted average of these employees' salaries?
- Smith Corporation pays for worker benefits in full, in the amount of $100 per worker per month. Next year they want employees to cover 15% of their benefits costs. What will this cost annually amount to for worker?
- Smith Corporation has 5 contractors making $100,000 per year and 5 consultants making $50,000 per year. They propose to raise contractors' salary by $2K per year and consultants' by $500 per year. If union wants across-the board raise that amounts to same total costs that Smith Corporation is proposing to pay, what across-the board percentage of current salaries should union propose?
- Smith Corporation has 100 desks and 90% of them are staffed. How many unstaffed desks are there?
- Question provides a list of 9 numbers representing the profit figures of 9 different companies. You are asked to compute the mean. Subsequent question asks you to compute the median. Next question is multiple choice asks you which more accurately describes the average profit of these companies (your choices are A. Mean or B. Median).
- Next few questions based on a provided table. Using specific figures/data found in table, you are asked to make some computations and draw some conclusions (based on what the table's data suggests).
- Next few questions show several different graph, labeled A-F. Axises are not labeled per se, but you can visually get a sense of what the slope of the curve is (some contain a linear line, some contain a curved line, others feature a line that goes up and down). Questions will pose a scenario, and you have to identify which graph most accurately describes the trend described in the scenario. Example: each year for the last several years, Smith corporation has been decreasing the price of toothpaste at equal increments. Which graph best represents the selling price of toothpaste during these years? (Followed my multiple choice of graph options.)
- There is a short answer questions where they provide a table and ask you to critique it (i.e. problems with layout, accuracy, etc.).
