At CMS the assessment day is the offer: pass it and you get a direct training contract

CMS job listings describe a critical thinking test after the application, and candidates and guides commonly identify it as a Watson Glaser style paper. Our reasoning test includes verbal and logical items that reward the same skill: accepting only what a passage supports. It is a reasonable warm-up for that stage.

The firm does not name the test or publish its format in what we read, so we cannot say how close our items are. Our test also does nothing for the recorded video interview or the assessment day case study, group exercise and competency interview, which together decide the offer.

Many City firms recruit mainly through vacation schemes and decide offers after a placement. CMS describes a direct path: complete the assessment day successfully and you are offered a training contract, plus a place on its CMS Academy programme before you start. That puts more weight on a single day than at scheme-led firms, and it makes the earlier online stages a filter for that day.

Plan your preparation backwards from the assessment day. The online test and the video are hurdles to clear; the case study, interview and group exercise are where the offer is won.

CMS listings call the second step a critical thinking test. Guides describe it as a timed test of whether you can think clearly and rationally about written information, and the most common product in this category is the Watson Glaser. Whatever the brand, the skill is the same: you judge statements only on the information given and ignore what you happen to know.

Practise in short blocks of ten items, then review every error and name its cause: an outside assumption, a missed qualifier, or a misread question. Our verbal and critical reasoning guide explains the common formats, and one sitting of our free reasoning test builds the reading habit.

Candidates describe the CMS video interview as brief, about 15 minutes, with roughly a minute to think and a minute to answer each question. A minute is less time than most people expect. If you spend thirty seconds on background, you will run out before your point lands.

Use a three-part shape: the answer in one sentence, one example from your experience, and what it shows about how you would work as a trainee. Forum posts describe the questions as a mix of competency, strengths and motivation, so prepare two reasons for choosing CMS that you could not say about any other firm.

The case study tests how you read a pack and reach a commercial recommendation. The competency-based interview tests evidence from your past: situations you handled, what you did and what changed. The group exercise tests how you work with others when you do not control the outcome.

• Case study: write your recommendation first, then the two facts that support it and one risk.
• Competency interview: prepare six short stories that can flex across teamwork, pressure, persuasion and mistakes.
• Group exercise: contribute early, build on others by name, and keep track of time for the group.

CMS recruits trainees in Scotland separately, with listings for Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow. One Scotland training contract listing gives a closing date of 10 January 2027. The listings we saw describe the same broad pattern, but check the specific listing for your office, as dates and routes may differ from England and Wales.

Our law firm assessment guide sets the CMS process beside the other large UK firms if you are applying to several.

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

• Guides commonly describe the CMS critical thinking test as a Watson Glaser style test, though the firm does not name a product in what we read.
• Candidates on forums report about one minute of thinking time and one minute to answer each video question, in an interview of around 15 minutes.
• Forum posts describe the video questions as a mix of competency, strengths and motivational questions.
• An older handbook entry mentions a speed-networking exercise at the assessment day alongside the case study, interview and group task.