Know Which SHL Aptitude Test You Face Before You Practice

SHL is one of the biggest names in workplace testing, and its reasoning tests turn up in graduate schemes, bank and accounting hiring, retail management programs, and plenty of experienced-hire roles. If an email has asked you to complete an SHL aptitude test, the employer wants a quick, consistent read on how you handle new information under time pressure before anyone spends an hour interviewing you. Every applicant sits the same kind of test under the same conditions. That is the point: it lets a recruiter compare five hundred people on one scale.

The reasoning skills SHL tests measure

Each test isolates one kind of reasoning. Numerical tests ask you to pull the right figures out of tables and charts and do short sums with them. Verbal tests give you a passage and ask whether a statement follows from it. Inductive tests show a sequence of shapes and ask you to spot the rule. Deductive tests hand you a set of facts or constraints and ask what must be true. None of it needs knowledge from the job. The test cares about the speed and accuracy of your reasoning on material you have never seen, so a finance graduate and a history graduate start from roughly the same place.

How SHL ability tests differ from an IQ test

The two are cousins. Both measure reasoning, and people who do well on one tend to do well on the other. The difference is the job each was built for. An IQ test aims at a broad picture of general intelligence and compares you with the whole population. An SHL test samples a few work-relevant skills in a short, timed window and compares you with people applying for similar jobs. Psychologists file both under ability testing, and the American Psychological Association covers how tests like these are built and checked. An SHL score is one reading of one kind of thinking on one day, which is why employers use it to sort applicants and not to judge how clever anyone is.

The employers most likely to send you an SHL test

SHL sells mostly to large employers that hire at volume: banks, insurers, accounting and consulting firms, consumer goods companies, retailers running management schemes, and many public-sector graduate programs, especially in the UK and Europe. Named employers that have used SHL assessments in their hiring rounds include PwC, EY, HSBC, Shell, AXA, and the UK Civil Service Fast Stream, though the exact test and cut-off each one sets can change from one hiring round to the next. You will usually meet the SHL assessment test early, often right after the online application and before any human screen. Experienced hires see it too, mostly for analyst, finance, and management roles, and they are often scored against a more senior group, which changes what a given score means. The scoring section below walks through that.

SHL's reasoning tests sit under one family name, Verify, and most invitations name one or more of five: Verify G+, numerical reasoning, verbal reasoning, inductive reasoning, and deductive reasoning. Each one tests a different skill, so the first job is finding out which you have.

Working out which SHL test is in your invitation

Read the invitation email slowly. It usually names the test, gives an estimated time, and links to SHL's candidate practice page. If it only says "online assessment", open the link: the start screen lists each part and its time limit before any clock starts. Still unsure? Ask the recruiter. It is a normal question, and they would rather you practice the right format than the wrong one. Many employers send a bundle, such as numerical plus verbal, with a personality questionnaire on top.

SHL Verify G+ general ability: standard vs interactive

SHL Verify G+ is the combined test. It mixes numerical, deductive, and inductive items into one sitting, so you switch between kinds of thinking without warning. The standard version uses classic multiple-choice items. The interactive version, built to work on phones as well as laptops, asks you to drag, sort, and adjust things on screen instead of picking from a list. Prep publishers report that both run about 36 minutes with roughly 24 to 30 questions, but the start screen is the authority for your sitting. If your invitation says "interactive", practice with drag-and-drop items, because the format slows people down the first time they meet it.

SHL numerical, verbal, inductive and deductive reasoning at a glance

The SHL numerical reasoning test gives you tables, charts, and short business scenarios, then asks for a percentage change, a ratio, a currency conversion, or a missing figure. The maths stops around school level. The work is finding the right two numbers in a crowded table.

The SHL verbal reasoning test gives a short passage and a statement, and you answer true, false, or simply cannot say, using only what the passage states. Outside knowledge is a trap here: if the passage does not settle it, the answer is cannot say, even when you know the fact is true.

The SHL inductive reasoning test shows a row of five shapes and asks which comes next. You are hunting for the rule, usually some mix of rotation, count, shading, and position.

The SHL deductive reasoning test gives you rules, schedules, or seating constraints and asks what must follow. It rewards careful reading over quick guessing, and a pen and scrap paper help more here than anywhere else.

A worked numerical and verbal reasoning question

Numerical: a regional store's weekly sales rose from $18,400 to $20,240. What was the percentage increase? Subtract to get the rise, $1,840, then divide by the starting figure, $18,400, which gives 0.10, or 10%. The step that trips people up is dividing by the new total instead of the old one; a percentage change is always measured against where you started, not where you ended up.

Verbal: passage: "The warehouse added two scanning stations in March. Order accuracy rose from 96% to 99% over the following quarter, and average pick time fell by eleven seconds." Statement: "The new scanning stations caused the accuracy improvement." The answer is cannot say, not true, because the passage only states that accuracy rose after the stations went in, not that the stations were the reason. SHL verbal items score what the passage actually claims, and "after" is a weaker statement than "because of".

SHL Aptitude Test Timing, Adaptive Questions and Format

Most people who find an SHL test hard are not stuck on the maths or the reading. They are short of time. Each test gives you less of it than you would like, on purpose, and many newer versions are adaptive, which changes how the test feels while you sit it.

SHL test time limits and seconds per question

Test

Typical questions

Typical time

Pace to practice

Verify G+

24 to 30

About 36 minutes

75 to 90 seconds each

Numerical reasoning

About 18

17 to 25 minutes

60 to 80 seconds each

Verbal reasoning

About 30

17 to 19 minutes

About 35 seconds each

Inductive reasoning

About 24

About 25 minutes

About 60 seconds each

Deductive reasoning

About 20

About 18 minutes

About 55 seconds each

These are the figures prep publishers commonly report. SHL updates its versions and employers can set their own limits, so check the start screen on the day. The last column is the useful one: it is the per-question pace to aim for when you practice with a stopwatch.

Why the SHL test feels hard even when the maths is simple

An adaptive test picks each question based on how you did on the ones before it. Get several right and the next one is harder. Miss a few and it eases off. The test is homing in on the level where you get roughly half right, because that is where it learns the most about you. That is how computerized adaptive testing works in general. So if the last ten minutes felt like a struggle, it often means you were doing well enough to be pushed. Feeling stretched is the design, and on its own it tells you very little about your score. Put the time limit on top of that and nearly everyone walks out thinking they did worse than they did.

Calculators, rough paper and the rules on the day

For the numerical test you can use a calculator, and you should. Keep a simple one beside you rather than relying on your phone, which may be the device running the test. Have rough paper and a pen for the deductive and inductive tests, where jotting down a rule or a seating plan saves you reading a question three times. Sit somewhere quiet, on a charged laptop with a steady connection, and plan to finish in one go, since a timed section usually cannot be paused once it starts. SHL scores the questions you get right, so a blank is a lost point. Never leave one empty when time is about to run out.

How SHL checks that it's really you taking the test

Your questions are drawn from a large bank, so the person who sat the test yesterday saw a different set, and answer lists shared online are close to useless. Before you start, you agree to sit it alone. Later in the process, often at an assessment center or final interview, some employers ask you to take a short verification test under supervision. Your two results are compared, and a big gap raises a flag. Some employers add webcam monitoring as well. Having a friend sit the first test for you is likely to come apart at the next stage.

What usually comes after the SHL aptitude screen

Clearing the reasoning test is rarely the end of the process. Many employers follow it with a situational judgement test, then move shortlisted candidates to a virtual assessment centre: a half-day of online exercises such as a group task, a written case, and a one-on-one interview, often run over video rather than in person. Some employers add SHL's own Smart Interview, a structured video interview, live or recorded, scored against set competencies before a human reviewer sees it. The exact order varies by employer, but the aptitude test is usually the first filter on the way to an offer, not the last one.

No pass mark applies to every employer, which explains why searching for an SHL aptitude test pass mark brings up a dozen different numbers. Your raw score (questions right, weighted for difficulty on adaptive versions) becomes a percentile: the share of a comparison group you scored above. SHL keeps comparison groups for different levels, such as graduates, managers, and particular industries, and the employer picks whichever one fits the role. Then the employer, not SHL, decides where to draw the line. If percentiles are hazy, here is how a percentile rank is worked out.

Reading an SHL percentile against the cut-off

A made-up example shows how the pieces fit. Say you get 14 of 18 on the numerical test. Against a graduate comparison group, that might put you at the 75th percentile, meaning you beat three in four graduates who sat it. Now apply for a senior finance role, and the employer may compare you with experienced managers instead. The same 14 could land near the 55th percentile, because that group scores higher on average. Your performance did not change. The people you were measured against did.

Employers rarely publish their line. Recruiters commonly describe cut-offs somewhere between the 30th and 50th percentile for most roles, with competitive graduate schemes asking for more. A result above the 70th percentile is strong for most jobs, and you should not chase a perfect score: on an adaptive test, hardly anyone gets every question right, by design.

Falling below an employer's SHL cut-off, and what happens next

In practice you can fail, in the sense that you can land below the line this employer set for this role. Usually that means an automatic decline email within a few days. Some employers weigh the score alongside your application instead of using a hard cut-off, especially for experienced hires, so a middling result is not always the end. Most will not let you resit for the same role for a set period, often six to twelve months, and some reuse a recent score across roles at the same company. If you are declined, ask whether a short feedback report is available, because some employers will send one. The line also moves between employers: a score that falls short at one bank may be enough at a firm that compares you with a different group.

The reasoning test rarely arrives alone. Employers build a battery: one or two reasoning tests, sometimes a situational judgement test, and often a personality questionnaire. Knowing which part is which shows which parts are worth your prep time, because only some of them can be practiced.

The SHL OPQ32 personality questionnaire: untimed and no wrong answers

The OPQ32, short for Occupational Personality Questionnaire, maps your typical behavior at work across 32 characteristics, such as how persuasive, organized, or outgoing you are. It has no time limit, though prep sites put it at around 25 to 45 minutes, and no answer is correct. Most versions show you small blocks of statements and ask which is most and least like you, so you cannot agree with everything. You cannot fail it the way you can fall short on a reasoning test, but employers do compare your profile with what the role calls for. Answer as you are on a normal day at work. Trying to guess the ideal candidate tends to produce an inconsistent profile, which reads worse than an honest one.

SHL reasoning test

SHL OPQ32

Pigment career test

Timed

Yes, strictly

No

No, most finish in under 20 minutes

Right answers

Yes

No

No

Can you fail

Yes, below the cut-off

No, but it is matched to the role

No

Who it serves

The employer

The employer

You

What you learn

Where you ranked

Your usual behavior at work

Which work fits how you operate

For more on how ability tests and personality measures differ, see our page comparing an aptitude test vs psychometric test question.

Other parts of an SHL battery, and asking for adjustments

Situational judgement tests show you a workplace problem and ask which response you would pick. They are loosely timed and scored against the answers the employer rates as effective, so reading the company's stated values first does help. If you have a disability, dyslexia, or a condition that affects timed tests, tell the employer before you start. SHL tests can be run with extra time or other changes, and UK employers have a legal duty to make reasonable adjustments, including to how they recruit. A short email to the recruiter, sent early, is usually all it takes.

Good prep is narrow. Find out which test you face, practice that format under its real time limit, and refresh the handful of skills it leans on. Two or three focused hours spread over a week do more than a weekend spent cramming every test type.

A one-week SHL aptitude test prep plan

1. Day 1: Confirm the exact test from the invitation or the recruiter, then do SHL's own sample questions without a timer to learn the format.
2. Days 2 and 3: Refresh the core skills. For numerical, that means percentages, percentage change, ratios, and reading stacked charts. For verbal, practice telling "false" apart from "cannot say".
3. Days 4 and 5: Do two timed sets at the per-question pace in the table above. Note beside every miss whether you rushed it or misunderstood it.
4. Day 6: Work on whichever kind of miss came up most. If you ran out of time, practice skipping and coming back. If you misread, slow down your first read of each question.
5. Day 7: One last timed set, then rest. Sit the test itself when you are fresh, not late at night after work.

On the day, answer every question, move on from any item that is eating your time, and keep a calculator and paper within reach.

Free SHL-style practice tests worth using

Start with the free SHL practice test linked from most invitations, since it is the closest match to the format you will sit. University careers services often give students and alumni free access to practice platforms, and the Prospects guide to psychometric tests gives a plain overview of the whole category. For extra reasoning practice, our pages on the cognitive aptitude test, verbal aptitude questions and answers, and the psychometric aptitude test work the same skills. Be wary of any paid pack selling "real SHL questions". The question bank is large and keeps changing, so leaked sets go stale fast.

Once the SHL screen is behind you

Getting through the SHL screen earns you an interview. Whether that job fits how you work is something it never checks, and for anyone ten or more years into a career, that second question is often the bigger one. Pigment's career test looks at it directly. Around 120 forced-choice questions map how you weigh choices, take in information, work with people, and stay motivated, and the 36-page report ends on Career Alignment pages listing job roles that fit how you operate. It is made for you, it is never used to screen candidates, and nothing in it has a right answer to study for. Other options are compared in our career test guide.

After the SHL Screen, Learn Which Work Fits You

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