The elevator tool assessment: what it asks and why it matters

Straight after the EIAT you sit a short tool assessment, usually fifteen to twenty minutes. It is easy to dismiss, because it does not count towards your EIAT score. That would be a mistake.

Apprentice Tests is an independent practice resource. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to NEIEP, the IUEC, any local union or any elevator company. Recruitment rules and test formats are set by NEIEP and the locals, and they change — always follow the guidance issued with your own recruitment.

Why it matters more than its length suggests

The tool assessment score is not added to your EIAT result. It is reported as feeding into your interview score — and the interview is what determines your position on the hiring list. So a section you can prepare for in an evening contributes to the number that actually decides how long you wait for a call.

What it covers

Three kinds of question:

• Naming a tool from a picture or description. Screwdrivers of different types, pliers, cutters, crimpers, measuring tools.
• Choosing the tool for a job. Given a described task, which tool would you reach for.
• Reading an instrument. A tape measure to a sixteenth of an inch, and the basics of calipers, micrometers and feeler gauges.

The tape measure is the part to drill

If you do one thing, make it this. Reading a tape to a sixteenth is a skill that is quick to learn and quick to lose, and it is the single most testable thing in the whole assessment.

The hierarchy of marks is what makes it fast. Between one inch and the next there are sixteen spaces. The longest mark in the middle is the half. The next longest either side are the quarters. Shorter again are the eighths, and the shortest of all are the sixteenths. Once you read by mark length rather than by counting from zero every time, it becomes almost instant.

Our guide to reading a tape measure goes through it properly, and the tools and measuring section gives you a drawn tape to read rather than a list of fractions to memorise.

The other instruments

You do not need to be an expert. Know what each one is for:

• Caliper — outside diameters, inside diameters and depths, far more precisely than a rule.
• Micrometer — the most precise of the three, for outside measurements to thousandths of an inch.
• Feeler gauge — a set of blades of known thickness for measuring a narrow gap.

Preparing for it

An evening or two is genuinely enough. Work through tape readings until they are automatic, learn the common hand tools by sight, and think about which tool suits which job rather than memorising names in isolation. That last one is what the "choose the tool" questions are really asking.