Aon smartPredict (2026): Grid, Switch, Digit & Motion Challenges
By the Game Assessment Prep research teamUpdated August 26, 2026How we research
If your invitation mentions Aon, cut-e, or smartPredict, you may face one or more of four short cognitive games. Aon's own candidate materials and demonstration videos settle the core mechanics: gridChallenge, switchChallenge, digitChallenge, and motionChallenge are the four employer-configurable games in the smartPredict suite. gapChallenge and chatAssess are separate products, despite preparation sites often grouping them together.
We reviewed Aon's current candidate preparation page, official practice PDFs, and the on-screen timing slides in its product demonstrations in August 2026. Employer configurations still vary, and your invitation and each challenge's instructions remain the final word.
The good news: unlike behavioral batteries, smartPredict challenges are skill tests with right answers. Working memory, mental arithmetic, attention, and planning are all trainable, so format familiarity plus targeted drills genuinely raises scores.
You can now practice all four Aon games free with original generated questions, unlimited replays, and objective feedback.
The four challenges
| Challenge | Reported mechanics | What it measures | Reported timing |
|---|---|---|---|
| gridChallenge | Memorize ordered dot positions while completing interleaved symmetry, rotation, and figure-combination judgments | Working memory / executive attention | 9 min / 9 tasks in Aon's generic demonstration |
| switchChallenge | Pick which of three four-digit position codes maps an input symbol row to its output; later levels chain switches | Deductive-logical reasoning | 6 min |
| digitChallenge | Fill two to four equation gaps with digits 1–9, using each selected digit once | Fast numeracy | 5–6 min across Aon's own current and older materials |
| motionChallenge | Move a ball to an exit while shifting obstructing pieces, using as few moves as possible | Planning / executive function | 6 min |
Not every employer sends all four; some add other Aon modules (scales numerical/verbal tests, or the chat-style chatAssess situational exercise). The invitation lists your exact set.
gridChallenge: the dual-task memory test
The hard part is not the distractor judgments or the dot positions alone — it is doing both at once. You hold an ordered sequence of dot locations in memory while a second task keeps interrupting. Aon's generic format uses nine tasks across three rounds; its demo shows symmetry, rotated-but-identical, and figure-combination judgments. Exact dot-span progression and per-phase seconds are not officially settled. Deliberate spatial encoding makes the interruptions less destructive than passive watching. Practice Grid Challenge with all three distractor families.
switchChallenge: deduction under a ramp
Four input symbols are rearranged into an output row. Your job is to choose which of three four-digit position codes produces that mapping. Later levels can chain multiple switches, with one row's output becoming the next row's input. Work systematically: match one output position, eliminate impossible codes, then confirm against another position. Practice Switch Challenge against a six-minute adaptive drill.
digitChallenge: arithmetic in reverse
This is equation gap-filling—not digit recall. Fill two to four blanks using digits 1–9, without reusing a digit in the same equation. Verified operators are addition, subtraction and multiplication, with parentheses at higher levels. More than one assignment can sometimes be valid, so our simulator accepts every unique-digit answer that makes the displayed equation true. Practice Digit Challenge with a six-minute preset; Aon's own sources currently disagree between five and six minutes, so check your invitation.
motionChallenge: plan before you touch
Move the ball to an exit while shifting horizontal and vertical pieces along their open axes. A move counter makes efficiency explicit; the official demo also shows a skip control and immovable cells at later levels. The best habit is to identify what blocks the exit route, then work backward before moving anything. Every board in our Motion Challenge practice is solver-verified and shows the known minimum move count. Our accessible controls move one cell at a time; public Aon materials are not fully consistent enough for us to claim that detail as universal.
Who uses Aon smartPredict?
P&G is the clearest flagship example. P&G's own Interactive Assessment page describes mechanics matching Digit, Switch, and Grid, but not Motion; P&G does not name Aon or the challenge names on that page, so this is a mechanic-level mapping supported by the documented P&G–Aon relationship. Current candidate and preparation evidence for Capgemini India describes a larger game pool that includes all four formats, though Capgemini does not publish a first-party Aon attribution. Rolls-Royce, Morgan Stanley UK, and BP have stronger Aon/cut-e evidence for parts of their current stacks. Deloitte, KPMG, Barclays, and Johnson & Johnson remain prep-site claims rather than names we can responsibly present as verified smartPredict employers.
Airlines use Aon's broader scales-style aptitude catalogue extensively — and every airline battery we could verify (Ryanair, easyJet, Aer Lingus, BA Speedbird, Delta, American) is built from that scales catalogue, not from these four smartPredict games; only gridChallenge shows up in any verified pilot battery. If you are preparing for a pilot assessment, your invitation is authoritative and the scales-style tests are what to expect.
How scoring works
Aon does not publish a smartPredict scoring formula or universal pass mark. Its candidate materials establish adaptive or increasing difficulty for Digit, Switch, and Motion, but they do not reveal how accuracy, level, speed, and—in Motion—move efficiency are combined. Employers can choose their own battery and decision threshold. Nobody selling a "guaranteed pass score" knows the employer's private cutoff.
Honest preparation
- Identify your set. Check the invitation for which challenges (and any scales tests or chatAssess) you will face. Five focused sessions on the right formats beat twenty on the wrong ones.
- Drill working memory for grid. Use Grid Challenge practice to rehearse ordered recall under all three verified interruption types.
- Rebuild timed arithmetic for digit. Short daily Digit Challenge drills make unique-digit constraint checking and reverse arithmetic automatic.
- Practice planning for motion. Use Motion Challenge, count moves, and compare your route with the solver-verified minimum.
- Do the official practice items. Aon's platform typically offers example items before each challenge starts. Never skip them — they are the only rehearsal of the real interface you get.
Our Aon simulations use original visuals, generated questions, and original instructional language. They reproduce the documented task rules for familiarization, not Aon's visual skin, live questions, scoring model, or employer decision.
Aon vs the other game-based assessments
smartPredict sits at the pure-skill end of the spectrum alongside Criteria Cognify and HireVue games: short, scored, right answers exist, practice works. pymetrics and Arctic Shores are behavioral batteries where most tasks profile preferences instead. If you are mapping several employers' processes at once, our game-based assessments guide compares the major vendors.
FAQ
How long does Aon smartPredict take?
Aon's generic materials give Grid as 9 minutes for 9 tasks, Switch as 6 minutes, Motion as 6 minutes, and Digit as 5–6 minutes across two first-party sources. P&G uses a different Grid configuration of about 12 minutes across three rounds. Your invitation gives the binding figure.
Is there a pass mark?
No published one. Results are compared against norm groups and each employer sets its own bar per role. Ignore anyone quoting a universal passing percentage.
Can I retake a challenge if I do badly?
Generally no — one attempt per application is the reported norm, and retake rules belong to the employer. If a technical failure interrupts you, contact the recruiter or the support route in the invitation immediately rather than restarting on your own.
Are these the same as the P&G assessment?
P&G's online assessment is the most widely reported deployment of the Aon grid/switch/digit family, so P&G-specific guides largely describe the same challenges. Confirm your exact set from the invitation rather than assuming P&G's configuration.
Is smartPredict an IQ test?
Not in the traditional sense. Each challenge isolates a narrow cognitive skill — working memory, deduction, numeracy, planning — under time pressure. That narrowness is why practice works: you are training specific, well-defined formats, not general intelligence.