14 min read
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 skills 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?
If you want to see how this plays out for you, take the executive skills assessment.
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.
| 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. Service line, seniority, and country all change which stages appear and in what order, 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?
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.
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 with timed sets if your role includes them. Do not try to script strengths answers — rehearsed lines read as inconsistent across a long test, and inconsistency is what this kind of assessment catches most reliably.
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.
Is the EY Skills Assessment Hard to Pass?
The strengths half has nothing to get wrong by not knowing it — it is hard to fake, not hard to sit. The reasoning half is moderately challenging under time.
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 how employers use personality tests in hiring is worth understanding before you sit one: 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 — like CliftonStrengths — this guide to turning your results 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).
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.
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 $79, a fraction of one coaching session.
See what fits you →What Happens After the EY Skills Assessment
Once you submit, the wait begins. 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.
If you progress, the next stage is typically a job simulation followed by the EY Experience Day, EY’s name for an assessment centre. 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, results are not shared with candidates. You hear an outcome — progressing or not — not a score.
Can You Retake the Assessment?
Not within the same cycle. You can apply again in a future recruitment cycle, which is a fresh start rather than a resit.
What the EY Skills Assessment Is Testing For
EY’s Four Values and How They Appear in the Questions
EY’s four values — curiosity, teaming, integrity, and high performance — shape what the scenario questions are designed to read, though they are never named on the test itself. Knowing them helps you recognize what each item is actually asking.
Curiosity shows up when a scenario asks how you approach something unfamiliar: do you ask questions first, or get moving and adjust? Teaming comes through when you have to weigh your own result against a colleague’s pace or a different approach. Integrity appears in scenarios where a conflict or pressure emerges — a client instruction that contradicts your manager, or a shortcut that saves time but obscures a risk. High performance sits in prioritization tasks: what you put first and why. Understanding how employers use behavioral assessments in hiring puts this in context: professional services firms consistently build assessments around their stated values, and EY’s approach is no different.
The Stages That Follow: What Comes After the Screen
Most early careers applicants move through three further stages after the EY skills assessment. A second online screen, if your service line requires it, adds timed numerical, verbal, and logical reasoning tests. Then a job simulation — typically 30 to 60 minutes of realistic day-in-the-role tasks, scored on judgment and communication. Finally, the Experience Day: a group exercise, a written or case task, and an interview with someone from your service line. The EY early careers page lists current openings by region and service line. The whole process typically runs several weeks from first screen to decision.
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.
“What are EY’s values and how do they relate to the assessment?”
EY’s four values are curiosity, teaming, integrity, and high performance. They are not listed on the test, but they shape the scenario questions. Curiosity maps to how you approach new situations, teaming to how you balance individual and group priorities, integrity to how you handle conflicts and pressure, and high performance to how you prioritize. Knowing them helps you read what each item is asking, without letting you game the test.
“What are the stages of the EY recruitment process after the skills assessment?”
Most early careers applicants move through three further stages: a second online screen with timed reasoning tests if required, then a job simulation of realistic day-in-the-role tasks, and finally the Experience Day — an assessment centre with group exercises, a written task, and an interview with your service line. The whole process typically takes several weeks.
How the EY Skills Assessment Compares to Other Big 4 Assessments
EY leads with the behavioral screen before any aptitude papers — different from most other large professional services firms. Deloitte starts with a numerical and verbal battery; PwC has used a game-based cognitive screen as its first stage; KPMG routes applicants through aptitude tests before any behavioral component. TARGETjobs’ guide to psychometric tests in graduate hiring covers why the behavioral-first pattern has become common in professional services, and the companion guide on EY’s reasoning tests and what they involve breaks down the aptitude component. For background on what personality assessments are doing in a hiring process, that guide covers the mechanics.
Where to Find Practice for the Reasoning Tests
The timed reasoning sections reward practice: the gap to close is familiarity with the format under a clock. Free and paid numerical, verbal and logical question banks in the formats Big 4 firms use are available at Practice Aptitude Tests and Assessment Day. Run 20-minute timed sets until the style is automatic. For a closer look at what the tests are actually measuring, the hiring aptitude tests guide covers the mechanics.
CliftonStrengths and StrengthsFinder are trademarks of Gallup, Inc. Pigment is not affiliated with them.
