Have I screwed up this interview before I have even had it?

[FizzyBelt]

My first interview went really well and I quickly progressed to a second round. This was a technical test and the pass mark was 75%. I got 76% (so only just passed). I’ve been invited to the final interview but feel like because of my test score I’ll be at the back of the pack. Is there any way I can rescue it? The test also identifies “knowledge gaps” if you get less than 75% in any one area. I had 3/4 of those as well. I feel really upset with myself because I know I could have done better

I suspect that's not a huge problem or they wouldn't bother interviewing you. I'd see that you're competent enough and then other skills will be tested. No guarantee the rest did that much better.

Knowledge gaps are always better than major personality defects. You can learn new things. It’s very hard to change your core personality. So definitely don’t panic!

I agree. Can you see which areas you got less than 75% in? If so, I would go to the interview with a prepared response about those areas and how you intend to expand on your knowledge/experience. And presumably if you got less than 75% in 3/4 you did well in the fourth to have passed overall?

I suspect you either pass or fail to get to the next stage, and you passed, so it's level playing field from here. Don't think about what you could done better, focus on the next stage.

Don't sweet stuff you have no control over.

Good luck.

It depends in part on what the job is and what the technical test measures: if the “skill” they are measuring is the most marketable thing about you then you may be at a slight disadvantage.

But in my industry the technical parts of the job are less important than the soft skills and if you are a good presenter and can do the patter, the people skills and the vision, passing the technical would be more than enough.

As a PP mentioned I doubt they would be inviting you for interview if they didn’t think you were up to it.

Was the technical knowledge test directly related to the role, or more generic?

If the results have told you which gaps you might have for the role, then trying to increase your knowledge in some those areas seems like a good way to go.
And if you can, find examples to demonstrate your knowledge/experience in areas or skills they are closely related.

This is for a technical role in financial services. I didn’t expect to get a final interview because I only just scraped a pass and the test identified 5 out of 12 separate areas where gaps in knowledge was identified (meaning I scored less than 75% in those sections). I think it would have been better to get one wrong in each area than perform as I did. It’s frustrating because looking at the areas identified most of them I do know I just misinterpreted what the question was asking. The questions were based on technical knowledge for a technical job so everything here on out feels slightly pointless. Having said that I will try and give it my best shot anyway.

And there’s a very small part of me that wishes I had just used AI or similar to answer. I know that wouldn’t have been my own work but I bet others doing the test had “help”. I would never actually do it really as I know it’s completely wrong!