Some while back (1 year?) there was a posting on this newsgroup with a link
to a mechanical aptitude test.
Can anybody repost the link?
From what I can remember, the test would have good "discussion points" for
the high school IED (Introduction to Engineering Design) class with which I
am helping.

Thanks
Ivan Vegvary

Ivan Vegvary wrote:
Some while back (1 year?) there was a posting on this newsgroup with a link
to a mechanical aptitude test.
Can anybody repost the link?
From what I can remember, the test would have good "discussion points" for
the high school IED (Introduction to Engineering Design) class with which I
am helping.


This one?

http://www.forddoctorsdts.com/quizze...nicalAptitude/

Steve

Steven J Masta wrote:

Ivan Vegvary wrote:
Some while back (1 year?) there was a posting on this newsgroup with a link
to a mechanical aptitude test.
Can anybody repost the link?
From what I can remember, the test would have good "discussion points" for
the high school IED (Introduction to Engineering Design) class with which I
am helping.

This one?

http://www.forddoctorsdts.com/quizze...nicalAptitude/

Steve

I like the diagnostic 8 ball...

(Edward A. Falk) wrote in news:hdi113$5rk$2
@blue.rahul.net:

In article ,
Steven J Masta wrote:
http://www.forddoctorsdts.com/quizze...nicalAptitude/

Cool.

I got two wrong; any way to figure out which they were?

Hmm. So did I. The wording on one or two was a bit ambiguos. I wonder if
we both screwed up the same questions.

Doug White

In article
s.com, XR650L_Dave writes
On Nov 12, 5:08*pm, (Edward A. Falk) wrote:
In article ,
Steven J Masta wrote:

http://www.forddoctorsdts.com/quizze...nicalAptitude/

Cool.

I got two wrong; any way to figure out which they were?
--
Don't worry: some of the questions were VERY badly worded. AND Q41 (on
hydraulics if I remember correctly) was illiterate nonsense with NO
correct answer.
-I got 94% by guessing what hey really thought was the answer.
--
Chris Holford

On Nov 12, 10:46*pm, (Edward A. Falk) wrote:
In article ,
Chris Holford wrote:

Don't worry: some of the questions were VERY badly worded. AND Q41 (on
hydraulics if I remember correctly) was illiterate nonsense with NO
correct answer.

A piston with 14 sq inches surface area at the top, and 2 sq inches at
the bottom. *Apply 50 psi at the top, what's the psi at the bottom?

I thought that was pretty obvious.

The other one was the "match the drive ratio type with the letter...".
This one was kind of ambiguous, but I guess if they had made it clear
that it was a car transmission, it would have been more obvious.

Eh. *Whatever.

On that one 'reverse' is the only gear train that DOESN'T reverse the
output. The disclaimer suggests they received a lot of complaints from
people more rational and analytical than they are.

Don't over-analyze = don't see more than we did.

jsw

Some while back (1 year?) there was a posting on this newsgroup with a
link
to a mechanical aptitude test.

One of my friends in San Diego teaches auto repair at a private tech school.
He told me that the kiddie jail sends graduates there to teach them to be
mechanics, and spends a ton of money and buys them a pretty nice starter set
of tools. Unfortunately they don't screen these kids for mechanical aptitude
and my friend says that 90% of them could never make a living as a tech.
Your Gov't inaction!
--
Stupendous Man,
Defender of Freedom, Advocate of Liberty

Stupendous Man wrote:


Some while back (1 year?) there was a posting on this newsgroup with
a link
to a mechanical aptitude test.

One of my friends in San Diego teaches auto repair at a private tech
school. He told me that the kiddie jail sends graduates there to teach
them to be mechanics, and spends a ton of money and buys them a pretty
nice starter set of tools. Unfortunately they don't screen these kids
for mechanical aptitude and my friend says that 90% of them could never
make a living as a tech. Your Gov't inaction!

Ten percent go on to make an honest living fixing cars?

The result could be much worse, yes?

--Winston

--

On YouTube, all the tools have volume controls.

Let the Record show that Doug White on or about
Fri, 13 Nov 2009 00:02:54 GMT did write/type or cause to appear in
rec.crafts.metalworking the following:
(Edward A. Falk) wrote in news:hdi113$5rk$2
:

In article ,
Steven J Masta wrote:
http://www.forddoctorsdts.com/quizze...nicalAptitude/

Cool.

I got two wrong; any way to figure out which they were?

Hmm. So did I. The wording on one or two was a bit ambiguos. I wonder if
we both screwed up the same questions.

Recently, I had a question on 'trade math", testing if one can add
feet inches and fractions correctly. One of the questions read
2'-8"x3'
My response was (which I wrote down) was "that is a volume, but 2'8" x
3 is 8 feet."

I had a similar thing occur in tech school. Instructions were
"What are the square of the following:"
(2x^2+ 3y^2) * (3x^2 -5y^2)^2
Yeah, square the quantity squared. X^4 etc. So I worked it all out,
by hand (it was for a test) and turned in my paper to the chief. He
came down and wanted to know what I'd done. I showed him, and he
decided that he'd give me the credit, but I couldn't tell any of the
other students! I agree- but it was obviously a case of the writers
of the workbook not checking details, and 99% of students doing what
was expected, not what was written.
-
pyotr filipivich
We will drink no whiskey before its nine.
It's eight fifty eight. Close enough!

Jim Wilkins wrote:
On Nov 12, 10:46 pm, (Edward A. Falk) wrote:
In article ,
Chris Holford wrote:

Don't worry: some of the questions were VERY badly worded. AND Q41 (on
hydraulics if I remember correctly) was illiterate nonsense with NO
correct answer.
A piston with 14 sq inches surface area at the top, and 2 sq inches at
the bottom. Apply 50 psi at the top, what's the psi at the bottom?

I thought that was pretty obvious.

The other one was the "match the drive ratio type with the letter...".
This one was kind of ambiguous, but I guess if they had made it clear
that it was a car transmission, it would have been more obvious.

Eh. Whatever.

On that one 'reverse' is the only gear train that DOESN'T reverse the
output. The disclaimer suggests they received a lot of complaints from
people more rational and analytical than they are.

Don't over-analyze = don't see more than we did.

jsw

I missed that one as well, because of the same reason.
To me gear reduction means the output turns slower than the input
(regardless of direction) and reverse means the resulting output rotates
in the opposite direction of the input (disregarding any speed differences)

Maybe part of the test is to question the people who made up the test?

--
Steve W.

In article ,
Jim Wilkins wrote:
:On Nov 12, 10:46=A0pm, (Edward A. Falk) wrote:
: In article ,
: Chris Holford wrote:
:
: Don't worry: some of the questions were VERY badly worded. AND Q41 (on
: hydraulics if I remember correctly) was illiterate nonsense with NO
: correct answer.
:
: A piston with 14 sq inches surface area at the top, and 2 sq inches at
: the bottom. =A0Apply 50 psi at the top, what's the psi at the bottom?
:
: I thought that was pretty obvious.
:
: The other one was the "match the drive ratio type with the letter...".
: This one was kind of ambiguous, but I guess if they had made it clear
: that it was a car transmission, it would have been more obvious.
:
: Eh. =A0Whatever.
:
:On that one 'reverse' is the only gear train that DOESN'T reverse the
utput. The disclaimer suggests they received a lot of complaints from
eople more rational and analytical than they are.
:
on't over-analyze =3D don't see more than we did.

The one that particularly piqued me was the planetary gear set question
where you had to deduce what was meant by "rotates" vs. "revolves."

--
Bob Nichols AT comcast.net I am "RNichols42"

Edward A. Falk wrote:
In article ,
Steven J Masta wrote:
http://www.forddoctorsdts.com/quizze...nicalAptitude/

Cool.

I got two wrong; any way to figure out which they were?
--
-Ed Falk,

There's a "review" buttomn near the bottom of the results page . I missed
the one on gear nomenclature and the one with the two fans . I guess 96%
isn't so bad .

--
Snag
"90 FLHTCU "Strider"
'39 WLDD "PopCycle"
BS 132/SENS/DOF

Chris Holford wrote:
In article
s.com,
XR650L_Dave writes
On Nov 12, 5:08 pm, (Edward A. Falk) wrote:
In article ,
Steven J Masta wrote:

http://www.forddoctorsdts.com/quizze...nicalAptitude/

Cool.

I got two wrong; any way to figure out which they were?
--
Don't worry: some of the questions were VERY badly worded. AND Q41 (on
hydraulics if I remember correctly) was illiterate nonsense with NO
correct answer.
-I got 94% by guessing what hey really thought was the answer.
--
Chris Holford

The one with the big and small pistons ? It's a 7:1 ratio ...

--
Snag
"90 FLHTCU "Strider"
'39 WLDD "PopCycle"
BS 132/SENS/DOF

Ten percent go on to make an honest living fixing cars?


Ten percent have the mechanical aptitude to learn to be a tech, but that
doesn't mean that they will.

"Jim Wilkins" wrote in message
...
On Nov 12, 10:46 pm, (Edward A. Falk) wrote:
In article ,
Chris Holford wrote:

Don't worry: some of the questions were VERY badly worded. AND Q41 (on
hydraulics if I remember correctly) was illiterate nonsense with NO
correct answer.

A piston with 14 sq inches surface area at the top, and 2 sq inches at
the bottom. Apply 50 psi at the top, what's the psi at the bottom?

I thought that was pretty obvious.

The other one was the "match the drive ratio type with the letter...".
This one was kind of ambiguous, but I guess if they had made it clear
that it was a car transmission, it would have been more obvious.

Eh. Whatever.
/
/On that one 'reverse' is the only gear train that DOESN'T reverse the
/output. The disclaimer suggests they received a lot of complaints from
/people more rational and analytical than they are.
/
/Don't over-analyze = don't see more than we did.
/
/jsw
/

But then again, they define a gear drive as a direct drive. The person(s)
that came up with their mechanical aptitude test is clearly incompetent.
I've had these types of tests before, you know they are wrong, you could
easily prove they are wrong, but they are the ones making the rules and
giving the tests so you have to put up with their stupidity.

RogerN

Edward A. Falk wrote:
In article ,
Steven J Masta wrote:
http://www.forddoctorsdts.com/quizze...nicalAptitude/

Cool.

I got two wrong; any way to figure out which they were?
Yea I didn't understand their terminology on one of the gear
problems and didn't bother to count the teeth on the double
reduction gear one, took a guess using diameters and blew it.
:-(
...lew...

Edward A. Falk wrote:
In article ,
Steven J Masta wrote:
http://www.forddoctorsdts.com/quizze...nicalAptitude/

Cool.

I got two wrong; any way to figure out which they were?
Oh use the review button.

Doug White wrote:
(Edward A. Falk) wrote in news:hdi113$5rk$2
@blue.rahul.net:

In article ,
Steven J Masta wrote:
http://www.forddoctorsdts.com/quizze...nicalAptitude/
Cool.

I got two wrong; any way to figure out which they were?

Hmm. So did I. The wording on one or two was a bit ambiguos. I wonder if
we both screwed up the same questions.

Doug White
Oh and there were two that could be ambiguous
The oil - water . Did they ever hear of miscible oil?
and the cooling of the hot liquid
It could make a big difference depending on the
thermal conductivity of the container.
Conduction losses could be larger than evaporative cooling.
But it's easy to figure out which they were looking for.
...lew...

Ecnerwal wrote:
In article ,
Chris Holford wrote:

Don't worry: some of the questions were VERY badly worded.

Well, that would tend to suggest that it's not really a mechanical
aptitude test. Wording? Please. A mechanical aptitude test should come
in a box or bag, and need putting together, or taking apart, or taking
apart, fixing, and putting together (best).

Some folks who are terrible at taking written tests are whiz-bang at
putting stuff together, taking it apart, and fixing it - and vice versa.
Just because it's easier to have multiple guess questions on a computer
doesn't mean it's remotely close to assessing actual mechanical aptitude.

But it's still fun.

...lew...

Lewis Hartswick wrote:

Doug White wrote:
(Edward A. Falk) wrote in news:hdi113$5rk$2
@blue.rahul.net:

In article ,
Steven J Masta wrote:
http://www.forddoctorsdts.com/quizze...nicalAptitude/
Cool.

I got two wrong; any way to figure out which they were?

Hmm. So did I. The wording on one or two was a bit ambiguos. I wonder if
we both screwed up the same questions.

Doug White
Oh and there were two that could be ambiguous
The oil - water . Did they ever hear of miscible oil?
and the cooling of the hot liquid
It could make a big difference depending on the
thermal conductivity of the container.
Conduction losses could be larger than evaporative cooling.
But it's easy to figure out which they were looking for.
...lew...

The key thing to keep in mind here is that this test is on an automotive
site, not a generic science site.

Jim Wilkins wrote:
On Nov 12, 10:46 pm, (Edward A. Falk) wrote:
In article ,
Chris Holford wrote:

Don't worry: some of the questions were VERY badly worded. AND Q41 (on
hydraulics if I remember correctly) was illiterate nonsense with NO
correct answer.
A piston with 14 sq inches surface area at the top, and 2 sq inches at
the bottom. Apply 50 psi at the top, what's the psi at the bottom?

I thought that was pretty obvious.

The other one was the "match the drive ratio type with the letter...".
This one was kind of ambiguous, but I guess if they had made it clear
that it was a car transmission, it would have been more obvious.

Eh. Whatever.

On that one 'reverse' is the only gear train that DOESN'T reverse the
output. The disclaimer suggests they received a lot of complaints from
people more rational and analytical than they are.

Don't over-analyze = don't see more than we did.

jsw

Definitely designed for those that are familiar with automotive
transmissions, Input shaft, Output shaft and Countershaft for reverse.

"XR650L_Dave" wrote in message
...
On Nov 12, 5:08 pm, (Edward A. Falk)
wrote:
In article
,
Steven J Masta wrote:

http://www.forddoctorsdts.com/quizze...nicalAptitude/

Cool.

I got two wrong; any way to figure out which they were?
--
-Ed Falk,
http://thespamdiaries.blogspot.com/

When you finish there is an icon of a magnifying glass in
the color
bar near the results.

Click that and you can go through the results.

Dave


While taking the test you can go to any one of the questions
at any time by clicking on the circle with the two
rectangles
inside, it is opposite the submit button. A mouse over
calls it: show / hide TOC (table of contents).
Phil

There were a good 10 questions that were ambiguous a couple that were
just wrong: (50 psi is a PRESSURE not a FORCE, and at least two of the
pulley questions had ropes coming out at significant angles from the
bottom pulley which changes the advantage).

Still I've had enough practice at figuring out what people MEANT to
ask to get 98%. Missed half of the same 4 part gearing question
everyone else did. You just had to have learned the nomenclature
somewhere (assuming they're not just wrong).

And yet I can't get my motorcycle running...

Pete C. wrote:

The key thing to keep in mind here is that this test is on an automotive
site, not a generic science site.

Yea but I can't suddenly change the way I think. When I see a
question I analyze it and see there are more than one answer
"depending on" some un-specified paramaters.
...lew...

"Ivan Vegvary" wrote:

Some while back (1 year?) there was a posting on this newsgroup with a link
to a mechanical aptitude test.
Can anybody repost the link?
From what I can remember, the test would have good "discussion points" for
the high school IED (Introduction to Engineering Design) class with which I
am helping.

Thanks
Ivan Vegvary


I didn't care for the question on how the cylinder is filled. Sure, atmospheric pressure
fills it but that pistion going down is causing a lower pressure area inside the cylinder
that makes it work.

I missed three, two I could have noodled out correctly if I tried a bit harder, and the
one I disagree with.

Wes