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The UX Career Track Admissions Challenge

2 minute read | July 24, 2019
T.J. DeGroat

Written by:
T.J. DeGroat

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The three-step Springboard admissions process is designed to set our students up for success. The challenge portion is an important step that ensures that each student is a good fit for the course and will achieve the ultimate goal: getting a job in their desired field.

To enroll in the UX Career Track, prospective students need to pass a skills assessment that allows both you and us to measure your readiness for this program.

The challenge is all free-form answers and is designed to assess your ability to: 

  1. Empathize with users
  2. Generate ideas
  3. Justify your design decisions

You’ll start by watching a six-minute video featuring a user talking about their experiences with a product. 

You’ll first be asked to identify the user’s key concerns about the product. 

Then you’ll generate ideas about possible solutions. This will involve fast sketching. Note that this is about communicating your ideas and not about the aesthetics of the drawings. They don’t need to be perfect, just legible and clearly labeled.

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Finally, you’ll choose one of those ideas and justify your design decisions with a brief and clear explanation.

You don’t need to have previous UX design knowledge to take this challenge, and we’re not looking for perfect answers—after all, you’re not a UX design pro yet. We just want to get a better sense of how you approach a problem scenario and the creative ways you propose to solve it. 

This assessment is not a timed test, but it typically takes students about 60 minutes. 

We’ve found that this is a meaningful barometer of student success in the course. That said, if you find the challenge difficult, don’t worry! We have great options for you, and the admissions team can advise on best next steps at that time.

Related Read: What Does a UX Designer Do?

Since you’re here
If you want to work in design, you can. It’s that simple. With our UX Bootcamp, we’ll help you launch your design career in 9 months or less. Browse our free UX salary guide to see what you could be making

About T.J. DeGroat

T.J. is a writer and editor waging war against unnecessary capitalization. You can follow him on Twitter @tjdegroat.