Aptitude
Free Cognitive Ability Test (Practice)
A cognitive ability test mixes numerical, verbal, and logical questions to check how quickly and accurately you reason across different kinds of problem. This practice set blends short calculations, careful-reading judgements, and pattern puzzles the way a real cognitive test does. Every question has a single correct answer, and each explanation shows the working step by step.
About 12 minutes
Take the practice test
This runs exactly like the SkillCort candidate experience — a clean, fair assessment with no instant feedback. Answer every question, submit, then get a proportional score and a transparent rationale for each one. Everything below is here to help you prepare.
Aptitude · about 12 minutes
You'll take it exactly as a candidate would — answer, submit, then see your results. There's no instant feedback along the way, just like a real assessment.
What it measures
- Numerical reasoning: quick, accurate work with percentages, ratios, and rates.
- Verbal reasoning: drawing sound conclusions strictly from a short passage.
- Logical reasoning: spotting the rule behind a sequence or set.
- Switching cleanly between question types without losing accuracy.
- Careful reasoning under mild time pressure, without jumping to the first guess.
How to prepare
- Read what is actually asked before calculating or concluding — question types switch quickly.
- For numbers, estimate first so a rough answer can catch a slip in the exact one.
- For verbal items, reason only from the passage, never from outside knowledge.
- For sequences, check the differences or the ratio between terms before guessing.
- Do not linger — if one item is slow, note your best answer and keep the pace up.
Sample questions
Worked examples with a full explanation — read these before, or after, the interactive quiz above.
Numerical: A software plan costs £50 per month. A new customer gets 20% off for the first month. What do they pay in that first month?
20% of £50 = 0.20 × 50 = £10. The discounted price is £50 − £10 = £40. So the first month costs £40. (Quick check: 10% of £50 is £5, so 20% is £10.)
Logical: What number comes next in the sequence 5, 10, 20, 40, ... ?
Each term is doubled to get the next: 5 → 10 → 20 → 40. Doubling 40 gives 80. The rule is a constant ratio of ×2, so the next number is 80. (The gaps 5, 10, 20 are not constant, but the ratio is.)
Verbal: Passage — 'All the interns attended the Friday briefing. Some people at the briefing were not interns.' Statement — 'Everyone at the briefing was an intern.' True, False, or Cannot Say?
False. The passage states directly that some people at the briefing were not interns, which contradicts the claim that everyone there was an intern. Because the passage contradicts the statement, the answer is False — not Cannot Say.
Frequently asked questions
- Is this cognitive ability test free?
- Yes. The mixed questions, worked answers, and sample questions are all free, with no sign-up required.
- What does a cognitive ability test measure?
- It measures general reasoning across several types of problem at once — usually numerical, verbal, and logical — and how accurately you switch between them under mild time pressure. It is a broad signal of how quickly someone learns and reasons, rather than knowledge of a specific subject.
- How is a cognitive ability test different from a single aptitude test?
- A single aptitude test focuses on one skill — numerical, verbal, or logical — whereas a cognitive ability test mixes them in one sitting. The individual questions are similar; the difference is the breadth and the need to move cleanly between question types.
- What is a good score on a cognitive ability test?
- There is no universal pass mark — employers set their own thresholds for the role. For practice, focus on understanding every question you get wrong using the worked explanation; accuracy across all three question types matters more than a single number.
- Can I use a calculator?
- In real assessments the rules vary — some allow one, some do not. For this practice, feel free to use a calculator; the worked explanations also show the mental-maths shortcuts so you can build speed without relying on it.
- Do employers see my practice result?
- No. This is private practice. Your answers are not stored against your name and are not shared with any employer.
For hiring teams
From practice to a defensible decision
A cognitive ability signal tells hiring teams how quickly someone reasons across unfamiliar problems — useful, but only ever one input. In SkillCort, teams pair this signal with a real work sample so a score is backed by evidence of how the person applies their reasoning to the actual job, scored against a role rubric with a clear audit trail and human review, AI supporting the summary rather than making the call.