Written tests in UN
WRITTEN TESTS IN UN, UNDP, UNICEF, UNOPS, UNHCR
NOTE: This article is updated for 2024 year requirements.
We've already described the HR selection process in UN, UNDP, and other NGOs.
As it was mentioned the first step of hr selection is formal criteria. Your CV and Personal History form should be relevant to the Vacancy Position. If your CV and experience are relevant to the vacancy position details, you are placed in the so-called "Long List of Candidates" From the long list of candidates HR unit will form the short-listed candidates.
Most UN organizations these days will also include a written test as part of assessing your technical skills. This can come before or after an interview. They often are timed and provide useful information to the panel โ including mastery of subject matter, technical skills, ability to work under tight deadlines and drafting ability (for essay or short-answer questions). This feedback can be especially helpful when considering similarly qualified applicants.
The aim of the test is to check your skills and Qualifications.
In case you are approved for the next step by HR and Project Manager, you will receive such an email - This is to inform you that you have been short-listed for the subject post. By this email you are kindly invited to the next stage of the selection process which is a written test. Please see test details below:
Date: 11 September
Time slot: 11:00 London time
Duration: 120 minutes
Location: examination will be conducted remotely and will be sent to you via email at the scheduled time.
You should approve the date and time, and on the defined date you will receive a written test with the following instructions:
You have 10 minutes to confirm the receipt of the test and that you were able to open the attached document(s). You have 120 minutes to complete the test and e-mail it back. Do not put your name on the answer paper as it will be marked anonymously. The use of the internet or another hard-copy material as a source for your replies is prohibited. Should it be discovered that you have used the internet or other materials, your interview will be disqualified. In case you are quoting a text, please indicate the source of the information. Tests found to include plagiarized or unattributed material will be disqualified.
To say honestly you can use the Internet because it can't be checked. Of course, you mustn't(!) copy-past all information, but you may check some details, verify the information and so on.
Real Samples of Written Tasks, Tests.
All samples of tests provided only for educational purposes. It's strictly prohibited to copy them, publish and release on other sites.
IT Specialist / IT Officer
What is the difference between a library and an institution mandated with the management of archives?
What is the purpose of redaction in a judicial environment? Why is it necessary to redact the audio-visual recordings of the trial proceedings of the ICTR?
Based on the information provided below, generate a table in this document which lists the name of the ICTR case, the date of the proceeding, the number of tapes per session, and the file name(s) of the digital copies of those records. The table should list the information in chronological order .
What is the significance of file compression in determining if an audio-visual file format is suitable for archival purposes?
High-level staff written tests.
United Nation Written Assessment for the position of Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist โ P4
3 Hour.
Questions.
Please review the following indicators, identify their weaknesses if any, reformulate as needed to address the weaknesses and identify the type of indicator: 1. Number of communities that have democratically and gender equitably designed and implemented food security plans
2. What is a monitoring and evaluation plan is and what is used for? For two of the revised indicators, define the indicators and what it measures, identify, potential data sources, and develop a monitoring and evaluation plan including baseline, routine monitoring, and evaluation. Identify three conditions for ensuring availability.
3. Present the data below using graphs. Interpret the findings, present conclusions, and identify limitations. Identify, at least, three additional sets of information needed to strengthen the inferences that can be drawn from the data.
4. Please discuss, including through examples, the ways in which indicators measuring both averages and percentages can either be misleading or advantageous in presenting and analysing data results
Report about the situation in an IDP camp. Need to determine - GOOD or BAD.
Determine whether the situation is good or bad for every single point described;
Determine whether the situation is good or bad for the situation as a whole. What is your rationale?
The IDP camp XYZ has situated 40 km from the frontline. It is located on a slope with a 7% gradient.
The covered area available per person averages 3.5 sqm. The total area, per person, including infrastructures, averages 35 sqm.
Each person has access to 200g of soap per month.
There is a water point for every 250 people. Each water point has a flow of 0.1 litres per second.
The maximum distance from any shelter in the area from a water point is 450 m.
There is a toilet for 50 people.
IDPs can count a daily intake of 1,800 kcals.
The crude mortality rate is 8 deaths per 10,000 persons per week.
The under-5 mortality rate is 2 / 10,000 / day.
The measles vaccination coverage reaches 90%. A therapeutic feeding programme has been established.
1/10 of the people assisted through it have died.
Another written test samples:
Please complete the following two exercises:
Written test exercise 1 (Report Officer P-3):
Summarize the report found below in your own words. The report should be reduced to approximately one third of its original length; the summary should have between 400 and 500 words and should be typed directly in an e-mail response. The summary should begin with the words: โThe SecretaryGeneral, in his note to the General Assembly stated thatโฆ.โ and should end with: โIn conclusion, two options were providedโฆโ Your response should not exceed 500 words.
Written test exercise 2:
The Regional Programme Centre (RPC) has been endorsed by the United Nations Programme Commission (UNPC) and has been established this year with a limited budget. As a new office, RPC will need to implement its new mandate/work programme. How do you see the mandate/work programme and interaction of an administrative service within the RPC? As the responsible officer, please formulate a mission statement for the Administrative Section of RPC. The response and mission statement should not exceed one single-spaced, typewritten page.
Failure to meet the guidelines for the exercise will result in the loss of points.
Response Guide: responses will be rated on the following bases:
Written test Sample 3 (Report officer UNDP P-2)
- Written Exercises Summarize the report found below in your own words. The report should be reduced to approximately one-third of its original length; the summary should have between 200 and 300 words and should be presented in final format as a MS Word document, with paragraph numbers and footer. Failure to meet the guidelines for the two exercises will result in the loss of points.
Response Guide: responses will be rated on the following bases 1. Ability to write in a clear and concise manner and to communicate effectively; 2. Proficiency in word processing.
Report
Ecology and economics should push in the same direction. After all, the โecoโ part of each word derives from the Greek word for โhomeโ, and the protagonist of both claim to have humanity's welfare as their goal. Yet environmentalists and economists are often at loggerheads. For economists, the world seems to be getting better. For many environmentalists, it seems to be getting worse. These environmentalists have developed a sort of โlitanyโ of three big environmental fears: natural resources are running out; the population is ever-growing, leaving less and less to eat and the planet's air and water are becoming ever more polluted. Human activity is thus defiling the earth, and humanity may end up killing itself in the process. The trouble is the evidence does not back up this litany. The early environmental movement worried that the mineral resources on which modern industry depends would run out. Clearly, there must be some limit to the number of fossil fuels and metal ores that can be extracted from the earth; the planet, after all, has a finite mass. But that limit is far greater than many environmentalists would have people believe. Reserves of natural resources have to be located, a process that costs money. That, not natural scarcity is the main limit on their availability. However, known reserves of all; fossil fuels, and of most commercially important metals, are now larger than were believed to be. In the case of oil, for example, reserves that could be extracted at reasonably competitive prices would keep the world economy running for about 150 years at present consumption rates. Add to that the fact that the price of solar energy has fallen by half in every decade for the past 30 years and appears likely to continue to do so into the future, and energy shortages do not look like a serious threat either to the economy or to the environment. The population explosion is also turning out to be a bugaboo. As far back as the end of the 18th Century Thomas Malthus claimed that, if unchecked, human population would expand exponentially, while food production could increase only linearly, by bringing new land into cultivation. He was wrong, Population growth has turned out to have an internal check; as people grow richer and healthier, and they have smaller families. Indeed, the growth rate of the human population reached its peak, of more that 2% a year, in the early 1960s. The rate of increase has been declining ever since. It is now 1.26%, and is expected to fall to 0.46% in 2050. The United Nations estimates that most of the world's population growth will be over by 2100, with the population stabilising at just below 11 billion. Granted, the threat of pollution is real but exaggerated. Many analyses show that air pollution diminishes when a society becomes rich enough to be able to afford to be concerned about the environment. For London, the city for which the best data are available, air pollution peaked around 1890. Today, the air is cleaner than it has been since 1585. There is good reason to believe that this general picture holds true for all developed countries. And, although air pollution is increasing in many developing countries, they are merely replicating the development of the industrialized countries. When they grow sufficiently rich they, too, will start to reduce their air pollution. All this contradicts the litany. Yet opinion polls suggest that many people, in the rich world, at least, nurture the belief that environmental standards are declining. Scientific funding goes mainly to areas with many problems. That may be wise policy, but it will also create an impression that many more potential problems exist than is the case. The attitude of the media is also a factor in the distortion. People are clearly more curious about bad news than good. Newspapers and broadcasters are there to provide what the public wants. That, however, can lead to significant distortions of perception. To replace the litany with facts is crucial if people want to make the best possible decisions for the future.
Written test sample #5 - Knowledge (Project management UNOPS P-3)
In your own words, describe the most important tasks of the project manager during the design stage.
Describe the work of the project manager's team during the design stage.
Think of a project that ended in success. List as many things as you can that were done right during the design stage.
Written test sample #6 - Knowledge (Coordination officer P-3)
In business as in a civil service, if you have no goals, you are sure to lose. A common denominator of all outstanding HR practitioners is their attention to the planning process, followed by constant monitoring and adjustment as required.
Prepare a work plan that should encompass all the requisite goals for a benefits and entitlement officer working in a medium size duty station. The work plan should include goals, timelines/milestones and success criteria.
education grant and education grant travel)?
You may see samples of answers here
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