What the Tool Assessment is
An IUEC local’s recruitment notice lists two tests: an aptitude examination of reading, maths and aptitude for the elevator industry, which is the EIAT, and a Tool Assessment "designed to assess knowledge of basic tools and their use, as well as basic measuring skills".
It is not part of the EIAT’s 100 questions and has no pass mark of its own. NEIEP says correct responses on the tool assessment count toward the final score on the interview, and the interview score is what places you on the local’s hiring list. So the EIAT decides whether you go forward, and the Tool Assessment helps decide how high you rank.
Its format and length are not published. It is reported to focus on identifying tools.
How to read a tape measure to a sixteenth
The measuring part is the one you can practise exactly. On a standard tape:
- Start at the numbered inch line to the left of the point you are reading. That is the whole inches.
- The longest line between two inch lines is the half. The next longest are the quarters, then the eighths, and the shortest are the sixteenths.
- Count the shortest lines from the whole inch to your point. Each is 1/16.
- Reduce the fraction: 4/16 is 1/4, 8/16 is 1/2, 12/16 is 3/4, 6/16 is 3/8, 10/16 is 5/8.
- For the distance between two marks, read both and subtract. If the second fraction is smaller, borrow one inch as 16/16.
Worked examples
A reading. The point sits three sixteenths past the 1 1/4 inch line. A quarter is 4/16, and three more sixteenths make 7/16, so the reading is 1 7/16 inches.
A distance. One mark is at 3/8 inch and the other at 1 1/16 inches. In sixteenths, 3/8 is 6/16 and 1 1/16 is 17/16. The distance is 17/16 - 6/16 = 11/16 inch.
Tips for the Tool Assessment
- Get a real tape measure and practise reading it to a sixteenth until it takes seconds.
- Check the whole inch last. A right fraction against the wrong inch is the commonest slip.
- Learn the names and uses of everyday hand tools: the different wrenches, pliers and screwdrivers, levels, squares, saws and drills.
- Know what each tool is for as well as what it is called. The assessment covers tools and their use.
- Treat it as part of your interview score. The EIAT is pass or fail, but this step moves your rank.
Practise tape-measure reading on CogniPrep
Our practice is our own format, because the real one is not published: 20 readings on two inches of tape marked to a sixteenth, each with four choices. It runs from halves and quarters to eighths and sixteenths, and ends with four distances between two marks. There is no time limit and no pass line. It covers measuring only; we do not test tool identification, because a drawing of a tool is not a fair test of knowing the real one.