Sova numerical reasoning test: prepare with practice
Sova's numerical reasoning test assesses how you analyse numerical information and work with data. The employer who invites you chooses which activities appear in your Sova assessment hub, so check that numerical work is one of them. Here you can try one data question, follow its working and choose between our method practice and Sova's own practice questions.
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Sova offers many kinds of assessment, including personality questionnaires, situational judgement tests and verbal, logical and numerical reasoning tests, so the Sova name alone does not tell you which of them you will take. This page helps with the numerical one.
If a Sova numerical test is in your hub, start with the question below. It gives you a small table and asks for one figure worked out from it. The working after it shows whether choosing the calculation or carrying it out is the part to practise.
If you would rather go straight to untimed drills, they are in our numerical section.
Try a practice question with a table
Sova asks candidates to have a pen, paper and a calculator ready for its ability questions, so use them here too. Work the question out before you open the answer.
Practice question
A company asked two groups of customers to rate one service out of 10.
| Group | Customers | Mean rating |
|---|---|---|
| A | 60 | 9 |
| B | 140 | 6.5 |
What is the mean rating across all 200 customers?
Our question, written for Testonome practice. Nothing you decide here is recorded.
Check your answer
7.25. Each mean rating stands for a different number of customers. So first turn each one back into the rating points its group gave in total, then share all the points across all 200 customers:
- Group A: 60 × 9 = 540 points.
- Group B: 140 × 6.5 = 910 points.
- Both groups: 540 + 910 = 1,450 points.
- All 200 customers: 1,450 ÷ 200 = 7.25.
7.75 is what you get by averaging 9 and 6.5 directly. That would be right only if the two groups were the same size. Group B has 140 customers to Group A's 60, so its lower rating counts for more and pulls the result towards 6.5. If you got 7.75, the arithmetic was right and the choice of calculation was not.
If you multiplied each rating by its group size and still reached a different figure, you chose the right calculation and one step slipped. Compare your totals with 540, 910 and 1,450 to find it.
With two groups of different sizes, you can check an answer without redoing it. The mean across everyone lies between the two group means, and nearer the mean of the larger group. 7.25 does. 7.75 sits exactly halfway, which is the sign that the group sizes were left out.
The weighted average page works this same question step by step, then a second one where the groups are given as percentages.
Choose what to practise next
If you got 7.25 and could explain each step, move on to new figures in the drill below.
If you got 7.75 or another figure, or reached 7.25 by guessing, go back through the working above until you could redo it without looking. Then try the drill. Every question there is worked through after you submit, so a wrong answer shows you the step as well.
If the arithmetic is fine and what you have not seen is Sova’s own screen, use Sova’s practice questions. Its candidate preparation hub links to a practice test, which asks you to register with your name and email address first. The assessment itself also starts each part with a practice question, and your answer to it does not count towards your score.
Whichever you do, read the instructions on every question. Sova says some ability questions may need two or more answers, and the Next button works only once you have selected all of them.
The button below opens the weighted average drill: five multiple-choice questions, untimed and free to use, with no account and no payment. Each one is worked through after you submit. It practises the calculation rather than Sova’s screen, and the target time in each explanation is our own pacing for this skill.