How the Clevry Personality Questionnaire works
You see statements about behaviour and motivation at work and rate how far you agree or disagree with each on a five-point scale, with neither agree nor disagree in the middle. Some employers use a forced-choice version instead, where you rank statements against each other.
There is no time limit, and you can complete it over more than one session. It is built to work on a phone as well as a computer.
Core, Enhanced, Workforce and CPQ Nova
Core is the standard form: 21 scales, 20 traits plus a social desirability scale, in about 20 minutes. Enhanced adds nine more traits, 30 scales in about 30 minutes. Clevry also has a Workforce questionnaire for blue-collar, production and manufacturing roles, industry versions such as Call Centre, Customer Service and Graduates, and questionnaires built for one employer from its library of 46 scales.
In January 2026 Clevry introduced CPQ Nova, a redeveloped library of 48 scales on the same five-point scale. If your invitation names Nova, the way you answer is the same.
What the Core questionnaire measures
The 20 Core traits, in Clevry’s five areas:
- Interpersonal Style: Assertive, Listening, Gregarious, Influential.
- Thinking Style: Rational, Decisive, Creative, Strategic.
- Emotional Style: Optimistic, Self-Esteem, Stress Management, Calm.
- Motivations: Striving, Variety, Friendship, Status.
- Culture Fit: Competition, Order, Humour, Change.
- Social Desirability, which measures how far you answered in a socially desirable way.
- Enhanced adds Poised, Adaptable, Rigorous, Internal Control, Resilient, Self-Development, Caring, Profit and Ethics.
How the CPQ is scored
Each scale gets a sten from 1 to 10 against a comparison group. Clevry says there are no rights or wrongs and that the scores do not measure ability, skills or competence. Each scale has two described ends: a high Order score, for example, means you like clearly defined rules, and a low one means you value freedom and spontaneity.
For selection, the report describes how well your profile fits the role the employer has set out. So the questionnaire counts, but there is no score to beat and no end of a scale that is always better.
How to answer
Clevry’s own advice to candidates comes down to this:
- Answer for how you behave at work, not at home.
- Be honest. Similar statements come up more than once, and answers bent to fit the job are hard to keep consistent.
- Do not lean on the middle option. Clevry says neither agree nor disagree, chosen too often, makes you look non-committal.
- Do not overuse the extremes either. Clevry also warns against coming across as overly decisive.
- Go with your first reaction rather than overthinking a statement.
Tips for the real CPQ
- Choose a quiet time. There is no clock, so there is no need to rush.
- If you are interrupted, stop and come back later. The questionnaire can be done in more than one session.
- Think of recent work, study or volunteering when you answer, so your answers describe real behaviour.
- Do not try to look perfect. The social desirability scale is there to pick that up.
Practise the Clevry personality questionnaire on CogniPrep
Our version follows the Core form: 126 statements, six for each of the 20 Core traits and the social desirability scale, one at a time, rated from Strongly disagree to Strongly agree. It is untimed, and one tap records your answer and moves you on, with no Back. At the end you get a profile showing where you sit on each trait and notes on how you used the scale, such as how often you chose the middle or the extremes. It is a profile, not a score.