Graduate jobs · 5 min read
How do I pass psychometric tests for graduate jobs?
The online tests UK graduate employers use: numerical, verbal, logical, game-based and personality, how they're scored and how to practise without paying.
The short answer
Psychometric tests are the online assessments most large graduate employers run straight after the application form: numerical reasoning, verbal reasoning, logical or inductive reasoning, and increasingly game-based tests and personality questionnaires. Reasoning tests are timed, scored against a norm group of other graduates, and cut off a large share of applicants. They're learnable. Two to three weeks of daily practice on the right format typically moves people from below the cut-off to comfortably above it.
Key takeaways
- Numerical and verbal tests have a pass mark set against other graduates, often around the 30th to 50th percentile, and most rejections at this stage are for speed, not ability.
- Game-based assessments from providers such as Arctic Shores and Pymetrics have no right answers to revise; they measure how you make decisions under time.
- Personality questionnaires can't be passed, only answered consistently; faking produces a profile that doesn't match your interview.
- Find out which test provider the employer uses and practise that format. Each has its own style.
On this pageThe main types and what they measure
The main types and what they measure
| Test | What it looks like | What helps |
|---|---|---|
| Numerical reasoning | Tables and charts, one question a minute | Percentages, ratios, reading data fast |
| Verbal reasoning | A passage, then true, false or cannot say | Reading only what's in the text, not what you know |
| Logical or inductive | Shape sequences, find the rule | Spotting rotation, count and colour patterns |
| Situational judgement | Workplace scenarios, rank the responses | Knowing the employer's stated values |
| Game-based | Short games on screen measuring risk, attention and memory | A quiet room, full attention, no revision |
| Personality | Agree or disagree with statements | Answering honestly and consistently |
Why people fail, and why it's fixable
Most people who fail a numerical test could get the answers right with twice the time. The format is the obstacle: unfamiliar chart types, questions that need two steps, and a clock that's visibly running. Practice teaches you to recognise question types on sight, so a question becomes "percentage change between two bars" rather than a fresh puzzle. Verbal tests fail people for a different reason: bringing outside knowledge to a passage that only asks what the text says.
A three-week practice plan
- Week one: one untimed test a day in each type you'll face, checking every wrong answer until you see why.
- Week two: timed tests, aiming to finish. Note which question types eat your time and drill those alone.
- Week three: full timed tests in the provider's own format, in the conditions you'll sit the real one: quiet room, calculator, rough paper.
Game-based and personality tests
Game-based assessments ask you to inflate balloons, sort cards or react to shapes while measuring how you trade risk against reward and how long you hold attention. There is nothing to revise; what helps is doing them when you're rested, in one sitting, without distraction. Personality questionnaires work the same way. They include consistency checks, and a candidate who answers as the person they think the firm wants ends up with a profile that doesn't match them at interview. Answer as yourself, and if the profile doesn't suit the firm, that's information about the firm.
Illustrative example: from the 20th percentile to the 60th
A psychology graduate fails numerical tests at two retailers in October. She hasn't done percentages since GCSE. She practises twenty minutes a day for three weeks using her university careers service's platform, keeps a list of every question type she gets wrong, and by November is finishing tests with time to spare. She passes the next four and reaches two assessment centres. The maths didn't change; the recognition did.
What happens to the gaps
Applying shows you what employers want that you can't show yet: a must-have your CV doesn't mention, or a question you couldn't answer well. Hand the job from OffLadder CV to Laddie, our AI coach, and it turns each one into three steps:
- Learn the skill: a short lesson on what the post asks for, starting from the basics.
- Try the work: a 15-minute task taken from the job itself, so you have a real example to talk about.
- Practise the interview: a five-question mock interview for that role, weighted to the parts you're least sure of.
The conversation stays in your OffLadder account. Once you've done the work, add it to your CV in your own words, and the next post you tailor for can point to it.
Questions people ask
- What's a good score on a numerical reasoning test?
- Scores are percentiles against a norm group, not marks out of a hundred. Employers typically set the cut-off somewhere between the 30th and 50th percentile for graduate roles, higher for finance. If you can finish most practice tests with 70% or more correct in the time allowed, you're usually well clear.
- Can I use a calculator in numerical reasoning tests?
- Almost always yes, and you should. The tests check whether you can read a table or chart, work out which calculation is needed and do it quickly. Practise percentage change, ratios and reading two charts against each other, because those are most of the questions.
- Where can I practise psychometric tests for free?
- Most university careers services give students and recent graduates free access to practice platforms. The test providers themselves, including SHL and Talent Q, publish free practice tests, and the Civil Service shows its own test formats on its careers site. Paid practice sites exist but aren't necessary for most people.
- Do employers check if someone else did my test?
- Increasingly, yes. Many run a short verification test at the assessment centre, and a big gap between the two scores ends the application. Do your own tests; the practice is the point.
Exercises are practice, not evidence of career fit or a qualification. How to read our guides and report a correction.
Sources
- Psychometric tests · Prospects
- Civil Service online tests · Civil Service Jobs, GOV.UK
- Student Recruitment Survey 2025 · Institute of Student Employers
How this page is written
Sources support the factual background, not a guarantee that an exercise predicts career fit. Fictional practice material is labelled. Dates record content updates; no independent expert review is implied. More about OffLadder.