pH Test insights - 12 out of 20 questions in Quantitative Aptitude can be solved in a minute

Yes you read it right !!

The basic objective of pH Test is to measure your natural ability and there by give you an indication of your long term success on job.

Contrary to popular believe, a person’s aptitude improves with passing year if s/he is in a right job !! The best example of the same is that a class 1 student struggles to do addition but with passage of time by continuously doing addition in real life his/her addition capability improves. Theory tells the concepts, its practical application in real life improves it !!

So eLitmus pH Test tries to capture the aptitude which is not theoretical but developed through practical application. Here is an example

Question: A1, A2, A3, A4 are 4 brothers. Their sum of ages is S in year 1998. Let P(i) be the product of the their ages if person Ai’s age is assumed to be x in year 2004. The values of P(i) being

P(1) = x(x+2)(x+5)(x+7)
P(2) = (x-2)x(x+3)(x+5)
P(3) = (x-5) (x-3)x(x+2)
P(4) = (x-7)(x-5)(x-2)x

Which of the product(s) will have maximum value

(a.) Only P(1)
(b.) Only P(4)
(c.) P(2) or P(3)
(d.) None of the above

The key skill being tested here is simplification. In real life problems do not appear in a standard format. One needs to remove “noise” (unwarranted information) and break problems down to smaller and more comprehensible pieces to solve it.

This is a real question which was used in pH Test and less than 18% test takers attempt it !! The answer is that P(1), P(2) , P(3), P(4) are all equal !! If their ages was 2,4,7, 9 their product is going to be constant as 504. If you take the first brothers age as x the other three brothers ages will be x+2, x+5, x+7. Equally if you consider second brothers age as x-2, x+3, x+5. It is just the expression which has changed but values remain the same !!

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It is not the question but the options which make no sense, in this which answer shall I mark?

(d.) None of the above