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What Is the EY Skills Assessment?
The EY skills assessment is the first online stage of EY’s early careers application. It is a strengths-based, behavioral assessment: it looks at how you approach work, how you make decisions, and how you tend to operate with other people. It reads how you work, not what you can revise the night before. There is no syllabus, and there are no right or wrong answers.
That matters because most guides describe a different thing. For years the EY online tests were a battery of aptitude papers: numerical, verbal, logical, and situational judgement. Those still exist for some roles, but the EY strengths-based assessment most 2026 graduate, intern, and apprentice applicants meet first is a preferences test, closer to a structured self-portrait than a maths paper.
If you want a plain explanation of what a behavioral or strengths measure is even trying to do, the American Psychological Association keeps a readable overview of how psychological testing works. The short version: this kind of test reads patterns in your answers, so the honest, consistent version of you is the one it is built to see.
What Does It Measure?
It measures your natural preferences and behavioral tendencies, mapped against how EY works and what its teams value. You will meet four question shapes: behavioral preference pairs, workplace scenarios, comparative statements about how you operate, and short experience-based prompts. Together they build a picture of your working style, not your knowledge, which is why it helps to know what a career assessment can and cannot measure before you read too much into one result.
Is It the Same as the EY Online Assessment?
Not exactly. “EY online assessment” is an umbrella phrase. Sometimes it means this first-stage skills assessment, sometimes the aptitude tests or the job simulation that come later or in certain regions. The two overlap, but they are not one fixed test. When someone says they are sitting the “EY online assessment,” the useful question is always: which part?
Which EY Skills Assessment Will You Get? By Role and Stage
This is the part that trips people up, because the test you sit is not always the same one. There is no single EY test; the mix you get depends on your role, your stage, and your region. Most early careers applicants start with the behavioral skills assessment described above. From there, the path branches.
Interns and graduates in some service lines and countries then get one or more aptitude tests and a situational judgement stage. Experienced hires often skip the early screen and move to role-specific exercises or interviews. EY’s four service lines, Consulting, Assurance, Tax, and Strategy and Transactions, do not all use the same steps, and the same role can differ between the US and the UK. You cannot know your exact battery in advance, so prepare for the shape of it, not a rumor of it.
You may see EY’s own names for these parts on your invitation, so it helps to recognize them. The Situational Strengths Test and the Situational Judgement Test (a workplace-scenario test often shortened to SJT) are the scenario parts, where you rank responses to a realistic work situation. Business Behaviours is the behavioral-preference part, the paired statements about how you like to work. The What’s Your Mindset questionnaire is the comparative-statement part, rating how strongly attitudes about work describe you. If your invite names one of these, match it to the question shape here so you know what you are about to sit.
| Component | What it looks at | Rough length | Does practice help? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Skills / strengths assessment | How you like to work, decide, and fit with EY’s values | About 20 minutes | Little; be consistent and honest |
| Numerical reasoning | Reading data and tables under time | About 20 minutes | Yes, practice helps |
| Verbal and logical reasoning | Inference from text, and patterns | 15 to 20 minutes | Yes, practice helps |
| Situational judgement | Ranking responses to work scenarios | 20 to 30 minutes | Some; know EY’s values |
| Job simulation | Realistic tasks for the actual role | 30 to 60 minutes | Familiarity helps, cramming does not |
Does It Differ by Role or Country?
Yes, and more than candidates expect. Service line, seniority, and country all change which stages appear and in what order. A UK graduate audit applicant and a US consulting intern can face noticeably different funnels under the same brand, which is why one friend’s experience is a weak guide to yours.
What Is the EY Job Simulation, and When Do You Get It?
The EY job simulation is a later, more realistic stage: a short set of day-in-the-life tasks that mirror the role. A typical run has three parts. First you read a client brief or a crowded inbox to pick up the context. Then you prioritize, deciding which competing tasks or messages matter most and in what order. Finally you write a response, often a short email or note to a client or colleague, where your reasoning and tone are what get read. You meet it after the first screen, not instead of it, and it rewards clear judgement more than rehearsed answers.
How Long Is the EY Skills Assessment and Is It Timed?
The EY skills assessment takes about 20 minutes, and it is not timed. Once it opens you usually have a 24-hour window to complete it, you get one attempt during the recruitment cycle, and it works on a phone or a laptop. Those official logistics come from EY’s own early careers FAQ, which is the source worth trusting over any prep vendor. About 20 minutes, not timed, a 24-hour window, and one attempt.
The nuance: if your role adds the aptitude papers, those sections are timed, and that is where the pressure lives. So one candidate calling the EY assessment “strict on time” and another calling it “relaxed” can both be right; they sat different parts.
One more logistic worth knowing: if you need an adjustment, EY offers reasonable accommodations on the assessment, such as extra time, and you arrange them before you sit it by contacting EY’s assessment support team at skillsassessment.support@ey.com. Ask early rather than discover a barrier partway through the test.
How Long Does It Take?
Plan for about 20 minutes for the strengths assessment alone. If aptitude tests are added, the full set can run 45 to 90 minutes, sometimes split across separate sittings rather than one long stretch.
Is the Assessment Timed?
The strengths assessment is not timed, so you can think before you answer. The reasoning tests, when you get them, are timed per section, which is exactly why they are the part that rewards practice.
EY Skills Assessment Question Types, With Examples
Competitors list the question types. It is more useful to see them, so here is one concrete example of each. The behavioral questions have no right answer; the reasoning questions do.
Behavioral preference pairs. You get two statements and pick the one more like you: “I plan carefully before I start” or “I get moving and adjust as I learn.” Neither is better. The test is watching for a consistent pattern across many such pairs.
Workplace scenarios. A short situation, then a set of responses to rank. For example: a client sends instructions that contradict what your manager told you, the day before a deadline. You order the possible responses from most to least effective. This is the situational judgement style, and it leans on EY’s values.
Comparative statements and experience prompts. Some items ask you to rate how strongly a statement describes you; others ask for a brief, concrete example of a time you did something. You cannot cram a preference for how you like to work.
The reasoning formats, if you get them. Numerical items give you a table or chart and a question you answer from the data. Verbal items give you a passage and ask whether a statement is true, false, or cannot be determined. Logical items ask for the next shape in a sequence. These do reward practice, and it helps to know how aptitude and psychometric tests differ so you know which skill each one is testing.
What Types of Questions Are Included in the EY Skills Assessment?
For the strengths assessment, expect the four behavioral shapes above and nothing that needs revision. If your role adds the aptitude battery, expect numerical, verbal, and logical sections on top, each timed and each with a correct answer.
How Many Questions Is the EY Numerical Reasoning Test?
It varies by year and provider, but the EY numerical reasoning test is commonly around 20 to 25 questions in roughly 20 minutes, at about GCSE level of maths. Treat any exact count you read as a guide, not a guarantee, and practice the format rather than memorizing a number.
Do You Need to Prepare for the EY Skills Assessment?
This is where the honest answer and the marketed answer split. EY states plainly that no preparation is necessary. That is true for the strengths half: there is nothing to revise, and trying to game it tends to backfire, because the questions cross-check each other for consistency. Practice helps the reasoning tests and does little for the strengths half.
It is also true that practice helps the aptitude sections, if your role includes them. Timed reps build speed and accuracy on numerical and verbal questions in a way that shows up in your score. So the rule is simple: practice the parts that reward practice, and for the parts that measure how you work, do the different preparation covered below, which is knowing yourself.
One honest caveat: EY publishes no pass rate and no cut-off score, so anyone quoting you a precise “pass mark” is guessing. And can you fail the EY skills assessment? Yes, you can be screened out, most often on inconsistent answers or weak reasoning scores, but there is no single published line you are trying to clear.
Do I Need to Study or Prepare?
Practice the reasoning tests if there is any chance your role includes them, using realistic timed sets. Do not try to script the strengths answers. Rehearsed lines read as inconsistent across a long test, which is the one thing it is good at catching.
Can You Use AI to Complete It?
No. EY does not permit generative AI tools during the assessment. Beyond the rule, it defeats the point: a strengths test is trying to read you, and an AI’s answers are not yours, so a good AI response can make your profile less accurate, not more.
How to Pass the EY Skills Assessment
“Pass” means two different things here, because the test has two halves, so split your approach. There is no published pass rate; consistency and values-fit carry the strengths sections.
- For the reasoning sections, drill the format. Do timed numerical and verbal sets until the question style is familiar. Manage the clock, and favor accuracy over rushing to guess. This is ordinary, trainable, and worth the hours if your role includes it.
- For the strengths sections, answer as yourself, consistently. Read each scenario for the most effective professional response, align honestly to EY’s values of curiosity, teaming, integrity, and high performance, and resist the urge to pick the “impressive” option when it is not true of you.
- Do not overthink the preference pairs. First instinct, kept steady across the whole test, beats second-guessing each item. The pattern is what scores, not any single answer.
- Set up the basics. A stable connection, a quiet 30 minutes, and a device you are comfortable on remove the avoidable ways to trip.
Is the EY Skills Assessment Hard to Pass?
The strengths half is not hard in the way an exam is hard; there is nothing to get wrong by not knowing it. It is hard to fake, which is a different thing. The reasoning half is moderately challenging under time, and that difficulty is the ordinary, practiceable kind.
Can You Fail It?
Yes. You can be screened out, usually through answers that contradict each other across the test, a values mismatch, or reasoning scores below what the role needs. Because EY shares no scores, you will rarely learn exactly why, which is one more reason to answer honestly rather than tactically.
Know Your Strengths Before the EY Skills Assessment
There is a kind of preparation that matters more here than practice questions. A strengths and fit assessment rewards self-knowledge, so the strongest thing you can do beforehand is understand how you work: your strengths, how you make decisions, and what kind of work sustains you and what wears you down. Self-knowledge is the only preparation the strengths half rewards. Know that clearly and you answer steadily and honestly, which is what a consistency-checking test looks for. It is also why capability matters more than a personality type when you size up a role: a label does not tell you what you will enjoy day to day.
You can build that read in a few ways. Look back at projects that went well and name what came easily. Ask two or three colleagues what they rely on you for. Use a free public tool like O*NET, a U.S. government database, to see what different roles ask of you day to day, so “fit” stops being abstract. And if you have used a strengths tool before, this guide to turning a strengths result into career decisions is a useful next step. It is worth the effort: in Gallup’s workplace data, people who lean on their strengths daily are about six times as likely to be engaged at work as those who rarely do (Gallup).
If you want a structured version of that self-read, a career self-discovery assessment can give you language for it. Pigment is one such tool: career intelligence, a report built from about 120 forced-choice questions in roughly 18 minutes. To be clear about what it is not, it is not affiliated with EY and not a way to pass EY’s screen. What it gives you is a clear picture of your own strengths and working style, the self-knowledge that lets you answer any strengths assessment as yourself. If all you need is numerical practice, a reasoning-practice pack is the better buy; Pigment is for the candidate who wants to understand how they work.
A simple way to picture it: preparing for a reasoning test is like training for a timed race, where reps make you faster. Preparing for a strengths test is like a good interview about yourself: the only way to do well is to know your own answers before you are asked.
How Do You Answer Strengths Questions Authentically?
Pick the option that is true for you, not the one you imagine EY wants. Consistency across the whole test is the tell, and it is far easier to be consistent when you are describing yourself than when you are performing a character. A role that genuinely fits your strengths makes honesty and a strong result the same move.
What Are Your Key Strengths, and How Do You Show Them?
Name three to five genuine strengths and pin a concrete example to each: not “I am a leader,” but the week you reorganized a stalled project and how. The assessment reads patterns, so specific, real examples are worth more than a list of admirable words you cannot back up.
Walk in knowing how you work
The Pigment career test gives you a clear read on your real strengths and working style in about 18 minutes, so you can answer any strengths screen as yourself instead of guessing what they want. It is career self-discovery, not EY prep, for $99, a fraction of one coaching session.
See what fits you →What Happens After the EY Skills Assessment
Once you submit, the waiting begins, and this is the part candidates worry about most. EY does not share your score; the outcome usually lands within one to two weeks. You get one attempt during the cycle, so there is no benefit in refreshing the page hoping for a redo.
Candidates often ask whether a person or an automated system is reviewing them. It is both, at different points. The first-stage strengths assessment is scored automatically, so no one grades your individual answers by hand, but a recruiter still reviews your wider application alongside that result, and the later stages such as the Experience Day are judged by EY people rather than a machine.
If you progress, the next stages typically include a job simulation and then an EY Experience Day, EY’s name for an assessment centre. That day usually mixes a group exercise, a written or case task, and an interview with people from the service line you applied to. The skills assessment is the gate; the Experience Day is where a person, not a screen, forms the impression that matters.
Will You Get Your Results?
No. Per EY’s FAQ, the assessment results are not shared with candidates. You will hear an outcome, that you are moving forward or not, rather than a report card. It is frustrating, but it is consistent across applicants.
Can You Retake the Assessment?
Not within the same cycle. You get a single attempt while your application is live, so you cannot retake it to improve a result. You can usually apply again in a future recruitment cycle, which is a fresh start rather than a resit.
EY Skills Assessment FAQs
“How long does the EY online assessment take?”
The strengths-based skills assessment takes about 20 minutes and is not timed, with a 24-hour window to finish once it opens. If your role adds aptitude tests, the full set can run 45 to 90 minutes, often across separate sittings.
“Are the Ernst & Young tests hard?”
The strengths assessment is not hard in an exam sense, since there is nothing to know in advance. The reasoning tests are moderately challenging under time, which is why practice helps them and not the strengths half.
“How do I prepare for Ernst & Young tests?”
Drill timed numerical and verbal sets if your role includes them. For the strengths sections, prepare differently: understand your own working style and strengths so you can answer honestly and consistently, rather than rehearsing lines.
“Can I take the EY skills assessment on my phone?”
Yes. The skills assessment is mobile-friendly and works on a phone or a laptop. Whichever you choose, give yourself a quiet stretch of time and a stable connection so you are not fighting the device.
“Can I use generative AI tools to complete the assessment?”
No. EY does not permit generative AI tools during the assessment. It also works against you on a strengths test, where the goal is an accurate read of how you work, not a polished answer that is not truly yours.
“Does EY share my assessment results?”
No. EY does not share assessment scores with candidates. You will be told whether you are progressing, usually within one to two weeks, but not the underlying result.
