I am looking for a short science fiction story from my childhood (about 30 years ago). The story tells of a boy or young man who is shortly to go from his home (farm?) to the big city to be 'tested'. He's nervous about the test, however everyone in this society gets tested and it denotes what you'll do for a living or something.
The test is some sort of situational piece where the student has to make a decision, and you're graded accordingly. A worker where the boy lived said he took the test and apparently 'just failed', didn't seem to care if he passed or not appeared cynical of the test, I got the impression he was expecting the boy to fail as well. The boy's family are supportive, suggesting that he's smarter than he knows, as demonstrated when he reorganised some equipment in their work to operate and produce things a lot more efficiently.
The boy doesn't think he'll amount to much and certainly won't be running anything important in his career, unlike those that work in the grand buildings in the city. The day for the test arrives and the story describes some of the build up to the test, and that the boy makes the decision as he sees it, and finds that he's passed and can now join the ranks of those in the city and not forced to work the land.
Does anyone have any ideas on this one?
It's not 'Profession' by Asimov and a lot shorter.