The LTP G-test: 50 Items and How to Prepare

If your invitation comes from LTP, the Dutch assessment bureau, the test most people search for is the G-test. It is LTP’s general ability test, and it is worth knowing exactly what is in it, because the descriptions online disagree. It is also worth knowing that it is only one of five capacity tests LTP runs, so the Dutch name on your invitation is the first thing to check.

What the G-test is

LTP describes the G-test as a test of non-verbal intelligence: 50 abstract, numerical and spatial items. There is no reading in it. Several preparation sites describe verbal items, and LTP’s own description does not include any.

The six item types, in the words LTP’s practice site uses:

• Abstract matrices. A 3x3 grid of figures with the last one missing.
• Number series (cijferreeksen). Choose the next number.
• Number analogies (cijferanalogieën). "6 → 36, 9 → ?". LTP’s own warning is the trap: several rules turn the first number into the second, but only one turns the third into an option. Times six gives 54, which is not offered; squaring gives 81, which is.
• Figure analogies (figurenanalogieën). A figure changes into another; apply the same change to a third.
• Figure series (figurenreeksen). Choose the next figure in a row.
• Pattern folding (patroon vouwen). A flat net of a cube; find the cube it folds into.

The other four LTP capacity tests

LTP’s own practice site offers four more tests at mbo, hbo and wo level, and each is a live test in its portal. If your invitation names one of these, practise that one.

How LTP judges the result

Three rules hold for every LTP capacity test, and each changes how you should sit it.

Only correct answers count. LTP tells candidates that the number of errors is not taken into account. A blank and a wrong answer score the same, so there is never a reason to leave an item blank, and LTP’s own instructions say to answer every question.

You are not expected to finish. LTP says its tests are designed so that few people complete them in the time. Not finishing is normal. Losing easy items at the end because you stayed too long on a hard one in the middle is the avoidable mistake.

The comparison is with the job’s level, not your diploma. LTP’s reports compare your number correct with a norm group at the level of thinking the role requires, and say explicitly that this need not match your own education. The employer sets the score it wants and the report shows whether you met it. Results are tabulated beside stanines, a nine-point scale with 5 in the middle, and described as ondergemiddeld, gemiddeld or bovengemiddeld.

Why a phone is not an option

LTP states that capacity tests cannot be taken on a tablet or a mobile phone. You need a computer or laptop with a mouse or touchpad and a keyboard. A scan made up only of questionnaires may be done on a tablet. If you practise on a phone, which is a reasonable thing to do on a train, treat the score as a rough guide: a thumb on a small screen is slower than a mouse, and LTP’s norms assume the mouse.

How to prepare for the G-test

Most of the gain on the G-test comes from recognising each item type in the first two seconds and applying that type’s check, because the six types are mixed and switching between them is part of the difficulty.

• Number series: test the differences between terms first, then the ratios, then whether odd and even positions form two separate series.
• Number analogies: write two candidate rules before you look at the options, then let the options decide between them.
• Matrices: check rows and columns separately, and predict the missing figure before you look at the options.
• Figure analogies: list every change between the first two figures, not only the most visible one.
• Figure series: follow one feature at a time; two features often move at different speeds.
• Pattern folding: faces that are opposite each other in the folded cube can never be seen together, which rules out most wrong cubes before you fold anything.

And practise at length. A single item is easy to get right with unlimited time; fifty mixed items at 24 seconds each is a different test.

What happens after the online scan

LTP is a bureau as well as a publisher. For many roles, especially management ones, the online scan is followed by a day with an LTP psychologist, who discusses your online results with you, and the day may add an interview, role plays or an LTP game such as Frenzy Fest. The questionnaires, a Big Five personality questionnaire and a work-styles questionnaire called Werkstijlen, have no right answers and are the main subject of that conversation.

You can practise the G-test, all four other capacity tests and both questionnaires at our LTP hub. LTP also runs its own free practice site with short versions of four of the tests, which is worth using alongside. If you are not sure the invitation is from LTP at all, our provider lookup guide turns a product name into a vendor.