Career Path > EEI Tests
BMST (Basic Math and Science) Test
cheme09:
Didn't want to make a new thread so I'm just going to bump this one.
I have an interview and testing scheduled for the end of this week with Exelon. After looking through the sample BMST questions they provided, I am thinking there is a mistake in their answer. I just wanted to check with the rest of you to see if you arrive at the same answer I did. If so, I'll just assume it's a minor typo in their materials. The question is as follows:
Determine the next number in the series:
25 27 30 15 5 7 10 ____
UPDATE: Almost immediately after posting this, I realized why I was getting a different answer. I was including using division as part of my answer whereas their answer only used addition. Interestingly enough we came up with the same magnitude of an answer just opposite signs. I'll keep this posted just to include another example of a BMST question.
RDTroja:
--- Quote from: cheme09 on Oct 09, 2011, 03:14 ---Didn't want to make a new thread so I'm just going to bump this one.
I have an interview and testing scheduled for the end of this week with Exelon. After looking through the sample BMST questions they provided, I am thinking there is a mistake in their answer. I just wanted to check with the rest of you to see if you arrive at the same answer I did. If so, I'll just assume it's a minor typo in their materials. The question is as follows:
Determine the next number in the series:
25 27 30 15 5 7 10 ____
UPDATE: Almost immediately after posting this, I realized why I was getting a different answer. I was including using division as part of my answer whereas their answer only used addition. Interestingly enough we came up with the same magnitude of an answer just opposite signs. I'll keep this posted just to include another example of a BMST question.
--- End quote ---
If this is an actual question on the test, it is flawed (if it is a multiple choice, it may be OK.) There are at least two legitimate answers (5, -5) unless the rules specifically state that only addition and subtraction are allowed... or if they wanted the next two numbers and told you only integers were allowed.
cheme09:
--- Quote from: RDTroja on Oct 10, 2011, 09:33 ---If this is an actual question on the test, it is flawed
--- End quote ---
That's exactly what I was thinking. It was a multiple choice question, by the way.
When I first posted, I didn't provide the answer choices because I wanted to see if everyone else came up with what I got, 5. The study guide said the answer was -5 but I soon realized how they came up with that answer.
cheme09:
I know one member here is taking the BMST soon and found the following info useful. For the benefit for others that may be taking the BMST at the same time or later in the future here's what I suggested he study. There has already been good info posted earlier in this thread by Justin so consider this just a supplement.
The material is really all high school level math, trig, physics, and chemistry. The two exceptions I had on my test were:
* there was one biology type question (still high school level, though)
* I don't recall PNP and NPN transistors being covered in high school (had 2 questions about those)
There is a 3 hour time limit for 90 questions. They should have sent you a BMST study guide. A majority is math but there is also a break down of subject matter on the study guide as well as a sample question for each question type (not sure where that biology question would fit in). The sample questions are very representative of the type AND difficulty of the questions on the test.
If you're unfamiliar with simple circuits, it would be good to review/learn how to compute the current, voltage, and resistance of a circuit. You should definitely know how to handle resistors in series and in parallel.
Your basic physics should also be reviewed. Similar to the mechanical concepts on the POSS.
In the math section, when determining the next number in the series, only use addition or subtraction, not multiplication or division; this isn't mentioned in the study guide, but will be included in the directions on the actual test. The trigonometry was kind of interesting. Aside from converting back and forth between radians and degrees, you should also be comfortable taking the sin or cos of an angle without a calculator. You will be given a trig table, so you could learn how to use that or you could get comfortable estimating. They will give you problems like solve for x:
x = 20cos(61.18°)
The answer choices will be given with 3 or 4 decimal places, but there is no reason for you to waste time calculating to that accuracy. If you recall that cos 60 = 0.5 then you should know that x will be in the ballpark of 10, but less than 10.
Lastly, a quick review of nuclear science would be good. A skim through the DOE Fundamental Handbook for Nuclear Physics and Reactor Theory (volume 1) would be good. The handbook definitely provides more material than you need, but what you do need will be in there. Some topics to look at are:
* difference between alpha, beta, and gamma radiation
* how to shield each of the above radiations
* neutron interactions (ie, scattering, absorption, etc)
* radioactive decay
Depending on your level of familiarity with the above topics, it may seem like a lot to study, but check out the subject matter break down in the study guide and just prepare accordingly. Make sure to answer all questions because unanswered questions are considered incorrect answers. If you grab a good ASVAB book, the math, mechanical, science, and spatial relation sections on the ASVAB will help you prepare for the BMST. The DOE Handbook will cover your nuclear science. If you google "doe fundamentals handbook nuclear" it should be the first link.
The test is not really hard. I finished the exam in about 1.5 hours. I took the next 45 min going back over all my answers. The only ones I guessed on were about PNP and NPN transistors bc I've never seen that stuff before in school and I didn't bother to study it in the ASVAB book I used.
*edited for clarity bc I'm anal with small details like that
SleepyNuke:
Hi everyone! First time poster here.I figured I would attempt to give an overview of the tests from my experience since I used this site like crazy when prepping for the tests.
The BMST (Basic Math and Science Test) was definitely the test I was most worried about because of the wide array of subjects to study. I am more of an algebra guy rather and not a geometry guy. There were quite a few geometry questions that I got hung up on. I would study the basic formulas diameter, area, and volume (rectangle, circle, cylinder). There were a couple physics questions regarding ratios such as a spring depresses 6 inches when 10lbs is placed on the spring how far will the spring depress if 8 lbs is on the spring (only an example not a real question). Also there was a question that threw me off regarding pulleys and RPMs (I haven't worked through one of those in a long time) It was basically pulley X has a diameter of (any number) spinning at 1200 RPMs if pulley Y has a circumference of 64in how fast will it spin. I would focus as much as you can on the algebra and physics questions. Everything from basic physics the whole way up to the problems that involve one car leaving 2 hours ahead of another car when will the cars be in the same location. The chemistry questions were a little oddball I had both reduction and oxidation questions as well as a question asking you to name the last element in sulfuric acid (sulfur was already named so it wasn't that easy). The spatial relation questions were easy but I kept coming out with the wrong answer until I counted each individual block, I was trying to multiply the sides and it just wasn't computing for some reason. The trig part of the test was pretty easy, I knew nothing about trig tables and have only ever used the calculator for trig. Apparently the tables only go to 90 and of course I got a question that was find the sine of something ridiculous like 165 degrees. I had no idea what it was so I just divided that number in half and used whatever the closest number I came up with on the table. Other than that the trig was fairly easy the table wasn't hard to use. Overall, I would say I probably skipped around 20-25 and finished the 90 questions within 1 1/2 hours. I then went back through and thought pretty hard on the ones I missed and worked through them. I guessed on maybe 5 or 6 and by that I mean I narrowed it down to two answers and picked the most logical one. The study guide that they give you (all 8 questions of it ::) ) was helpful it just doesn't give you much of a broad spectrum to focus on. The POSS had the formulas you would use in the test but the BMST did not so KNOW YOUR FORMULAS!
The POSS, this will be pretty short. I think everyone knows that the first few tests (mechanical conc, reading comp, tables and graphs) are all pretty easy. I had no problems with any of them and I only looked at the practice test available at EEI's website. The only part of the POSS that I was focused on was the Math Usage section. Obviously doing 44 questions in 17 or 14 minutes whatever is pretty taxing. I took everyone's advice from this forum and did the first 4 or 5 conversions then moved right to the algebra part. After studying I fully understood how to handle algebra equations that have the variable in the denominator and numerator, as well as how to divide out decimals into decimals or in to real numbers. I finished all the algebra problems without any issues. The last section was the word problems. Again a nice thing about the POSS is they give you the formula, at least half (if not more) would tell you what formula to use in the word problem. I didn't have any issues with that part either. I then returned to the conversions and was able to complete all but 10. Overall the POSS was less difficult than I had anticipated and it seemed to be all about speed and being careful with your +/- signs.
I hope this helped everyone out, I am not trying to risk the integrity of the exam I just want to help anyone out who was in my shoes a few weeks ago so that they know what to study. Also one thing I used like CRAZY while studying was Khan Academy on youtube, I am a visual learner so I would suggest looking in to that website to walk you through things. I will not get my test results back until next week. I'll be sure to post a follow up and let everyone know if I was recommended or not.
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version