How the Amberjack email inbox questions work
Amberjack’s Applied Intellect items are verbal and numerical challenges set in a business. In the assessment they are reported to arrive as emails from colleagues in an inbox. A verbal email asks you to choose the best of three replies. A numerical email carries a table or graph and asks a question with four answers.
The assessment has no clock, but the time you take on each answer is recorded and is reported to affect your score. You are reported to be allowed a calculator and rough paper, and to be unable to go back to an earlier email.
The emails come in the same sitting as the situational judgement questions. BDO’s version of the whole assessment takes about 30 minutes.
How to answer an email
Answer the sender’s actual question, using only what is in the email:
- Read the last line of the email first. That is the question you have to answer.
- For a numerical email, note the units and any fees, discounts or conditions in the text. They are easy to miss next to a table.
- Write each step on paper and use the calculator for every one.
- For a verbal email, choose the reply that answers the question accurately and completely. A polite reply that gets a fact wrong is still wrong.
- Check the answer makes sense in context before you send it. A saving bigger than the original cost is a sign you have slipped.
Worked example
Email from your manager: “Three of us are going to Leeds for the client meeting. An anytime return is £96 each. Advance singles are £34 each way, but the booking site adds a £5 fee per person. How much would we save by booking advance singles?” A. £69. B. £84. C. £54. D. £75.
Anytime: 3 × £96 = £288. Advance: 3 × (£34 × 2) = £204, plus 3 × £5 = £15 in fees, so £219. Saving: £288 − £219 = £69, answer A. B is what you get if you miss the fee, and C if you charge the fee on each single rather than once per person.
Tips for the real Amberjack inbox questions
- Have a calculator and paper ready before you start. You reportedly cannot go back to an email once you move on.
- Your time is recorded, so practise one-step and two-step sums until they are quick and accurate.
- Read the email text as closely as the table. The detail that changes the answer is often in a sentence.
- On a verbal email, rule out replies that add information not in the email, then the ones that only half answer.
- Brush up on percentages, ratios and reading charts. They cover most business numerical questions.
Practise the Amberjack inbox on CogniPrep
Our Email Inbox Reasoning test is 10 emails from colleagues in three inbox runs: 5 verbal emails with three replies to choose from, and 5 numerical emails each with a table and a chart and four answers. There is no clock and no onscreen calculator, so use your own calculator and paper, as on the real test. There is no back button and no skip. Your result shows how you did on the verbal and numerical emails separately.