Fault Diagnosis tests usually form part of a test battery
in which verbal reasoning and
numerical reasoning and
mechanical
reasoning also feature. They are used to select personnel for
technical roles who need to be able to find and repair faults in
electronic control systems. The questions in fault diagnosis tests
appear rather abstract and require pure logic to solve. This is
because when a fault develops in an electronically controlled
system, there is often no physical clue as to the cause. In the
absence of such a clue, for example an obviously burned-out
component, the only way to diagnose the problem is by a process of
logical elimination.
This type of test is used extensively to select technical and
maintenance personnel as well as to select for artificer
(technical) roles within the armed forces where the ability to
approach problems logically in order to find the cause of the
fault is increasingly important.
Example Fault Diagnosis Question
There are two components to this question.
- A grid which describes the function of a series of
switches.
- A flowchart showing: input – switches – output.
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Each of the switches acts to alter the input before the next
switch in the series.
This grid shows four switches and their effect on four numbered
inputs which may be either on or off. The first switch (diamond
symbol) inverts inputs one and two. That is, if the input is on,
it is turned off and if it is off it is turned on. The other
switches act in a similar way as detailed in the grid. If a switch
is not working then it has no effect on the input which passes
through unchanged.
In this example flowchart, all of the inputs
(numbered 1, 2, 3, 4) are on.
When these inputs pass through the first switch 1 & 3 are inverted
(i.e. switched off).
These modified inputs (1=off, 2=on, 3=off, 4=on) then pass through
the second switch.
The second switch inverts inputs 3 & 4, which gives (1=off, 2=on,
3=on, 4=off).
These modified inputs (1=off, 2=on, 3=on, 4=off) then pass through
the third switch.
The third switch should invert inputs 2 & 4, giving (1=off, 2=off,
3=on, 4=on).
However the third switch is not working so the output from switch
two is not changed.
The answer to this question is therefore ‘C’ – because switch type
‘C’ is at fault.
Download a sample Fault Diagnosis Test
This sample question paper contains 12 questions and has a
suggested time limit of 10 minutes. The questions are presented in
Letter/A4 format for easy printing and self-marking.
Download
Fault Diagnosis Test - Practice Test 1
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