SHL isn’t a single exam—it’s a library of assessments that employers can mix and match. After choosing the assessment most relevant to them, they invite candidates using SHL's Talent Central platform.

The most common are cognitive ability tests. These are often administered alongside behavioural tests (like the Situational Judgement Test) and personality & motivation assessments (like the OPQ).

Your email invitation will name the exact test (or tests) your employer has chosen—use the menu below to jump to the one you need.

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Or navigate to out page about the SHL Verify G+ (General Ability)

Employers use the SHL numerical reasoning tests to measure how confidently you work with numbers in real work situations.

There are several versions – including SHL Verify Interactive Numerical Reasoning, Verify Numerical Reasoning, Verify Numerical Ability, and other SHL calculation and graduate-level tests.

Although each test looks slightly different, they all assess your ability to quickly interpret data, compare figures, and perform accurate calculations under strict time limits.

In the practice questions below, you’ll see two common SHL numerical formats: column charts and pie charts. On the actual SHL numerical tests, you may also face line graphs, number ranges, and ranking tasks, with questions ranging from relatively simple to quite challenging and multi-step.

After you complete this short numerical mini-test, we’ll move on to the SHL Deductive Reasoning section, which focuses more on logical thinking, attention to detail, and drawing conclusions from the information given.

Deductive reasoning is the ability to consider general "rules" and apply them to specific situations. You can view it as thinking "from the top down" - from rules to conclusions.

Let's take a look at two deductive question types that SHL test-takers typically find challenging: ordering and calendar. 

Both these question types are meant to simulate real office situations.

The following employees work in the same office. Here are some statements about their order of arrival to work this morning:

A team of employees is trying to schedule a day trip together the following month.

SHL uses deductive reasoning both as part of the Verify G / Verify G+ general ability test and, in some cases, as a stand-alone SHL deductive reasoning assessment.

In the next section, we’ll move on to the SHL Inductive Reasoning test, which also relies on logical thinking but focuses on recognising patterns in abstract shapes and diagrams rather than working with written information and schedules.

If deductive reasoning is defined as applying rules to specific instances, inductive reasoning is the opposite: examining particular patterns and identifying the laws that govern them.

Let's solve two SHL Inductive Reasoning questions, alphanumeric sequences and next-in-series:

SHL’s verbal tests measure how well you understand written information and use it to make correct decisions.

• The SHL Verify Verbal Reasoning test focuses on short passages where you decide whether statements are true, false, or "cannot say", based only on the text.
• The SHL Reading Comprehension test uses slightly longer texts and multiple-choice questions, asking you to identify the main point, key details, or correct conclusion – all under strict time limits.

Let's look at examples:

The SHL Checking assessment is designed to screen candidates for clerical positions.

As such, the measure attention to detail, response times, and level-headedness during stressful tasks that require focus.

Although SHL is often associated with companies in the finance and business sectors, such as Capitec Bank, Barclays, Agoda, and Vodafone, it also serves companies looking to hire for more hands-on positions: maintenance techs, electricians, and engineers.

The SHL Mechanical Comprehension Assessment is designed to measure candidates' basic intuition about mechanical principles like leverage, torque, current, resistance, and fluid mechanics. It also ascertains candidates' familiarity with tools of the trade and what jobs they perform.

Let's view some examples:

SHL has gained world renown for its thoroughly researched and validated behavioural assessments.

Particularly, the Occupational Personality Questionnaire, or SHL OPQ, is among the most common theoretical models for assessing someone's behaviour at work and job fit. It's based on ranking the candidate on a set of 32 different traits.

The SHL Motivation Questionnaire focuses on candidates' unique motivators to inform employers on how to encourage engaged workers and make promotion decisions.

Let's look at OPQ sample questions: