PwC Game Based Assessment : PwC Career Unlocked (2024)

A List of PwC Tests Available for Practice in 2024

• PwC Test Practice
• PwC Logical & Inductive Reasoning Test
• PwC Graduate Program & School Leavers Preparation
• PwC Assessment Centre & Interview Preparation

What Is PwC Career Unlocked?

PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) is a multinational professional services network, ranking second in professional services organizations globally, and is one of the 'Big Four' accounting firms.

Alongside fellow Big Four organizations Deloitte and KPMG, PwC has embraced the growing trend of using game-based assessments as part of their recruitment process.

PwC Career Unlocked is the PwC game-based assessment of choice, developed by Arctic Shores and is available as an app for mobile devices.

PwC Career Unlocked tests your suitability for the role you have applied for by assessing your personality traits and cognitive reasoning.

Should your application to PwC be successful and you pass the PwC Career Valuation situational judgment test, you will be invited to sit the PwC Career Unlocked test.

What Is the Format of the PwC Game Based Assessment?

The PwC Career Unlocked test is designed for use on mobile devices, such as a mobile phone or tablet. It can be used on a computer, but it is recommended that you use a mobile device.

The Career Unlocked app tends to run at a delay when used on a PC, which may affect your results because reaction times are one of the elements assessed.

Equally, the app does not work on older models of mobile phones or tablets, so it may be necessary to update your current model or borrow a newer phone or tablet to take the test.

There is no overall time limit for the test but spending too long on it may count against you. The recommendation is to complete the test in 75-85 minutes. It should take at least an hour to complete.

Career Unlocked is designed to challenge you with assessments of high difficulty. As such, it is advised that you have a separate calculator to hand, as using the one on your phone/tablet will require you to go out of and back into the app, potentially breaking your concentration and definitely slowing down your answering times.

Also, have a pen and paper handy for note-taking.

The test has three sections:

• 18 numerical reasoning questions
• 20 logical reasoning questions
• Nine games to assess cognitive reasoning and personality traits

The logical reasoning questions may not always be required, depending on the role you apply for, but you will be informed of this before you begin the test.

What Does the PwC Assessment Test Include?

The PwC Career Unlocked assessment includes four types of games and additional questions:

1. Memory Game

There is one memory game in the test. In this game, you must remember in what order a series of leaflets is stamped, with the complication of an additional stamp which you must disregard.

This is one question where pen and paper are a definite must.

Improving your memory is all about practice and strategy.

One strategy that may help with the memory game is to find a pattern in the order in which the leaflets are stamped.

You may also wish to improve your memory using puzzles and online memory exercises in the run-up to taking Career Unlocked.

Here is a sample memory exercise:

Look at a random list of ten words and memorize them for 30 seconds. Try finding connections between the words, for instance, tiger and orange, or window and glass. After the 30 seconds is up, turn over the paper or close the screen and write down as many of the words as you can remember.

2. Adapting Strategy Game

There are two adapting strategy games in the test.

These questions assess how well you can adapt to a new or changing scenario or when presented with unexpected and/or new information.

The first game asks you to inflate balloons of different sizes, increasing their value as they grow bigger.

But they burst at a certain size. You must assess when the balloon has reached as high a value as it can manage without bursting and then ‘bank’ it.

The second game asks you to balance the input/output of four generators to arrive at the highest level of power possible. However, the generators may at any point begin to lose power.

Consider this sample adapting strategy scenario to feel how it can get stressful and think about dealing with such things:

You are in charge of a steam train running from station A to station B at a set speed to guarantee arrival at a specific time. The train starts and it becomes clear how much fuel is used to maintain the set speed. However, as the route proceeds, it encounters hills of varying gradients. Consider how you would balance the amount of fuel used at each point to make sure you could get up the hills while not burning up too much to fail to get to the destination at the set time.

3. Fixed Strategy Game

There is one fixed strategy game in the test.

In this game, you are a member of one of two sales teams. The aim of the game is to make as much money as possible. You must decide whether your team will sell electronic devices for $50 or$300 with no knowledge of what the other team will decide until you reveal your answer.

Here are the possible outcomes:

• Both teams choose $50. Each receives that amount.$100 also goes to PwC.
• One team chooses $300 and the other$50. The team who chose the higher amount receives $300. The second team receives nothing.
• Both teams choose $300. Neither team receives anything.

This question asks you to develop a strategy based on a balance between risk-taking and teamwork. It is a ‘Prisoner’s Dilemma’-based scenario, where the ‘betrayal’ and ‘co-operation’ options are replaced with higher or lower amounts of money.

Read up on Prisoner’s Dilemma scenarios to help with this game.

There is no right or wrong answer overall in Prisoner’s Dilemma scenarios; this game is to help PwC understand your priorities.

4. Reaction Games

In the test, there are five games designed to assess how you react under pressure and within time constraints.

These are:

• Open the safe – You are asked to enter the correct series of numbers to open the safe.
• Emotions – Match the correct emotion to the face. For instance, are they happy, afraid, or surprised?
• Bulbs and Spanners – A bulb or a spanner pops up at the top of the screen. Click on the corresponding letter displayed at the bottom of the screen.
• Arrows – You are presented with an image of multiple arrows, but you must only concentrate on the central arrow. Press the corresponding letter to denote what direction the central arrow is pointing, regardless of the arrows around it.
• Moving Numbers – A shape and a number will appear at the top or bottom of the screen. If the image appears at the top, answer a question on the number. If the image appears at the bottom, answer a question on the shape. This test increases in speed as it progresses.

The best way to prepare for these game questions is to improve your reaction time and hand-eye coordination.

Playing sports can be a great help, especially tennis, badminton or squash.

Equally, playing first-person shooter games can improve your reaction times.

Numerical Reasoning

In addition to the games, there are 18 numerical reasoning questions.

Each multiple-choice question will present you with information that you must analyze.

The questions are all GCSE level and relatively simple to calculate. However, with less than one minute to answer each question, only a few people manage to answer all 18 questions.

The best way to prepare for this section of the Career Unlocked test is to brush up on your math skills.

It is possible to source practice questions online:

• Psychometric Success
• WikiJob
• JobTestPrep
• Graduate Monkey
• elearn

But in general, any numerical questions will help you prepare.

Here is a sample numerical reasoning question:

Look at this table and answer the questions below.

This article can help with understanding percentages and fractions if you need more explanation.

PwC Assessment Test - The Report Card

Once you have completed Career Unlocked, you will receive a report card.

This measures your performance against a comparison group using indicators.

The report card is split into five sections:

1. Personal Style

This section has one indicator that expresses how well you recognize facial expressions and interpret emotions.

2. Cognition

This section has two indicators:

• The first measures the speed that you process information, compared to other candidates.

• The second indicator examines whether you are more confident handling small or large amounts of data.

3. Drive

This section has three indicators:

• The first indicator measures how motivated you are by reward.
• The second indicator measures your resilience, which is how quickly you recover after setbacks and how well you maintain your focus in stressful situations.
• The third indicator measures how motivated you are by thoughts and feelings as opposed to values and goals.

4. Interpersonal Style

This section has four indicators:

• The first measures how adaptive your working style is or if you consistently prefer your own.
• The second indicator measures whether you care more about your own needs or the needs of others.
• The third measures whether you tend to be thoughtful and passive or assertive and dominant.
• The final indicator measures your reaction to social situations, such as if they energize or drain you.

5. Thinking Style

This final section has the most indicators, with eight in total:

• The first indicator measures if you trust your instincts or think things over before acting in risky situations.
• The second measures whether you are realistic or optimistic.
• The third measures your preference for consistency and familiarity, or change and variety.
• The fourth indicator is similar and measures whether you prefer new, experimental approaches or tried-and-tested, familiar ones.
• The fifth is similar to the first and measures whether you are impulsive or deliberate more.
• The sixth measures your use of intuition or rational thinking in your decision-making.
• The seventh indicator measures your levels of comfort regarding uncertainty and unpredictability.
• The final, eighth indicator measures if your thinking style is more creative or more precise.

As with any job interview or recruitment-related test, the best way you can improve your performance is to prepare in advance.

Here are some top tips that will help you pass the PwC game based assessment:

Frequently Asked Questions

Conclusion

There is no doubt that the Career Unlocked test is challenging and not intuitive for everyone who takes it. It has certainly left many applicants disappointed with results that they feel do not match their true potential.

However, it is an important step in the PwC recruitment process and unlikely to be changed in the near future. The best way to provide yourself with a good chance of success, therefore, is to prepare thoroughly, recognize the test for the new learning experience that it is and go into it with an open mind. When you know more about yourself, you can take the best advantage of any opportunity.