What the Workplace Documents test is
Workplace Documents is one of the three ACT WorkKeys tests behind the National Career Readiness Certificate (NCRC). Each question gives you a document you might meet at work, such as a message, email, letter, set of directions, sign, bulletin, policy, web page, contract or regulation, and asks about it. It replaced Reading for Information.
Level 3 asks for the main idea, a clearly stated detail, or when to do a step. Level 4 asks you to work out an undefined word from the document and to choose what to do when conditions change. Level 5 asks you to apply instructions with conditions in them to situations the document describes, and to make inferences towards a goal. Levels 6 and 7 ask for implied details, the reason behind a rule or a whole document, and principles applied to new situations, on longer and less clearly written documents.
How Workplace Documents is scored
Your raw score is the number of scored questions you get right; some questions are unscored trial items. ACT converts it to a scale score from 65 to 90, then to a level: 72 to 76 is Level 3, 77 to 80 Level 4, 81 to 82 Level 5, 83 to 85 Level 6 and 86 or more Level 7.
On ACT’s one published practice form, scored out of 30, Level 3 started at 11 correct, Level 4 at 16, Level 5 at 21, Level 6 at 23 and Level 7 at 26. Silver to Gold on this test meant five more correct answers on that form.
A method for each document
Long documents are where time goes, so read with the question in hand:
- Read the question first, then find the part of the document it depends on.
- Underline, mentally, every condition: “unless”, “only when”, “except”, “before”, “after”.
- Answer from the document, not from how things work at your own job.
- When asked why a rule exists, look for the sentence that states its purpose, often near the start or the end.
- If two options both look right, check which one the document actually says or directly implies.
Worked example
A Level 5 style question. The notice says: “Inspect forklifts at the start of each shift. A red tag means do not operate. A yellow tag means the forklift may be used only for moves under 50 feet until maintenance clears it.” Your forklift has a yellow tag, and you need to move a pallet 120 feet. What should you do?
The options are: A. Move the pallet, since a yellow tag allows use. B. Remove the yellow tag after your own inspection. C. Use a forklift with no tag, or ask maintenance to clear this one first. D. Treat the forklift as red-tagged and report it. E. Move the pallet slowly.
The yellow tag allows moves under 50 feet only, and 120 feet is over that, so the forklift cannot make this move until maintenance clears it. C is the answer. A ignores the condition, B and E are not in the notice, and D treats a yellow tag as a red one.
Tips for the real test
- If a document carries more than one question, reread only the part each one needs.
- Do not spend five minutes on one long contract early on. Flag it and come back.
- Defined terms and acronyms are explained somewhere in the document. Find the definition before you answer.
- At Levels 6 and 7 the answer is rarely a sentence copied from the text. Look for the option that follows from the rule.
- Answer every question before time runs out: no penalty for guessing.
Practise WorkKeys Workplace Documents on CogniPrep
Our Workplace Documents practice is the real length, 35 questions in 55 minutes, on notices, emails, policies, directions, contracts and regulations, from stated details to the principle behind a long technical document. Some documents carry two questions. You can move freely and flag questions on a review grid, and the result gives the level you would most likely reach using ACT’s practice-form cut-offs in proportion.