Numerical reasoning tests

A numerical reasoning test gives you tables, charts and short notes of business data, then asks multiple-choice questions against the clock. It is rarely hard maths. It checks whether you can find the right figures quickly, pick the right calculation and stay steady while the timer runs. A calculator is often allowed, but check your invite.

If maths isn't your favourite subject, that's fine. The same few skills come up again and again, and they respond well to practice.

Where you might meet one

Numerical tests are common in UK finance applications, but not universal. Several employers now fold them into a longer online assessment alongside scenario questions, and some don't use one at all.

Unverified: You'll find precise pass marks and percentile cut-offs quoted online. None of the employers we checked publish them, and prep websites often contradict each other or the employer's own description of its process. We don't repeat them, and you don't need them to prepare well.

The skills that come up most

Almost every question uses one or two of these:

• Percentage change: (new − old) ÷ old, and the most common slip is dividing by the new figure instead of the old one
• Share of a total: part ÷ total, after checking whether the total is given or you need to add it up
• Percentage points versus per cent: a profit margin rising from 12% to 15% is up 3 percentage points, but up 25% in relative terms
• Ratios: splitting £500 in the ratio 3:2 gives £300 and £200
• Currency conversion: if £1 = €1.16, multiply pounds by 1.16 to get euros, and divide euros by 1.16 to get pounds
• Units: thousands, millions or billions, and pounds, dollars or euros, often hidden in a footnote
• Growth over more than one period: 10% and then another 10% is 21% in total, not 20%
• Averages and simple projections: "If revenue keeps growing at last year's rate, what will it be next year?"

A worked example

The data and questions below are original and written for practice.

Question 1: which region grew fastest in percentage terms between 2024 and 2025?

North grew by £6.0m from £48.0m, which is 12.5%. South grew by £2.5m from £62.5m, which is 4%. East grew by £6.0m from £30.0m, which is 20%. So the answer is East. North and East added the same amount of money, but East started from a smaller base, and wrong answer options are often built around exactly that trap.

Question 2: what share of total 2025 revenue came from South, to one decimal place?

Total 2025 revenue is 54.0 + 65.0 + 36.0 = £155.0m. South's share is 65.0 ÷ 155.0 = 0.4194, so the answer is 41.9%.

Question 3: a note under the table says £1 = €1.16. What was East's 2025 revenue in euros?

36.0 × 1.16 = 41.76, so the answer is €41.76m. If you divided by 1.16 instead, you would get about €31.03m, which is just the kind of figure that appears as a wrong option.

Handling the clock

• Read the question before the data, then look only for the figures you need
• Check units, dates and footnotes before you calculate anything
• Estimate first: 20% of 36 is about 7, so when the options are far apart, an option of 72 is clearly wrong
• Write down key figures rather than holding them in your head
• Keep moving: if one question is eating your time, make your best choice and move on, if the rules allow it
• Read the rules on marking and navigation, because some tests don't let you go back, and if a wrong answer costs nothing, don't leave a question blank
• Set up before you start, with pen, paper and a calculator on the desk if they're allowed, and your phone out of reach

Untimed doesn't mean no time pressure

Official: Some newer assessments drop the hard time limit. Schroders says its cognitive test is not timed, Rothschild & Co describes its online assessment as untimed, and Deloitte says its assessment has no overall time limit but some sections are timed and speed counts.

Work at a steady, careful pace in these. Accuracy matters most, but taking three times longer than you need rarely helps either.

Extra time and adjustments

If you have a disability, a long-term health condition or a specific learning difference such as dyslexia, you can ask the employer about adjustments, such as extra time, before you start the test. Ask as soon as the invite arrives, because some deadlines are short. If you'll have extra time, practise with the same allowance so the pace feels familiar.

How to practise

1. Check what's free first. Many universities give their students free access to practice platforms, so look at your careers service website. Official: Cambridge, Warwick, Bath and Loughborough all describe free practice-test access for their students.
2. Use the employer's own practice links. Official: UBS points candidates to its test provider's practice site, and HSBC runs a practice area on its provider's platform. If your invite names a provider, look on that provider's own website too.
3. Start untimed and aim for accuracy. Speed built on shaky methods falls apart under pressure.
4. Sort your mistakes. Label each one: misread the data, wrong calculation, arithmetic slip or ran out of time. Most people find one type dominates.
5. Add the clock. Once your accuracy is steady, use the timing from your invite.

Just got an invite? The 72-hour plan turns this into a day-by-day schedule.