PwC behavioural assessment: forced choice, not an SJT

The PwC behavioural assessment for early careers applicants is an untimed profile in which you choose the statement that best describes you, and it is not a situational judgement test. PwC says so itself: its own candidate e-learn states that it does not use situational judgement tests when recruiting onto its school and college leaver, undergraduate or graduate programmes. Almost every preparation site still tells you to revise for one.

What PwC says the behavioural assessment is

PwC's early careers page describes two assessed parts to the online stage: a behavioural profile, then a cognitive test. The behavioural profile asks about your natural preferences in a work setting and is not timed. The cognitive test is timed and covers numerical, inductive and deductive reasoning.

PwC's candidate e-learn shows the question style. Each item presents three statements and asks which one best describes you. The three statements are all reasonable things to say about yourself, for example one about protecting private information, one about accepting direction from a manager, and one about building ties with the community. You pick one. PwC's own feedback screen says there are no right or wrong answers and that the options are not directly comparable.

Why this is not a situational judgement test

A situational judgement test gives you a workplace scenario and asks what you would do, usually by ranking responses or picking the most and least effective. PwC's e-learn includes sample questions of that kind, but only to show what other employers use, and it says twice that PwC does not use them for its student programmes.

That matters for how you spend your preparation time. If a guide tells you to memorise PwC's values so you can rank scenario responses, it is preparing you for a test PwC says you will not sit at this stage.

Can you fail it?

PwC does not publish a pass mark, a cut-off or a description of a good profile, so nobody outside PwC can tell you what is screened for. What PwC does say is that the information gathered is used to determine your suitability for the role, so it is not a formality either.

How to approach a forced-choice profile

• Answer as you actually behave, not as you think a Big Four firm wants. Forced-choice formats compare statements against each other across many items, which makes a consistent false picture hard to sustain.
• Do not agonise over single items. PwC's own advice is to consider each answer carefully but not to overthink, and to go with your instincts.
• If you have no workplace experience, PwC suggests drawing on school, college, university or extra-curricular situations instead.
• Take it somewhere quiet on a laptop or desktop. It is untimed, so there is no reason to rush it between lectures.

Sources: PwC UK early careers assessment and selection page, checked 20 September 2026; PwC UK candidate e-learn, Online applications and assessments.