Every round of KPMG UK’s graduate and apprenticeship process, what each assessment actually is, and where the guides claiming games or HireVue go wrong.
By the Game Assessment Prep research teamUpdated September 11, 2026How we research
There are no games to practice for KPMG UK. What you face is two online assessments, and the honest preparation for them is generic reasoning practice under a clock, not a game simulator. Below is what each assessment actually is, plus the two claims that circulate about KPMG games and why neither holds for the UK process.
Category practice
Untimed, with KPMG suggesting you allow about 20 minutes. You read workplace scenarios and rank how you would think, feel, or respond, picking the answer that is most like you. A personalized skills feedback report follows. KPMG does not name a vendor or product for it. There is nothing to simulate here: answer consistently and honestly, and read the nine behavioural capabilities first so you recognize what is being asked about.
Category practice
Timed at 36 minutes, covering numerical and logical reasoning: KPMG says you will interpret information, complete numerical calculations, and draw logical conclusions. Practice examples appear immediately before the live test. Candidates report about 24 questions and say most people do not finish, so pace matters more than perfection on any single item. The closest thing we offer is general reasoning-under-time practice, which trains the pacing but is not a replica of KPMG’s test.
Exact simulator
KPMG Australia is a separate member firm and its process does use game-based assessments: two Criteria assessments of about 15 minutes each, due within 48 hours of invitation, the first a timed game-based cognitive assessment and the second an untimed workplace behaviours assessment, followed by an in-person assessment centre. If your invitation came from KPMG Australia, that is the process to prepare for, and those games we do simulate.
Closest practice only
Archived KPMG campus guidance from roughly 2022 to 2024, re-hosted by a university careers page, told applicants “depending on the job, you may be asked to complete pymetrics” within three days or by the job deadline. That guidance is no longer live, and KPMG’s current US early-career page describes only an application and two live video interviews with no online assessment at all. We would not tell you to prepare pymetrics games for a 2026 KPMG US application unless your own invitation asks for them.
Source: Archived KPMG US campus guidance re-hosted by UC Berkeley IEOR (live URL now 404)
KPMG’s UK early-careers process is the one KPMG documents in full, and it is the one this page anchors on. Graduates, apprentices, and undergraduates all go through the same four stages, and none of them involve a game.
That matters because much of what is written about KPMG online is out of date or invented. Guides describing “Transforming Small Businesses” and “Delivering Outcomes” are describing the flow KPMG retired for the 2026 intake. Pages titled “KPMG HireVue” or “KPMG gamified assessment” are describing nothing we could verify at all. What KPMG actually asks for is a skills questionnaire, a 36-minute reasoning test, six recorded answers, and a half day in one of its offices.
KPMG Australia is the exception, and it is a separate member firm: it does use game-based assessments, delivered by Criteria. If that is the process you are facing, use our KPMG Australia page instead of this one.
Four stages: Explore and Apply (about 45 minutes), online assessments (about 60 minutes across both), video interviews (about 40 minutes, six questions), and an in-person half-day Launch Pad. KPMG recruits on a rolling basis and says some programmes fill faster than others.
The same stages as the graduate route, including the same skills and 36-minute cognitive assessments, the same six-question video interview with the AI avatar, and the same Launch Pad calendar.
KPMG states that graduate, undergraduate, and apprenticeship applicants all go through its assessment process and are assessed against the same published behavioural capabilities. Stage-level detail specific to insight routes is not separately published.
KPMG’s current US early-career page describes an application, then two live video interviews with business leaders, then a decision usually within about two weeks of interviewing. It names no online assessment. Archived 2022 to 2024 KPMG campus guidance said some roles required pymetrics, but that guidance is no longer live and the current page does not mention it.
Source: KPMG US — Early Career & Student Opportunities (current page); archived campus guidance (dated)
A separate member firm with a different process: two Criteria assessments of about 15 minutes each within 48 hours of invitation, the first game-based cognitive and the second workplace behaviours, then an in-person assessment centre. We cover this on our KPMG Australia page rather than duplicating it here.
Information and networking sessions, an application with resume, cover letter, and unofficial transcript (one position per recruitment cycle), a virtual or in-person interview under a hybrid interview approach, then a phone call and offer letter. No online assessment or vendor is named.
Applications run through an Avature portal, with most 2027 postings closing 21 October 2026 at 5:00 pm for an Autumn 2027 start. KPMG Ireland describes the next steps only as “an assessment or interview” and publishes no format or vendor.
Source: KPMG Ireland — Graduate Programme page and Avature job search
A two-year program across Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Oman, Jordan, Lebanon, and Iraq. Stages are an online application, a meeting with the talent attraction team, online assessments covering English language plus logical and numerical reasoning and accounting, an in-house assessment center with interviews, a case study and a group activity, then an offer and bootcamp onboarding. No vendor is named.
Application, data validation, an aptitude test, an assessment centre, a partner interview, then an offer. The test vendor and content are not named. The 2027 programme closed on 6 March 2026, with training school from September 2026.
We found no official KPMG page describing an India campus assessment stack. Third-party sites describe an aptitude and psychometric test, sometimes a coding section, a group discussion, and technical plus HR interviews, but none of that is attributable to KPMG. Treat it as unconfirmed until your invitation says otherwise.
Source: No official KPMG India process page located as of September 2026
KPMG’s live application process page describes four stages and mentions no game-based assessment at any of them. The cognitive test is an interactive reasoning test, not a game. If a guide tells you to practice balloons, faces, or towers for KPMG UK, it is guessing.
After you apply you are invited to both parts: a skills assessment that is untimed, where KPMG suggests allowing about 20 minutes, and a cognitive assessment that is timed at 36 minutes. Both must be completed within the calendar days stated in your invitation email, in one sitting each, on a desktop or laptop.
KPMG’s process page links to SHL’s practice tests and says “the tests most relevant for KPMG are behaviour based and general (cognitive) ability tests”. That is a referral to a practice library, not a statement that SHL builds KPMG’s live assessments. KPMG does not say who builds them.
KPMG says 36 minutes. Candidates in the autumn 2025 cycle reported 24 questions and that most people run out of time. That matches SHL’s Verify Interactive G+ fact sheet exactly: 36 minutes allowed, a maximum of 24 adaptive questions, covering numerical, deductive, and inductive reasoning. Neither KPMG nor SHL confirms the product for KPMG, so treat the product name as an educated guess and the 24-question count as a candidate report.
Source: SHL — Verify Interactive G+ fact sheet, matched against KPMG’s stated 36 minutes
Through the 2025-intake cycle, Stage 2 was “Transforming Small Businesses” (untimed, around 90 minutes, three fictional small businesses) and Stage 3 was “Delivering Outcomes” (untimed, around 60 minutes, written and webcam responses). KPMG’s own page still showed that flow in August 2025 and showed the new skills and cognitive assessments by March 2026. Guides still describing the old exercises are out of date. KPMG has never publicly named the vendor for either the old or the new tests.
Source: KPMG UK — application process, archived 3 August 2025 (retired flow)
In archived autumn 2025 UK threads, applicants described the cognitive assessment as time restricted, reported answering 19 or 23 of 24 questions, and said most people do not finish. Several noted that only the skills assessment produces a feedback report, and that applications can sit on hold before the video interview because KPMG recruits on a rolling basis. These are candidate reports, not KPMG statements.
Source: Archived candidate threads, autumn 2025 UK graduate cycle
The video interview presents six pre-recorded questions asked by KPMG’s AI avatar “Leah”. KPMG names no vendor for it, and no source we could verify identifies one. Prep pages titled “KPMG HireVue” describe a KPMG platform in their own body text — the title is chosen for search traffic, not sourced.
Source: KPMG UK — Our application process (graduate); no vendor named
KPMG publishes nine capabilities it assesses throughout recruitment: Career Motivation, Delivers Quality, Drives Collaboration and Inclusion, Strives for Continual Improvement, Exercises Professional Judgement, Makes an Impact, Seizes Business Opportunities, Demonstrates Innovation and Curiosity, and Resilience. Read them before you record the video interview.
The only link we found between KPMG and Arctic Shores is a vendor case study dated 16 September 2019 about a 12-month KPMG UAE pilot of a branded assessment called “KPMG Ready”, scoring values alignment, graduate-role alignment, and numerical ability. Arctic Shores has since deleted the case study, the URL returns a 404, and KPMG does not appear in the live case-study index. There is no evidence it is current anywhere, and none that it was ever used in the UK.
Source: Arctic Shores — KPMG UAE case study, archived 13 November 2019 (live URL now 404)
KPMG publishes all four stages, with durations. Apprentices and undergraduates follow the same route.
Plenty of guides give a confident breakdown of the Launch Pad exercises. KPMG does not.
KPMG member firms run separate processes. Do not assume the UK stages apply to your application.
KPMG recruits on a rolling basis and closes programmes as they fill, so a published closing date is a ceiling, not a plan. As of 11 September 2026, KPMG had not published 2027-intake opening dates or a 2026-27 Launch Pad calendar, and the dates showing on its site belonged to the previous cycle. Check kpmgcareers.co.uk before relying on any date below.
| Cycle | Application dates | Likely assessment window | Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| UK 2026-27 cycle (September 2027 intake) | Not published as of 11 September 2026. KPMG recruits on a rolling basis and says some programmes fill faster than others | Online assessments arrive automatically after you apply and must be completed within the calendar days stated in the invitation email | Official source KPMG says applications open each year between summer and autumn, and its programme pages were still showing “sign up to hear first when we open” in September 2026. Its Student Talent Community gives early notice and, per KPMG, only stays open over the summer. Treat any 2027 date you see elsewhere as unverified until KPMG posts it. |
| UK 2025-26 cycle (September 2026 intake), for reference only | Rolling, with no single published closing date for the cycle | Autumn 2025 applicants reported completing both assessments within days of applying, receiving the skills report the same week, and then waiting weeks for a video-interview invitation because of volume | Official source This was the first cycle on the new skills and cognitive assessments and the Leah video interview. KPMG’s page listed Launch Pad dates from 25 November 2025 through 23 July 2026 across London, Manchester, Birmingham, Glasgow, Bristol, and Leeds, with offers within two working days. Those are last cycle’s dates and are shown here only to indicate the shape of a KPMG year, not as the 2027 schedule. Source: KPMG UK — Our application process (graduate), 2025-26 calendar |
| UK international students needing visa sponsorship | Sponsorship is limited to specified programmes, so check eligibility before applying rather than after | Same as all other applicants | Official source For the September 2026 start, KPMG required sponsored candidates to accept their offer by 1 June 2026, which pulls the whole funnel earlier for anyone needing a visa. Expect an equivalent cutoff for the next intake and apply at the front of the window. Source: KPMG UK — International students |
| US summer 2027 internships and 2027 full-time | Rolling, with no fixed national deadline published by KPMG | KPMG says interview selection typically happens within about two weeks of applying, and most decisions within about two weeks of interviewing | Official source Rolling review inside an open window means early applicants see the most open seats. KPMG limits you to two active applications, so choose the service lines you actually want. |
| Ireland Graduate Programme 2027 | 21 October 2026 at 5:00 pm for most 2027 postings | Not disclosed. KPMG Ireland says only that successful applicants are invited to next steps such as an assessment or interview | Official source Postings run on KPMG Ireland’s Avature portal across Dublin, Cork, and Belfast for an Autumn 2027 start. No format, duration, or vendor is published for the assessment stage. |
| Nigeria Graduate Trainee Programme 2027 | 6 March 2026 (closed) | Aptitude test, then assessment centre and partner interview, with training school from September 2026 | Official source Historic for this cycle. KPMG Nigeria contacts only shortlisted candidates and disqualifies multiple applications. The next intake would be expected to open in early 2027. |
Preparing for KPMG is not game practice. The cognitive assessment is a timed reasoning test, so what moves your score is pacing and numerical fluency under a clock. The skills assessment and the video interview both reward knowing KPMG’s nine behavioural capabilities well enough to recognize them in a scenario.
KPMG’s own advice is to complete practice tests before the live assessment, take each in one sitting on a desktop or laptop, and answer honestly. It also states plainly that using AI or paid help to complete its assessments is not allowed and that dishonesty leads to withdrawal.
Step 1
Career Motivation, Delivers Quality, Drives Collaboration and Inclusion, Strives for Continual Improvement, Exercises Professional Judgement, Makes an Impact, Seizes Business Opportunities, Demonstrates Innovation and Curiosity, and Resilience. They are the standard for the skills assessment, the video interview, and Launch Pad alike.
Step 2
Set 36 minutes and work through roughly 24 items so that the pace becomes familiar. Candidates report most people do not finish, so practice deciding fast when to move on rather than grinding one hard item.
Step 3
KPMG’s process page sends candidates to SHL’s practice library and says the most relevant tests are behavior-based and general cognitive ability tests. That is the closest thing to an official steer you will get on format.
Step 4
It is untimed, so read each scenario properly, but do not overthink it into a performance. You are ranking how you would actually think, feel, or respond, and a personalized feedback report comes back afterward.
Step 5
Six questions on your strengths and your motivation for the specific programme and business area. Record yourself once, watch it back, and cut the preamble. KPMG does not publish preparation time, answer length, retake rules, or a pass mark, so do not trust the specific numbers circulating online.
Step 6
Bring examples mapped to the capabilities, a clear answer on why KPMG and why this service line, and questions for the people you meet during the non-assessed networking.
Step 7
Your invitation email gives the binding deadline, the device requirements, and the actual assessment names. If it describes something other than a skills assessment and a 36-minute cognitive test, follow the email rather than this page.
Not in the UK. KPMG’s UK process has two online assessments, a skills questionnaire and a timed 36-minute cognitive test, and neither is a game. KPMG Australia is a separate member firm and does use Criteria’s game-based assessments, so check which KPMG you are applying to.
The skills assessment is untimed and KPMG suggests allowing about 20 minutes. The cognitive assessment is timed at 36 minutes. KPMG budgets around an hour for both together, and each must be completed in one sitting within the calendar days stated in your invitation.
KPMG’s own process page points candidates to SHL’s practice tests as “the tests most relevant for KPMG”, but it never says who builds its live assessments. The 36-minute timing and the roughly 24 questions candidates report match SHL’s Verify Interactive G+ fact sheet, which is suggestive but not confirmation from either company.
We found no evidence that it does. KPMG’s video interview is six pre-recorded questions asked by its AI avatar “Leah”, and KPMG names no platform behind it. Pages titled “KPMG HireVue” describe a KPMG-branded interview in their own body text.
No. That exercise and “Delivering Outcomes” ran through the 2025-intake cycle and were replaced for the 2026 intake in autumn 2025 by the skills and cognitive assessments and a separate video interview. Guides still describing them are out of date.
Archived KPMG campus guidance from around 2022 to 2024 said some roles might require pymetrics within three days or by the job deadline. That guidance is no longer live, and KPMG’s current US early-career page describes only an application and two live video interviews with no online assessment. Go by what your own invitation asks for.
KPMG had not published 2027-intake opening dates or 2026-27 Launch Pad dates as of September 2026, and the dates on its site belonged to the 2025-26 cycle. KPMG recruits on a rolling basis and programmes close as they fill, so join its Student Talent Community for early notice and apply at the front of the window.
1,600+ candidates from MIT, Stanford, Harvard, Yale and 100+ universities have run 34,000+ practice sessions here · median +25% score improvement by the fifth attempt · 84% of 6,000+ game ratings say “Great” · free, no card required.
