SHL answers
SHL questions, answered
Answers on SHL-style numerical, verbal and inductive tests: difficulty, timing, scoring and retakes.
SHL builds the aptitude tests most large employers use to screen graduate and internship applicants, from numerical and verbal reasoning to inductive and situational judgement. These answers cover what candidates ask most: how hard the tests really are, how the timing and scoring work, whether you can retake them, and how to prepare so the format stops costing you marks.
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What the SHL test is, and how these answers help
SHL is the largest aptitude-test publisher in the world, and its tests sit at the first screening stage for a huge share of graduate schemes, internships and experienced-hire roles across the UK, the US and Europe. If you have applied to a bank, a Big Four firm, a consultancy or a large corporate, there is a strong chance an SHL or SHL-style test stands between your application and the first human reviewer.
Because it is a first filter, the SHL stage rejects more candidates than any interview will. The reassuring part is that the tests are not designed to catch you out with obscure knowledge. They measure how quickly and accurately you reason under a tight clock, using school-level material. That is a trainable skill, which is exactly why the questions below and focused practice move so many candidates from panicked guessing to a steady, repeatable pace.
The tests you are most likely to sit
The core SHL aptitude tests are numerical reasoning (reading data from tables, graphs and percentages, with a calculator allowed), verbal reasoning (judging whether a statement is true, false or cannot be determined from a passage) and inductive or logical reasoning (spotting the rule across sequences of abstract shapes). Many roles add a situational judgement test or a personality questionnaire.
A growing share of these are adaptive, including the Verify G+ and Verify Interactive ranges, so the difficulty of each question moves with your previous answers. That is why a strong run always starts to feel harder: the mechanism is working as intended, not warning you that you are doing badly.
What candidates ask us most
The four questions that come up again and again are: is it hard (the difficulty is the time pressure, not the concepts); what counts as a good score (a percentile against a norm group, where the top 20 to 30 percent clears most cut-offs); can you retake it (usually one attempt per application, and the large item banks mean there is nothing to memorise); and can you use a calculator (yes, on the numerical test). The answers in this topic take each of these in turn.
How the answers and practice fit together
Read the answers first to remove the uncertainty that makes the SHL stage stressful, then rehearse the exact formats under the same timer. Knowing the rules is what lets practice pay off quickly, so your first properly timed attempt is not the employer-scored one.
The questions
3 answers in this topic
Is the SHL test hard?
The SHL test is moderately hard for most candidates, but the difficulty comes from time pressure rather than the questions themselves. You typically get under a minute per numerical or verbal item, and many versions are adaptive, so correct answers get harder. With timed practice on the exact question formats, most people move from panicked guessing to a steady, repeatable pace.
Read the answerCan you retake the SHL test?
You cannot independently retake an SHL test to improve your score. The employing organisation controls the retake policy, not SHL itself. If you experience a verified technical failure, the recruiter can reissue a test link. But if you simply score low, you must usually wait for a new application cycle or a designated cooling-off period.
Read the answerWhat is a good SHL score?
A good SHL score is typically a percentile rank of 70th or higher, meaning you outperform 70% of the relevant comparison group. While competitive investment banking and consulting roles often require a score in the 85th percentile or above, standard corporate graduate programs frequently set their cut-off marks between the 50th and 60th percentiles.
Read the answerCommon questions
SHL: quick answers
Many banks, consultancies, Big Four firms and large corporates in the UK and US use SHL or SHL-style aptitude tests at the online-assessment stage. The exact battery varies by role, so check your invite email, which usually names the test and the sections you will sit.
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Prep for the real thing
Reading the answer is not the same as being ready.
Intervyo turns these answers into practice: the exact test and interview formats firms use, scored by AI with feedback on what to fix. Start free, no card required.