The tests
The Edison Electric Institute runs an employment testing consortium that many US investor-owned utilities hire through. Which battery you sit depends on the job, and your invitation letter normally says. Everything below is taken from EEI's own published test brochures — the ones utilities host on their careers pages — so treat it as the published description rather than a promise about your particular administration.
Construction and Skilled Trades Selection System
The line worker and skilled trades battery: four timed sections, about 87 minutes of testing.
110 questions · 87 minutes of timed testing
Construction and Skilled Trades Selection System (revised)
The current version of CAST: the math section is replaced by a 105-item work preferences questionnaire.
197 questions · 110 minutes of timed testing
Plant Operator Selection System
The power plant operator battery: reading, mechanical, math and figural reasoning.
118 questions · 67 minutes of timed testing
Power Plant Maintenance Positions Selection System
The plant maintenance battery: reading, mechanical, assembling objects and math.
118 questions · 72 minutes of timed testing
Technician Occupations Selection System
The technician battery: four tests, and EEI publishes the count and time limit for only one of them.
EEI publishes a count and time for Mechanical Concepts only · about two hours to administer
| Battery | Sections | Questions | Timed | Reported as |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CAST | Graphic Arithmetic, Mechanical Concepts, Reading for Comprehension, Mathematical Usage | 110 | 87 min | Index score 1–10 |
| CAST-R | Graphic Arithmetic, Mechanical Concepts, Reading for Comprehension, Work Preferences Inventory | 197 | 110 min | Index score 1–10 |
| POSS | Reading for Comprehension, Mechanical Concepts, Mathematical Usage, Figural Reasoning | 118 | 67 min | Aptitude index 0–15 |
| MASS | Reading for Comprehension, Mechanical Concepts, Assembling Objects, Mathematical Usage | 118 | 72 min | One index score, no published range |
| TECH | Graphic Problem Solving, Interpreting Diagrams, Mechanical Concepts, Reasoning from Rules | Not published | About 2 h to administer | Overall score, no published range |
No employer publishes a cut score or a pass rate for any of these batteries. EEI's CAST brochure says cutoff scores can be tailored to local company employment needs, and employers do not publish theirs. Treat any specific “score you need” figure elsewhere online as speculation.
Free official practice from EEI
EEI runs its own candidate practice site, and several utilities publish the access details on their public testing pages at no charge: Entergy, LG&E and KU, Dominion Energy and Arkansas Electric Cooperative. Use it first. Entergy and Dominion Energy note the practice tests are shorter than the real tests and differ slightly from them.
Utility Tests is independent and is not affiliated with EEI or any utility. Our questions are original practice for the abilities each section assesses.
Mechanical Concepts — 44 questions in 20 minutes — appears in all five batteries, TECH included.