Choosing quality questions

The key to a good test is the right number of quality questions with appropriate difficulty levels and enough time to answer these questions. While selecting questions, choose topics based on the candidates’ experience, especially for advanced topics such as Java project and Diagram-based questions.

Important: The examples in this section are based on the requirements described in 
Best practices: Getting the basic details right.

This section is about adding the right questions for specific profiles.

Analyzing the job description

Divide the requirements into the following three sections:

• Section 1: Requirements that the candidate must have to qualify for the position. In this case, the candidate must have strong Java skills.
• Section 2: Set of requirements for which basic knowledge is enough. In this case, the candidate should know how to create diagrams to explain the architecture
• Section 3: Good-to-have requirements. In this case, knowledge about Spring and Hibernate will be considered.

Selecting questions for the primary skill

Scan through the various question types available in the HackerEarth library to find a programming question to test that skill. In this case, Java. We recommend that you select a Java Project question, which will allow you to assess the candidate’s Java skills.

The secondary skill requirement is creating diagrams and implementing the design. Add a diagram-based question to support that.

You have covered the primary skills. Let’s move on to secondary skills.

Selecting questions for the secondary skills

Select MCQs to assess secondary skills. The sample requirement mentions three skills:

• Spring
• Hibernate
• REST

Start with creating three sections, one for each topic, and not more than 5 questions per topic. Sections help you understand how the candidate has fared in each of the sections that you have created.

The ideal duration of a good screening test is not more than 90 minutes. Keeping this in mind, you should ensure that you do not add more than two programming questions in a test, which already has either:

• One diagram-based question
• Multiple choice questions

Note: The number of MCQs is based on the years of experience.

If you do not want to add a diagram-based question or MCQs, it is recommended that you decrease the test duration instead of increasing the number of programming questions.

This ensures that the candidate does not get exhausted while taking the test and remains engaged through the assessment process.