Top 10 Proctor & Gamble Reasoning Test Questions and Answers
So you want to work for one biggest consumer product companies in the world. P&G Is huge, so huge that its market cap is greater than the GDP of some countries. Moreover P&G brands are among the most well known in the world – some brands include: Tide, Bounty, Pringles and Duracell.
Working for P&G is no easy feat however; you must pass their reasoning test before you even get a chance to obtain an interview. The reasoning test is your first impression on the hiring managers at P&G. So you want to do well.
First, this is a quote from Bob McDonald – the Chairman of the Board:
“At P&G, we hire for leadership and character as much as we hire for intelligence. We want to attract people whose personal Purpose and Values are highly congruent with the Company’s.
That is why at P&G talent development is a top priority. As a build-from-within company, the capability of our future management and P&G’s long-term growth depends enormously on the caliber of people we hire today.
In the end, we both succeed by strengthening an organization focused on improving lives of consumers and employees alike. We get better at improving lives every year; precisely because of who we hire and how we invest in their growth and success.
It is a very demanding process, but it should be. After all, both our futures depend on it.”
To obtain the P&G reasoning test you must successfully complete the online questionnaire you’ll be invited to complete the Procter & Gamble Global Reasoning Test at an office location, or on campus during a company recruitment event.
This multiple-choice test lasts for 65 minutes and contains 40 multiple-choice questions. This test has three sections: (1) Numerical Reasoning, (2) Logic-based Reasoning, or (3) Figural Reasoning questions. A calculator and extra paper are provided.
P&G has provided everyone with a practice reasoning test:
I personally believe that this is not an accurate representation of what you are going to see on the actual reasoning test. In fact, the actual reasoning test is a little bit different – not harder just different. I have provided you with some questions below, work through these before you go in for your P&G reasoning test:
1. One in 1,000 licensed traders will eventually be convicted of violations of the Securities and
Exchange Act. Over the last five years, eight of the 1,000 traders at Salamen, a top trading firm, have been convicted of such violations. This record clearly indicates that traders at Salamen are approximately eight times as corrupt as other traders from similar firms.
Which one of the following statements, if true, most weakens the argument?
- A) Salamen hires from business schools with the highest quality of graduates and the most scrupulous standards.
B) The Securities and Exchange Commission is far more likely to investigate trading firms than other businesses.
C) A greater number of the Salamen employees with MBAs investigated for possible violations of the Securities and Exchange Act were cleared of all wrong doing than were their counterparts at other trading firms.
D) Most of the employees of Salamen are scrupulously honest and would not intentionally act in such a way as to violate a regulation such as the Securities and Exchange Act.
E) The level of corruption of individuals on a staff is not directly related to the proportion of these individuals who have been convicted of corrupt behavior.(E) The key issue is a false assumption. The argument is based on the premise that if eight times as many people as the average were convicted, then the firm is eight times more corrupt. The convictions of a few individuals do not mean the firm is eight times as corrupt as other firms. (A) is a poor choice since the place from which the traders were hired is not relevant to the contention that a higher record of conviction means a higher level of corruption. (B) doesn’t directly address the issue of corruption: just because they are investigated more doesn’t mean they are more or less corrupt. (C) seems to counter the passage, but does not address the eight times as corrupt issue. (D) does seem to suggest that Salamen employees are less corrupt, but does not address the eight times as corrupt issue directly.
2. Former prisoners of Japanese internment camps seeking monetary reparations from the government are often told, “There is neither wealth nor wisdom
enough in the world to compensate in money for all the wrongs in history.” Which of the following most weakens the argument above?
A) Prior wrongs should not be permitted as a justification for present wrongs.
B) Even though all wrongs cannot be compensated for, some wrongs can be.
C) Since most people committed wrongs, the government should compensate for wrongs with money.
D) Monetary reparations upset social order less than other forms of reparation.
E) Since money is the basic cause of the wrongs, should it not be the cure?
(B) The argument states that there can be no compensation for “all the wrongs in history,” but the argument is about just one wrong of history. Even though all wrongs cannot be compensated for, some wrongs can be.
3. The earliest known Askinazi Indians are those of the Arizona small pueblo settlements near the Grand Canyon at 100 A.D. Their adaptive success is obvious in the speed with which they spread eastward and south across New Mexico and they reached the Mexican plateau by 1000 A.D. Which of the following, if true, would refute the above?
A) The earliest Grand Canyon pueblos date back to 100 A.D.
B) The Maya dominated Mexico during 800 and 1100 A.D.
C) Askinazi artifacts of early settlements in northeast Mexico date back further than artifacts found near the Grand Canyon.
D) The Askinazi built massive pueblos that required advanced technologies.
E) The Askinazi faded by 1200 A.D.
(C) Alternative (C) suggests that the Askinazi were in northeast Mexico prior to the time they settled near the Grand Canyon. This contradicts the claim that they first settled at the Grand Canyon and migrated eastward. Because the argument is based on their rapid expansion, choice (C) best refutes the passage. Answer choice (A) supports the statement chronologically. Answer choices (B), (D), and (E), are not relevant to the argument.
4. A group of scientists studying an adobe community in New Mexico discovered extensive pre-Columbian tribal records that discuss contact with UFOs. These records outline how the aliens taught the tribe to build pyramids and how the alien culture was integrated into tribal culture. The scientists concluded, based on the unprecedented nature of the find, that UFOs must exist.
Which one of the following represents the most reasonable conclusion to be drawn from the passage?
A) The technology used to analyze and detect UFOs has improved considerably since the tribe recorded its encounters.
B) Scientists have never found evidence of this kind before.
C) There are other undiscovered accurate records of encounters between the aliens and the tribe.
D) The tribal culture was exclusively devoted to learning from the aliens.
E) The tribe commonly uses hallucinogenic drugs as part of ceremonies and this may responsible for their unusual “sightings.”
(B) The passage says that this was an “unprecedented find” so we know that the scientific community has never seen something like this before. (A) Technology here is not relevant and not an issue. (C) The records may be a local mythology and have no basis in fact. Even if they are true, that doesn’t mean that other records exist, undiscovered or otherwise. (D) and (E) may be true, but you cannot draw these conclusions from the paragraph.
5. Opening a retail business in Kosovo is not inadvisable, despite what critics of the plan may say. Eighteen years ago, we opened a retail business in Beirut during an invasion, and that location has been generating profits ever since.
Which of the following is the author of the above argument trying to imply?
A) The proposed retail store can make money despite being in the middle of a war zone.
B) Wars are profitable for retail.
C) Kosovo is not as politically unstable as Beirut.
D) Opponents of a new construction company in Kosovo are probably biased.
E) The proposed company in Kosovo will do better than the construction company in Beirut.
(A) The author is using his prior experience to make a generalization. If he thought wars were profitable, he would be more encouraging of the venture instead of stating that it is “not inadvisable”. Choice (B) is incorrect because, though the author does imply that war is not bad for business, he does not argue that war is good for business.
6. The main export from Zambia is natural resources. Bauxite and silver are the two main exports, and zinc and tin are insignificant. Outside of this group, the only important item is ivory (largely illegal), though the exports of grain and meat are by no means negligible.
Which one of the following conclusions is best supported by the statements above?
A) Ivory, though not as important an export as natural resources, is an important component of the export trade.
B) Ivory is nearly as important an export as silver.
C) Zinc is a valuable Zambian export.
D) Food exports are a bigger industry than bauxite in Zambia.
E) Meat exports are critical to the Zambian economy.
(A) Natural resources are mentioned as the major export, and bauxite and silver as the most important. Apart from natural resources, ivory is mentioned as the only other significant export. Therefore, (A) is correct. No mention is made of the importance of ivory relative to silver or other natural resources, so choice (B) can be ruled out. Zinc and tin were mentioned as insignificant exports, so choice (C) is not appropriate. Though the passage does not rule out the possibility that the food trade is larger than the bauxite trade in Zambia, it also does not provide any evidence for concluding this, so choice (D) can also be ruled out. Choice (E) is clearly incorrect: the first sentence of the passage states that by far the main export is natural resources.
7. It is a myth that U.S. workers are pricing themselves out of the market. The wages of U.S. manufacturing workers increased at a slower rate in the 1970’s than those of workers in other major countries. Between 1970 and 1980, pay increased 489% in Japan and 464% in Germany, compared to 128% in the United States. Even though these countries experienced faster productivity growth, their unit labor costs still rose faster than in the United States. During the 1970’s, unit labor costs rose 192% in Japan, 252% in Germany, and only 78% in the United States.
According to the above passage:
A) unit labor costs in the 1970’s were higher in Japan than they were in Germany or the United States
B) the wages of U.S. workers need to be increased to be consistent with other countries.
C) U.S. workers are more productive than Japanese or German workers
D) the wages of U.S. workers in manufacturing increased at a slower rate in the 1970’s than the wages of workers in Japan or Germany
E) Workers in Japan and Germany work harder than workers in the U.S., and their wages have increased accordingly.
(D) Answers A and C are incorrect because they are simply not supported by the facts stated in the passage. Answer B is not necessarily true because the passage compares wages in terms of percentage increases, not actual wages. Answer D is almost identical to the second sentence in the passage, and is correct.
8. It is only in the last 6,000-years or so that men have descended into mines to chop and scratch at the earth’s crust. Human history is the equivalent of a few seconds in the 15 billion year life of the earth. What alarms those who keep track of the earth’s crust is that since 1950 human beings have managed to consume more minerals than were mined in all previous history, a splurge of a millisecond in geologic time that cannot be long repeated without using up the finite riches of the earth.
Which is the main idea of the author:
A) There is cause for concern at the escalating consumption of the earth’s minerals in recent years
B) Human history is the equivalent of a few seconds in the 15 billion year life of the earth
C) The earth will soon run out of vital mineral resource
D) The extraction of minerals from the earth’s crust only began 6,000years ago.
E) Advances in technology have enabled humans to utilize the minerals in the earth’s crust.
Answer B is true, but is not the main point of the passage. Likewise, answer D is true, but again, is not the main idea of the author. Answer C is possibly true, and is certainly suggested as a potential problem, but it is almost too strong a statement without something like “unless something changes” at the end. Answer A is the only one that really reflects the main idea of the passage.
9. Enrollment in computer training programs tends to be high in a strong economy and much lower during weak economic times. How individuals view the likelihood of future job availability, therefore, affects people’s willingness to pass up immediate their current employment opportunities in order to invest in career-related training. The argument above assumes that:
A) those who enroll in computer training schools during a strong economy help increase the economy’s strength.
B) computer training programs admit fewer students during recessions.
C) perceptions of the likelihood of job availability are related to the state of the economy.
D) the perceived likelihood of job availability has decreased in recent years.
E) all those who avoid computer training school during an economic slump do so because of the perceived lack of future jobs.
(C) In this question we have to find what assumption underlies this argument. The argument involves a question of cause and effect. Since enrollment in computer training programs tends to be high when the economy is strong and low when it is weak, the reason must be, according to the author, a matter of people’s perceptions of job availability. Sounds reasonable, but do all the terms match up with those in this conclusion? We know from the question stem that they do not. What’s missing? Well, the evidence pertains to the state of the economy. But the conclusion strays into the area of psychology–people’s perceptions. Are these the same things? The author treats them as such by arguing from evidence regarding the state of the economy to a conclusion based on people’s perceptions of the economy. The author takes the relationship between these for granted, but technically, in order for the argument to work, this must be established. (C) is this basic assumption.
10. In Los Angeles, a political candidate who buys saturation TV advertising will get maximum name recognition. The statement above logically conveys which of the following?
A) TV advertising is the most important factor in political campaigns in Los Angeles.
B) Maximum name recognition in Los Angeles will help a candidate to win a higher percentage of votes cast in the city.
C) Saturation TV advertising reaches every demographically distinct sector of the voting population of Los Angeles.
D) For maximum name recognition a candidate need not spend on media channels other than TV advertising.
E) A candidate’s record of achievement in the Los Angeles area will do little to affect his or her name recognition there.
(D) An L.A. political candidate who buys saturation TV advertising will get maximum name recognition. In other words, such advertising is sufficient for maximum name recognition. If so, then it must be true that, as (D) says, a candidate can get such recognition without spending on other forms of media.
