Passing the Elevator Industry Aptitude Test

The EIAT (Elevator Industry Aptitude Test) is the gate into the IUEC apprenticeship: 100 questions covering reading comprehension, mechanical aptitude, and math, with a pass mark of 70 percent. Pass it and you have earned exactly one thing: an interview. The ranking that follows decides who actually gets an apprenticeship.

*Learn the Trades is a free study resource. We are not a licensing body, an authorized training provider, or an exam administrator. Reading this page does not award any card, license, or certification. Always verify requirements with the issuing authority linked in the sources.*

Why it matters on the job

Recruitment windows are rare and short (the apprenticeship lesson explains the two-year list system), so you may get one shot at the EIAT per window in your region. The test itself is not exotic; it is beatable with ordinary preparation. What it punishes is showing up cold.

What the test contains

• Reading (35 questions): comprehension of passages like workplace documents and instructions. Read the passage before the answers, and answer from the text, not from what you know.
• Mechanical aptitude (35 questions): gears, pulleys, levers, and which way things move: the physical intuition of the trade, testable without trade experience.
• Math (30 questions): arithmetic, fractions, ratios, percentages, and basic algebra, without a calculator in the classic format, so practice on paper.

Worked example: the style of question to expect

Mechanical aptitude and math questions reward setup discipline. Two in the test’s spirit:

Gears. A 12-tooth gear drives a 36-tooth gear. The driver turns at 300 rpm; how fast does the driven gear turn? Driven speed = 300 × 12 / 36 = 3,600 / 36 = 100 rpm, and it turns the opposite direction. Meshed gears trade speed for torque by tooth ratio, and direction alternates with each mesh.

Ratio math. A rope-and-sheave setup supports a load on 2 rope parts, and the rope is pulled at 120 fpm. Load speed = 120 / 2 = 60 fpm. If that looks like the 2:1 roping arithmetic from the traction lessons, it is: the test screens for exactly the reasoning the trade runs on.

One hundred questions, three sections, one gate: the score gets you an interview, the ranking gets you a job

How to prepare in the weeks you have

1. Work NEIEP’s official study guide end to end; it defines the sections and difficulty.
2. Drill non-calculator arithmetic daily (fractions, ratios, percentages) until speed is automatic.
3. For mechanical aptitude, practice gear, pulley, and lever problems until direction-and-speed answers are reflexes.
4. Practice reading questions under time, answering strictly from the passage.

Where it bites

• 70 percent is a floor, not a target. Everyone at the interview passed. Interview scoring ranks you, and a stronger command of mechanical basics shows there too.
• “Pass the test and you’re in” is false. Locals offer apprenticeships from the top of a ranked list as work demands, and lists expire after two years. Prepare for the interview with the same seriousness as the test.
• Unofficial prep sellers fill this space. The official guide is free from NEIEP. Buy nothing until you have exhausted it.