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For more information on R&D consult the website: www .renouveau. org
To contact the R&D training office: send a message to the address in the Outlook directory
REP PERS R&D FORMATIONS
The poHtical secretariat: O. Profili / C. Sebastiani / H. Ferreira-Ramos (55656/99239/56676)
PRACTICAL TIPS
You may use the question paper as rough paper for working out your answers
Your answers should only be transferred to the official optically marked answer sheet when you are
sure of your choice. If you erase an answer it may be identified as two answers when the sheet
is optically scanned.
If you choose two answers you will automatically be awarded 0 for that question.
You may not change your choice on the optically marked answer sheet and you will not be given
a second copy!
No dictionaries, calculators etc. - you may not even use your own pen or pencil.
Remember that competitions are held in very large halls (e.g. at Heysel, in Brussels) and the
temperature may be high in summer and low in winter. For your own comfort dress
appropriately!
Going to the toilet seems to be difficult, before, during and between the various parts of the
competition. Plan strategically!
Take something to eat and drink with you - there may be times when concentration is hard.
LED@LearnEnglish.eu.com
TIME TIPS
All questions, difficult or easy, gain one point if correct. It is best, therefore, to gain points on easy
questions rather than hard questions.
Leave questions that you find difficult until later in the test and try again if you have time left over score easier points first!
There is not magic formula for speeding up your performance in the competition - practicing
doing questions is the best way of improving both speed and performance.
As you prepare for the competition over a period of months you will see your own blind spots, and
so be able to avoid making the.same mistakes again - and you will work more quickly.
Set yourself a timetable: 15 minutes to answer the first 10 questions, 30 minutes to answer 20 etc.
It may help you to keep to a steady speed and so finish within the time allowed.
A general rule is to reduce t h e c o m p l e x t o its basic, key elements and to discard those
elements that are irrelevant to the solution. Additional information is sometimes there to oblige
you to make judgments about what is relevant and irrelevant.
I suggest that you begin w i t h t h e n u m e r i c a l reasoning questions because they are more
obviously correct or incorrect, while verbal reasoning questions are more open to discussion and
t h e wording of these questions is more nuanced - they can take much more t i m e . You must
m a k e this choice before the competition a n d stick to your decision when you sit down to
start the exam - this is not the time to hesitate.
LtD@Learn English.eu.com
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APPROACH T I P S
D ecide whether to do the numerical or verbal questions long before the competition - and practise
on that basis
If you have the same letter as your answer to three or four questions in a row, do not let that
change your decision. Each question stands alone.
Make the most reasonable choice (or even a guess) based on a quick reading of the question for
questions you don't have time to do.
When you find a proposed answer that is clearly correct, you can take the risk of selecting it as you
answer and moving on to the next question; It is a risk, but it saves time!
D on't go back over questions you have already done - if there is a doubt in your mind that means
that the question is not so simple and may take to much time.
Copy up your answers from your rough working onto the official answer sheet at fixed times during
the test. This gives you a break and makes sure that you don't have all the questions to copy up at
the end of the test. You will not be allowed to fill In the answer sheet when the time is up and you
will lose the points.
As a general rule work from the front of the competition towards the back, and from top to
bottom of each page - it is fairly clear that the level of difficulty increases as you advance
through the questions.
Tip: if you get the s a m e Setter as t h e a n s w e r t h r e e o r e v e n f o u r t i m e s i n a r o w , e.g. CCC,
do not lose confidence. When you have been through enough competition papers you will see
t h a t this happens rather often. I t is most probably done deliberately to make it harder to guess
answers. Nobody who is simply guessing the answers would take the risk of giving the same
letter in the answer in three questions one after another.
C O M P E T I T I O N S o n COMPUTER:
The future of computer testing is not clear - but computer tests will almost certainly
become the standard - the question is when
Many things are changing in relation to computer tests, so consult the EPSO website
>
LED@LeamEnglish.eu.com
Numerical Questions
NUMERICAL T I P S 1
Read t h e question carefully first: underline key n u m b e r s , facts and words (you can
also circle or enlarge them - see what works best for you)
Now scan read t h e data in the table, graph or statistics given above the question and
underline key n u m b e r s , facts and w o r d s .
Before attempting to solve a question, different unit values used in the d a t a should be
converted so that they are all expressed in the s a m e units and values.
LED@LeamEnglish.eu.com
\- - J/v^^^^haitt
NUMERICAL T I P S 2
Approximating gains time and time is essential in gaining valuable points
Approximating is a risk, but the biggest risk is not to take any risks (and lose time!)
RE-learn you arithmetical tables (1x9=9, 2x9=18 etc.) these will help you to have quick
calculating reflexes
Revise the basic mathematical processes such as calculating a percentage, average etc. All the
basic material is in the next section
Our training courses offer other tips, shortcuts and rules of thumb that may help you, or
perhaps we can help you to find your own shortcuts.
Ratio: x: y (where x = l ; y = 2 ) = 1:2 - (this process gives a ratio, e.g. 1:2, which can
easily be converted into a fraction or percentage, thus V represents or 5 0 % of V )
Average: ( x + y + )
number, 2
You may find that it is worth re-learning those childhood multiplication tables so that
answers to simple calculations come spontaneously.
1 x 9= 9, 2 x 9 = 18, 3 X 9= 27 etc.
one place to the left to divide and one place to the right to multiply. E.g. 300 -=-10 =
30.0; 300 10 = 3000, In whole numbers the decimal point is not shown, but don't
forget that it is still there at the end of the number, so 50 can be shown as 50. or 50.00 but this is not usually done. T he same quick calculations can be done with 100 or 1000 the number of zeros tells you the number of places to move the decimal point in either
direction? If there a r e no figures to left or right to allow you to move the decimal point;
then:you add zeros t o create the spaees.needed E.g. 300 4- 100 = 3.00 & 300 - 1000 =
.300 (usually represented as 0.3) & 300 -f 10 000 = 0,03 & 300 x 1000 = (Zeros
at the extreme left of a number, and zeros at the extreme right after the decimal point
have no value.)
3
To simplify a fraction, divide both top and bottom by the top number,
in this case 3 =
4
To make a percentage from, for example,
LfcD@LcamEnglfsh.eu,com
You m a y also find it helpful to learn these percentages and their equ ivalents in
fractions and t h e associated number used in division. D o not feel that you must learn
t h e m all, choose a few t h a t you feel you will be able to remember. You can make your
own list of those you find most useful,
1%=
=
divide by 100 (See above - "decimal point')
100
(For other percentages, you can multiply this result by 3 for 3%, 8 for 8 % etc.)
2%=
divide by
1
=
divide by
=
x
100
33.33
(For 9% multiply result by 3, 1 2 % by 4 etc.)
3%=
1
=
divide by
25
100
(For 8% multiply by 2, for 16% by 4 etc.)
4% =
5% =
50
50
100
.
100
10
divide by
33
25
20
20
1
divide by 10
100
10
(For percentages between 10 and 20, 20 and 30 etc. use the result for 1 0 % , for example, and
add the result for the additional number: 1 3 % of 660 = result for 1 0 % = 66 + (3 x 6.6) 19.8 =
85.8, For 3 0 % , 7 0 % etc. multiply result for 1 0 % by 3, 7 etc.)
10%=
20
divide by 5
100
5
(For 40%, 60%, 80% mulitiply the resiJit by 2, 3 and
20%=
25%=
25
=
x
100
(For 75% multiply by 3)
30
divide by 4
divide by 3
3
100
(Result will be slightly lower than exact answer)
30%=
33%=
33
100
50%=
50
100
divide by 3
3
1
divide by 2
D
LE @LearnEngiish.eu.com
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e.g. 60 = 6 10 = 3 20 = 4 15
39 = 3 13 but also think of 40 as = 3 x 13 + a little extra
Which is bigger or ?
3
5
8000+800+300 + 100+207 = 9 4 0 7
Verbal Questions
What are the questions like?
Each set of verbal questions begins with a text of about 8 or 9 lines followed by two or three
questions to each of which there are four possible answers in the form of statements, A-D, - you
must select on e.
The answer/statement must be chosen based on t h e in formation given in the text, n ot on your
previous k n o w l e d g e or opin ion , or the truth or un truth of t h e text or s t a t e m e n t . It is
especially important to remember this in verbal questions where your personal knowledge is more
likely to insist on being listened to.
LED@LearnEngnsh.eu.com
The correct answer does not need to correspond completely to the information in the text; all that is
required is that it is the nearest equivalent to an element in the text. Some statements may
sometimes seem very inadequate in terms of content when compared with the text.
Most importantly, the s t a t e m e n t must not disagree with the text.
VERBAL T I P S 1 :
Do not read the text first - you will not be able to hold on to the details and will only have to read it again and
again. The trick is NOT to read the text, but rather to fish out the important elements in it.
Your choice of answer must be based on the information given in the text.
Beware of this danger with verbal questions. Do not bring in your own opinion, outside knowledge, or any
judgment on the correctness or otherwise of the information that you have been given.
You are not looking for exact equivalence between text and proposed answer, but the nearest equivalent synonyms or near synonyms are often used to make this more difficult.
Read the question and t h e first s t a t e m e n t and underline the k e y w o r d s and e l e m e n t s who? what? where? when? how? etc.
Scan read t h e t e x t and underline the key words a n d e l e m e n t s - who? what? where?
when? how? etc.
Selective reading. Try to develop the technique of making quick visual fixes on the key
words and elements and let the words in between fall into t h e background - this is especially
important in reading the text which takes too much time to read really thoroughly.
Now compare key words and elements in the statement with those in the text to find
equivalence. Go through the same procedure with each statement in order until you find t h e
best equivalence between the text and one statement - you can exclude any statement
that is obviously in conflict with the text immediately, and concentrate on the remaining
statements. You may not find a perfect equivalence - you must x make the best of a bad j o b . '
Something or someone referred to in one way in the text may be referred to in a different
way in the statements, (i.e. * Dane' may become x an inhabitant of Denmark'; 'in March'
may become "in the third month of the year' or 4n early spring') - not all exactly the same,
but none of them contradictions.)
T e x t : '...Final selection of trainees is made by the DGs (Directorates-General) and Services of the
Commission under their exclusive responsibility according to their own needs and requirements.'
Q u e s t i o n : Which of the following statements is correct?'
Proposed a n s w e r : T h e DGs may choose according to their needs' (The fact that 'final' &
'Services of the Commission'are both missing doesn't invalidate the answer.)
LED@Learntnglish.eu.com
Identify what is general and what is particular - the particular belongs in a general
category, but a general category does not belong in a particular example. (A bee is an
insect, but not all insects are bees.)
In searching for equivalence, pay particular attention to those features illustrated below:
The differences in meaning between the text and the statement may be subtle: these
differences may lie in the word categories below, so look out for these very carefully:
Determiners
Example:
Quantities
Example:
numbers
a
one
all
each
none
some
a majority
most
few
part of
100
200
a hundred
about two
sometimes
rarely
never
always
Causal succession: what caused what?
Event 1 + event 2
lead to
event 3
Action 1 + action 2
lead to
action 3
LtLKgjLearnEnglish.eu.com
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T e x t : "...Requests must provide the following information; number of participants [ 1 ] (no fewer
t h a n 10; groups of over 40 may give rise to organisational difficulties); age of participants [ 2 ]
( m i n i m u m age: 18); nature of your group [ 3 ] and level of knowledge of the European Union
[ 4 ] ; information about your organisation [ 5 ] . . . '
Q u e s t i o n : 'What information must be provided to request a visit?'
Proposed answer: T h e age of the participants [ 2 ] , the number [ 1 ] , the type of group [ 3 ] ,
t h e i r level of knowledge of the EU [ 4 ] and information on the organisation [ 5 ] '
VERBAL TIPS 2
Identify what is general and what is particular - 'A bee is an insect, but not all insects
are bees.'
Watch out for differences in meaning that are found only in - determiners (a / some), quantities (100 / abou
10), adverbs (usually / always), verb tenses (was / is; may / will), chronological order and cause and effect
Practise scan reading techniques and visual fixing - it gets easier with practice and save
a lot of time.
Do not read the proposed answers again and again. Just make an intuitive choice.
'
V e r b a l Reasoning Tests', Harry Tolley & Ken Thomas, (0 7994 3436 8, Kogan Page)
The three books above may most easily be bought via the Amazon UK website www.amazon.co.uk or via the Kogan Page website - www.koqan-paqe.co.uk On both sites you
will find many other similar books that may be helpful for V&N Reasoning and other professional
skills.
'Verbal and Numerical Reasoning MCQ - for the European Institutions' competitions Methodology and 160 Questions and Answers' 2005 Edition, E. Hetru & J.L. Bizeur (2-95216292 - 1 , ORSEU)
LtD@LearnEngiish.eu.com
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This book, and others useful in preparing for t h e competitions, may be bought via the ORSEU
website: www.orseu.com or by contacting Orseu direct:
ORSEU,
3 rue Bayard, F-59000 Lille, FRANCE
LEDpLearnEngiish.eu.com
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