AstraZeneca early talent
The AstraZeneca SHL online assessment: what applicants report
AstraZeneca uses an online assessment early in its graduate, placement and apprenticeship recruitment. It says very little about that assessment in public, so most of what follows comes from applicants. Each point says who reported it and for which year, and where the reports stop, this page says so.
Last updated · with applicants' reports from the 2025 and 2026 cycles
Read this first. This site covers the reasoning part of the online assessment: numerical, deductive and inductive reasoning. Applicants also report a behavioural part, which this site does not cover. What you are sent depends on your programme and the year, and your invitation is the only document that describes your own assessment.
What AstraZeneca itself says
- Graduate programmes. The Engineering graduate programme page says candidates may be asked to complete an online assessment, and that shortlisted candidates are then invited to an interview day. The other graduate pages we read give no detail about selection.
- Apprenticeships. AstraZeneca's published apprenticeship process says applicants are invited to complete two assessments, a general ability assessment and a situational judgement test, and that everyone who completes them receives a personalised report with feedback.
- Other stages. The careers FAQ says that for certain positions, particularly graduate roles, candidates may be invited to a game-based assessment, a video or telephone interview, an assessment day, or a combination. No applicant in the 2025 or 2026 graduate threads we read mentions games.
- Timing. For early-talent programmes, AstraZeneca says an update on your application can take four to eight weeks from the closing date.
- AI. AstraZeneca's guidance for candidates treats using AI to prepare as responsible use, and lists generating answers in real time during an assessment as misuse.
AstraZeneca does not name its test provider on any of these pages, and does not publish the number of questions or the time allowed.
What applicants call it
Applicants call the reasoning part of the online assessment G+, and some invitations describe a general ability test. SHL Verify Interactive G+ is SHL's interactive general ability test. It scores three abilities, numerical, deductive and inductive reasoning, and those are the three grades AstraZeneca applicants reported in earlier cycles.
What applicants report about the test
From threads on The Student Room and Reddit for the 2025 and 2026 graduate intakes, industrial placements, internships and apprenticeships, read in full:
- Provider
- SHL
- Reasoning types
- Three
- Format
- Interactive
- Going back
- Not possible
- Three reasoning types. In the 2025 cycle applicants received a letter grade for each of three abilities. One applicant listed them by name: deductive, inductive and numerical. Applicants in 2023 reported the same three. SHL describes its interactive general ability test as scoring exactly those three. No applicant reports a verbal reasoning grade.
- Interactive questions. In the 2026 cycle one applicant was asked directly and answered that it was interactive. Another, who had just sat the assessment, advised practising SHL's interactive numerical, deductive and inductive tests. Applicants in 2023 described the same.
- No going back. An applicant in the 2025 cycle reported that once you move on from a question you cannot return to it.
- Time pressure. One applicant only had time to answer about two thirds of the questions. Applicants single out the calendar and timetable questions as the hardest to finish in time.
- A behavioural part. In the 2026 cycle applicants describe choosing two of three statements about themselves, with no time limit, in the same assessment. In earlier cycles it was a situational judgement test, taken as a separate section and reported as low, medium or high. This site does not cover either.
- The invitation. It arrives by email, usually within a week of applying, and applicants believe it goes to everyone who applies. A placement applicant was given four days to complete it.
- Results. In the 2025 cycle a report with the grades arrived by email soon after the test. In the 2026 graduate thread nobody received one, although one applicant elsewhere reported receiving grades in early 2026.
The 2026 cycle looked different from 2025
Up to the 2025 cycle, graduate applicants describe a reasoning test followed by a separate situational judgement test, and a report of three letter grades soon afterwards. In the 2026 cycle the behavioural part sat in the same assessment as the reasoning part, and applicants in the graduate thread received no report. What is consistent across every year is the kind of reasoning question, which is what this site practises.
The behavioural part, and why we sell no practice for it
Applicants describe the behavioural part as choosing the statements that sound most like them, and say there is little to prepare. AstraZeneca's apprenticeship process names a situational judgement test, and earlier graduate cycles reported one too. Both kinds ask how you work and what you would do, and neither has a method you can drill the way you can drill a timetable question.
AstraZeneca publishes five values: We follow the science. We put patients first. We play to win. We do the right thing. We are entrepreneurial. It says they determine how its people work together. Read them on AstraZeneca's own site, think about how you work, and answer honestly and consistently. AstraZeneca does not say how the behavioural part is scored, and we will not guess.
How much the score matters
One applicant with grades of C, C and B asked AstraZeneca a question by email and reported a reply saying their results were above the threshold for all its programmes. So a threshold exists, and its level is unknown. In the same cycle several applicants with three A grades reported being rejected before the assessment centre, and an applicant with three C grades was invited to one. Applicants describe a decision that weighs the whole application. A strong result keeps you in the running, and the rest of your application has to do the remaining work.
What happens after the assessment
For the UK R&D graduate programmes in the 2026 cycle, applicants reported a HireVue step that turned out to be a form about availability and right to work, with no video, followed by a virtual assessment centre in March. We have no equivalent report for other countries. In the 2025 cycle the R&D assessment centres ran on 4, 5 and 6 March, and invitations and rejections arrived from late February.
When applications open
| Programme | What is known | Source |
|---|---|---|
| R&D graduate programmes (bioscience, chemistry, data science and AI) | Opened in early December 2025 and closed on 4 January 2026, for the 2026 intake | Applicants |
| Biometrics graduate programme | Opens from November 2026 | AstraZeneca |
| Industrial placements (pharmaceutical technology and development, operations) | Opened on 4 September 2026, for placements starting in September 2027 | AstraZeneca |
| UK internships | Applications open in January | AstraZeneca |
| UK apprenticeships | 2027 dates to be announced later in 2026 | AstraZeneca |
As of 30 September 2026, AstraZeneca has not published opening dates for the 2027 intake of its R&D, data science, operations or engineering graduate programmes. If the last two years repeat, the R&D programmes open in early December. Check AstraZeneca's early talent page for the date that applies to you.
What nobody can tell you reliably
- Which SHL product AstraZeneca uses. It names none on its own pages.
- Whether every programme and country is sent the same assessment.
- Where the threshold sits.
- How the behavioural part is scored.
- Whether the United States runs the same test. Applicants in Sweden reported the same grades as UK applicants in the 2025 cycle. We found no recent report from a US applicant about the online test.
How this site helps
We cannot give you the real questions, and we would not trust anyone who claimed to. What we give you is the format: five full-length tests of 24 questions on a 36-minute clock, forward-only, with every question interactive, across numerical, deductive and inductive reasoning. That length and pace, ninety seconds a question, follow the figures SHL publishes for SHL Verify Interactive G+. Every question carries a worked explanation, so a wrong answer becomes a method you can repeat.
The first test is free, timed, and needs no payment details. Sit it before you decide whether the rest is worth anything to you.
Guides
- The AstraZeneca situational judgement test: why we sell no practice for it
- Is the AstraZeneca SHL test interactive? What applicants describe
Common questions
Is the AstraZeneca online assessment an SHL test?
Applicants say so. In the graduate threads for the 2025 and 2026 intakes, and in the placement, internship and apprenticeship threads, applicants call it the SHL test or the SHL assessment, and one applicant relayed an email from AstraZeneca that used the words SHL test. AstraZeneca's own careers pages do not name a provider.
Is it the SHL Verify Interactive G+?
Applicants call the reasoning part G+. SHL Verify Interactive G+ is SHL's interactive general ability test, scoring numerical, deductive and inductive reasoning, and those are the three grades AstraZeneca applicants reported in earlier cycles. AstraZeneca does not name the product it uses.
Is it interactive?
Applicants in the 2026 cycle described the reasoning questions as interactive, the format of SHL Verify Interactive G+. Current graduates on AstraZeneca's graduate programmes have looked through our free test and confirmed it matches the assessment they sat, in format and in difficulty. One of them put it simply: it “looks pretty identical”. SHL shows you practice questions before the timed part, in the same format as the real ones.
How long is it, and how many questions?
AstraZeneca does not say. SHL publishes 24 questions in 36 minutes for SHL Verify Interactive G+, its interactive general ability test, and that is the length of every full test here. Your invitation states the time you will be given.
What score do I need?
Nobody outside the process knows. One applicant reported being told by AstraZeneca that their results were above the threshold for its programmes, so a threshold exists. Applicants with three A grades also reported being rejected before the assessment centre, so clearing the threshold is one part of the decision.
Can I practise the situational judgement or personality part?
We sell no practice for it. Applicants describe choosing the statements most like them, with no time limit, and say there is little to prepare. AstraZeneca publishes its five values, and reading them is the useful preparation. The reasoning part is the one that rewards practice.
Can I practise the real questions?
No, and you should be wary of anyone claiming otherwise. Nobody outside the process has the live questions. What you can practise is the kinds of interactive question applicants describe, under time pressure, which is the part that transfers.
The sources for this page were read on 27 and 30 September 2026: AstraZeneca's own pages, SHL's published fact sheets, and applicant threads on The Student Room and Reddit. Applicant reports are personal accounts and may be incomplete. If you sat the assessment and something here is wrong, please tell us at support@astrazenecashlprep.com. AstraZeneca SHL Prep is not affiliated with AstraZeneca PLC, any company in the AstraZeneca group, or SHL Group.