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Amazon Assessment Practice

Preparation guide for Amazon's own online assessments, built in-house around the Leadership Principles

Assessment Owner

Amazon

Built and owned in-house

Core Sections

Simulation & style

Plus coding for engineering roles

Stage

Online screening

Before interviews

About Amazon's Online Assessments

Amazon does not use a third-party assessment publisher. According to Amazon's own hiring pages on amazon.jobs, its online assessments are built in-house and are structured around the Work Simulation and the Work Style Assessment, which are used for most roles, and, for software development roles, an SDE Online Assessment that adds a coding section and, for some levels, a system design section. All of these are designed to reflect Amazon's 16 Leadership Principles rather than general-purpose psychometrics from an external vendor. Some prep sites have described Amazon's process using other test-publisher names; Amazon's own documentation does not support that framing.

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.

Start Practicing for Amazon Today

Build the situational judgement and timed reasoning skills that transfer to Amazon's own assessment, with free limited practice

Begin Amazon Assessment Practice

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Amazon use Arctic Shores?

No. Amazon's own hiring documentation on amazon.jobs describes its assessments as being built in-house: the Work Simulation, the Work Style Assessment, and, for engineering roles, the SDE Online Assessment. There is no evidence that Amazon licenses these from Arctic Shores or any other third-party test publisher.

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.

Continue Preparing for Amazon

Practice the tests themselves

Later stages