Updated September 2026 · 10 min read · British multinational oil and gas company
Buried in bp's early careers terms is a restriction that is unusually strict and that a surprising number of candidates discover too late: you can apply to one bp early careers opportunity globally per academic year.
Not one per country. Not one per business area. One. Later applications are withdrawn. And if you are unsuccessful, you wait until the following academic year to try again.
This changes how you should approach everything that follows. It means the choice of which programme to apply to is itself a decision worth days of research, not minutes. It means you cannot hedge across Engineering and Business and see which lands. And it means that when the online assessments arrive, you have one attempt at the only application you get this cycle.
Balanced against that, bp does something few large employers do, and it is worth knowing before you pay anyone for practice material: bp provides its own practice tests for every assessment type before you sit the real thing. Its early careers FAQ states plainly that "before starting your online assessments, you'll have the opportunity to complete practice tests for each assessment type."
bp publishes five graduate stages on its careers site, in its own words:
Before you reach step 1, a candidate matching tool gates which roles you can see, confirming eligibility criteria including a minimum GPA of 3.0 in some markets. Applications for the next cycle open on 14 October 2026.
Graduate programmes run across five families — Business, Digital, Engineering, Science, and Supply Trading & Shipping — covering business areas including Applied Science, Commercial, Communications, Engineering, Finance, HR, HSSE, Procurement, Subsurface, Technology and Wells Engineering, and advertised across 25 countries.
For experienced hires, bp publishes a shorter three-step process:
Note the conditional in step 1. Psychometric testing at experienced-hire level is role-dependent, not universal, and bp explicitly declines to give a turnaround time because vacancies fill on a rolling basis.
bp is one of the more reticent large employers about its own instruments. Its careers pages confirm that "online assessments" exist, plural, and that practice versions precede them. They do not name test types, durations or providers.
Third-party sources converge on a battery covering verbal reasoning, numerical reasoning and diagrammatic or inductive reasoning, with some adding a situational judgement questionnaire. Candidate reports for Supply Trading & Shipping additionally describe personality testing. None of that is confirmed by bp.
The timing figures that circulate — roughly 45 seconds per verbal item, under a minute per numerical item — come from prep sites, not from bp. Do not calibrate your practice to them as though they were official.
The on-demand video interview is competency and behaviour focused. One candidate described the question set as covering "new energy, 'Why' questions, personal development need, teamwork, adapt to change and overcome obstacles." Another noted having "2 chances to record the video," though retake allowances appear to vary.
The technical interview is conducted by people from the department you applied to, and covers technical knowledge, understanding of the role, problem-solving, and expansion on your CV.
Online assessments — provider not confirmed by bp. Two competing attributions exist and they contradict each other.
The better-supported one is Saville Assessment. Multiple third-party sources attribute bp's aptitude tests to Saville, and a candidate on Glassdoor in April 2026, applying to a graduate programme in Kuala Lumpur, described a Saville-branded initial screen containing "a memory puzzle, basic mathematical calculations and pattern recognition in the form of shapes and number patterns." That is a candidate seeing the vendor's branding, which is stronger evidence than a prep site asserting it — but bp itself names no vendor, and no Saville case study naming bp was found.
The competing attribution is Aon, via a single third-party reference to a bp "Switch Challenge." Aon's switchChallenge is a real product, but it is publicly associated chiefly with other employers, and no Aon customer page names bp. Treat this as an unresolved conflict rather than a fact.
On-demand video interview — HireVue, confirmed by bp. This is the strongest provider confirmation available for bp: its own early careers FAQ directs candidates to "visit the HireVue hints and tips page to help you prepare." No inference required.
Technical interview and assessment centre — conducted by bp staff. No vendor involved.
Not verified for bp at any stage: SHL, Cappfinity, Arctic Shores, Sova, Talent Q, Pymetrics, Korn Ferry, Thomas International, Test Partnership. No in-house named instrument was found.
The differences at bp are unusually concrete, because they show up in published salary and deadline data as well as in process.
Supply Trading & Shipping is the outlier. bp's own job descriptions state that "some opportunities, such as those in Supply, trading & shipping may be subject to additional testing to determine eligibility." STS also pays materially more than the other families — third-party 2026 listings put STS at £48,000–£50,000 plus a £5,000 sign-on bonus, against Business at £37,100 plus £3,000 and Digital at £39,100 plus £3,000.
Deadlines differ by family within the same cycle. In the 2026 cycle, Digital closed in December 2025 while Business and STS closed in February 2026, all for the same September 2026 start. Given the one-application rule, missing a family's deadline effectively removes it from your options for the year.
The assessment-centre name is not consistent. Job advertisements for the Business and Digital families use the phrase "Exploration Days are a key part of the assessment process and will be in person." The Supply Trading & Shipping listing uses "Assessment Centres" instead, and bp's own careers site uses only "assessment centre." Exploration Day appears to be a business-area label rather than a group-wide brand — worth knowing so that an unfamiliar term in your invitation does not throw you.
Regional gates vary. A minimum GPA of 3.0 surfaces through the candidate matching tool in some markets, and some US early-engagement programmes require 3.3. bp also runs country-specific early-engagement routes — scholarships in Australia and Azerbaijan, Discovery Weeks in Azerbaijan and Singapore, the bp Bridge Programme in the US, and Future Leaders streams in the UK. Completing certain of these gives, in bp's words, "a fast-track to technical interview for any of our internship opportunities the following year."
bp confirms that online assessments exist and provides its own practice tests, but publishes no sample items. What follows are original practice questions matching the formats third-party sources and candidates describe. They are not bp questions.
Numerical reasoning practice.
A refinery processed 4.2 million barrels in Q1 and 3.9 million barrels in Q2. Operating cost was £6.40 per barrel in Q1 and £6.95 per barrel in Q2.
By approximately what percentage did total operating cost change between Q1 and Q2? (a) It fell by about 2% (b) It rose by about 1% (c) It rose by about 8% (d) It fell by about 7%
The trap here is the one most numerical assessments set: volume fell and unit cost rose, so the direction of the total is not obvious without doing the multiplication. Candidates who pattern-match on "volume down" get it wrong.
Diagrammatic and inductive reasoning practice.
A sequence of tiles each contains a shape, a shading pattern and a small marker. Across the sequence the shape rotates 90 degrees clockwise each step, the shading alternates between solid and hatched, and the marker moves one corner anticlockwise every second step.
Describe the fourth tile.
Inductive reasoning items are almost always multiple simultaneous rules operating at different frequencies. The skill is isolating each rule independently rather than trying to see the whole pattern at once.
Situational judgement practice.
You are a graduate on a site rotation. During a routine check you notice a colleague has skipped a documented verification step to save time. The step has been skipped before without incident, and your supervisor is off site until tomorrow.
Rank these responses from most to least effective:
Energy-sector SJTs weight safety and process integrity heavily, and reporting routes matter as much as good intentions.
Video interview practice.
Record an answer, 2 minutes long, to: Tell us about a time you had to change your approach because new information contradicted your original plan. Then watch it back and check whether you named what the new information was, what you changed, and what resulted.
Candidate accounts of bp's process are notable for describing it as long but well-run.
On Glassdoor in April 2026, a graduate candidate in Kuala Lumpur described the initial Saville-branded screen as containing "a memory puzzle, basic mathematical calculations and pattern recognition in the form of shapes and number patterns" — the most specific published account of what bp's online stage actually contains.
A Shipping & Trading graduate candidate described the situational judgement components as "generic cross firms," found the numerical and verbal sections "challenging," and characterised the overall process as "lengthy and thorough," taking around 5 weeks. Another candidate for the same programme reported an ethics scenario in the assessment centre — "A client offers you a gift, this is against company policy to accept, what would you do?" — and noted that the case study was released the day before the centre with a Q&A session following.
On Glassdoor in December 2022, a graduate candidate in Singapore described a scenario-based presentation and singled out the interviewer conduct: they "provided great feedback as well. This makes the process more welcoming and comfortable."
Glassdoor's aggregate figures put bp's graduate process at around 29 days from application to decision, rising to about 35 days for Shipping & Trading — considerably faster than many comparable graduate schemes.
After the online assessments, bp does not publish scores, bands or pass marks to candidates.
After the video interview, successful candidates move to a technical interview with the relevant department.
After the technical interview, the assessment centre — or Exploration Day, depending on business area — is in person. Third-party accounts describe a group discussion in fours on business cases such as site selection or technology choice, a brief-based presentation of roughly 10 to 15 minutes with options analysis and follow-up questions, and an unusual exercise called a "reflective review": an informal discussion in which you assess your own performance, explicitly measuring self-reflection. Stated competencies across the centre are leadership, teamwork, decision-making and self-reflection.
The reflective review is worth preparing for specifically, because most candidates are not expecting to be scored on their own account of how they did. Practise giving an honest, specific self-assessment that identifies a genuine weakness without collapsing into self-criticism.
After the assessment centre, unsuccessful candidates fall under the one-application-per-academic-year rule and must wait for the next cycle.
Choose your programme like it is the only one, because it is. One application globally per academic year. Research the five families, check the deadlines — they differ — and decide before you start filling anything in.
Use bp's own practice tests. They are provided free before each assessment type. This is the closest thing to seeing the real format that exists, and it costs nothing.
Prepare for the video interview using HireVue's own guidance. bp points you there directly. Practise to camera, keep answers structured, and check your lighting and audio before the session rather than during it.
Build numerical fluency around percentage change and unit economics. Energy-sector numerical items lean heavily on volumes multiplied by unit costs, and on percentage change across two periods where both variables move.
Prepare a genuine safety-and-ethics position. Both the SJT stage and the assessment centre surface ethics scenarios, and bp's sector makes process integrity a live competency rather than a box-tick.
Prepare your reflective review. Have a specific, honest read on your own performance ready — what you did well, what you would do differently, and why.
Know the strategic context. bp reset its strategy in February 2025, cutting renewables spending and pivoting back towards oil and gas, and its graduate business-area list now includes Subsurface, Wells Engineering and Applied Science with no renewables-specific programme family. If you are asked why bp, an answer built on its energy-transition positioning will sound several years out of date.
One early careers opportunity globally per academic year. Later applications are withdrawn, and unsuccessful candidates must wait until the following academic year.
Yes. bp's early careers FAQ states that before starting your online assessments you will have the opportunity to complete practice tests for each assessment type.
bp names none. Saville is the better-supported attribution, including a candidate report from April 2026 describing a Saville-branded screen, but a competing third-party source attributes a "Switch Challenge" to Aon. The conflict is unresolved.
Yes, for the on-demand video interview. bp's own FAQ directs candidates to HireVue's hints and tips page to prepare — the one provider bp confirms itself.
It is the in-person assessment centre, under a label used in Business and Digital job advertisements. Supply Trading & Shipping listings and bp's own careers site use "assessment centre" instead, so the term is business-area specific rather than group-wide.
An informal assessment-centre discussion in which you assess your own performance. Self-reflection is explicitly among the competencies measured.
bp's careers site states applications open on 14 October 2026 for the next cycle. Deadlines then differ by programme family — in the 2026 cycle Digital closed in December while Business and Supply Trading & Shipping closed in February.
Only sometimes. bp's professionals process describes psychometric testing "if required for the role," alongside possible telephone or video interview and technical questioning.
Yes. bp states that STS opportunities "may be subject to additional testing to determine eligibility," and third-party listings show materially higher graduate salaries for that family than for Business or Digital.
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