Game-based assessment practice
Practise the games before the real one counts.
Employers using Arctic Shores, pymetrics and similar platforms score how you play, not what you know. These five free games train the same task types: risk, memory, impulse control, focus and switching between rules.
Choose a game
- Risk appetiteBalloon Risk GamePump each balloon to grow its value, then bank before it pops. A free practice version of the balloon-style risk task used in game-based assessments.About 3 minutes · 12 balloonsPlay →
- Working memorySequence Memory GameWatch tiles light up in order, then repeat the sequence. Each success makes it one step longer. Practice for the memory tasks in game-based assessments.2–4 minutes · ends after two missesPlay →
- Attention and impulse controlGo / No-Go Reaction GameRespond as fast as you can to green circles and hold back on red squares. Free practice for the reaction and inhibition tasks used in game-based tests.About a minute · 40 trialsPlay →
- Focus under distractionArrow Focus GameFive arrows appear; respond to the middle one and ignore the rest. A free practice version of the focus tasks in game-based and cognitive assessments.About 2 minutes · 32 trialsPlay →
- Cognitive flexibilityRule Switch GameSort each card by colour or by shape, depending on the rule shown. The rule changes without warning. Free practice for flexibility tasks in game-based assessments.About 2 minutes · 32 trialsPlay →
How game-based assessments score you
Instead of right and wrong answers, these assessments record behaviour: how far you push a risk, how quickly you react, how often you stop yourself, and how you adapt when the rules change. The result is a profile on several scales, compared with a benchmark the employer sets for the role.
That is why practice works differently here. You are not memorising answers. You are removing the novelty, so the result reflects how you normally work rather than first-time nerves.
Which providers use games?
- Arctic Shores: up to nine question-free tasks. Read the guide →
- Harver (pymetrics): a battery of short neuroscience-based games, including balloon and stop-style tasks.
- HireVue: game packages for working memory, attention and impulse control, separate from its video interviews.
- Criteria (Cognify): game-based cognitive aptitude mini-games.
- Codility: not games. It is a coding test platform, so practise coding instead.
Employers with task-based or trait assessments
These programme guides include game practice in their preparation, alongside an original mock test for the role.
Frequently asked questions
What is a game-based assessment?
A game-based assessment replaces written questions with short interactive tasks. The platform records how you play, such as reaction times, choices and how you respond to feedback, and turns that behaviour into a profile of traits like risk appetite, attention and learning agility.
Can you practise for game-based assessments?
You cannot learn the answers, because there usually are none. Practice still helps: knowing the task types removes surprise, lets you settle into a steady pace and stops you second-guessing the controls on the day.
Are these the real Arctic Shores or pymetrics games?
No. Each game here is our own implementation of a published psychology task, cited on its page. Commercial providers build their own versions of tasks like these, so the practice is of the task type, not of any provider's game.
Does Codility use games?
No. Codility is a coding assessment platform: you solve programming tasks in a code editor. If your invitation is from Codility, practise coding problems rather than games.
Preparing for question-based tests too? See the psychometric tests guide, employer assessment guides or the full practice library.