A bank teller test is mostly counting, making change and catching errors, often after a 20-minute basic skills test

Teller screens are reported to test quick arithmetic, accuracy and reading, and Criteria recommends its Basic Skills Test, a 40-question, 20-minute math and verbal test, for tellers. Our Wonderlic-style test trains fast arithmetic and word problems under a clock, and our WorkKeys-style Applied Math adds money and percentage problems.

We have no cash drawer or bill and coin recognition tasks, no clerical checking set and no personality or situational part. Our tests are harder in places than a basic skills test, so treat a low practice score as a reason to drill, not a forecast.

eSkill describes its money handling test as recognizing U.S. bills and coins, adding and subtracting with them and making change accurately. Another description adds counting, handling common errors, and reconciling and balancing a cash drawer.

None of this is advanced, but it is unforgiving. Practise making change from awkward amounts, adding columns of mixed bills and coins, and finding the one error that makes a drawer short. Our WorkKeys Applied Math practice uses money, discounts and percentages throughout, which is close to the word problems teller tests use.

Criteria's Basic Skills Test has 40 questions and a 20-minute limit, covering math and verbal skills such as grammar, spelling and arithmetic, and Criteria says the questions get harder as you go. That gives you 30 seconds per item, with the hardest ones at the end.

So work steadily through the early questions without rushing, and keep a few minutes for the final third. Criteria says the CBST includes a suggested minimum score for tellers, which employers see and candidates do not. Our Criteria tests overview explains the rest of Criteria's range.

One published teller battery combines a clerical speed and accuracy test, an untimed adding and subtracting test, word problems with percentages and a personality test. The common thread is catching mistakes: a teller who is fast but short at the end of a shift is a problem.

In clerical items, compare numbers in chunks and check the last digits twice. In math items, estimate before you calculate, so an answer that is ten times too large stands out.

In at least one published battery, calculator use is left to the test administrator. We found no general rule across banks, so ask the recruiter when you get the invitation.

Either way, practise without one. Mental arithmetic with money is faster than typing it into a calculator, and it is a skill you will use at the window every day.

Prep sites describe some teller assessments adding situational questions, because the job is about customers as well as cash. A prep site says Bank of America's teller assessment comes before several interviews and background checks.

For situational items, choose the answer that keeps the customer and the bank safe: follow procedure, verify identity, ask a supervisor when something is outside your authority. Our situational judgement guide explains how these items are scored.

These come from anonymous reviews, university careers pages and prep guides. They often disagree, and Bank teller has not confirmed them. Read them as leads, not rules.

• A prep site says Bank of America's teller assessment focuses on accuracy in counting money and quick math.
• Prep sites put the CBST pass mark at 70 percent or around 33 of 40, figures Criteria does not publish.
• Prep sites describe situational judgement questions alongside math in some teller assessments.