Updated April 2026 · 12 min read · UK gamified assessment provider
| Provider | Arctic Shores Ltd |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Manchester, United Kingdom |
| Format | Gamified behavioural and cognitive assessments |
| Duration | 20-35 minutes per assessment |
| Used by | Deloitte (some offices), PwC (legacy), HSBC, Accenture, BAE Systems, Ocado, RBS |
| Defining feature | Behavioural traits inferred from gameplay rather than self-report |
Arctic Shores builds neuroscience-based games that measure cognitive ability and behavioural traits without asking direct questions. Where traditional tests ask "do you take risks at work?", Arctic Shores puts you in a game where you can choose risky or safe paths and measures what you actually do. Employers like this format because it's harder to game and reduces socially-desirable answering bias.
The trade-off for candidates: it's also harder to prepare for. There are no obvious "right answers." But the games measure specific traits that align with role profiles, and once you understand what each game measures, you can make conscious choices that align with your target role.
Arctic Shores' flagship general assessment. ~30 minutes. You play a space cadet completing missions. Six mini-games inside Cosmic Cadet measure different traits: risk tolerance, attention to detail, learning agility, resilience, social orientation, and emotional recognition. Used by Deloitte, PwC (legacy), and Capgemini for general graduate screening.
Combines basic numerical reasoning (~15 minutes) with behavioural mini-games. You allocate energy resources across a city while answering quick maths puzzles. Tests numerical fluency and decision-making under simultaneous task load. Used in roles requiring quantitative judgement.
The dedicated numerical assessment. Quick arithmetic, percentage and ratio puzzles, data interpretation in game form. ~20 minutes. Used as a numerical-specific module bolted onto Cosmic Cadet for finance and analytics roles.
You build a city while facing setbacks (storms, supply chain failures). Measures persistence, recovery from failure, and adaptability. Used for roles in operations, project management, and sales.
| Trait | How the game measures it |
|---|---|
| Risk tolerance | Choices between safe and risky paths in a mission |
| Attention to detail | Spotting differences in rapid sequences |
| Learning agility | Speed of rule discovery in puzzles where rules change |
| Resilience | Performance after deliberately introduced failures |
| Social orientation | Cooperative vs competitive choices in mini-games |
| Emotion recognition | Identifying facial expressions in NPCs |
| Working memory | Sequential pattern recall |
| Processing speed | Reaction time in time-limited tasks |
Deloitte uses Arctic Shores Cosmic Cadet for some early-careers programmes (especially in the UK and parts of EMEA), although the immersive Cappfinity assessment is more common. PwC previously used Arctic Shores ("Career Unlock") but moved to SHL in 2025. HSBC uses Arctic Shores for analyst roles. Accenture, Capgemini, BAE Systems, Ocado Group, and RBS all use Arctic Shores in various pipelines. Always confirm via your invitation email which assessment you're facing.
Sort of. The games don't have correct answers in the maths-test sense, but employers configure trait targets based on the role. A graduate consulting role might value high learning agility, moderate risk tolerance, and high social orientation. A trading or commercial role might value high risk tolerance and high resilience. An audit role might value high attention to detail and low risk tolerance.
You won't know the exact targets, but you can infer from the role description. If the job emphasises "fast-paced, ambiguous environments," lean into risk tolerance and learning agility. If it emphasises "precision and quality," lean into attention to detail and lower risk tolerance.
Take the official practice round. Arctic Shores provides a free 5-minute trial that demonstrates the game mechanics. Use it to get past the "what is this?" phase before the real test.
Match traits to role. Read the role description and identify the 2-3 most-emphasised traits. Lean into those during gameplay. Don't fake what you don't have, but if you genuinely have multiple modes, choose the mode that fits.
Stay consistent. The system flags candidates whose answers contradict each other (e.g., risk-seeking in one game, risk-averse in another). Pick a coherent persona and play it.
Treat it like a real test environment. Quiet room, no interruptions, full battery, stable connection. The games measure reaction time and consistency — being interrupted skews results.
Arctic Shores is primarily behavioural and game-based, so the cognitive engine of TestSolve is most relevant for the embedded numerical mini-games (Energy Sparks, Numerical Nexus). For these, F8 capture works the same as on standard tests — TestSolve identifies the puzzle type and delivers the answer in 4-6 seconds. For the pure behavioural games (risk choices, emotional recognition), TestSolve does not provide answers because there are no objective correct responses. Read our SJT and behavioural assessment guide for those sections.
Related guides: SHL test guide, Cappfinity immersive assessment, Deloitte assessment.
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Try a free solve Buy question packagesNumerical reasoning on Arctic Shores tests is almost always table-based: two or three small tables of financial, sales, or operational data, followed by a question that requires a multi-step calculation and a unit conversion.
Q. A retail chain sells three product lines. Units sold last quarter were 660 (Line A), 1,140 (Line B) and 310 (Line C). Average selling price was £1.00, £1.00 and £1.00 respectively. Total revenue to the nearest £ was:
A) £1,780 B) £1,950 C) £2,048 D) £2,110
A. Sum the units: 660 + 1,140 + 310 = 2,110. Answer: D.
The actual Arctic Shores question adds distractors: prices in pence rather than pounds, mixed currencies, unit ambiguity (per pack vs per item). Candidates who rush the unit check pick C or B despite nailing the arithmetic.
Standard Arctic Shores Verify numerical assessments give 18 questions in 18 minutes — about 60 seconds per question. That sounds generous but each question has 3–5 numbers to read, a calculation (often multi-step), and a unit conversion.
If you're past 75 seconds and still unsure, flag and move on — you can't recover four lost minutes from one stubborn question.