How the MP-B6 works
The MP-B6 is NOA’s newer, shorter personality test, built from its older MPT-BS. You see one statement at a time and choose from helemaal oneens (strongly disagree) to helemaal eens (strongly agree). It runs only online in the NOA Talent Portal, in Dutch or English. A version for work settings, the MP-B6-W, also exists.
It extends the Big Five with a sixth dimension, each with three scales: Kalm en stabiel (calm, self-assured, free of worry); Precies en doelgericht (thinking ahead, organised, ambitious); Op anderen gericht (active, standing up for yourself, sociable); Vriendelijk (helping, kind to others, accepting others); Openstaan voor nieuwe dingen (new ideas, curiosity, excitement); and Op eigenbelang gericht (own advantage, putting on a front, impressing others).
What the MP-B6 report shows
Your report shows how much each trait fits you, a top three of your most and least marked traits, and the strengths and pitfalls that go with high and low scores on every scale. The adviser’s report adds stanine scores against a norm group and a social desirability scale, which shows whether you describe yourself more favourably than the comparison group, plus a measure of how you used the answer scale.
How to answer the MP-B6
The test works best, for you and the reader, when the answers are plainly yours:
- Answer as you are now, at work or in your studies, not as you would like to be.
- Go with your first honest reaction rather than weighing each statement for long.
- Use the whole scale. If a statement clearly fits or clearly does not, say so.
- Read every statement to the end. Some are worded the opposite way to others.
- Do not try to look perfect. The social desirability scale is there to pick that up, and an idealised profile reads as exactly that.
Tips for the real MP-B6
- Find a quiet 15 minutes. There is no clock, but steady attention gives a more consistent profile.
- Remember both ends of every scale have strengths. A low score on sociable comes with its own strengths in NOA’s report.
- Expect to discuss the results. NOA presents strengths and pitfalls so that the conversation can test them against your experience.
- If your invitation names the MPT-BS instead, it is the older, longer NOA test the MP-B6 was built from.
Practise the MP-B6 on CogniPrep
Our MP-B6 practice has 120 original English statements on the same five-point scale, one at a time and untimed: six for each of the 18 scales and twelve check statements. That split is ours, because NOA publishes only the total. At the end you see your profile across the six dimensions and 18 scales, and how you used the scale. It gives no stanine, because we have no norm group.