ACER Mechanical Reasoning Test

Ensure that your applicants have good mechanical understanding, space visualization and recognize cause-effect relationships with the ACER Mechanical Reasoning Test.

This online test measures a candidate’s understanding of very basic principles of physics in general and mechanics in particular; the ability to visualize the movement of objects through space (three-dimensional spatial ability); and most importantly, an understanding of cause-effect relationships between mechanical components.

The test uses idiosyncratic diagrams and eliminates technical vocabulary to minimize reliance on reading ability or prior mechanical knowledge.

Time: 20 minutes
Items: 32

The ACER Mechanical Reasoning Test is a part of the ACER Select Series.

What It’s Best Used For

Employee Selection

Best suited for trades, technical, and operational roles, including safety-sensitive environments.  The ACER Mechanical Reasoning Test is ideal for the selection of apprentices, trainees, technical/trade personnel and others involved in work of a mechanical nature.  This test is best used during early-stage recruitment or internal talent audits to verify baseline mechanical aptitude and spatial logic for apprentices, trainees, and technical personnel before investing time and money into employee training.

• Evaluating Simple Machines: It measures a candidate’s comfort level with everyday mechanical fixtures, tracking their baseline logic regarding levers, pulleys, weights, screws, and springs.
• Vetting Movement & Forces: The test checks an applicant’s ability to visualize the behavior of dynamic hardware parts, including gears, wheels, conveyor belts, shafts, and sliding rods.
• Verifying Pivot & Spatial Literacy: It evaluates spatial habits, specifically an individual’s capacity to trace movements through space and differentiate between fixed and movable/non-fixed pivots.
• Assessing Basic Physics Principles: The modules track a candidate’s baseline familiarity with foundational physical concepts like gravity, friction, pressure, energy, and cause-effect interactions.

Built for an unproctored web environment, the platform delivers an immediate online score report outlining total, percentile, and stanine metrics, uses English formatting, and is fully legal for use in Canada.

Test Parts

The ACER Mechanical Reasoning Test evaluates 32 questions across 12 distinct mechanism types.

• Assess understanding of wheels, gears, shafts, and sliding rods.
• Evaluate logic regarding levers, pulleys, weights, and springs.
• Measure cause-effect thinking with conveyor belts, fixed pivots, and non-fixed pivots.

All items are in the form of diagrams.

Key Topics Covered

• Simple Machines: Levers, pulleys, springs, and screws.
• Movement & Forces: Gears, wheels, conveyor belts, shafts, and sliding rods.
• Pivots: Understanding fixed pivots (black dots) versus non-fixed/movable pivots (clear dots).
• Basic Physics: Gravity, friction, pressure, and energy.

Benefits

• Quickly identify potential
• Save on training costs
• Hire with confidence
• Reduce Turnover

Scoring

Receive Total, Percentile, and Stanine Score for Each Candidate.  A variety of norm groups are available for scoring and candidate evaluation, allowing you to compare candidates against people working in similar occupations.

Sample Questions