Amazon Assessment Practice
Preparation guide for Amazon's online assessments: the in-house Work Simulation and Work Style Assessment on most routes, and Arctic Shores game-based assessment on some graduate and apprentice routes
About Amazon's Online Assessments
Which assessment you sit depends on the role you applied for, and Amazon runs two quite different things under the same banner.
For most roles the assessment is Amazon's own. Its hiring pages on amazon.jobs describe the Work Simulation and the Work Style Assessment, and, for software development roles, an SDE Online Assessment that adds a coding section and, for some levels, a system design section. These are built in-house and designed around Amazon's 16 Leadership Principles rather than being general-purpose psychometrics from an external vendor.
Some early careers routes are different. On parts of Amazon's graduate and apprenticeship hiring, candidates are sent an Arctic Shores game-based assessment instead: a set of short interactive tasks that measure behaviour and cognition from how you play rather than from what you say about yourself. If your invitation names Arctic Shores, or the link opens a set of games rather than a question paper, that is what you are sitting, and it needs completely different preparation from the Work Simulation.
Because the mix changes by role and by hiring cycle, treat the invitation email as the authority rather than anything you read about Amazon's process in general, including this page.
What the Assessments Measure
- Work Simulation: situational judgement questions set in a realistic Amazon workplace scenario
- Work Style Assessment: a questionnaire on workplace preferences and decision-making tendencies
- SDE Online Assessment: a timed coding section, and for some roles a system design component
- All sections are mapped to the Leadership Principles rather than to a generic personality or ability model
- An optional feedback survey follows the assessment but does not contribute to your score
Amazon Roles Using These Assessments
Technical Roles
- Software Development Engineer
- Solutions Architect
- Data Engineer
Business Roles
- Operations Manager
- Business Analyst
- Program Manager
Top Tips for Amazon's Assessment
Learn the Leadership Principles
Every section of Amazon's assessment is designed to surface behavior that maps to the 16 Leadership Principles. Reading them closely before you sit the assessment helps you recognize what each scenario is actually probing.
Practice situational judgement under time pressure
The Work Simulation presents workplace scenarios with multiple plausible responses. Practicing general situational-judgement questions builds the skill of ranking responses quickly and consistently, even though we cannot reproduce Amazon's specific scenarios.
Answer the Work Style Assessment consistently
This section repeats similar questions in different phrasings to check for consistency. Answer honestly and steadily rather than trying to guess an ideal profile.
Find a quiet environment
The assessment is timed and completed online without supervision. Interruptions cost you time you cannot get back, so set aside an uninterrupted block before you start.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Amazon use Arctic Shores?
For some roles, yes. Arctic Shores game-based assessment appears on parts of Amazon's graduate and apprenticeship hiring. It is not used across the board: for most roles the assessment is Amazon's own, and its hiring pages on amazon.jobs describe the Work Simulation, the Work Style Assessment and the SDE Online Assessment as built in-house.
The practical answer is that you cannot tell from the employer alone. Check what your invitation names, and if it points at a set of games rather than a question paper, prepare with the Arctic Shores practice tests.
How long does Amazon's assessment take?
This varies by role. Amazon's own prep pages give role-specific timings, for example around 60 minutes for the Work Simulation and additional time for coding sections on engineering assessments. Check the prep page linked in your invitation email for the exact timing for your role.
Is practicing helpful for Amazon's assessment?
Yes. While we cannot reproduce Amazon's proprietary Work Simulation or Work Style Assessment content, practicing situational judgement, timed reasoning, and behavioral consistency builds skills that transfer directly to how Amazon's assessment is structured.