At Clifford Chance, passing Watson Glaser decides whether anyone reads your application form

Clifford Chance says the Watson Glaser test, which covers inferences, assumptions, deductions, interpretation and evaluating arguments, decides whether your application form is reviewed at all. The verbal half of our reasoning test trains the same discipline of answering only from what is on the page.

Watson Glaser questions come in five named types, and the layout is not True, False or Cannot say. The firm's Immersive Online Assessment is a separate exercise whose content the pages we read do not describe, so we cannot replicate it. Use our test for reading discipline and use Clifford Chance's own free practice for the format.

Most firms use a test to rank candidates. Clifford Chance describes a simpler role: if you pass the Watson Glaser test, the recruitment team reviews your form; if you do not, they do not. That makes the test a gate. It is the first thing standing between your application and a human reader.

The firm does not publish the pass mark in the pages we read. The right response is not to guess a number but to prepare well enough that you are comfortably above any reasonable bar, by training accuracy, not speed.

The firm describes the test as focusing on your ability to draw inferences, recognise assumptions, make deductions, interpret information and evaluate arguments. Inference asks how likely a conclusion is from stated facts. Assumption asks what must be taken for granted for a statement to hold. Deduction asks what strictly follows. Interpretation asks whether a conclusion is justified by the data. Argument evaluation asks whether a point is strong and relevant.

Our verbal reasoning questions train the closest of these, deduction and inference, because each answer must come only from the passage. Use the verbal reasoning questions page for the method, then practise the other three on Clifford Chance's own practice test, which is the only place to see its exact layout.

Clifford Chance says you can take its practice tests as many times as you like and that the attempts are for your preparation only, not visible to the firm. A practice version of the Immersive assessment is emailed after you submit your application, and the Watson Glaser practice test is on the site.

That removes any reason to avoid them. Take the Watson Glaser practice twice: once cold, to see where you stand, and once after a week of reading practice, to see whether the work moved your score.

The Immersive Online Assessment is described as lasting around 45 to 60 minutes and as needing to be done within four days, weekends included. Four days is short for a task of this size if you also have exams or work, so plan the slot the moment the link arrives.

Sit it in one block with the practice version behind you. The pages we read do not describe its content in detail, which is why the practice version is the best guide to its shape.

The in-person day combines a case study with a written exercise, a joint case study and competency interview with a Partner and a Senior Associate, and a group exercise. The listing we read puts applications between 7 September and 18 November 2026, with assessments in the weeks of 11 and 18 January 2027.

The firm says it does not use AI to screen applications or make hiring decisions. A separate paralegal apprenticeship in Newcastle uses Following Instructions and Proofreading tests instead; that round had closed. See our guide to law firm online assessments for how Clifford Chance compares with other firms.