Core Skills Profile for Adults

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Australian Council for Educational Research
19 Prospect Hill Rd, Camberwell, VIC, Australia 3124

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Blanca Camacho
Senior Project Director
+61 3 9277 5498

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Rebecca Simpson
Project Officer
+61 3 9277 5761

Mechanical reasoning questions assess a candidate’s ability to perceive and understand relationships between components within a mechanism.  This test is useful for assessing apprentices, trainees and recruits in the techincal trades and services (for example military, fire and rescue and the mining and construction industries). The assessment is designed to give an indication of a candidate's basic understanding of mechanical and physical concepts including:

• understanding the very basic principles of physics in general, and mechanics in particular
• the ability to visualise the movement of objects through space (three-dimensional spatial ability) and most importantly
• understanding of cause-effect relationships between mechanical components.

Basic concepts and common types of items

• Motion - clockwise and anti-clockwise. Candidates often need to translate directions like left, right, up and down into clockwise and anti-clockwise, particularly in relation to movement of wheels and pivots
• Fixed Pivots - fixed points (like bolts or pins) around which rigid rods or bars can rotate
• Cogs and Wheels - cogs or gears have 'teeth' that mesh together to detrmine the motion of other cogs.  Candidates may need to determine the direction and motion involved in a particular movement.

Mechanical reasoning questions also assess understanding of:

• Circumference
• Radius
• Diameter
• Area
• Volume