UX IRL Ep. 24: UX Assessments

Hello! Here are our show notes for episode 24 of UX IRL: UX Assessments. We hit the highlights in this article, but get the full context by listening to the episode:

UX assessments seem to be a trend we’re continuing to see. We have several questions about them, including their validity. So we took one to find out. Join us in this adventure to see what taking one is like. Have you tried one before? Did you try one after listening? Let us know what you think! Talk to us on the zeroheight Slack community! (bit.ly/zheroes-signup), comment below or reply on Twitter @uxinreallife or Instagram @ux.inreallife.

What is a UX Assessment?

Unlike a design or whiteboard challenge, UX assessments take a more quantitative approach to assessing UX knowledge.

Mary Fran has taken a few UX assessments during the job interview process. While it’s traditionally uncommon, we’re wondering if this is something we’ll see more frequently. Doing some more digging, we found one called Uxcel. They provide skill assessments you can take to promote yourself on your Uxcel portfolio there or your other professional profiles.

While we understand the idea behind the assessment, we think evaluating UX in that format is tricky. Knowing how UX is in real life, the answer is often, “It depends,” so it seems difficult to convey that in a multiple choice test. In any scenario, you’d need a space where you can provide context for your decision.

Taking the assessment

We decided to try the Uxcel Verified Designer skill test. We didn’t look at the assessment before recording (because we’re not cheaters here). We shared our screen and did the test together, which you’re not supposed to do, but this was for fun. And, wow — was it ever!!

Since we are UX designers, we confidently felt that if we didn’t do well, it reflected how poor the test was. But no one likes getting stuff wrong, so we knew it might sting if we didn’t do well.

Before you take the test, they give you some warm-up questions to get used to the UI. The assessment is 20 minutes long and includes 40 questions.

If you want, try the test now and return to this article. You can set up an account and take this assessment for free.

Our take

If you haven’t listened to the episode, definitely give it a listen to hear our reaction highlights. We laughed, cried, screamed, got mad, and were shocked by some of the questions. As we expected, we couldn’t definitively answer some questions with a single choice — it depended on the scenario.

There were quirky questions and even stranger answer options that distracted us. We don’t see how those questions are relevant to evaluating a designer’s skillset. For example, they showed a brand color palette, and you had to guess which company’s palette that was.

The 40 questions were arbitrary and not reflective of what a designer should know in their day-to-day work. Some questions were even subjective, too.

There is some hope, though. Mary Fran said the assessments she’s taken are better than this and much more grounded in reality. We still think standardized tests for UX are probably not the right tool for assessing candidates though.

How did we do?

The assessment rates us (“Jarad Spall,” our alter ego) as an intermediate-level designer. In real life, we’re much more seasoned than that. We supposedly did 68% better than other designers. They have an analysis of how we did with the questions. We got 25 out of 40 correct (62%) — 21 correct questions is the average. They also break down our expertise by topic. We were above average for user research and content strategy. For visual design and leadership, we were average. And for interaction design, which is what we both specialize in IRL, we were below average!

Our final take

We strongly recommend not taking this test for professional reasons. Only take it if you need a laugh. Uxcel’s Verified Designer assessment is not a good reflection on your skills for a typical design job and posting your results on your portfolio, LinkedIn, or resume could be detrimental. As a hiring manager, I’d be wary of hiring you.

The questions weren’t authentic to what a designer does in their day-to-day. Some questions were nit-picky around terminology; if you got them wrong, that’s something learnable and won’t break you as a designer.

This assessment doesn’t evaluate your critical thinking at all. The evaluation is almost unfair. It asks you about which tool suite you should use. If you haven’t used those tools, you might not know what they are, and that’s not your fault.

If you’re a hiring manager, take a candidate’s results for these assessments with a grain of salt.

We’d love to hear from you!

If you’ve tried this assessment, let us know your thoughts! If you know of other examinations, drop us a line. You can comment in the show notes or reach out to us on the zheroes Slack community (sign up for free at bit.ly/zheroes-signup). Also, if you have a UX question, feel free to ask us, and we might feature it in an upcoming episode!