Most people applying to PwC are applying to at least one of Deloitte, EY and KPMG as well. It is tempting to treat that as one block of revision, and a lot of preparation sites encourage it by selling a single Big Four test pack. The firms' own careers pages say otherwise. Their first-stage online assessments measure noticeably different things, and one of the differences is large enough to change what you should revise.
What each firm says about its own online stage
Taken from each firm's own UK early careers pages, read on 21 September 2026. Employers' own wording is the best evidence available, and it is the only kind used here.
| Firm | What the online stage is | Reasoning named |
|---|---|---|
| PwC | An untimed behavioural profile, then a timed cognitive test | Numerical, inductive and deductive |
| Deloitte | An Immersive Online Assessment: workplace scenarios where you rank actions most and least likely, plus a cognitive section. Some questions are timed | Numerical and verbal |
| EY | Online assessments combining rank order, written and recorded video answers, plus a time-recorded numeric reasoning test where it applies to your programme | Numerical, and only where applicable |
| KPMG | Two online assessments, including a skills and cognitive exercise | Not specified |
Three things stand out. PwC is the only one of the four whose careers page names the test provider, SHL; Deloitte, EY and KPMG name none. PwC is also the only one that names all three of numerical, inductive and deductive reasoning. And Deloitte is the only one that names verbal.
Why this explains the bad advice you have been reading
Search for PwC verbal reasoning practice and you will find plenty of it for sale. PwC does not test verbal reasoning at early careers. Deloitte does. Once you see the four processes side by side, it becomes fairly clear what has happened: a generic Big Four battery gets written once and then relabelled per employer, so Deloitte's verbal section ends up attached to PwC's name.
The same thing happens with situational judgement tests. Deloitte asks you to rank actions in workplace scenarios. PwC states in its own careers e-learn that it does not use situational judgement tests for its school and college leaver, undergraduate or graduate programmes. A pack covering all four has to include scenario ranking for Deloitte, and it gets carried over to PwC where it does not belong.
What does transfer between them
This is not an argument that nothing carries over. Plenty does:
- Numerical reasoning appears in PwC's, Deloitte's and EY's descriptions. Percentage change, ratios and reading values off tables and charts under time pressure is the single most transferable thing you can practise.
- Working accurately against a clock is a skill in itself, and every one of these processes times at least part of the assessment.
- Being comfortable committing to an answer and moving on, rather than agonising, helps everywhere.
- Reading the question properly before calculating. Most lost marks in any of these are misread questions rather than failed arithmetic.
What does not transfer is the shape of everything else: PwC's pattern and logic sections have no counterpart in EY's description, Deloitte's verbal section has no counterpart in PwC's, and video answers appear at EY but not in PwC's online stage.
How to plan revision across several applications
- Start from each employer's own careers page, not from a prep site's summary. It takes ten minutes and it is the only source that is definitionally correct about that employer.
- Put numerical reasoning first. It is named by three of the four and it is where speed gains are largest.
- Add pattern and logic practice for PwC specifically, because inductive and deductive are named there and nowhere else among the four.
- Add verbal practice only if Deloitte, or another employer on your list, actually names it.
- Do not prepare for a situational judgement test for PwC. PwC says it does not set one.
What this site does and does not cover
Worth being straight about. This site prepares you for the cognitive test in PwC's UK early careers online assessment, and nothing else. The questions are built around the three reasoning types PwC names, in the interactive style graduate candidates reported, and timed at the same pace.
We do not prepare you for Deloitte's Immersive Online Assessment, EY's online assessments, or KPMG's. The numerical practice here would help with the numerical parts of those, in the same way any good numerical practice would, but we make no claim beyond that. We are independent and not affiliated with PwC, SHL, or any firm named on this page.
Details on each firm's process change between cycles. Everything above reflects what those four careers sites said on 21 September 2026, and it is worth re-reading the page for whichever firm you are applying to before you sit anything.
Frequently asked questions
Is the PwC online assessment the same as Deloitte's?
No. PwC's cognitive test covers numerical, inductive and deductive reasoning on the SHL platform. Deloitte's Immersive Online Assessment combines workplace scenarios where you rank actions with a cognitive section covering numerical and verbal reasoning.
Does Deloitte test verbal reasoning?
Deloitte's own early careers assessment page names numerical and verbal reasoning in the cognitive section of its Immersive Online Assessment. PwC names numerical, inductive and deductive, with no verbal.
What does EY's online assessment involve?
EY describes stage two as online assessments combining rank order, written and recorded video answers, and, where applicable to your programme, a time-recorded numeric reasoning test.
What is in KPMG's online assessment?
KPMG describes two online assessments including a skills and cognitive exercise, followed by a video interview and the in-person Launch Pad day. It does not specify what the cognitive exercise covers.
Can I use one prep pack for all four firms?
Not accurately. The four name different reasoning types, and only PwC names a test provider. A pack describing a single Big Four assessment is not describing any of them precisely.
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