PwC assessment 2026: SHL tests, video interview & assessment centre

Updated April 2026 · 14 min read · Big Four · 328,000+ employees worldwide

PwC is one of the Big Four professional services firms and receives thousands of applications each year for graduate, intern, and experienced hire roles. As of 2025, PwC has fully transitioned from its older game-based assessment (Career Unlock / Arctic Shores) to SHL-administered cognitive and behavioural tests for most graduate positions.

PwC recruitment stages

Stage 1: Online application. Personal details, education, qualifications, and motivation questions about why PwC and why the specific role. Applications are screened — a weak motivational answer can lead to rejection before you even reach the tests.

Stage 2: SHL online assessment (~30 minutes). The core screening stage. Administered via SHL TalentCentral, the assessment includes numerical reasoning, verbal reasoning, inductive/logical reasoning, and a behavioural situational judgement test. PwC's tests are activity-based, meaning you interact with questions through drag-and-drop rather than simple multiple-choice. Research shows 60-80% of candidates are rejected at this stage.

Stage 3: Video interview (~5-15 minutes). A short recorded video interview to assess motivation and soft skills. You'll answer pre-determined questions about why PwC, why your chosen service line, and competency-based scenarios. Some roles use HireVue or a similar platform with AI scoring.

Stage 4: Assessment centre / Launchpad. A collaborative case study exercise assessing communication and teamwork, followed by an interview with the team you're applying for focusing on cultural fit. Some roles also include a presentation element.

PwC SHL tests in detail

Numerical reasoning

12-18 questions in 17-25 minutes (depending on role). You'll interpret data from tables, bar charts, pie charts, and line graphs, then calculate answers involving percentages, ratios, and growth rates. A calculator is provided on-screen. The time pressure is significant — many candidates run out of time.

Verbal reasoning

True/False/Cannot Say format based on short reading passages. Tests reading comprehension and the ability to distinguish between what the passage states, what it contradicts, and what it doesn't address. The most common mistake: answering based on general knowledge rather than strictly on the passage. See our verbal reasoning framework.

Logical / inductive reasoning

Visual pattern recognition. Sequences of shapes where you identify the underlying rule and select (or construct) the next element. In PwC's interactive format, you may drag and drop elements rather than selecting from multiple choice.

Behavioural / situational judgement

Workplace scenarios where you select the most and least effective responses. PwC evaluates alignment with their Professional Framework — five core behaviours: Whole Leadership, Business Acumen, Technical Capabilities, Relationships, and Global Acumen. Ethical decision-making and collaboration score higher than individual assertiveness.

PwC's values and what they look for

In the SJT component, always consider which of these behaviours each scenario is testing. Responses that demonstrate collaboration, integrity, and client focus consistently score highest.

Role-specific variations

While the core SHL format is the same across roles, expect scenario variations by service line:

Audit & Assurance: Attention to detail, financial reasoning, ethical decision-making scenarios. Expect data-heavy numerical questions.

Consulting: Client problem-solving, teamwork dynamics, structured communication. The assessment centre case study is particularly important.

Strategy&: Advanced logic, strategic thinking, complex multi-step scenarios. The most competitive service line with the highest assessment bar.

Tax: Technical precision, regulatory awareness, detail-oriented scenarios.

Inside PwC Launchpad: what actually happens on the day

Launchpad is PwC's UK graduate and apprentice assessment centre. It's the final filter before an offer — by the time you reach Launchpad, you've already cleared the SHL tests and the video interview, and PwC has invested real money in your candidacy. The day itself runs roughly four hours (sometimes a half-day, sometimes a full day depending on service line) and is currently a hybrid of in-person and virtual formats depending on office and intake.

The four core components candidates report most consistently:

1. Written exercise (45-60 minutes). You're given a business scenario — typically a client memo, a financial summary, and a stakeholder request — and asked to produce a written response. The format varies by service line: Consulting candidates often write a recommendation memo with a structured executive summary; Audit candidates more often write a client-facing email balancing technical accuracy with diplomacy. Assessors are scoring structure (clear opening + supporting points + clear close), precision (no factual errors against the source material), and judgement (which trade-offs you chose to surface vs simplify). Drafting a one-line outline before you start writing is the single highest-impact habit — assessors can tell within the first paragraph whether the response is structured or stream-of-consciousness.

2. Group exercise (45 minutes typical). You'll join 4-6 other candidates to work through a client case together. PwC has moved toward less competitive framings in recent years — the brief usually emphasises reaching a recommendation collectively rather than "pick the winner." Assessors are looking for collaboration quality: do you build on others' contributions, do you ensure quieter voices are heard, do you challenge respectfully when you disagree. Dominating the discussion scores worse than synthesising it. The best candidates make at least one moment where they actively pull in another candidate ("I think Sarah made a point earlier we should come back to...").

3. Partner / senior manager interview (45-60 minutes). A competency interview against the PwC Professional Framework — usually 4-6 behavioural questions structured around the five core behaviours. Expect questions like "tell me about a time you worked across cultures" (Global Acumen), "describe a complex problem you broke down into manageable pieces" (Business Acumen), and "tell me about a time you had to deliver difficult feedback" (Whole Leadership). Answers are graded for both content and PwC-cultural fit. A specific story with a clean outcome and a learning will outperform a polished but generic response.

4. Strengths-based component or presentation (varies). Some service lines add a short Cappfinity-style strengths exercise or a 5-minute candidate presentation on a topic given in advance. The strengths element checks alignment between what energises you and the role's day-to-day work — there are no "right answers" but inconsistency between what you said in the video interview and what you say here is a red flag.

Realistic PwC application timeline (typical UK graduate scheme)

From candidate reports collected across recent intakes, here's how a typical PwC application maps to the calendar:

• Week 0 — Application submitted. Online form via PwC's careers portal. Acknowledgement email within 24-48 hours.
• Week 1 — Online assessment invite. The SHL test link arrives 2-5 days after the application. You typically have 5-7 days to complete it, but completing within 48 hours signals motivation. Allow 60 uninterrupted minutes for the assessment plus a 10-minute warm-up.
• Week 2 — Test result + video interview invite. If you pass the SHL, the video interview link arrives within 3-5 working days. Most candidates have a 5-7 day window to record.
• Week 3-4 — Launchpad invite. Strong video interviews are progressed within a week. PwC's calendar fills up — Launchpad slots are usually offered 1-2 weeks ahead.
• Week 5-6 — Launchpad assessment centre. The day itself (see above for breakdown).
• Week 6-7 — Outcome. PwC aims to communicate Launchpad outcomes within 5 working days. Strong candidates may receive a verbal offer faster.
• Week 7-8 — Formal offer + paperwork. Written contract typically follows the verbal offer within 5 working days.

Total: 6-8 weeks application to offer for graduate schemes; experienced-hire processes can compress to 3-4 weeks. The bottleneck is almost always the test stage (60-80% rejection) rather than later stages.