Looking for the best pre-employment tests to use? Maybe this'll help

From verbal, numerical, or inductive reasoning to personality questionnaires, skills assessments, situational judgement tests, integrity tests, emotional intelligence tests, behavioural assessments, and soooo many more - there's no shortage of names being thrown about, but how do you know what you need and what is the best?

After working with hundreds of hiring teams, we've identified the five types of pre-employment test that consistently deliver the best results across roles. While all five have their place, one type stands out for accuracy, speed, cheating resistance, and something even better - comprehensiveness.

The most effective pre-employment tests measure each candidates "cognitive ability"

Not all pre-employment tests are created equal. The most effective assessments share three critical characteristics:

You may already know this as you're seeking out the best type of employment test, but general mental ability (GMA) is shown to be the best predictor of job performance out of all the different selection tools. However, GMA (commonly called cognitive ability) cannot be directly measured, and instead must be measured indirectly using a range of specific aptitudes, such as verbal reasoning, numerical reasoning, etc. which is why the ability testing world offers these test types.

To accurately measure someone's GMA you need to use a combination of tests which will combine to give you an overall measure.

So the questions isn't quite which one test is best, but which combination of tests provide the best measure.

Luckily for you we won't be covering every test below (and for me as I'm writing this), but instead we have narrowed them all down to the five best test types and will discuss only those with final rankings at the end.

Verbal reasoning tests measure communication and critical thinking

Verbal reasoning tests measure someone's ability to understand, analyse, and work with written information. Since most workplace communication happens through written formats, this is arguably the most practical cognitive assessment available.

As a pre-employment assessment, verbal reasoning tests rank among the most powerful predictors of performance, and are a no-brainer to use in combination with other aptitude tests.

These assessments evaluate critical thinking skills by presenting passages of text followed by statements that candidates must evaluate as true, false, or cannot be determined from the information given.

The beauty of verbal reasoning tests lie in their universal applicability. Unlike technical skills (coding, excel) that vary by role, the ability to process written information clearly and think critically about it applies across virtually every professional position.

Key strengths of verbal tests:

Verbal tests are most suited to management roles, client-facing positions, analytical roles, and any job requiring clear written communication or complex decision-making.

Numerical reasoning tests measure data driven decision making

Numerical reasoning tests are designed to measure a person's ability to work with quantitative information, i.e. numbers and graphs. The tests typically present candidates with charts, graphs, and tables of data, then ask them to calculate percentages, ratios, trends, and draw conclusions.

What makes these tests particularly valuable is that they don't test mathematical ability in isolation, but rather the practical application of numerical skills to real business scenarios.

Numerical reasoning is especially important in roles which require staff to make major decisions using data or analytics, particularly in complex technical, professional, and managerial roles. If your role sounds anything like this, then you'll want to be including a numerical test as part of your candidate assessment.

Key strengths of numerical tests:

Numerical tests are essential for finance, data analysis, engineering, consulting, research roles, and any position involving budget management or performance metrics.

Inductive reasoning tests assess problem-solving without language bias

Inductive reasoning tests are designed to measure a person's ability to think logically and solve abstract problems. Candidates examine sequences of shapes, symbols, or patterns and identify the underlying rule or predict the next element.

What makes inductive reasoning tests particularly powerful is their culture-fair nature. They assess pure logical thinking ability without relying on language, cultural knowledge, or educational background. This makes them exceptionally valuable for international hiring and ensures fairness across diverse candidate pools.

These tests are particularly predictive of success in roles requiring systems thinking, adaptability to new technologies, and creative problem-solving. Research shows strong correlations between inductive reasoning scores and performance in technical roles, engineering positions, and any job requiring rapid learning of new systems or procedures.

Key strengths of inductive tests:

Logical tests are particularly useful for engineering, IT, technical roles, R&D positions, and any job requiring systems thinking or creative problem-solving.

Personality questionnaires uniquely help you understand motivation, teamwork, and cultural fit

Cognitive ability is the king when it comes to predicting job performance, however they only tell you what someone can do, not how they'll do it.

Personality questionnaires reveal the behavioural traits, work preferences, and motivational drivers that determine cultural fit and long-term success. These traits are not as predictive as cognitive ability on their own, but are an important piece of the puzzle.

It would be like hiring just Ant or Dec. You need both. They complement each other. Employees aren't robots who can endlessly apply their ability without limit - the personality side of each employee shapes how they actually show up at work, how they interact with others, and ultimately whether they stick around and thrive.

Modern workplace personality assessments measure traits like conscientiousness, resilience, teamwork orientation, and stress tolerance. These will be very valuable traits for you to know before making your hiring decisions as they massively affect job satisfaction and retention.

Key strengths of personality tests:

Personality assessments become useful in customer service, sales, leadership roles, team-based positions, and any role where cultural fit and interpersonal skills matter significantly.

MindmetriQ™ assessments provide an AI-resistant method of assessing general cognitive ability

You know how earlier I said that you need to use a combination of tests to measure overall cognitive ability? Well, these game-based assessments make that so much easier.

The problem with using a traditional numerical, verbal and logical assessment in your process is the time it takes for the candidates to complete them. Each test is usually around 15 mins, so your candidates would have to sit through nearly an hour of tests to just apply (won't somebody please think of the children!).

And remember, candidates aren't only applying to your company - if every employer is asking for an hour of testing just to get through the door, a lot of people will quietly drop out or be snapped up by those that had a quicker time-to-hire.

The MindmetriQ assessments solve three major hiring problems at once: AI cheating, lengthy testing time, and poor candidate experience.

Instead of traditional, static question formats, MindmetriQ use interactive, dynamic tasks. Candidates engage with moving elements, drag-and-drop interfaces that AI simply cannot assist with.

"But how do they measure general mental ability?" I hear you cry.

Well, each test takes only 4-6 minutes, so you can test all three core cognitive abilities of numerical, verbal and inductive in just 12-15 minutes total - faster than completing a single traditional assessment.

You might be thinking shorter tests must be less accurate, but that's not the case. Each test measures the core ability (e.g. numerical reasoning) as well as other sub facets such quantitative reasoning, working memory capacity, visual processing. This makes them more predictive of overall cognitive ability than traditional single-focus tests.

Key strengths of game-based tests:

MindmetriQ's gamified assessments are perfect for graduate schemes, early careers programmes, high-volume hiring, and any role requiring problem-solving and adaptability. Essentially, any situation where you'd consider using multiple traditional cognitive tests.

Rankings: The best pre-employment assessments

Here's how the individual test types rank based on predictive validity, practical efficiency, and candidate experience.

Test Partnership's MindmetriQ assessments ranked #1 because they eliminate the traditional trade-off between comprehensive testing and candidate completion rates. You get numerical, verbal, and inductive reasoning insights (the most complete cognitive profile possible) in just 12 minutes, with guaranteed accuracy thanks to AI-resistant design.

You need to be measuring overall cognitive ability, which means using multiple tests together

Remember, you shouldn't use just one test type on its own. The point of ability testing is to measure a candidate's overall cognitive ability. The right combination depends on what your role actually needs and how much testing time you can realistically ask candidates to complete.

Here's how different combinations stack up.

Verbal + numerical provide a classic pairing for professional roles

This is probably the most common combination, and for good reason. Together, these two tests capture the core reasoning abilities that matter most in professional environments: processing written information and working with data.

If your role involves any mix of reports, emails, presentations, budgets, or performance metrics, this pairing will tell you what you need to know. It's particularly strong for management positions, where both communication and data-driven decision-making matter equally.

Verbal + inductive are ideal for roles requiring learning agility

This combination gives you communication ability paired with pure logical reasoning. It's a strong choice when you need someone who can both articulate ideas clearly and figure out new problems without a template to follow.

The strength here is adaptability. Inductive reasoning predicts how quickly someone will pick up new systems, spot patterns, and solve problems they haven't seen before. Combined with verbal reasoning, you're identifying people who can both learn fast and explain what they've learned to others.

Numerical + inductive find the technical problem-solvers

If your role is heavily technical or systems-focused, this pairing makes sense. You're measuring quantitative reasoning alongside pure logical problem-solving ability.

This combination is particularly predictive for engineering, IT, and R&D roles where the work involves both numerical precision and creative problem-solving. It's less suited to roles where communication and stakeholder management are primary responsibilities.

Using all three tests types provides the complete cognitive picture

In an ideal world you could use all three and get a complete measure of cognitive ability. You'll capture all the benefits I listed above.

However, as I've mentioned the obvious downside is time. Let's not be asking candidates to spend nearly an hour taking assessments. That's a big commitment, and completion rates will reflect it.

MindmetriQ + personality provides the complete profile without the time penalty

This is where MindmetriQ offers you that "ideal world". You get verbal, numerical, and inductive insights in 12-15 minutes total, which is faster than completing even one traditional test. Add a personality questionnaire and you've got both cognitive and behavioural assessment done in under 30 minutes.

Because the format is interactive and AI-resistant, you're also solving the cheating problem that makes traditional tests increasingly unreliable. And completion rates sit around 94%, compared to roughly 75% for traditional multi-test batteries.

What you'll get from MindmetriQ game-based assessments paired with a personality test:

Conclusion and next steps

The most effective pre-employment testing strategy uses combinations of assessments, not individual tests in isolation. Whether you choose traditional test pairings or opt for MindmetriQ's comprehensive approach, what matters is measuring both the "can do" (cognitive ability) and the "will do" (personality and motivation).

For most hiring scenarios, MindmetriQ paired with a personality questionnaire offers the best balance of predictive accuracy, candidate experience, and practical efficiency. You get the complete cognitive and behavioural profile you need in under 30 minutes, with AI-resistant assessment and higher completion rates than traditional approaches.

So what are your next steps?

Primary author

Ben Schwencke

Chief psychologist at Test Partnership. MSc in Organisational Psychology with over ten years experience in psychometric testing.

Contributed to by:

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Joshua Hancock and Oliver Savill