PwC graduate scheme online assessment: what to expect

The online assessment is the second stage of PwC's graduate selection process and the first one that can end your application. It is also the only stage with a component you can genuinely revise for. This page sets out the order of the stages in PwC's own words, what the timed cognitive test covers, what graduate candidates reported about it in the last cycle, and which details PwC simply does not publish.

The stages, in PwC's order

PwC publishes its early careers assessment and selection process as a sequence. For graduate programmes it runs:

1. Apply online.
2. Online assessment. This is the stage covered on this page.
3. Video interview.
4. Virtual assessment centre.
5. Finding you the right role, which PwC lists for graduate programmes specifically.
6. Business assessment.
7. Your offer.
8. Pre-employment screening and onboarding.

Note where the cognitive test sits. It is early, it is automated, and it comes before any human has spoken to you. That is the argument for preparing for it rather than hoping to talk your way through later: there is no later if this stage goes badly.

What is inside the online assessment stage

PwC describes three things in this stage, hosted on the SHL platform.

In PwC's own words the cognitive assessment is an ability test including numerical, inductive and deductive reasoning, and while the behavioural test is untimed, the cognitive one is not. PwC's careers e-learn uses the word abstract rather than inductive for the pattern section, so you will meet both labels for the same thing.

What graduate candidates reported last cycle

PwC does not publish the mechanics, so the best available evidence is first-hand accounts. Applicants to the 2025 to 2026 graduate schemes, posting on The Student Room across Advisory, Consulting, Audit and Tech streams, described the following. Treat it as informed reporting rather than as PwC's statement.

• The cognitive test used SHL's interactive question style rather than classic multiple choice. Asked directly whether it was interactive or multiple choice, one candidate answered interactive.
• The task types named were calendars, pie charts, sequences and patterns, rankings and scheduling.
• Several described a short sitting, of the order of eight questions in twelve minutes. One said the length depended on the stream, because a friend had more.
• You cannot go back to a previous question.
• A long section asking which of several statements is most like you, matching the forced-choice behavioural profile PwC describes.

What PwC does not publish

Plenty of prep sites will give you a confident number here. They are guessing, and it is worth knowing which details have no reliable source:

• The number of questions in the cognitive test, and the time limit.
• The pass mark, the cut-off, or what a competitive score looks like.
• Whether the format will be the same in the current cycle. There are no published first-hand reports from the 2026 to 2027 cycle yet, and formats do change.
• Whether the test is adaptive, and whether the question mix differs by business area.

One further thing is settled in the negative and worth stating, because so many sites get it wrong: PwC does not use a situational judgement test for its graduate, undergraduate or school and college leaver programmes. PwC says so in its own careers e-learn. Nor does the early careers cognitive test include verbal reasoning.

One application a year

PwC's graduate application rules mean this is not a test you can casually resit whenever you like. That raises the value of preparing properly the first time rather than treating an early attempt as a free trial run. If you are unsure where you stand on reapplying, read the separate guide on the once-a-year rule before you submit anything.

How to prepare in the time you have

Preparation for this stage is mostly about removing surprises. In descending order of value:

1. Sit one full timed test before you feel ready. You are diagnosing pace, not scoring. Almost everyone finds the clock is the problem rather than the difficulty.
2. Work the weakest section in short blocks. Half an hour on the one thing costing you marks beats two hours of mixed practice.
3. Make percentage change automatic. It is the most common numerical operation and the easiest place to drop a mark you knew how to get.
4. On pattern questions, name the rule in a sentence before you look at the answers. Isolate one attribute at a time rather than staring at the whole sequence.
5. On deductive questions, write down what the rules force before you start eliminating. That is the section where reading carefully beats working quickly.
6. Sit a second full timed test close to the real date, to confirm the format no longer costs you time.

That is the whole method. It is not complicated, and it does not need weeks. What it needs is that the first time you meet an interactive chart question under a running clock is not the time it counts.