Part 14 of our Clerical Ability reviewer has 20 practice questions in the style of the Civil Service Exam. Answer them in order, read the explanation after each one, and check your score against the 80% passing mark at the end. Questions and choices are reshuffled every time you retake the part.
Start Part 14Sample questions from Part 14
Here are a few questions from this part. Take the full test to answer all 20 and get your score.
Sample question 1
How many pairs are exactly alike?
- 3
- 2
- 6
- 4
Answer: 3
Check each row: 1: different lengths (10 vs 9); 2: different lengths (10 vs 9); 3: different lengths (9 vs 8); 4: different lengths (9 vs 10); 5: alike; 6: one character differs; 7: one character differs; 8: alike; 9: one character differs; 10: alike; 11: different lengths (9 vs 8); 12: different lengths (9 vs 10). Rows that qualify: 5, 8, 10, so the answer is 3.
Sample question 2
How many pairs have the same length and differ in exactly one character position?
- 1
- 7
- 5
- 4
Answer: 4
Check each row: 1: different lengths (7 vs 8); 2: alike; 3: one character differs; 4: different lengths (7 vs 6); 5: alike; 6: adjacent characters swapped; 7: one character differs; 8: one character differs; 9: different lengths (8 vs 9); 10: one character differs. Rows that qualify: 3, 7, 8, 10, so the answer is 4.
Sample question 3
How many pairs are exactly alike?
- 4
- 6
- 5
- 3
Answer: 5
Pairs that are alike: rows 1, 2, 3, 4, 6. Pairs that differ: row 5. Exactly alike = 5; different = 1.
Sample question 4
How many pairs are different?
- 3
- 5
- 4
- 6
Answer: 4
Pairs that are alike: rows 2, 4. Pairs that differ: rows 1, 3, 5, 6. Exactly alike = 2; different = 4.
Sample question 5
Which rows contain the pairs that are different?
- Rows 4 and 5
- Rows 3 and 5
- Rows 2 and 5
- Rows 1 and 5
Answer: Rows 2 and 5
Row 2: 5392 vs. 592. Row 5: 22490 vs. 22410. All other rows are exactly alike.