How DAA Work Rate works
Work Rate is the third DAA section. The Royal Navy describes it as how quickly and accurately you can reach conclusions.
Each question shows a grid of three rows and four columns. The top row holds letters or short words, the middle row numbers or arithmetic signs, and the bottom row small pictures. Under the grid is a code of three letters or three numbers, each taken from a different column.
Every symbol in the code has two alternatives: the other two symbols in its column. Of five options, you choose the one that replaces each code symbol with one of its alternatives, in the same order as the code. Each question has its own grid.
How to find the right code fast
Fix the columns first, then check the options against them:
- Before looking at the options, name the columns the code uses, in the code’s order, such as “three, one, four”.
- The code’s order need not follow the grid left to right. Follow the code.
- Check the first symbol of every option against the first column on your list. Most wrong options fail there.
- Check the second and third symbols only on the options still standing.
- Expect answers to mix rows, such as a picture followed by two numbers. A code’s own symbol never appears in the answer.
Worked example
Column 1 holds D, 3 and a cloud. Column 2 holds R, × and a key. Column 3 holds P, 8 and a bell. Column 4 holds K, 6 and a flag. The code is P D K, so it uses columns 3, 1 and 4, in that order.
The options are: 3 bell 6; bell × 6; 8 D flag; cloud 8 flag; bell 3 6. The first has the right columns in the wrong order. The second uses ×, from column 2. The third keeps D, the code’s own symbol. The fourth starts with column 1 instead of column 3. Only bell 3 6 swaps P, D and K for alternatives in the right order.
Tips for the real Work Rate section
- Twelve seconds a question leaves no time for a second look. Decide, select and move on.
- Few other tests use this task, so it is easy to arrive unpractised. One candidate reports scoring 20% on it at a first attempt. Do several timed runs before the day.
- In the last seconds, use the summary to put an answer on every blank. Nothing is deducted for a wrong answer, as far as the MOD publishes.
- Sit it on a laptop, desktop or large tablet. Small pictures are slow to tell apart, and the real test needs a screen of at least 10.2 inches.
Practise DAA Work Rate on CogniPrep
Our Work Rate practice is 20 questions in 4 minutes, a new grid every question, five options, a visible clock and a summary before you submit. Our grids, words and pictures are original rather than the MOD’s, and every grid is generated fresh. Nothing is deducted for wrong answers, and you get your mark out of 20.