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SHL assessment: every task explained
Timed numerical, verbal, deductive and inductive reasoning; personality questionnaires have no answers to train.
Used by: PwC, EY (and many more).
Tasks
Verify Numerical Reasoning
Measures: Numerical reasoning. Length: 18 min, 10 rounds.
Read the table or chart and pick the right answer from five. A calculator is allowed, as in the real tests.
Format: tables and charts of business data; each item asks for a percentage change, a ratio, a currency conversion or a projection, with five options. The interactive version has you drag bars or fill tables instead. Timing: one countdown for the whole test, about one to two minutes per item. Tactics: write down the units before calculating (thousands, € million, per €1); most wrong options come from the wrong base year or an inverted rate. Use a calculator, but estimate first so a typo cannot fool you.
Interactive version: up to 10 adaptive items in 18 min (SHL factsheet). The classic version runs about 18 items in 25 min (reported).
Verify Verbal Reasoning
Measures: Verbal reasoning. Length: 19 min, 30 rounds (reported by candidates).
Read the passage, then say whether the statement is True, False or Cannot say from the passage alone.
Format: business passages of about 120–200 words, each with statements to mark true, false or cannot say. Timing: about 30 statements in 17–19 minutes, roughly 35 seconds each. Tactics: true means the passage says or directly implies it; false means the passage contradicts it; cannot say means you would need outside information. The most common trap is a plausible statement the passage never makes: that is cannot say. Read the statement first, then find the line it depends on.
Verify Inductive Reasoning
Measures: Abstract reasoning. Length: 18 min, 15 rounds.
Find the rule behind the series of figures and choose which comes next.
Format: a series of figures that change by a hidden rule; pick the one that comes next (the interactive version has you build it). Timing: up to 15 adaptive items in 18 minutes, about a minute each. Tactics: track one element at a time: position, count, rotation, shading. Rules often combine two changes, one moving every step and another every second step. When stuck, cross out options that break a rule you are sure of.
Verify Deductive Reasoning
Measures: Deductive reasoning. Length: set by the employer.
Accept the premises as true and decide whether each conclusion must follow from them.
Format: short sets of premises, and conclusions you judge as following or not; some employers use an interactive version with scheduling puzzles. Timing: one countdown; item counts vary by version. Tactics: treat the premises as true even when they sound odd, and test each conclusion against them, not against real life. Watch the classic errors: "some" does not mean "all", and "if A then B" does not mean "if B then A". Sketch a diagram for anything with three or more terms.
Practise
Practise these in Agisse — invite-only beta.