Pass the SHL Personality Test with Tailored OPQ Practice [2025]

The SHL occupational personality questionnaire, or OPQ32, is a complex personality assessment administered online via SHL's Talent Central testing platform.

Owing to its reputation as a reliable measure of personal preference, it can be found in the recruitment process of many organisations, from small businesses to mega-companies like Qantas, HSBC, Deutsche Bank, and even the Royal Navy. Most commonly, it is used for roles and positions that require a dynamic and emotionally intelligent approach.

The SHL OPQ Assessment is a talent management assessment. It is taken as part of the recruitment process and aims to evaluate whether your personality traits align with company culture. It also evaluates your thinking style, skills, workplace behaviour and preferences, and predicts your future job performance. 

Yes, the OPQ test has two versions: the OPQn (normative) and the OPQr (response theory).

OPQr is more recent and more commonly used, as it contains 104 questions to the OPQn's 416, allowing for a quicker and friendlier experience.

The Questions on the OPQr are presented as blocks of three behavioural statements. On each question, you must choose one statement that best describes you (these are called “ipsative questions” or "forced choice questions"). These measure 32 specific personality characteristics.

To summarise:

The OPQ can be stressful. Candidates often find themselves baffled at how to best represent their best selves to their potential employer, while staying true to themselves.

In addition, the test's length—104 questions—and the stakes can also serve as stress-inducing factors. Practising ahead of the exam using practice tests and simulations can help alleviate some of this pressure.

Older versions of the SHL OPQ assessment ask test takers to choose one statement out of each bundle that best represents them, and another that least represents them.

*Source - JobTestPrep OPQ Test Guide.

You may still see this format in some cases.

In the newest version of the OPQ32 test, the format is presented in a more interactive way, through a two-step process. First, you'll need to choose which statement describe you best (termed ‘most'):

*Source - JobTestPrep OPQ Test Guide.

Let’s say we choose the first one. Once you have chosen this statement (marked bold), it disappears from the screen, leaving you to choose again, from the remaining statements, which one describes you best:

*Source - JobTestPrep OPQ Test Guide.

Instead of selecting the statement that least describes you, you must choose the second-best statement. By default, the remaining statement is the one that represents you least.

Note—You cannot change your answer once you have chosen a statement. 

Although the format of this SHL occupational personality questionnaire might differ, the statements and scoring of these two versions of the OPQ32 test are identical.  

To get a feeling of the new interactive OPQ32 test, you can take a free online OPQ test, provided by SHL. Note that you’ll be required to create an account to access the SHL OPQ practice test. After completing the exam, you will receive a descriptive feedback report of various behavioural tendencies via email. These SHL OPQ test results are different than those provided to employers, as they do not include the same scales.

Take a look at the following question and think about how you would answer:

Here are some more examples of OPQ questions:

Many believe personality tests are impossible to prepare for, as there are no right or wrong answers, or that you better be "honest" when answering them. Our experience shows this isn't the case, and there is a socially desirable way to address them.

If, for example, you tend to avoid confrontation, should you choose that statement on the SHL personality test?

Answering in a completely straightforward manner here could cause more harm than good. This is because your answers are not interpreted in a "naive" way, but are treated as indications of your workplace behavior. So, stating you would rather avoid conflicts is actually like saying you have trouble solving work conflicts.  

As mentioned, answering OPQ32 test questions requires tailoring responses to showcase key qualities for your position. Therefore, the first and most important step to pass it is knowing which qualities are most important for your desired position. These are the traits or behaviours that your employer expects you to demonstrate as a successful employee.

These are some of the desirable qualities for most roles:

• Resilience to workload and colleague pressure
• Staying focused
• Modelling optimism and resilience
• Emotional intelligence

On each OPQ32 question, you must first identify which items express the key characteristics of your job, and favour those over other possible wrong answers first.

To answer questions in a way that exhibits those essential qualities, use guidelines and tips tailored for the unique OPQ32 question format:

We have compiled the three most important tips you must read before answering OPQ32 questions:

1. Choose ‘Most Like Me’ Answers Tailored for your Job- The statements you choose as ‘Most Like Me’ should be genuine personal strengths that are also central key qualities of the role.
2. The Statements you Don't Choose are Equally Important - Statements you did not choose as ‘most/ least like me’, that is ‘Neutral’ statements, will receive a moderate rating, not zero. Therefore, it is equally important to consider which statement you do not choose, or choose second in the new OPQ32 test version. 
3. Don't Try to Be Perfect- Choosing ‘least like me’ for all statements that are negative or less important for the job can flag a fake response (since everyone is expected to have some negative/less important responses). To avoid this, you should also choose some less important/ negative qualities as neutral every once in a while.

So, how do you choose which statement to leave neutral?
Or how many negative and less important qualities is not too much?

The SHL Occupational Personality Questionnaire (OPQ32) gives organizations a focused picture of how aspects of your personality and behaviour will impact performance at work. It provides detailed information on 32 specific personality characteristics, also called OPQ dimensions, proven to influence work performance. These are grouped into three key areas:

• Relationships with People- how you connect with others and lead the group.
• Thinking Style- how you evaluate and make sense of facts and information.
• Feelings and Emotions- how you internally think and feel about various events. This also includes dynamism- how much you strive for change, growth and achievements.

In our SHL Personality Test guide, we provide possible interview questions for each of these categories so you
could also prepare for the next stages of the hiring process.

Invited to take more SHL tests? Start practising now with our free SHL test practice!

The OPQ is SHL's signature personality and workplace behaviour measure. Another common one is the SHL Motivational Questionnaire, which focuses more on what workplace factors promote and encourage growth and performance.

SHL LTD also focuses heavily on developing cognitive aptitude exams. Among its most popular products are the numerical reasoning and calculation test, which measure candidates' mathematical abilities, and its inductive reasoning and deductive reasoning tests, which measure candidates' logical aptitude. 

Another common test is the General Ability (also known as the Veriify G+), which combines numerical and logical questions.

Other tests include the SHL Mechanical Comprehension Test, the SHL Checking Test, and the SHL Group Exercise.