Shoosmiths says it uses no verbal or numerical reasoning tests. Its online stage is about strengths

Shoosmiths' online assessment, designed by Cappfinity, has four behavioural modules and one cognitive module. Our reasoning test can warm you up for that single cognitive module, where reading carefully and working accurately still count.

Shoosmiths says it does not use psychometric, verbal or numerical reasoning tests at application or assessment stage, and four of its five modules are behavioural. We do not know the format of the cognitive module, so our test is light preparation at most. Put your effort into the strengths and assessment centre advice below.

Shoosmiths states that it does not carry out psychometric, verbal or numerical reasoning tests at application or assessment stage. Its own careers blog also says the online assessment contains one cognitive module alongside four behavioural ones. Those statements fit together if the cognitive module is a short task inside a strengths assessment rather than a standalone reasoning paper.

The practical reading: you do not need weeks of numerical or Watson Glaser drills for Shoosmiths. A single sitting of a general reasoning test is enough to warm up your attention for the cognitive module. The rest of your time belongs to the behavioural modules and the assessment centre.

Strengths assessments of this kind usually show you workplace situations or pairs of statements and ask how you would respond, sometimes with a short time limit to capture instinct rather than calculation. They look for which strengths you use naturally and which tasks energise you. Answers that try to please every reader tend to look inconsistent.

• Read each scenario as a new trainee would meet it, not as a senior lawyer.
• Pick the option you would actually take; overthinking leads to inconsistent patterns.
• If items appear quickly, trust your first reading once you are sure you understood it.
• Before you start, reread the firm's values page so the language feels familiar.

A Shoosmiths blog post said that from December 2022 an online video interview would no longer form part of the selection process for a training contract. The firm's application process page, however, still mentions being invited to an online video interview, and a 2025 candidate review mentions one too. The firm also publishes a guide to video interviewing, which may apply to other programmes.

Plan on the stated training contract process, but read your invitation: if a video stage appears, our video interview guide covers the basics.

Shoosmiths describes four core exercises: a group exercise, an in-tray, a presentation and an interview. The in-tray tests prioritisation: you get a set of emails and tasks and must decide what to do first and why. The presentation tests whether you can make a clear argument to a small audience. The firm has written separately about understanding a strengths-based assessment centre, so expect the interview to ask what you enjoy and do well, not only what you have done.

For the in-tray, write a one-line reason beside every decision. Assessors usually mark the reasoning as much as the order. Our assessment centre guide has more on in-trays and group tasks.

Shoosmiths says it receives around 2,500 applications a year for 36 training contracts. The four competency questions on the form are therefore the first and biggest filter. Each answer should show a specific situation, your own action and a result, in plain language.

The paid placement offers another way in: successful placement students progress straight to the in-person training contract assessment centre with no further application.

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

• A prep site lists 60 to 90 minutes as the typical total length of Cappfinity assessments in general, not specifically for Shoosmiths.
• A 2025 Glassdoor review describes a video interview and an assessment centre that included a written exercise and question sessions with current trainees.
• A legal careers site says the application form takes about one to two hours to complete.