Reed Smith Strengths Assessment - advice

Julian Ng

Active Member
Future Trainee
Nov 5, 2018
10
39
Hi everyone,

I have been invited to take Reed Smith's Strengths Assessment test as part of a TC application. Has anyone taken the test before and/or would anyone be able to advise on how best to prepare for the test?

I have a decent amount of practice with Watson Glaser and other verbal reasoning tests, but this assessment sounds like it might be more varied. I'm wondering whether it may be a mixed bag of verbal reasoning, situational judgment and other personality tests, but am not really sure.

Thanks!
 

Jaysen

Founder, TCLA
Staff member
TCLA Moderator
Gold Member
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  • Feb 17, 2018
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    Interesting, I don't think I've heard of this as an online test before. If no-one is able to get back to you here, I'll see if I can find someone who has interviewed at Reed Smith. It would be good for us to know more about it also!
     
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    PHT

    Star Member
    Jun 30, 2018
    47
    90
    It's relatively straightforward! There are 8 scenarios that you might encounter as a trainee and each scenario has 5 responses. So for example, it might be something like a partner has given you a presentation to prepare for a client and last minute they suggest some changes to it and you just have to rank the responses from what you're most likely to do to least likely to do. There isn't really an obvious right/wrong answer for most of them so I'd say just put your natural responses. The format is exactly the same as here: http://demo.situationalstrengthstest.com/

    You get sent a feedback report after a week or so with your top 3 strengths with generic advice on how to use and improve them. Good luck!
     

    Julian Ng

    Active Member
    Future Trainee
    Nov 5, 2018
    10
    39
    It's relatively straightforward! There are 8 scenarios that you might encounter as a trainee and each scenario has 5 responses. So for example, it might be something like a partner has given you a presentation to prepare for a client and last minute they suggest some changes to it and you just have to rank the responses from what you're most likely to do to least likely to do. There isn't really an obvious right/wrong answer for most of them so I'd say just put your natural responses. The format is exactly the same as here: http://demo.situationalstrengthstest.com/

    You get sent a feedback report after a week or so with your top 3 strengths with generic advice on how to use and improve them. Good luck!

    Thanks for this! The practice test looks useful!
     

    Julian Ng

    Active Member
    Future Trainee
    Nov 5, 2018
    10
    39
    Hi guys, I have been getting a few questions about the SST so thought I'd just post here as well.

    Sadly I was not passed on to an AC with the firm. I thought I had a decent chance especially since the strengths report that I was provided with after the test matched the firm's core values fairly well.

    However, a debrief with my careers counsellor uncovered a really helpful insight that I wanted to share: make sure you answer the questions consistently ! A number of questions assess overlapping strengths/aptitudes and the firm will be looking at whether you answer these questions consistently. To an extent, I realised that I had been overthinking my answers and saying what I thought the firm wanted to hear rather than just being honest about my preferences in a given scenario, which easily could have made my test result as a whole somewhat inconsistent.

    Hope that helps!
     
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    Eamon

    Star Member
    Jul 2, 2019
    31
    20
    Having done the test a few weeks, I noticed it had similarities to a Situational Judgement Test, so if people want to practice, maybe have a look at some SJT's to get a feel on how to answer the questions.

    But as stated above, try and be consistent and really try to think what you would do in the situation.
     
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