Evaluate graduates and apprentices based on their skills and potential | NEW Early Careers Assessment
Take a practice test
In our practice tests, you can experience common types of assessment questions used in recruitment. These assessments include situational judgement questions, video interview questions, and three different types of ability questions. By taking our practice tests, you can gain a better understanding of our assessment formats.
Be prepared. perform at your best.
At Sova, we believe in matching people to the right roles and creating environments where they can thrive.
Our Candidate Hub is designed to help you succeed in your assessment by offering guidance and technical support. Practice with our assessment questions to get a better understanding of what to expect, and perform at your best.
Understanding psychometric assessments
Psychometric assessments serve a dual purpose in the workplace. They are used by employers to evaluate candidates during the hiring process and by organisations to identify their employees' development needs and potential.
Types of psychometric assessments
At Sova, we use a variety of psychometric assessments to help our clients make data-driven hiring decisions. Our assessments fall into three main categories:
• Tests of Ability or Aptitude: These assessments measure a candidate's potential to perform specific tasks or jobs. They provide insights into a candidate's skills and potential to learn and develop new ones.
• Tests of Preference: These assessments explore a candidate's personality, values, interests, and motivations within the context of a specific role, team, and organisation. You'll be asked to rank a series of statements or make a choice.
• Tests of Judgement: These assessments evaluate how candidates would manage common situations in the role for which they are applying. They use text, video, and imagery, and candidates are asked to select a response from several options.
The evolution of psychometric assessments
Psychometric assessments have been around for over a century, with the first tests designed by psychologists in the 1800s. The use of psychometric testing grew significantly during World War I, when the British Army recognised it as a more advanced process for selecting new recruits. Since then, the use of psychometric assessments has continued to expand in both the public and private sectors.
In the early days, psychometric assessments were completed using pen and paper and were supervised by the employer. However, with technological advancements in the 21st century, candidates can now complete assessments online using a computer, laptop or mobile phone, at a time and place that suits them. This convenience allows for a more efficient and effective hiring process.
Why do employers use psychometric assessments?
It's understandable that organisations and recruiters want to identify the right fit for a role quickly and accurately. Psychometric assessments offer a fair and objective way to evaluate a candidate's potential and likelihood to become a high performer.
This approach is more effective and reliable than traditional methods such as reviewing a CV, and it can also help candidates find a role where they can be successful and fulfilled.
Types of assessments we use
At Sova, we want you to have the best possible chance of success in your assessment. That's why we've designed our assessments to ask fewer questions but gather more insightful data. Our assessments may include tests of ability, personality, situational judgment (SJT), or video assessments. Sometimes, you may encounter a mix of different assessment types that have been specially tailored for the role you're applying for.
Blended assessment
Our blended assessments package together a mix of assessment types, including numerical, verbal, logical reasoning, and personality questions, specifically designed for a particular role and organisation.
Get familiar with this type of assessment by practicing with our self-registration link. Please note that these practice questions are only designed to give you a feel for the format and style of questions that may come up in a live assessment. We do not disclose whether your answers are correct, and no feedback is provided at this time.
Tips for completing a blended assessment:
- Tip 1: Before you start, make sure you have all necessary tools such as a calculator (where permitted) and a notepad and pen to jot down your workings.
- Tip 2: Your overall score on ability assessments is calculated based on both your accuracy and speed. While working efficiently is important, take care not to rush through the questions.
- Tip 3: In a blended assessment, you will encounter a range of question types. It's essential to review the guidance for each question type and familiarise yourself with them.
Participate in our assessment trials
Sova is dedicated to delivering assessments that are both accurate and predictive of success in the workplace. As part of our ongoing commitment to this goal, we invite you to participate in our assessment trials.
Situational Judgement Test (SJT)
In a situational judgement test, you will see short descriptions of scenarios that you’re likely to encounter in the role. These scenarios might be brought to life using imagery, video or animation. In response to each scenario, you should choose a ‘Most Effective’ and ‘Least Effective’ response from three or four options.
Register for our short practice assessment which will allow you to see the format of SJTs.
Tips for completing a situational judgement test:
- Tip 1: Base your choice of Most Effective and Least Effective responses on only the information provided in the presented scenarios.
- Tip 2: Be careful not to assume any prior knowledge of the scenarios presented.
Ability
Ability assessments are designed to assess your ability to quickly and accurately interpret and process information that is presented in different ways, such as a piece of text, a graph or a pattern. While there is no time limit for the ability questions, your final score is based on how many questions you answered correctly, and the time taken to answer each question.
Practice questions for our numerical, verbal and logical assessments are available using our self-registration link. Please note that these questions are provided as an opportunity to see the style and format of questions that you may be asked to answer as part of a live assessment. At this time, we do not provide feedback or disclose whether questions have been answered correctly.
Numerical Reasoning
Our numerical reasoning assessment evaluates your ability to interpret and analyze numerical data. You'll be presented with four answer options, and your final score will be based on the number of correctly answered questions and the time taken to answer each question.
Practice questions for our numerical, verbal, and logical assessments are available through our self-registration link.
Verbal Reasoning
Verbal reasoning assessments evaluate how quickly and accurately you can interpret and process written or verbal information and use it to draw conclusions. Your score is based on the number of questions answered correctly and the time taken to answer each question.
Logical Reasoning
Logical reasoning assesses your logical reasoning skills, specifically your ability to break down and process information, for example, identifying the patterns in a sequence. You will be asked to choose an answer from a number of options. Your score is based on the number of questions answered correctly and the time taken to answer each question.
Personality Questionnaire
Our personality questionnaire provides insight into an individual's behavioural preferences, helping organizations understand the best fit for a specific role.
Our questionnaire presents a series of statements grouped into sets of four, each requiring a rating on a five-point scale from ‘Most Like Me' to 'Least Like Me'. To familiarise yourself with our assessment, practice using our self-registration link and watch our short animation to learn more.
Tips for completing a personality questionnaire:
- Tip 1: There are no right, or wrong answers so go with your gut feeling - this is most likely to be a true reflection of you and how you like to work.
- Tip 2: Think about how you would respond in a work-based environment.
- Tip 3: If you are unsure, choose the response that corresponds closest to how you feel.
Video Interviewing
In a video interview, you will respond to pre-recorded questions shown in both video and text formats. You'll have a minute to prepare your response followed by up to three minutes to record your answer. Before the assessment, you'll have the opportunity to answer a practice question to ensure your system is set up correctly and to familiarise yourself with the interview format.
Practice your video interview skills using our self-registration link and become comfortable with the technology.
Tips for completing a video interview:
- Tip 1: Preparation is key. Ensure you are familiar with how the microphone and webcam work.
- Tip 2: Choose a place to complete the interview that is visually clear and without background noise, movement or other distractions.
- Tip 3: It can be quite daunting talking to a camera instead of a person but try not to worry about it! Treat it like you’re in a normal face to face interview.
Technical Help
In this section you’ll find technical support and guidance for completing different types of assessment.
Online Assessment Troubleshooting
- Ensure you have a good internet connection and the web browser you’ll be using is compatible with the Sova platform.
- Find a quiet place without interruptions or distractions, which will enable you to perform at your best.
- Allow plenty of time to complete the assessment, taking in to account the time required to read the instructions and complete practice questions.
Yes, our assessments are compatible on a mobile, tablet or laptop, so you can use whichever device you feel most comfortable with.
In addition to the device you will be using to complete the assessments, you will also need a pen, paper and calculator for the ability questions.
To allow you to become familiar with the layout and type of question that you may be asked to answer, there are some practice questions available on the Candidate Hub. You can can access the practice questions here.
You will also have the opportunity to complete a practice question at the beginning of each part of your assessment. Your answers to the practice questions do not count towards your score on the assessment.
Sova is committed to creating an equitable, fair and bias-fee process for every applicant. We want to help businesses make better people decisions that are accurate, objective and transparent. If you believe you need adjustments to be made to the assessment process, we recommend that you contact the organisation you are applying to.
We will work with the organisation to make adjustments based on your individual needs. This might include additional time, a scribe, a screen reader or other changes to ensure you can perform at your best. It’s important to speak to the hiring organisation in the first instance, as your requirements may need to be considered in other parts of the selection process too.
The following browsers are compatible:
- The latest versions of Chrome on Windows 10 and macOS 10.14+
- Microsoft Edge on Windows 10
- Safari on macOS 10.14 (Experimental)
- Chrome browser on Android (Android 8+)*
- Safari on iPhone (iOS 11+)
*Due to Google’s restrictions on Huawei’s use of Android, video interview recording is not supported on Huawei devices.
The Sova platform is accessible by a wide variety of browsers and devices – however the use of certain browsers, devices and internet speed may affect you experience, and therefore for an optimum user experience we recommend using the following:
- Optimal browsers: Current or previous version of Microsoft Edge, Google chrome, Mozilla or Firefox, Safari
- Optimal Operating Systems: Windows 10, macOS 10.12+, iPhone 7+, Any mobile device using Android device 8+ with Chrome
- Unsupported Browsers and Operating systems: We do not support browsers operating systems for which support has been discontinued by the manufacturer (Such as Windows 7)
- Minimum Internet speed: Broadband of 1Mb per second, or faster internet connection for video-based assessments. or 3G mobile.
If you are using your company’s internet network, there is a chance that this firewall may be causing issues. If this happens, we recommend accessing a different Internet network. Alternatively, if you’re able to attempt the link on a home network, this will resolve the firewall issue.
Please disable any pop-up blocking software, that may prevent the test from downloading, before attempting the tests. University or company networks may have restrictions in place, so please check with your local systems administrator first.
This may be related to the internet browser being used to complete the assessment. We recommend using Google Chrome for the best quality assessment experience.
Please make sure you have read the instructions on how to answer the questions carefully – some ability questions may require two or more answers, whilst personality questions ask you to only select one answer in each column.
Once you have selected all the answers necessary, you will be able to click ‘Next’ to move on to the next question. If this fails, please change your browser to Google Chrome.
To log back in and continue the assessment where you left off, simply follow the link in your invitation email.
We recommend that you contact the organisation that asked you to complete the assessment to find out more about the next steps and timescales.
ReciteMe offers features that help users with low vision, colour vision deficiency, dyslexia and other disabilities and/or neurodiverse conditions. It allows you to increase/decrease the font size, change the page’s colour, have ruler and block out most of page to avoid distractions.
Please have a look at the ReciteMe User Guide here.
Video Troubleshooting
Sorry to hear you are having issues with the video recording. Time is not recorded on the video recording sections, so this will not affect your results.
In the first instance, please ensure you are using a supported browser:
- Google Chrome
- Mozilla
Please note that other browsers are not compatible and will not allow you to complete the video recording.
If you are still having issues, please follow the steps below before contacting Sova’s Helpdesk. They are common steps which will rectify the issue within a few moments:
If using an iPhone, iPad or Mac, please follow the instructions below:
- Go to Settings
- Scroll down to the list of apps and select the Chrome app
- Enable camera and microphone permissions
- Restart your device
If using an android device, please follow the instructions below:
- Go to settings
- Select apps
- Select the browser application you are using e.g. Google Chrome
- Select Permissions
- Enable both camera and microphone permissions if this has not yet been done
- Restart your device
*Please note that it’s not possible to complete the video recording on a Huawei device.*
If you are using a laptop or desktop computer, please ensure no other applications are using the camera or microphone. You should also try restarting your device.
If you are using Windows 10 and receiving a “Hardware Access Denied” message, please follow the instructions below:
- Search for “Camera Privacy Settings” on your machine
- Check camera access for your device is on
- Check “Allow desktop apps to access your camera” is on
- Search for “Microphone Privacy Settings” on your machine
- Check microphone access for your device is on
- Check “Allow desktop apps to access your microphone” is on
- Restart your device and reopen the link
A pop-up box should appear requesting permission to access your camera and microphone - please click “allow”.
If a pop-up box doesn’t appear, please check for a notification at the top of your browser screen in case the pop-up box has been automatically blocked.
If this does not work, Please contact Sova’s helpdesk and provide the following information:
- A screenshot of the page where the error occurred
- Device type used e.g. iPhone, Samsung smartphone, Dell laptop, HP laptop, MacBook
- Operating system used e.g. Windows, macOS, Android, iOS
- Browser used e.g. Google Chrome.
- Internet speed (please check using this link http://www.speedtest.net)
You can use Google Chrome or Safari. Due to Google’s restrictions on Huawei’s use of Android, video interview recording is not supported on Huawei devices.
The Sova video interview is designed to work on low bandwidth but does require at least 140 Kbps upload speed. Your connection speed is tested before you begin the interview in your account to make sure you can complete the interview. You can also use a test like this http://www.speedtest.net
If you have the required bandwidth speed, but are still unable to complete the interview, it may be due to a firewall if you are attempting to complete from inside a workplace or campus environment. If this is the case, we recommend that you complete from outside this environment using an alternative connection.
You can test your webcam here – Visit https://www.onlinemictest.com/webcam-test/
If you are using your company’s internet network, there is a chance that this firewall may be causing issues. If this happens, we recommend accessing a different Internet network. Alternatively, if you’re able to attempt the link on a home network, this will resolve the firewall issue. Sometimes Chrome may have the audio and camera permissions enabled/disabled by default. Please update Chrome and make sure the permissions are set to “Ask”:
- Go to Settings > Advanced > Privacy & Security > Site Settings
- Scroll down to Camera/Microphone & Flash
- Select the option to “Ask first”
- Reload the candidate page and try again – you will then be able to continue.
Please allow your camera and microphone access by doing the following:
- Go to Settings
- Locate Safari
- Scroll down to Camera – select – choose Allow
- Scroll down to microphone – select – choose Allow
If you have other applications open at the same time, and one of them is using the webcam (such as Skype), you may not be able to proceed. Please shut down all other applications and restart your browser.
Yes, our video interviews are compatible on a mobile, tablet or laptop, so you can use whichever device you feel most comfortable with.
This could be because the room is too dark or the computer may be slow. To solve this, make the room brighter and make sure you have a light in front of your face. Dark colours take more hardware resources (even for video recording) to process, so it requires more of your computer.
Before attempting anything else, try using an alternative browser such as Mozilla Firefox or Google Chrome.
Virtual Assessment Centre (VAC) Troubleshooting
Your assessment day will be completed in a virtual environment and you will be taking part online from your own home (or a similar quiet, private environment). All parts of the assessment day (including the individual and group exercises) will be conducted in this way for you and all the other candidates and assessors involved in the assessment process.
Our virtual assessment centre is compatible with a number of different video conferencing platforms, such as Zoom, Microsoft Teams and Whereby - these web-based applications will require access to your PC/Tablet camera and your microphone in order for you to take part on the assessment day through a video call. You will therefore need to be online for the duration of the assessment event using a stable broadband internet connection.
We recommend you do not use a smartphone for the assessment day, as the screen may be too small to read important materials effectively or perform certain activities, which may affect your performance on the day.
You will need the following hardware on your Desktop PC or Tablet:
- Microphone – built-in microphone, a USB microphone or inline microphone on headphones
- Speaker or Headphones
- In-built camera/webcam
- Bandwidth requirements: Minimum bandwidth is 600kbps (up/down) and recommended is 1.5 Mbps (up/down). You can check your Internet bandwidth using Speed test if you are unsure: https://www.speedtest.net
The video conferencing part of the assessment centre might take place on either Whereby, Microsoft Teams or Zoom. This will be clearly marked within the assessment centre and email instructions ahead of beginning.
To ensure a seamless experience, we recommend checking your technology set-up the day before your scheduled session. This will allow you time to test compatibility with our platform.
Understand how best to prepare with our Getting Ready guide.
Please visit the Microsoft Team Troubleshoot page here.
Please visit the Microsoft Team Troubleshoot page here.
Please visit the Zoom website for further tips and support.
Research
We are committed to ensuring that our assessments are fair, relevant, and predictive of success in the workplace. That's why we are offering you the opportunity to take part in our pilot projects. After completing the assessments, you will receive a report with useful feedback on your responses directly to your email address.
Remote working and personality research
We are undertaking some important research to investigate the connections between personality and attitudes towards remote working. As the world continues to readjust post-covid, we see a combination of hybrid, remote and exclusively office-based working.
To help increase our understanding of individual differences in this respect, we are inviting you to complete a short survey and are also giving you free access to the Sova Personality Questionnaire.
Upon completing the personality questionnaire, you will have immediate access to a free personalised report. We hope this will offer you insight into your own personality and give you chance to reflect on what matters to you.
To take part in this exciting research, simply click on the link below. When you have completed the survey you will automatically 'unlock' access to the personality questionnaire. Thank you for your interest!
What to expect
At the beginning of the assessment, you will be asked a series of introductory questions. This information is used to ensure that the final assessment is fair and inclusive for everyone.
Once you have completed the test, you will receive a feedback report. Please note that as the assessment is in the trial stage, the difficulty level of the questions included may vary. Your report should be used as a guide only, and not a definitive indication of your ability. Practicing ability assessments is a great opportunity to familiarise yourself with the types of questions you may encounter when applying for a job.
Tips for completing the assessment ->
Set aside about 30 minutes when you won’t be interrupted or distracted.
Ensure that you have a calculator, some rough paper or a notepad, plus a pen or pencil.
Feel free to come back and try the assessment again at some stage – the content will change over the coming weeks as we adjust the difficulty level of the questions.