Discovering Myself: Aptitude Test

After applying for course transfer from engineering to business, the university called me up for an aptitude test. I don't even have any idea what aptitude test is and to make it more confusing, at first I thought it was an attitude test - because it sounds similar in the phone.

So what is aptitude test?
It is basically a test to assess your current strength, skills, hobbies, interests, abilities, style of working and your interaction with other people. The test will showcase your best advantages by recognizing your strengths and will let you know which career is suitable for you.

The test only consist of yes and no questions and it only takes about 15 minutes to complete it - even a kid can predict their future career - NO KIDDING!!

My result:
I'm an ARTISTIC person with ENTERPRISING and CONVENTIONAL personalities.

Interpretation:

Photo courtesy of *meppol.

ARTISTIC
Original, intuitive and imaginative, and enjoy creative activities such as composing or playing music, writing, drawing or painting, and acting in or directing stage productions. They seek opportunities for self-expression through artistic creation.

People who fall under this category prefer flexibility and ambiguity, and have an aversion to convention and conformity. Artistic types are generally impulsive and emotional, and tend to communicate in a very expressive and open manner.

They value aesthetics, and view themselves as creative, non-conforming, and as appreciating or possessing musical, dramatic, artistic, or writing abilities while lacking clerical or organizational skills. The preferred work environment of the artistic type fosters creative competencies and encourages originality and use of the imagination in a flexible, unstructured setting.

Typical careers: Musician, reporter, blogger and interior designer.

Photo courtesy of Speaking Channel.

ENTERPRISING
Energetic, ambitious, adventurous, sociable and self-confident. They enjoy activities that require them to persuade others, such as sales, and seek out leadership roles. They are invigorated by using their interpersonal. leadership, and persuasive abilities to obtain organizational goals or economic gain, but may avoid routine or systematic activities.

They are often effective public speakers and are generally sociable, but may be viewed as domineering. They view themselves as assertive, self-confident and skilled in leadership and speaking, but lacking in scientific abilities.

The preferred work environment of the enterprising type encourages them to engage in activities such as leadership, management, and selling, and rewards them through the attainment of money, power, and status.

Typical carrers: Salesperson, business executives and manager.

Photo courtesy of Darren Byrne.

CONVENTIONAL
Efficient, careful, conforming, organized and conscientious. They are comfortable working within an established chain of command and prefer carrying out well-defined instructions over assuming leadership roles. They prefer organized, systematic activities and have an aversion to ambiguity. They are skilled in and often enjoy maintaining and manipulating data, organizing scedules, and operating office equipment.

While they rarely seek leadership or "spotlight" roles, they are thorough, persistent and reliable in carrying out tasks. Conventional types view themselves as responsible, orderly, efficient, and possessing clerical, organizational, and numerical abilities, but may also see themselves as unimaginative or lacking in creativity.

The preferred work environment of the conventional type fosters organizational competencies, such as record keeping and data management in structured operation, and places high value on conformity and dependablilty.

Typical careers: Accountant, organizer, data processor.

After the test I went for a counseling session and showed the result. The counselor was surprised, why in the world did I took engineering studies? My REALISTIC score is very low - less then ten. I still remember, years back after I finished my SPM, I wanted to take multimedia course because my love of arts but wasn't approved - a lot of people take this course, hard to find job, no market demand. Really?

Here is my score:

Truthfully, I can't see myself as an engineer - I never dream of it. Hell, I've been studying engineering for almost 7 years and it was really depressing.

Thank God that it has been put at end. I'll be studying business this coming semester and I'm very excited about it. I would like to thank those wonderful peoples who had supported me on pursuing business study, I really appreciates your encouragements and words of advice.

Do you have this question in mind:
"Why the hell am I doing this?"