Aviva Aptitude Test & Online Assessment Guide 2026

Aviva is one of the UK's largest insurance and financial services groups, providing life insurance, pensions, investments, and general insurance — including motor, home, and business cover — to millions of customers. Headquartered in London and operating across the UK, Ireland, and Canada, Aviva sits alongside firms such as Legal & General and Prudential as a major employer in the UK insurance sector.

Aviva describes its purpose broadly around supporting customers today so they are better prepared for tomorrow, and this customer-outcomes framing tends to surface throughout its recruitment process, from application questions to assessment centre exercises. Aviva runs graduate and early-careers programmes across several functions, including Actuarial, Data & Analytics, Technology and Digital, Finance, Underwriting, and General Management, alongside a range of school-leaver apprenticeships.

Recruitment volumes and process details can shift year to year, so treat the stages below as broadly representative of Aviva's typical process rather than a guaranteed, unchanging pipeline. Candidates generally move through an online application, online aptitude testing, a video interview, and a final assessment centre.

The application stage asks for your CV or an online form, academic background, and a set of motivation questions covering why you want to work in insurance and financial services and why Aviva specifically. There is no publicly confirmed universal degree classification cut-off across all schemes, but strong applications tend to show genuine understanding of what Aviva does beyond "a big insurance company" — for example, familiarity with its general insurance, life, and workplace pensions businesses.

• For actuarial and analytics roles, highlight any statistics, mathematics, or data-related coursework and projects explicitly
• Reference a specific function and programme rather than applying generically — Aviva's schemes differ meaningfully between actuarial, technology, and general management tracks
• Keep motivation answers concrete: mention a product line, a piece of company news, or a specific reason insurance appeals to you rather than generic phrases

Candidates who clear the application stage are typically invited to complete online numerical and verbal reasoning tests, and on some schemes a situational judgement test (SJT) presenting realistic customer, team, and workplace scenarios. As with most UK financial services employers, the exact provider and platform can vary by year and by scheme, but the underlying question formats are consistent with the wider graduate-scheme market.

Build your foundation with our free numerical reasoning and verbal reasoning guides, and review our full breakdown of the situational judgement test format before sitting the real thing. If you are also applying to banks, our guides to Barclays, Lloyds Banking Group, HSBC, NatWest, and Standard Chartered cover very similar test formats.

Candidates who pass the online tests are typically invited to a recorded video interview covering motivation for Aviva and the insurance sector, plus one or two competency-based questions in STAR format (Situation, Task, Action, Result). Expect prompts such as "Tell me about a time you had to explain something complex to a non-expert" or "Describe a time you had to prioritise competing demands under pressure" — both map closely onto the analytical, customer-facing, and regulated nature of insurance work.

Treat the recorded interview with the same rigour as an in-person one: choose a quiet, well-lit space, test your equipment in advance, and prepare two or three specific, detailed examples rather than generic ones. Our video interview tips guide covers technical setup, pacing, and delivery in detail.

For a broader breakdown of assessment centre formats and how to prepare for each exercise type, see our general assessment centre guide.

Aviva's actuarial graduate route sits apart from its other schemes in one important way: the numerical demands are noticeably higher throughout the process, not just at the online testing stage. Actuarial candidates should expect numerical reasoning to weigh more heavily in screening decisions, and interviewers on this track will typically probe your comfort with statistics, probability, and quantitative problem-solving in more depth than on general business or management schemes.

If you are targeting Actuarial, Data & Analytics, or other technically demanding functions at Aviva, prioritise numerical reasoning practice well beyond the minimum needed to clear a general business scheme, and be ready to talk through your degree-level statistics or mathematics coursework in specific, technical terms during interviews.

Aviva does not publicise a single named competency framework the way some Big Four firms do. In practice, across public careers information and typical financial-services assessment design, assessors consistently look for a small set of insurance-relevant capabilities:

• Customer focus: Instinctively considering the impact of decisions on policyholders and claimants, especially in sensitive moments such as a claim.
• Integrity and care: Comfort operating within a regulated industry where trust, accuracy, and doing right by customers matter.
• Analytical thinking: Working methodically through data and risk information rather than relying on intuition alone.
• Collaboration: Working effectively across underwriting, claims, technology, and customer-facing teams.
• Adaptability: Comfort with a large, complex organisation that is continually updating products, systems, and regulation.

• Week 1 — Numerical and verbal foundations: Complete timed practice sessions for numerical and verbal reasoning using our free practice tests. Review every wrong answer and note the trap type (percentage vs. absolute change, misread column, overreaching inference).
• Week 2 — Situational judgement and speed: Work through realistic customer and workplace scenarios, focusing on choosing the "most effective, least ineffective" response. If applying for Actuarial, add extra numerical reasoning volume this week instead.
• Week 2–3 — Video interview: Prepare three STAR examples covering customer focus, analytical problem-solving, and working under pressure. Record yourself answering out loud and review the playback.
• Week 3 — Sector awareness: Read Aviva's recent results announcements and general UK insurance news. Be ready to discuss one current trend affecting the sector, such as climate risk, the cost of claims inflation, or digital-first customer service.
• Week 4 — Assessment centre rehearsal: Run a mock group exercise with friends using an insurance-related scenario, and practise structuring a short data or case recommendation in under five minutes. Revisit our guide on what counts as a good aptitude test score so you know what target to aim for.