At Lockheed Martin, assembler hiring does not end at the offer: you must pass a hands-on check in week eight

Lockheed Martin assembler postings list mechanical aptitude as a basic qualification, and prep sites describe an industrial skills test covering mechanical concepts plus numerical and verbal skills. Our mechanical aptitude test drills gears, levers, pulleys and forces with original questions, and our reasoning test adds the number and reading practice.

We cannot rehearse the hands-on proficiency demonstration that assembler postings require during training, the workforce partner training programs some sites require before you apply, or any personality questionnaire. Lockheed Martin does not publish its test content, so our questions are general practice, not a copy.

Plenty of candidates prepare for a written test and forget the steps on either side of it. At some Lockheed Martin sites, the first hurdle comes before the application: Troy, Alabama assembler postings say you must complete the AIDT/Lockheed Martin pre-employment training program first, and Marietta, Georgia postings are tied to a Chattahoochee Tech training program.

The second hurdle comes after the offer. Assembler postings say new hires must complete every training class and pass a hands-on proficiency demonstration during week eight to keep the job. An offer is the start of an evaluation, not the end of one.

Postings list mechanical aptitude as a basic qualification, and prep sites describe a written test with a mechanical principles section of 36 items in 20 minutes. That is about 33 seconds per item: enough for a careful look at a diagram, not enough to derive physics from scratch.

Typical items show gears, pulleys, levers, springs and fluids and ask which way something turns, which setup needs least force, or where weight balances. Our mechanical aptitude test covers those families, and our guide to passing a mechanical aptitude test explains the rules of thumb that make them quick.

• Gears: neighbors turn opposite ways; a smaller gear turns faster.
• Levers: the closer the load is to the pivot, the less force you need.
• Pulleys: more supporting rope segments mean less pull, over a longer distance.

Prep sites say the same industrial skills test also checks numerical and verbal skills, with one section reported as 25 items in half an hour. On a shop floor that means reading work instructions accurately, measuring, and handling fractions and decimals.

Refresh fractions, unit conversions and reading a tape measure or ruler. Our numerical reasoning test is a step up in difficulty, which makes it a good stretch exercise before the real thing.

The hands-on proficiency demonstration rewards the same habits as the written test: precision and following instructions to the letter. From the first training class, keep notes on every procedure, ask when a step is unclear, and practise tool handling until it is routine.

Assembly in aerospace is documented work. Showing that you follow written procedures exactly is part of what is being judged, alongside the quality of what you build.

These come from anonymous reviews, university careers pages and prep guides. They often disagree, and Lockheed Martin has not confirmed them. Read them as leads, not rules.

• Prep sites say Lockheed Martin uses the PSI Industrial Skills Test to measure numerical, verbal and mechanical skills.
• One prep site describes a mechanical principles section of 36 items in 20 minutes and another section of 25 items in half an hour.
• One prep site reports a personality questionnaire of about 45 questions taking about 20 minutes.
• Interview guides advise asking the recruiter for the format and timing of any assessment, and whether it eliminates candidates.