Unfortunately, we no longer offer this product. 

Please see our Clerical & Administrative Skills category for alternatives.

For alternatives to this and other discontinued assessment products click here.

Use the OST to ensure that your clerical and administrative applicants have the skills you need for checking, filing, grammar, punctuation, reading comprehension, spelling and more.  Before you invest the time and money to train a new employee, test your applicants for things like:

• Forms Completion
• Checking
• Filing
• Grammar
• Oral Directions
• Punctuation
• Reading Comprehension
• Spelling

This test provides the answers you need to make informed hiring and promotion decisions.

Want more information about this test?  Get it now.  Please REQUEST MORE INFO and we’ll reply promptly.

Not the perfect fit?  No problem.  We have many similar tests to choose from.  See alternatives in the Clerical & Administrative Skills category section of our site.

The Office Skills Test (OST) is a paper-and-pencil inventory that measures the attitudes of job applicants. The OST test is useful in helping you identify top-notch office personnel who are proficient in the areas you require. The OST test is a battery of 11 individually sold tests. Choose the tests you need to create a personalized battery for your organization. It should be used in conjunction with other pre-employment screening procedures such as interviews and reference checks.

The Office Skills Test measures applicants on the following scales:

Checking – Ability to check names and numbers accurately.

Coding – Ability to use simple codes accurately.

Filing – Ability to recognize different types of filing systems and accurately file additional entries into them.

Forms Completion – Ability to select facts from a block of information and correctly record them on a form.

Grammar – Ability to recognize correct use of English grammar.

Numerical Skills – Ability to solve problems of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division using whole numbers, fractions, decimals and percentages.

Oral Directions – Ability to note facts given in an audio-cassette presentation and answer related questions afterward.

Punctuation – Ability to recognize proper punctuation and capitalization.

Reading Comprehension – Ability to understand written directions.

Spelling – Ability to spell words frequently used in office communications.

Vocabulary – Ability to understand words and phrases frequently used in office communications

There are two forms, A and B, for the OST test. They are comparable and can be used to retest applicants.

This instrument is an inexpensive and highly reliable way to pre-screen applicants.

This assessment was originally a part of the Science Research Associates (SRA), assessment lineup, a subsidy of IBM. The ownership then changed as follows over the years and became London House, then Reid London House, then Pearson Reid London House, then Vangent, then General Dynamics IT, and finally Fifth Theory.

This, and other related assessments, went off market around 2018 and is no longer being published or available for purchase.