Forvis Mazars says its online assessment takes about five minutes and needs no preparation. Believe it, then plan the later stages

Forvis Mazars says its online assessment takes roughly five minutes, is not timed, adapts to your decision-making style and needs no preparation. That leaves very little a reasoning drill can rehearse. The nearest honest fit is general comfort answering quickly on a screen.

Our reasoning test is a 45-minute set of table and passage questions. The Forvis Mazars assessment, by its own description, is short, adaptive and style-based, not a score of right and wrong answers. Do not use our test to prepare for it. Use it, if at all, for the interview-stage skill of reading numbers calmly.

Forvis Mazars describes the online assessment as lasting about five minutes and not being timed. It starts with a few warm-up questions, so you can see how the screen behaves before the scored part. The firm says the assessment adapts to your decision-making style, which suggests it is not marked right or wrong in the way a reasoning test is.

The instruction is simple. Find a quiet space, read the instructions, and answer honestly and instinctively. If a form of preparation is possible, it is to arrive calm, because instinct is hard to produce when you are hurried.

After the assessment, candidates get a feedback report on strengths and development areas. For many applicants this is the first useful information they receive from a firm. Read it, and compare it with how you would describe yourself.

It can also shape your interview. If the report names a strength you recognise, you have a ready theme for an answer. If it names a development area, you can decide whether to bring it up yourself with a plan, which tends to land better than being asked.

Successful candidates choose a time slot for a live video interview. That differs from a recorded interview where you speak to a prompt. Here someone responds, so listening matters as much as your prepared points.

Check your camera angle, lighting and microphone the day before, choose a slot when you are normally alert, and keep a glass of water in reach. Prepare four short examples: working in a team, handling pressure, taking initiative and a time you changed your mind.

The firm describes a half-day virtual assessment centre, then a final in-person interview with a senior leader that includes a presentation task. The pages we read do not say what the centre exercises are, so expect to be told in your invitation.

For the presentation, ask what the topic and length are as soon as you can. Structure beats polish: a clear opening, two or three points, and a conclusion that answers the question you were set. Practise it aloud with a timer.

Forvis Mazars publishes separate pages for other countries. The Irish site describes a different process for experienced hires, with a two-test online assessment, one aptitude-style and one about workplace persona, taking under an hour. That is not the UK graduate process, so do not borrow its details.

If you are applying for a UK graduate trainee role, the UK early careers pages and your invitation email are the authority.