WorldSkills Competitor Selection Assessment
The WorldSkills Mental Assessment is an online psychological selection tool for WorldSkills and EuroSkills competitor selection, developed by Y2Y Ltd. (Budapest, Hungary). It measures the mental side of top performance - how a competitor thinks, focuses, learns and competes - in four short modules, and gives the selection committee comparable 0-100% scores for every candidate.
Who it is for
- WorldSkills and EuroSkills member organisations, skill managers, experts and coaches who select national competitors or squads.
- Competitors in any of the 64 WorldSkills skills (from Industrial Mechanics and CNC Milling to Cooking, Hairdressing or Cyber Security), who take the assessment online before or during the selection process.
- Training centres that want an objective, repeatable mental profile next to the technical skill tests.
What it measures: four modules
1. Cognitive ability - 15 pattern matrices, 15 minutes
Raven's Progressive Matrices style puzzles: each grid has one missing piece and the competitor chooses the piece that completes the pattern from six options. The 15 matrices get progressively harder, from dual-rule Latin squares to set operations, XOR rules with rotation and four simultaneous rules. There is a 15-minute time limit for the whole module. A colour-blind friendly, shape-only variant has the same difficulty.
2. Attention and focus - Flanker test and visual search
The Flanker test shows a row of five arrows in 24 trials; the competitor responds to the direction of the centre arrow while the surrounding arrows point the same way (congruent) or the opposite way (incongruent). The visual search task asks the competitor to find a target shape in a 6x6 grid in 10 trials, as quickly as possible. Both tasks score accuracy and reaction time, and every candidate gets exactly the same trials.
3. Growth mindset - 12 statements
12 statements on a 6-point agreement scale about whether intelligence, professional talent and personal characteristics can be developed. Based on Carol Dweck's implicit theories scale, extended to three areas. A high score means the competitor believes abilities grow with practice - an attitude that supports learning from feedback and setbacks during long competition training.
4. Competitive drive - 14 statements
14 statements on a 5-point scale from the Revised Competitiveness Index (CI-R, Houston et al., 2002), with two subscales: enjoyment of competition and contentiousness (willingness to stand one's ground and disagree).
How the assessment works
- The competitor opens wsassessment.com, enters their full name, selects their skill from the WorldSkills skill list and the competition they are being selected for.
- The four modules follow in a fixed order with a progress bar; each module starts with a short instruction.
- Each module is scored on the server as soon as it is submitted; the answer key never reaches the browser, so results cannot be looked up or altered.
- At the end the competitor sees a thank-you screen; no score is shown to the competitor.
Scoring and results for the selection committee
Every module produces a 0-100% score (higher is better). Cognitive ability is the share of correct matrices. Attention combines the Flanker test (60%) and visual search (40%), each weighted 70% accuracy and 30% speed. Growth mindset is the share of answers that reflect a growth rather than a fixed view. Competitive drive is the normalised CI-R total, with reverse-scored items.
Candidates are ranked by cognitive ability first, then attention, growth mindset and competitive drive as tie-breakers. There is no single weighted total: every dimension stays visible, and the committee decides with its professional judgement. The protected admin dashboard offers filtering by competition and skill, a candidate detail view with radar chart and subscores, side-by-side comparison of 2-5 candidates, and PDF and CSV export.
Data handling in brief
The assessment stores only what selection needs: the competitor's name, skill, competition, the colour-blind setting, and the answers and reaction times of the four modules. Data is kept in an access-controlled database; results are visible only to authorised organiser accounts, not to other competitors or the public. The assessment pages and the admin area are not indexed by search engines. Questions or deletion requests: dorka@y2y.hu.
Frequently asked questions
How long does the assessment take?
Plan for about 20-30 minutes in one sitting. The cognitive module has a hard 15-minute limit; the attention tasks take a few minutes and the two questionnaires (12 and 14 statements) usually take 3-5 minutes each.
Can competitors see their own results?
No. After the last module the competitor sees a thank-you screen. Scores are calculated on the server and are available only to the selection committee in the protected admin dashboard.
Does it work on a phone or tablet?
Yes. The interface is mobile-friendly and works in any current browser on desktop, tablet or phone. A quiet place and a stable internet connection are recommended, because the attention tasks measure reaction time.
What if a competitor is colour-blind?
Tick the colour-blind option at registration. The pattern puzzles then use shape-only rules and the visual search uses size instead of colour, with the same difficulty.
Which languages are available?
English and Hungarian. The language can be switched on the registration screen at any time before starting.
Who developed the assessment?
Y2Y Ltd. (Y2Y Hungary Kft.), a Budapest leadership development and coaching company, for organisations and experts who select WorldSkills and EuroSkills competitors. It complements the technical skill selection; it does not replace it.
How can an organisation use it for its own competitor selection?
Contact Y2Y Ltd. at dorka@y2y.hu to discuss setting up the assessment and the selection dashboard for your competitions.
Magyarul röviden
A WorldSkills Mental Assessment a Y2Y Hungary Kft. online pszichológiai kiválasztó eszköze WorldSkills és EuroSkills versenyzők kiválasztásához. Négy modul: kognitív képesség (15 Raven-típusú mátrix, 15 perc), figyelem és koncentráció (Flanker-teszt és vizuális keresés), fejlődési szemlélet (12 állítás) és versenyszellem (14 állítás). Az eredményeket a kiválasztó bizottság egy védett felületen látja, rangsorral, összehasonlítással, PDF- és CSV-exporttal. A felület magyarul és angolul is elérhető.
Developed by Y2Y Ltd. (Y2Y Hungary Kft.), leadership development and coaching, Budapest. More assessment tools: Your Assessor. Contact: dorka@y2y.hu.