SHL Assessment: All the Tests Explained (Verify G+, OPQ, MQ)

The honest answer is that "the SHL test" is not a single test. SHL is a publisher, and when an employer says they use SHL they could mean the Verify G+ cognitive test, a personality questionnaire like the OPQ, a motivation questionnaire, or several of these stacked together. Knowing which one you are facing changes everything, because the cognitive test is timed and has right answers, while the personality and motivation questionnaires have neither. This article explains each test in the suite and how to prepare for it.

Quick takeaways

• SHL is a suite, not one test. The pieces you are most likely to meet are Verify G+ (General Ability), the Verify subtests, the OPQ32 personality questionnaire, and the MQ motivation questionnaire.
• Verify G+ General Ability is a cognitive test covering numerical, inductive, and deductive reasoning. The multiple-choice version is 30 questions and the Interactive version is 24 questions, both with a 36-minute limit.
• Verify G+ is adaptive: answer correctly and the next question gets harder, answer wrong and it gets easier, which is how it measures ability efficiently.
• The cognitive result is reported as a percentile or sten against a comparison group, not as a raw pass mark.
• The OPQ32 measures 32 personality traits using a forced-choice format, and the MQ measures 18 dimensions of motivation. Neither is pass-or-fail; they produce a profile the employer compares to the role.
• You can prepare meaningfully for the cognitive test by practising timed questions; for the personality and motivation questionnaires, the right move is consistency and honesty, not gaming.

What "SHL" actually means

SHL is one of the largest assessment publishers in the world, and employers license its tests rather than buying a single product. That is why "we use SHL" is ambiguous. In practice an early-stage candidate sift usually means the Verify G+ cognitive test, sometimes followed later by the OPQ personality questionnaire and, less often, the MQ motivation questionnaire. Graduate schemes and large commercial employers across finance, consulting, and technology are the heaviest users.

The single most useful thing to establish before you sit anything is which test it is. A 36-minute timed reasoning test and a 25-minute untimed personality questionnaire demand completely different preparation, and candidates who prepare for the wrong one waste their week. The rest of this article walks each test in the suite.

The chart below frames the whole suite before we take each test in turn.

For where SHL sits against other cognitive tests, see CCAT vs SHL General Ability and SHL General Ability vs Talent-Q Elements.

Verify G+ General Ability: the cognitive test

Verify G+, also called the General Ability test, is the cognitive assessment most candidates meet first. It combines three reasoning types into one score: numerical reasoning (working with charts, tables, and figures), inductive reasoning (spotting patterns and rules), and deductive reasoning (drawing logical conclusions from stated information).

There are two versions, both with a 36-minute limit. The standard multiple-choice version has 30 questions. The newer Verify Interactive version has 24 questions and asks you to move items on the screen rather than pick from a list. Both are adaptive: the difficulty of the next question depends on how you answered the last one. A correct answer pushes the next question harder; a wrong answer makes it easier. This is why you cannot skip freely and return later the way you can on a fixed-form test, and why guessing blindly can actually steer you into easier, lower-value questions.

The adaptive design also means two candidates can see different questions and still be compared fairly, because the score reflects the difficulty of the items you handled, not just the count correct.

The Verify subtests

Outside the combined General Ability test, SHL also sells the Verify range as separate modular subtests: Verify Numerical Reasoning, Verify Verbal Reasoning, Verify Inductive Reasoning, and Verify Deductive Reasoning. An employer can send one, two, or several depending on the role: numerical and verbal for a commercial graduate scheme, inductive for a technical or analyst role, and so on.

Each subtest is timed and focuses on a single reasoning type, so they feel narrower than the combined G+. If your invitation names a specific reasoning type rather than "General Ability," you are likely sitting one of these modular subtests, and you can target your practice to exactly that skill.

Two worked Verify questions

These two show the flavour of the numerical and deductive items.

Numerical. A company's revenue was 4.0 million in Q1. It grew 25 percent in Q2, then fell 20 percent in Q3. What was Q3 revenue? Work it in two steps: Q2 is 4.0 million times 1.25, which is 5.0 million; Q3 is 5.0 million times 0.80, which is 4.0 million. The answer is 4.0 million. The trap is netting the 25 percent and 20 percent into a 5 percent rise; percentage changes compound, they do not add.

Deductive. Premises: "All premium accounts include priority support. No trial accounts are premium accounts." Proposed conclusion: "Trial accounts do not include priority support." Does it follow? It does not. The premises tell you premium accounts include priority support, but they never say only premium accounts do, so a trial account could still include priority support by some other rule. The trap is reading "premium includes priority support" as "priority support requires premium."

OPQ32: the personality questionnaire

The OPQ, in its current OPQ32 form, measures 32 dimensions of work-related personality, grouped into how you relate to people, your thinking style, and how you handle feelings and emotions. It is not timed in the pressured sense, and there are no right answers. Instead it produces a profile that an employer reads against the behaviours the role needs.

The OPQ uses a forced-choice format, often called ipsative: rather than rating each statement on its own, you choose which of several statements is most and least like you. This design makes it harder to simply tick the most flattering option for every trait, because you are constantly trading one quality off against another. The practical advice is to answer consistently and honestly: the forced-choice structure and consistency checks make a manufactured profile easy to spot, and a profile that does not match how you actually behave tends to surface within weeks of starting the job anyway.

MQ: the motivation questionnaire

The MQ, or Motivation Questionnaire, measures 18 dimensions of what drives you at work, such as recognition, autonomy, progression, and the conditions under which your motivation rises or falls. You read statements describing a situation and rate how each would affect your motivation. Like the OPQ it is a profile rather than a test with a pass mark, and employers use it to judge fit between what motivates you and what the role actually offers.

The infographic below puts the whole suite, with each test's purpose and format, in one reference image.

How the SHL cognitive test is scored

The Verify G+ result is not a raw mark out of 30. Because the test is adaptive, your score reflects the difficulty of the questions you answered correctly, and it is reported as a percentile or a sten score against a comparison group. A percentile of 70 means you outperformed 70 percent of that group. Many employers set a cutoff at a percentile band rather than a fixed number of correct answers, and the band is set per role.

There is no universal pass mark, so the same performance can clear one employer and miss another. As a rough guide, competitive graduate and commercial roles often screen around the 50th to 70th percentile, while the most selective employers set the bar higher. For cross-test benchmarks, see the cognitive-score guide linked below.

The OPQ and MQ are scored differently again: they are not graded as right or wrong but mapped to a profile, which a trained reader or the employer's own model compares against the role's requirements.

How to prepare for each

For Verify G+ and the Verify subtests, preparation works, and it works through timed practice. Drill numerical reasoning with charts and percentages, and practise inductive and deductive items until the pattern is fast, all under the clock, because the 36-minute limit and the adaptive format punish hesitation. Practising untimed teaches you the question types but not the pace, and pace is most of the test.

For the OPQ and MQ there is nothing to revise, but there is something to do: read the role and the company values first, then answer consistently and honestly. The goal is not to guess the "right" personality; it is to present an accurate, internally consistent profile so that you are matched to a role you will actually fit. For timed cognitive practice in the SHL style, work through our SHL General Ability practice. To see exactly what each reasoning section rewards, work through SHL practice tests with free walkthroughs by section.

FAQ

Is the SHL test one test or several?

Several. SHL is a publisher, and "the SHL test" usually means the Verify G+ cognitive test, but it can also mean the Verify subtests, the OPQ32 personality questionnaire, or the MQ motivation questionnaire. Establish which one you are sitting before you prepare.

How long is the SHL Verify G+ test?

Both versions have a 36-minute limit. The multiple-choice version has 30 questions and the Interactive version has 24 questions. The test is adaptive, so question difficulty changes with your performance.

What does the SHL Verify G+ test cover?

Numerical reasoning, inductive reasoning, and deductive reasoning, combined into a single General Ability score. The modular Verify subtests cover those reasoning types individually.

How is the SHL cognitive test scored?

As a percentile or sten against a comparison group, not as a raw mark, because the test is adaptive. There is no universal pass mark; the cutoff is set per role, and competitive roles often screen around the 50th to 70th percentile or higher.

What is the difference between the OPQ and the MQ?

The OPQ32 measures 32 dimensions of work personality using a forced-choice format. The MQ measures 18 dimensions of motivation using a rating scale. Both produce a profile rather than a pass-or-fail score.

Can you fail the OPQ personality questionnaire?

There is no pass or fail. The OPQ produces a profile the employer compares against the role. You can still be screened out if your profile sits far from what the role needs, which is why answering consistently and honestly matters more than trying to look ideal.

Is the SHL Verify G+ test adaptive?

Yes. A correct answer makes the next question harder and a wrong answer makes it easier, so the test measures your ability efficiently and lets it compare candidates who saw different questions.

Can you retake an SHL test?

Retake policy is set by the employer, not SHL. Some allow a retake after a waiting period; many do not allow one within the same application. Because Verify draws from an item bank, a retake usually presents different questions.

Related on PrepClubs

• Pillar. SHL Verify G+ General Ability overview and prep. The full pillar page with format, scoring, and prep paths.
• Deep practice. Full SHL General Ability practice. $39 one time. Pass Guarantee. Timed adaptive-style practice with worked explanations.
• Compare. CCAT vs SHL General Ability. How the two cognitive tests differ in format and difficulty.
• Compare. SHL General Ability vs Talent-Q Elements. The two adaptive cognitive tests head to head.
• Guide. What is a good cognitive test score: per-test benchmarks. Cross-test benchmarks including SHL, CCAT, Wonderlic, and Watson-Glaser.

Practice on PrepClubs

Full-length SHL General Ability practice in the real adaptive style.

The SHL cognitive test rewards pace under pressure, and pace only improves with the clock running. Our SHL General Ability practice runs numerical, inductive, and deductive items at the real timing, with worked explanations for every question so you learn the method, not just the answer. $39 one time. Pass Guarantee.

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