About the Job & Careers tests
~8 min read · Updated April 2026
Most UK employers — from the Civil Service Fast Stream to the Big Four, banks, consultancies and the NHS graduate scheme — use psychometric and aptitude tests as an early sift. A weak score here ends your application before a human ever reads your CV. Our free practice library covers numerical reasoning, verbal reasoning, logical (inductive and deductive) reasoning and Situational Judgement Tests so you can walk into your assessment fluent in the formats.
These tests aren't measuring intelligence in any deep sense. They're measuring how quickly and accurately you can process unfamiliar information under pressure — which is a learnable skill. Every hour of focused practice typically lifts your percentile score, especially in the first 10–20 hours.
What types of test you'll face
Numerical reasoning tests give you a table or chart and ask you to perform percentage, ratio and trend calculations under tight time pressure (typically 60–90 seconds per question). Verbal reasoning tests give you a passage and ask whether statements are True, False or Cannot Say based only on the passage — never on outside knowledge.
Logical reasoning uses shape sequences (inductive) or rule-based puzzles (deductive). Situational Judgement Tests put you in a workplace scenario and ask which response is most and least effective.
The biggest providers are SHL, Cubiks, Saville, Korn Ferry, Talent Q and Cut-e (Aon). Question styles overlap heavily between providers, so practice transfers — but each has stylistic quirks worth learning.
What employers are really measuring
Most graduate schemes set the pass mark at the 50th–70th percentile of their candidate pool, depending on competitiveness. Top consultancies and investment banks often require the 80th or even 90th percentile.
Crucially, your score is normed against a comparison group — usually 'UK graduates' or 'professionals' — so a 'good' raw score (e.g. 24 out of 30) might still be a poor percentile if the comparison group averaged 26.
Employers also look at your speed-to-accuracy ratio. Answering 28 of 30 questions correctly in the time limit usually scores higher than answering all 30 with 4 wrong — but answering only 15 with all correct scores poorly. Pace matters as much as accuracy.
How to study and pass
Practise with a stopwatch from day one. Speed is at least as important as accuracy on most numerical and verbal tests, and slow careful practice doesn't transfer to test-day conditions.
On Cannot Say questions, only use information explicitly stated in the passage — never bring in real-world knowledge, even when the statement is obviously true in real life. This is the single most common mistake on verbal reasoning.
For SJTs, choose the response that fits the company's published values (almost every employer publishes them on their careers page) and prioritise patient or customer outcomes over team comfort or speed.
Re-do every test you score below 70% on. Pattern recognition builds quickly with repetition — most candidates plateau because they keep doing new tests instead of revisiting weak ones.
Common mistakes to avoid
The biggest mistake is treating practice tests as a self-esteem exercise rather than a training tool. Take your wrong answers seriously: write down why you got each one wrong and what you'd do differently.
On numerical reasoning, candidates lose huge amounts of time on the first question by trying to read the entire data table. Skim the table briefly, read the question, then go back for the specific number you need.
On SJTs, picking the 'nice' answer over the 'effective' answer is a classic trap. Employers don't reward excessive hand-holding — they reward decisive action that protects the customer and respects the rules.
Why practice tests work for psychometrics
Psychometric tests are deliberately unfamiliar — employers want to see how you cope with novelty under pressure. Practice removes the novelty so your real performance reflects your actual reasoning ability rather than your test-taking experience.
Candidates who do 20+ mocks before a real assessment routinely score 1–2 standard deviations higher than first-timers. That's often the difference between a rejection email and a video interview invite.
There's nothing dishonest about practising. Employers know candidates prepare and many provide official sample tests on their careers pages. What they're trying to identify is your ceiling under pressure, not your raw IQ — and that ceiling is genuinely raised by repetition.
Booking and what to expect on assessment day
Most aptitude tests are sent as an emailed link with a deadline of 5–10 days. You complete them remotely on a laptop, often unsupervised, with a single attempt recorded. Some employers — especially banks and consultancies — will then re-test you in a supervised assessment centre to confirm your remote score is genuine.
Set yourself up properly: a quiet room, a charged laptop on the mains, a stable wired or strong Wi-Fi connection, a glass of water, and a printed scrap-paper pad with two pens. Disable notifications and close every other browser tab. Most providers lock you out if you switch tabs during the test.
Read the instructions screen carefully — it tells you the number of questions, the time limit, the comparison group your score will be normed against, and whether you can flag and revisit questions. Once you click 'Start', the clock runs and there is no pause.
Ready to start?
Take the Numerical Reasoning, Take the Verbal Reasoning, Take the Logical Reasoning.