The text below provides a full candidate recruitment, assessment and preparation guide and practice for those applying to jobs, internships and graduate programs at EY.
Our website provides scientifically validated practice assessments tests, interviews and assessment centre exercises that can be used to practice and prepare for the recruitment and assessment process.
Check here for Free and Premium aptitude assessment tests and video interviews to practice and prepare for EY recruitment.
If you are aiming to apply to EY or have a EY assessment test coming up, our text below is the best place to start.
Not sure if you should practice to prepare for the EY assessments? According to research, 60-80% of candidates are rejected based on their aptitude tests results. It is proven that practice increases your chances of getting hired.
A recent study (Bradley et al, 2019) found that candidates who do not practise assessments, tend to fail at the first hurdle of psychometric assessments (54%-84%). This study looked at the Top 100 global employers.
In a nutshell:
How to prepare for the EY assessment process and tests to get the job?
EY uses a variety of aptitude assessment tests. These may include:
You may get rejected already after your numerical and/or verbal tests. These tests sift out 50-80% candidates. The only proven way to get to the next round is practice.
Develop your technical and problem-solving skills by practicing for EY’s Motion Challenge using similar games and technical digital tests.
Practice SJTs and Personality questionnaires to develop your understanding and ability to efficiently answer the variety of questions asked and to demonstrate your work style and strongest competencies.
EY makes use of a variety of competitive exercises during the EY Experience Day assessment centre to find the right candidates. Ensure that you practice a variety of exercises including:
Hone your written and spoken communication technique. Research online, prepare and practice presentation of as many business case studies as possible.
Be aware; not many get to this stage. The competition is very fierce.
Prepare for your one-on-one interview with a senior manager. Expect and practice for behavioural and competency-based questions and review your CV. Aim to stand out. They have interviewed dozens or hundreds of candidates at this final stage.
Refine your technique for your final EY interview to showcase your:
For your final interview, use the video interview platform and record yourself answering the interview questions using the STAR method.
Continue reading to get answers to these critical questions:
Looking into assessments with EY, simply use your fingertips or click in the table below to practice assessments relevant to your assessment process!
Practice online aptitude tests with us to improve your results and score higher for EY’s assessment tests!
Do not miss this opportunity. Enjoy the learning and best of luck!
WARNING: This text is packed with information, examples, new vocabulary. If you are not serious about getting a job with EY, stop reading here. Your commitment and focus are a must.
Ernst & Young (EY) is a multinational professional services firm headquartered in London that employs 230,000 people globally. EY operates as a network of member firms which are separate legal entities in individual countries.
Despite the number of different areas and levels within EY, most EY recruitment processes follow a very similar path.
So, without further ado let’s walk you through the contents of this article
Take a break. EY Assessment Tests and Games in a nutshell on GF YT channel.
Are you done with your research? Have you finalized the list of areas you would like to work in EY? Then you are ready to take off.
1. To apply to EY, you will need to complete the online application form including:
2. Based on your role you might also be asked to answer some questions, e.g.
How to succeed in EY’s job application – 3 top tips:
By now you should have cracked the EY application. There’s no time to waste. If your application gets accepted you will get the invite to the next stage, the aptitude tests. You will be given very short notice, leaving you just a couple of days to complete them.
Start preparing now, it will help with other employers anyway. Continue reading to find the What and the How.
The second step of the recruitment process at EY will be the Online Assessments stage a.k.a. Ernst & Young online aptitude tests.
EY aptitude tests (Situational Strengths test, numerical reasoning tests and verbal ability tests) assess the following qualities of a candidate:
Here you can practice for EY assessment with GF’s aptitude tests, video interviews and games.
Let’s dive now into EY online assessments.
This is a critical skill in consultancy and the first step to sift out candidates
What makes Ernst & Young’s numerical reasoning test difficult is not the knowledge tested, but how you reason with the information presented under time pressure given the time limit.
Do not mess up this stage! Especially that it is an easy one to prep for.
Practice is king here. Getting familiar with typical questions, answers and worked solutions to understand the reasoning is a ‘must do’.
Practicing under time pressure plays a key role hence questions in pdf widely available although good to build the skills are not sufficient to perform well with about 1 minute per question in a real test.
Remember that it is the stress and time pressure that is challenging – not the lack of knowledge!
You need to learn to manage these. The best way by far to achieve this is by practicing tests in a safe environment before your actual test. You do not want your actual job or internship, grad programme test to become a battleground.
You have already successfully gone through the application process which tens of thousands of applicants have not managed.
By now you should be an expert in EY numerical reasoning test
There are many resources available on the web. You may start with our numerical reasoning tests webpage to get practical tips on how to prepare for numerical reasoning test questions.
Fed up with reading? Take a break. Visit our YouTube channel:
If you are looking for an EY-style numerical reasoning test questions with answers, worked-solutions, and professional score reports including personalised tips based on your performance – then GF has it covered.
You can simply sign up for a FREE numerical reasoning test and compare your results with thousands of other test takers.
Check if you got the correct answer at the bottom of the page.
For more FREE QUESTIONS similar to EY’s assessment tests, sign up with GF, take your FREE numerical reasoning test and benchmark yourself with 1000s of other test takers.
Please take your time and watch the video below. We guide you step-by-step through 5 most common types of numerical reasoning questions, worked solutions and answers. These cover 70-80% typical numerical reasoning questions you’ll come across with most employers. It is a 15 min investment that will surely pay off.
Let’s move on now to the next test, EY’s Situational Strengths tests.
What is EY’s Situational Strengths test?
EY Situational strengths test assesses your decision-making skills by presenting day-to-day business scenarios with 3-4 suitable approaches to see what your approach to that particular situation be. These tests are also known as Situational Judgement tests and as the name suggests assesses your judgement skills to make sure if you’ve got capability to make the right call. There are no right or wrong answers to these kinds of questions.
You’ll understand Situational Strengths Tests better by looking at the question below and look for the best and the worst approach:
Question: You oversee the Finance Operations for a large Accountancy company that has been struggling to meet its financial targets recently. Today you have received notification that some of your branches have failed an audit and are in breach of particular regulations. You have been given 3 months in which to address this issue. This timeline is tight and you have to resolve this matter as the company’s future can be compromised as a result. What do you do?
Options:
A: Escalate the problem to your seniors to ensure it gets the right attention and support, to ensure this gets resolved in the 3-month period.
B: Hire external consultants to come in and resolve the problem, as you cannot take any risks with getting this wrong.
C: Contact the branches that have failed and identify the reasons behind their failures. Consider any trends that may be consistent across these ‘failing’ branches and use this information to make a more informed decision on next steps for resolution.
D: Ask each branch to resolve their own failures as soon as possible, highlighting the risk of not complying within the 3-month period. Gain assurance from each of them and then trust them to get on with the job.
Figured out the best course of action? By now you would’ve understood what the EY Situational Strengths Tests are all about. However, to know more about Situational strengths tests visit our website and know all about Situational Judgement tests / Situational Strengths Tests.
What is EYs Business Behaviours Test?
EYs Business Behaviour Tests are more or less like EY’s Situational Judgement Tests except the questions are interlinked, and thus the answers that you provide for each of them should suit the overall situation, i.e., the answers shouldn’t be contradictory to each other.
What is EYs ‘What’s on Your Mindset’ Test
EY What’s on Your Mindset test is nothing but a Personality Questionnaire where there will be statements relating to specific characteristics. What you have to do is, rate those statements as to how much they relate to your personality.
Examples of ‘What’s on Your Mindset‘ test questions:
(1) (2) (3) (4) (5)
2. Most people are trustworthy
(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) Where 1 = Strongly Disagree 2 = Disagree 3 = Agree nor Disagree 4 = Agree 5 = Strongly Agree
Learn more about Personality Questionnaires. Take most commonly used personality questionnaire used by 8000+ employers.
What is EY’s Verbal Reasoning Test?
Ernst & Young similar to most large employers use Verbal Reasoning Tests in their candidate assessment processes. The EY verbal reasoning test is not there to assess your language skills, however the test implicitly expects good language skill as a prerequisite. The test focuses on how an individual reasons written information to determine its meaning or any implication. EY use verbal reasoning tests which are very similar to those of SHL, the largest global assessment test publisher.
Learn more about Verbal Reasoning Tests.
Practice free SHL-style verbal reasoning tests for EY.
Let’s move on now to the next test, EY’s game-based assessment.
Around 10% of employers admit to using game-assessments. EY is one of them. If you need to learn what they are, head to our dedicated gamified assessment page.
What is the EY Motion Challenge game?
The EY Motion Challenge game will examine your ability in dynamic problem solving and will require you to use abstract thinking to find not so obvious solutions to the puzzle. It is important to think as broadly as possible.
In the Motion Challenge test you will be required to move objects and bars to clear the path between the red ball and its destination: a black hole. Your main goal in this game is to clear the path for the red ball by moving as few bars as possible.
In the EY Motion Challenge game you are faced with a strategic problem of solving a puzzle with the minimum number of moves. As the assessment is timed, you will need to prioritise between:
It may be helpeful to note down the number of required moves for each strategy as you decide which one to implement.
Time matters. Your goal is to also work through this game in a timely manner.
Search for examples and various online versions of the Rush Hour Traffic Game.
In Tetris, focus on learning to analyse shapes and paths of different objects.
Practice your speed and accuracy with both games to gain confidence.
Take it on not as a stressful university exam, but more like a challenge to solve the best you can.
It is crucial you do not get discouraged in the course of the game. Not only are results being measured and recorded but also behavioural points on your progression and reaction to failure within the game are being recorded too.
These may not mimic exactly EY games but will teach you proper behaviours
Before the test:
Focus on your speed and accuracy.
During the test:
5. Analyse a number of different strategies. Write down to keep track of strategies you want to implement
6. Do not get stuck on trying to find the solution that is only slightly better but that will take you much more time to think of.
Time matters.
7. Do not close the browser thinking that the game will restart – the timer is on and you will not pass
In EY Job Simulation stage you will be examined for your work style and situation-specific reactions and competencies. This test will use real work-based scenarios to test if your individual strengths reflect what EY are looking for in their candidates.
EY Job Simulation stage will require you to take the Situational Judgement Tests and Personality Questionnaire again. Plus, it will have written questions, Multiple Choice Questions as well as Video-based Questions which will mostly contain behavioural questions.
EY Job Simulation Test:
In EY Job Simulation stage you will be required to record some answers in the form of a video recording. Make sure you are sat in the quiet place and that your attire and background is appropriate and professional.
How can I prepare for the EY Job Simulation?
EY Job Simulation is very similar to the two very common online assessments: Situational Judgement Test and Work Personality Questionnaire.
Although your EY Job Simulation will be targeted for the specific industry and role you applied to, you can benefit from practicing general Situational Judgement questions to practice analysing various job scenarios and predicting your reactions.
Learn more about Situational Judgement Tests (SJT).
Feel free to practise Situational Judgement tests with us.
Furthermore, by taking a Work Personality Questionnaire you will get a good idea of what your preferred work style is and whether this meets the expectations of EY recruiters.
Feel free to take the Work Personality Questionnaire created by GF experts. It is very close to what you can expect in EY assessment. It will also be useful for majority of other large employers. They use the most common framework based on so called Big 5.
Use GF video interviews platform to practice recording of your answers. The platform provides set of questions for consultancy to answer, record, re-play, improve.
If you had made it through all the previous stages, you should have received the invitation to EY Assessment Centre also called The EY Experience Day.
The next step is the EY Assessment Center a.k.a. EY Experience Day.
EY Experience Days will take place virtually until further notice.
On the day of your virtual EY Experience you’ll take part in a number of activities. During the exercises, you’ll be required to use a webcam facility in order to interact with your assessor.
The EY Assessment Centre is designed to see if you have the strengths needed for your role at EY but it’s also a chance to see if EY is right for you.
EY Experience Day / Assessment Centre Preparation Tips:
What exercises do I have to complete at EY Experience Day?
The assessment centre at Ernst & Young is usually divided into two parts:
EY group exercise tip: remember to stay calm and focused; the HR assessors will observe your behavior throughout the assessment centre.
Stand out from the competition by following some of the assessment centre tips that our Chartered Organisational Psychologists prepared to help you with your Ernst & Young assessment centre.
You will be given details of a company and relevant materials relating to the decision they are considering.
In just under 40 minutes, you need to fully comprehend the specific business situation that the company is facing, analyse relevant information, and prepare recommendations in the form of a written document or presentation. You will be able to use Microsoft Word to write up your findings.
You will also be asked to prepare a plan to manage the team, which will include: the work schedule, individual tasks, contingency plans and progress checks.
EY Case Study Tip: You need to work through the examples quickly and be confident about your decisions. You will have no time to go back and start from scratch, so just stick with what you are doing and try to be very precise when forming your arguments.
As a basis you may use GF Assessment Centre case studies. Then move to more complex business cases. Look for various consulting studies online (YT included). There are a number of resources that help in cracking the ways to approach a business problem.
When you get to the EY Final Job Interview stage, you will have an interview with two senior members of the Ernst & Young where they’ll ask questions back-to-back.
Do not mess up here. Not many get there. Prep is key.
This is an opportunity for you to show your interest and the potential skills that make you suitable for the particular role that you applied to.
This EY final interview is a mixture of motivational questions and competency based questions (CBI). Most questions at this stage are behavioural, but most importantly they will want to discuss the role and for you to ask them questions. At this stage the interviewee has to lead the conversation.
The EY final interview is focused around your CV and personal motivations.
This is how you should prep for the EY final job interview:
Use your school, uni, sports life, etc. Prepare examples in STAR format. Take notes of key points. Practise answers either using a video interview platform (e.g. GF’s) or in front of a mirror. Our video interview platform includes questions for roles in consultancy that you may practise.
It is very likely this interview will take form of a video or telephone interview.
Be prepared to talk about your reasons to apply to EY over other competitors, as well as your personal motivations and the necessary skills and education for the particular job you apply to.
EY video interview tip: Find a quiet space where you will not be disturbed. Leave a note in sight to be reminded you about the acronym STAR – Situation, Task, Action and Result. Every time you answer the question, make sure to talk precisely about each of these points. Make sure there is a logical flow between situations you describe under S, T, A, R.
Think about the projects you have previously worked on – whether they are from your professional experiences, education, passions, sports or personal experiences.
Some examples EY interview questions:
Question: Tell me about a time you stepped up as a leader.
How to Answer: Most of us haven’t had any prior leadership experience, but saying “I don’t have any such kind of experience”, would be a little odd. Therefore, while answering this question, even if you haven’t had any kind of on-the-job experience, you can narrate an incident where you showed leadership at school, or among your younger siblings to get important work done. And if nothing of this sort is coming to mind, your main focus should be how you handle projects alone, or how would you get work done if you had subordinates to work on that project and how would you assign work that suits their skills.
Question: What can you bring to EY?
How to Answer: Through this question they basically want you to show them many reasons that make you fit for the job. Answering subtly and appropriately is important at this point. You don’t have to sound boastful or raise questions about their way of working. All you need to do is show them how you can comply with the values of EY and help it grow with the skills that you already possess and of course a lot of hard work.
Question: Why EY, and why your specific practice?
How to Answer: Focus on the image of the company while answering this question. Like you can say, “I want to join EY because of its outstanding client portfolio and its excellent work culture”. And for the practice you must have your own reasons, what quality of the field makes you so passionate about the particular field or what you want to achieve while working in the particular field.
Question: Describe a time where you were faced with a challenge in a team environment and how you approached it
How to Answer: How you handle a team and how you lift the morale of your team is very important for Ernest &Young, therefore, as the answer to this question focus on three skills that you possess, 1. Empathy 2. Compassion 3. Encouragement. It’s important for them how empathetic you are towards your team, if you understand them and if you know how to get work done being a part of the team.
Question: Tell me about a time you dealt with adversity
How to Answer: Dealing with setbacks in a career or life as a whole is an everyday scenario, but how you deal with that shortcoming, does it affect your productivity, or does it make you better and more hardworking is important for EY. At this point you should be honest to your interviewer, even if you take shortcomings hard. The important part is that you show them how these setbacks help you improve for your future projects and tasks.
Question: What haven’t I asked you that I need to know
How to Answer: Again, at this point the interviewer doesn’t want you to boast about your qualities and skills. you can tell them about a course that you started, some challenges that you face with people, your utilization of time, etc.
Most of these questions are asked, only difference is that they twist them but the situations and how you deal with them remains their first priority.
Apart from these, they might ask you technical questions relating to your field. Like, Basic accounting questions, like very basic concepts, Auditing concepts, etc.
GF Video Interview Platform with consultancy practice questions that can help you prepare:
EY competency based interview tip: Remember it is imperative that you refer to a variety of experiences from different areas of your life (professional, personal, community, etc.) so do not get stuck on one project you previously worked as an example in all of your answers. Your goal here is to present your ability to act in different circumstances. Prepare a couple of examples before the interview, and sketch them using the STAR model.
Learn more about the most common types of interview questions.
Curious to know what questions could come up in your interview? Check out GF’s proprietary tool: Question Identifier Tool (QIT). It is included within our main aptitude tests practice packages: Go Premium or Go Essential.
So, the whole Recruitment process for jobs has come to an end but don’t relax just yet. EY has got tons of opportunities for students. Let’s take a look at them one by one
EY offers career opportunities to youngsters, which provides them a chance to make their career an amazing one. These programmes not only help the students get financially independent but also help them to grow and develop as a person and become experts in their respective fields. Some of these programmes are as follows:
EY Business Academy is a one-week course during which you’ll learn to work on real projects with real clients and finish your projects with the best team of professionals. Not only this you’ll receive guidance and assistance from your senior partners. this programme is designed to give you the best work experience as well as access to many inspiring people. This programme is a great way to enter EY Business Apprenticeship.
The Application Process: The assessment process to get into the EY Business Academy can be seen below:
1. Application form: Fill in your personal details, qualifications and other relevant information.
2. Online Assessments: Consists of four immersive assessments and a Numerical Reasoning Test.
3. Telephone Interview: A conversation with a senior manager of your field that mostly lasts 20-30 minutes and consists of questions regarding your knowledge of EY.
EY Business Academy 2022 duration: 25 July 2022- 29 July 2022
To receive notifications for the opening dates of 2023 programmes, Register yourself on the company’s website.
EYs Apprenticeship Programme is a government accredited programme that allows you to spend 20% of your time in off-the-job training. This helps you to develop essential knowledge, skills and behaviours for the programme that you’ve chosen. Attending this programme gives you a professional qualification, technical, non-technical, internal learning, coaching, work shadowing, and all other experiences which will in turn help your development. You’ll be working with excellent support teams and will have access to specific apprenticeship benefits.
The Application Process:
1. Online Application
2. Online Assessments
3. Telephone Interview
4. EY Experience Day
In the EY Summer Internship programme you’ll be applying your theoretical knowledge in real life scenarios and a challenging job. You’ll be attending interactive seminars for training and development. This will help you receive training in the following areas:
1. Application
2. Online Assessment
3. Job Stimulation
EY Industrial Placement is a one-year placement for penultimate year students that gives you that gives you the opportunity to apply your university knowledge to the working world.
The areas that you can apply to for placement are:
The Assessment Process:
After the EY Job simulation stage you have to wait for at least a month to get a call for the EY FINAL interview, if that goes well, you’ll receive your offer letter within 2 weeks.
You can apply to EY once. However, if you cannot get through any of the assessment stages, you have to wait for 6 months before you apply for the second time using a new email and password.
EY received 2 million applications last year and hired 14,947 employees worldwide.
The average starting salary of EY ranges from $40000-$63000 for entry level positions in the US. For UK the average starting salary ranges from 24,633 Euros for trainee associates to 841,549 Euros per year for a Partner.
Correct answers to example questions:
Numerical Reasoning Test – D
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