How Technisch Inzicht works
The subtest has 15 questions measuring how well you can see through technical or physics problems under time pressure. You have about 5 minutes, so roughly 20 seconds each.
TMA aims it at technical roles: its pages name the armed forces, construction, engineering and product development. Employers choose which subtests to send, so you are most likely to meet this one when applying for that kind of work.
It is scored on its own against a norm group at MBO or HBO/WO level.
The principles that answer most items
With 20 seconds an item, you need to recognise the principle, not calculate from scratch:
- Gears: each gear that meshes with another turns it the opposite way. A smaller gear turns faster.
- Levers and seesaws: weight times distance from the pivot must match on both sides.
- Pulleys: the more rope sections hold the load, the less force you need, and the more rope you pull.
- Belts: an open belt turns both wheels the same way; a crossed belt reverses one.
- Circuits: in series the current has one path, so one break stops everything; in parallel each branch has its own path.
Worked example
A child of 30 kg sits 2 metres from the pivot of a seesaw. Where must a child of 20 kg sit on the other side to balance it? Options: 1.5 m, 2 m, 3 m.
Weight times distance on one side is 30 × 2 = 60. On the other side, 20 × d must also be 60, so d is 3 metres. The lighter child sits further out.
Tips for the real subtest
- Revise the handful of principles above. They cover far more items than formulas do.
- Look at the drawing before the options. Decide what will happen, then find it.
- Do not stall. At 20 seconds an item, a slow question costs you the next two.
- Answer every item. No source mentions marks taken off for a wrong answer.
Practise Technisch Inzicht on CogniPrep
Our version has 15 items on a 5-minute clock with three options each, covering gears, levers, pulleys, circuits, pressure, forces and heat. Each mechanism is described in words, and the questions come from a fixed bank, so a repeat brings some back. Clicking an option moves you on, with a Skip and no going back. You get a 1 to 9 practice score with TMA’s Dutch label, against people practising here.