How the Clevry numerical reasoning test works
You work from number-based reference material, a table or chart with little text, and answer multiple-choice questions on arithmetic, averages, percentages and ratios. Clevry’s practice page shows the shape: one small price table and four questions, each with five options, and two of the four include Cannot say among them.
The clock starts when you press Start test on the instruction page and runs for the whole test. You can change answers on the page you are on, but every question on it must be answered before Next, and there is no going back.
Questions get harder as the test goes on. Clevry sets generous limits and does not count your time in the score, although the employer sees it.
Essential, Enhanced or Expert: how the numerical levels differ
Your invitation names the level in brackets, for example Numerical Reasoning Test (Enhanced). The question format is the same. The clock, the data and the comparison group change:
- Expert, once Utopia: for graduates, managers and professionals. 20 minutes, 75 seconds a question. The data is a magazine publisher’s: circulation figures, cover prices, advertising rates and readership survey results. Compared with 4,827 Expert candidates from 2023. No average time is published.
- Enhanced, once B2C: for customer service, sales, admin and junior management roles. 18 minutes, about 68 seconds a question, with a 16-minute average. Clevry describes it as testing how you deal with business, financial and numerical data, and it is reported to be set in a fictional music shop. Compared with 4,822 Enhanced candidates from 2023.
- Essential, once CWS: for operatives, apprentices and supervisors in production, manufacturing and utilities. 15 minutes, about 56 seconds a question, with a 13-minute average. It is reported to use tables of workplace figures, including percentages. Compared with 536 Essential candidates from 2022 and 2023.
How to approach each question
Four questions share one data set, so time spent reading it carefully is repaid four times:
- Read the title, the column headings, the units and any note first: thousands or units, pounds or pence, per week or per month.
- For each question, pick out the two or three figures it needs before you touch the calculator.
- Estimate the answer roughly. It usually rules out two or three options on its own.
- Percentage change is the difference divided by the starting value, not the final one.
- Choose Cannot say only when a figure you need is missing, such as a profit when the table gives prices but no costs.
- Check your answer has the unit the question asks for.
Worked example
A garden centre’s table shows units sold in April and May and the price of each item: compost bags 400 then 520 at £6, seed trays 250 then 200 at £3, hanging baskets 80 then 120 at £15.
Question 1: By what percentage did compost bag sales rise from April to May? Options: 20%, 23%, 30%, 52%, 120%. The rise is 520 − 400 = 120 bags, and 120 ÷ 400 = 30%. 23% is the trap: it divides by May’s figure instead of April’s.
Question 2: What was the total revenue from all three items in May? Options: £4,350, £5,190, £5,520, £5,820, £6,000. Compost 520 × £6 = £3,120, seed trays 200 × £3 = £600, baskets 120 × £15 = £1,800, so £5,520. £4,350 is April’s total.
Question 3: How much profit did hanging baskets make in May? Options: £600, £1,200, £1,800, £3,000, Cannot say. Cannot say. The table gives prices but no costs, and £1,800 is revenue, not profit.
Tips for the real Clevry numerical test
- Have your own calculator on the desk before you start. Clevry allows one but does not put one on screen.
- Know your pace: about 75 seconds a question at Expert, 68 at Enhanced and 56 at Essential.
- Try Clevry’s free practice table on its candidate portal, and the extra numerical practice behind the Help button on your candidate dashboard.
- Never leave a question blank to come back to. You cannot return, so commit to your best estimate before Next.
- Do not hurry for its own sake. Most candidates use most of the time, and time is not part of your sten.
- Use a laptop or desktop if you can, so the data and the questions fit on screen together.
Practise the Clevry numerical reasoning test on CogniPrep
Each level is its own game on Clevry’s clock: Expert 20 minutes, Enhanced 18 and Essential 15. A sitting is 16 questions on four pages of one data set and four questions, easier pages first, each with five options and Cannot say on some. The data sets come from 12 original ones per level: a magazine publisher at Expert, shops and small businesses at Enhanced, rotas, pay and production counts at Essential. There is no calculator on screen, so use your own as you would in the real test. Your score is the share you got right, with anything unanswered counted wrong and time not scored, shown as a Clevry-style sten against other CogniPrep players, with feedback on the question types that cost you marks.