Ace the Linklaters Watson Glaser Test with Accurate Practice

The Linklaters Watson Glaser Test is a challenging verbal reasoning test that measures your analytical capabilities under pressure. It is 30 minutes long and includes 40 questions that belong to five categories: Argument Evaluation, Deductive Reasoning, Drawing Inferences, Logical Interpretation, and Recognizing Assumptions. 

Drawing Inferences - In this section, each exercise begins with a statement of facts after which you will find several possible inferences - conclusions that some might draw from the stated facts. Your goal is to examine each inference separately, and make a decision as to its degree of truth or falsity.

Recognizing Assumptions - In this section, each statement is followed by a proposed assumption. You are to decide for each assumption whether a person, in making the given statement, is really making that assumption – that is, taking it for granted, justifiably or not. 

Deductive Reasoning - In this section you are presented with several statements (premises) and suggested conclusions, and you will need to decide if the conclusion follows or not. 

Logical Interpretation - In this section you are presented with short paragraphs, and a conclusion. You will need to decide if the conclusion follows beyond a reasonable doubt, or not. 

Argument Evaluation - In this section you'll be presented with a series of questions, each followed by an argument. You must decide whether the argument is weak or strong based on whether it is relevant, important, and related to central aspects of the issue. 

For more Watson Glaser practice questions, click here!

After choosing the position you want, you will be asked to create an account to complete your Linklaters application form. Apart from the regular items such as your education details and qualifications, there are a number of competency questions to answer. These typically focus on the key competencies that are important to Linklaters, which are listed below in the Linklaters Interview section.

This day is also known as Interview day, but is more properly defined as an assessment centre for the Linklaters graduate scheme. There are a number of different activities throughout the day:

In this exercise, you will be taking what is commonly known as an In-tray test. This is a job simulation, mimicking what you would expect to find at your place of work. You will be given a laptop with instructions and some background information relating to the position you are to take during this exercise. You will then have to work your way through an “inbox” rating emails as important or not. Throughout the In-tray you will receive more emails that you need to deal with. There is not enough time to read through every email, so you need to have a method in order to complete the task.

After this section of the exercise, you have to write a long response to one of the important emails that came up. This response has to be in the correct structure with an introduction, main section and conclusion. 

There are two interviews that you will face during the Linklaters interview day. The first of the interviews is with a member of the HR team, which will be a competency-based interview. You will need to have an excellent understanding of the Linklaters competencies to do well in this interview.

The six competencies are:

• Commercial Judgment
• Determination
• Excellence
• Imagination
• Integrity
• Teamwork

In order to perform at the highest level during the competency-based interview, make sure to bring examples of when you have demonstrated these values during your university experience, as well as in your work or volunteering experiences. 

The second interview is held with one of the lawyers from Linklaters and is a skills-based interview. You will discuss your written exercise with the interviewer, why you decided to answer the way you did and describe the way you approached the task, bringing your analytical skills to the fore. Additionally, you will be asked several questions designed to test your commercial awareness. There are a number of qualities and skills that Linklaters expects every employee to have; to this end, you will be asked questions involving the following skills:

• Commercial thinking
• Communication
• Motivation
• Teamwork
• Time management

It is very worthwhile to prepare for this interview by making sure you are up to date with the latest commercial developments, as these are likely to come up during your interview. Try to prepare answers for every possible question that you think may come up. Some examples of previous Linklaters interview questions are as follows:

• Which area of practice are you most interested in?
• Do you think you could cope with the long hours connected with the law?
• Where do you think that Linklaters should open their next office?
• What puts you under pressure?
• What do you do to evaluate your processes?
• What aspect of your study did you enjoy the most?
• Where do you see yourself in five year's time?
• Tell me about a time when you were part of a team.
• Did you ever solve a problem in a dynamic way?

The hour-long span of the Linklaters interviews tends to suggest that you will be in for a grilling, but this is not the case. You are encouraged to bring notes to help answer interview questions. Moreover, with the other exercises that you have already done, there is already a pretty clear picture of your abilities. Hence the Linklaters interview is regarded as more of an informal chat for the company to get to know you better.

With a starting salary of close to £40,000 moving up to £64,000 after qualification, the Linklaters training contract is rightly one of the most sought-after positions around, providing 110 training contracts per year. Another highly desirable position is for the Linklaters summer vacation scheme with 90 places available. It is constantly ranked in the top five Law Firm rankings, it is one of the famed Magic Circle and has over 2,200 lawyers firm-wide.

The majority of Linklaters job positions and graduate schemes require applicants to take the Watson Glaser critical thinking test. The table below lists all the job positions that require the Watson Glaser test: