How long is each employer's online assessment? Stated times, side by side

The shortest stated assessments are the style-based ones. Grant Thornton says its Neurosight assessment typically takes under five minutes, and Forvis Mazars says roughly five. At the other end, TCS states a 190-minute NQT split into a 75-minute Foundation part and a 115-minute Advanced part.

In between sit the reasoning tests: KPMG states 36 minutes for its cognitive test, and HSBC describes about 40 minutes per assessment. The more a test measures speed under pressure, the more its length matters.

Several employers describe untimed assessments. The Civil Service describes untimed adaptive tests, A&O Shearman describes an untimed experience of about 45 minutes, and Linklaters describes about an hour with no overall limit but a time-recorded element.

Untimed means you set the pace. It does not mean you can leave and return, and some employers require a single sitting. Check for that line in your invitation.

Time to complete is one thing. Time allowed to start is another. Rolls-Royce gives ten days from the invitation, Accenture describes a 72-hour window for its technical assessment, and Teach First allows five days for its task-based assessment.

Plan the sitting for a day when you are alert, not for the last evening before a deadline.

Find your employer, take the stated time and add a buffer for setup. For reasoning stages, rehearse a block of the same length. For anything labelled reported, treat the number as indicative, because candidate reports often conflict and employers change formats between cycles.

Our numerical and verbal and critical reasoning guides say more about the reasoning stages in this table.