How the Tickets game works
Each round a ticket appears showing a coloured shape with a number on it. The box it lands in tells you which rule applies: one rule is about the number, the other about the shape. You answer with one of two responses, reported as Yes or No to each box’s question.
The task is reported to run for 80 rounds. The rules are shown at first and then disappear, so you have to hold them in mind, and answering too early or too late counts as an error.
How to switch rules without slipping
Make choosing the rule automatic:
- Learn both rules in the tutorial until you can say them without looking.
- Look at where the ticket lands before you look at what is on it.
- Then check only the feature that box cares about: the number for one, the shape for the other.
- Keep a finger on each response key so no answer needs a hand movement.
- After a mistake, reset on the next ticket rather than slowing down for the rest of the run.
Tips for the real Tickets task
- Take extra care when a ticket lands in a different box from the last one. Switching is where slips cluster.
- Do not press early in anticipation. Early presses are reported to count as errors.
- Keep your eyes at the centre of the screen so both boxes stay in view.
- Turn notifications off and take the task somewhere quiet. It is short, so give it full focus.
- On a phone, play in landscape, as the assessment requires, with both thumbs ready.
- If concentration is hard for you, request an adjustment first. Arctic Shores points concentration difficulties to its ADHD option.
What your score means
Tickets is reported to draw on attention, processing speed and switching between rules. Arctic Shores does not say which dimensions it feeds, and your answers do not turn into a Tickets score you can see. One emailed report covers all your tasks, with each “dimension” marked on a four-point scale against similar candidates.
The candidate guidance page describes a 1 to 10 spectrum per behaviour instead, and says the report comes only if your employer chooses. The employer gets one number from 1 to 100 for how well you fit the profile it agreed for the role. There is no single way to pass, Arctic Shores says.
Practise Tickets on CogniPrep
Our Tickets game has 80 tickets. Each shows a shape with a number from 1 to 9 and lands in the top or bottom half at random. In the top half you judge the number (Q for even, P for odd); in the bottom half you judge the shape (Q for curved, P for angular). You get 1 second per ticket, a timeout counts as wrong, and a tick or cross follows each answer. The score out of 100 focuses on accuracy when the half changes, how much switching slows you, recovery after errors and overall accuracy. The rules and keys are ours, because the real questions are not published.