Harver Speed and Accuracy (Checking) Practice

What the Harver Perceptual Speed and Accuracy test looks at

Harver’s cognitive ability test has five subtests, and the employer chooses which ones you take. Perceptual Speed and Accuracy, which Harver also calls Checking, asks you to decide quickly whether strings of letters and numbers are identical. It measures how fast and how carefully you compare detail, the kind of checking you do with order numbers, account codes and addresses.

Harver does not publish what the items look like. Prep sites describe them in two ways: a pair of strings where you say same or different (iPREP), or a target of 5 to 10 characters with five rows to the right, where you pick the exact match (assessment-training.com). This practice uses the five-row layout, because it trains both speed and the habit of checking every character.

The subtest is timed. Harver gives 5 to 15 minutes per subtest on one page and about 6 to 24 minutes per section on another, and says there are practice questions before each one. Harver’s employer help centre describes the result as norm-referenced from 0 to 100%, with 50% as the average, based on the number of correct answers.

How the Perceptual Speed and Accuracy practice works

1. Read the target string at the top: letters, digits and a few symbols such as -, / and #.
2. Compare it with the five rows below and pick the one that is identical, by click, tap or keys 1 to 5.
3. The other four rows each differ by one thing: two characters swapped, a look-alike character (0 and O, 1 and l or I, 5 and S, 8 and B, rn and m), a missing or extra character, or a change of case.
4. Three practice items come first, untimed and with feedback. Then a 3-minute clock starts, and each answer brings the next item at once.
5. The run ends when the clock reaches zero or after 60 items. Your results show correct and wrong answers, items per minute, accuracy, median time and which kind of difference caught you.

Perceptual Speed and Accuracy tips

• Check the length first: a row that is visibly shorter or longer is out at once.
• Read in chunks of two or three characters, left to right, rather than letter by letter.
• Look hard at look-alikes: zero and capital O, digit 1 and lower-case l, 5 and S, 8 and B.
• Rule rows out instead of hunting for the match; when four are out, the last one is your answer.
• Keep one finger on the number keys so you answer without moving the mouse.
• Do not stop on a hard item for long: one item is worth the same as any other.

Common Perceptual Speed and Accuracy mistakes

• Picking the first row that looks right without checking the rest of the string.
• Missing swapped neighbours, such as 47 read as 74, in the middle of a long string.
• Reading rn as m, or 0 as O, when scanning quickly.
• Ignoring the case of letters: a capital and a lower-case letter count as different.
• Slowing down so much on accuracy that you answer only a few items in the time.

A short Perceptual Speed and Accuracy practice routine

1. Do one run here to get a baseline for items per minute and accuracy.
2. Look at the error breakdown and note the kind of difference that caught you most.
3. In the next run, check that kind of difference on purpose for every row.
4. Aim for accuracy above 90% first, then try to raise items per minute.
5. Before the real test, read your invitation: the employer chooses which subtests you take.

Perceptual Speed and Accuracy FAQ

Practise other Harver modules

• Number Sequences practice
• Logical Reasoning practice
• Verbal Reasoning (Word Analogies) practice
• Spatial Reasoning practice

Sources

• Harver: cognitive ability testing (official)
• Harver: cognitive assessments (official)
• Harver candidate help centre (official)
• Harver employer help centre: NOA Cognitive Ability (official)
• 12minprep: Harver assessment (prep site)
• iPREP (prep site)
• Assessment-Training.com (prep site)