Axa Assessment Tests

Axa Situational Judgement Test

1. Question 1 of 10

   You are an accounts assistant. Your manager asks for the month’s travel spend for a call in ten minutes. You can see £41,000 posted, and you know two large invoices have not been entered yet which will add somewhere between £6,000 and £9,000. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Tell her the month's travel spend is about £50,000, without setting out what is posted and what is still an estimate of the invoices to come.
   2. Tell her you cannot give a reliable figure until the two outstanding invoices have been entered, and offer to send the number through once the posting has all been completed later in the week.
   3. Tell her that £41,000 is posted so far and that two further invoices worth roughly £6,000 to £9,000 are still to come, so the month as a whole will land somewhere near £50,000.
   4. Present the month's travel spend as settled at £41,000, since that is what the system shows right now and the two outstanding invoices can be picked up in next month's figures instead.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: C. Tell her that £41,000 is posted so far and that two further invoices worth roughly £6,000 to £9,000 are still to come, so the month as a whole will land somewhere near £50,000.

   Least effective: D. Present the month's travel spend as settled at £41,000, since that is what the system shows right now and the two outstanding invoices can be picked up in next month's figures instead.

   A: Presents an estimate as a figure: the number is close, and she cannot tell which part of it is measured and which part is not.

   B: Withholds a usable answer: she has a call in ten minutes and a range would serve her perfectly well.

   D: States a partial figure as the answer: she quotes £41,000 on the call, and the number she has given will move by up to £9,000 once the invoices land.

   The most effective response is to tell her that £41,000 is posted so far and two further invoices worth roughly £6,000 to £9,000 are still to come, so the month lands near £50,000: it gives her something to say on the call, separates what is posted from what is estimated, and lands on a usable total. It beats saying you cannot give a reliable figure until the outstanding invoices are entered, because a range in ten minutes is far better than a precise number next week. It beats telling her the spend is about £50,000 without setting out what is posted and what is estimated, because she cannot defend that without knowing which part is a guess. The least effective response is presenting the month as settled at £41,000: a figure that will move by up to £9,000 is handed over as the month’s spend, and she repeats it. That is asserting something as settled when it is not. The principle: give the range and say which part is measured.

2. Question 2 of 10

   You are a reconciliations clerk. You have been covering two roles for six weeks. Tonight’s break report needs a count of unresolved items and you have lost track of four of them. A careful recount would take ninety minutes you do not have. The report goes to the operations committee. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Report the number you can stand behind, state that four items are uncounted and why, and say plainly that six weeks of double-running is the cause.
   2. Enter a count that you estimate from last week's figure, since it will be close enough and the committee only looks at the direction of travel anyway.
   3. Stay late and do the ninety-minute recount, and say nothing about how long the double-running has gone on.
   4. Submit the report without the count at all, and add it once the recount has been done properly later in the week.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: A. Report the number you can stand behind, state that four items are uncounted and why, and say plainly that six weeks of double-running is the cause.

   Least effective: B. Enter a count that you estimate from last week's figure, since it will be close enough and the committee only looks at the direction of travel anyway.

   B: Records an estimate as a count: the committee reads a measured figure, and the one thing that would tell them the reporting has become unreliable is the thing removed.

   C: Absorbs it again: the number is right this week and the sixth week of covering two roles remains invisible to everybody who could end it.

   D: Removes the number without the reason: the committee sees a gap and has no idea that a six-week resourcing problem sits behind it.

   The most effective response is to report the number you can stand behind, state that four items are uncounted and why, and say plainly that six weeks of double-running is the cause: the committee gets a figure it can trust, an honest statement of what is missing, and the only route to the problem being fixed. It beats submitting the report without the count and adding it later in the week, because a gap with no explanation tells them nothing. It beats staying late for the ninety-minute recount and saying nothing about the double-running, because a seventh week of that being invisible is how this happens again. The least effective response is entering a count estimated from last week’s figure: an estimate is presented as a count, so the report looks exactly as reliable as it did before it stopped being reliable. That is falsifying the measure rather than reporting it incompletely or absorbing the strain. The principle: report what you can stand behind, name what you cannot, and name the cause.

3. Question 3 of 10

   You are an audit associate. A colleague is meeting the client’s financial controller tomorrow to ask for a schedule. Last week the same controller told you sharply that she had already sent it and would not be sending it twice. Your colleague does not know this and has not asked. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Send him a message tomorrow morning just before he goes into the meeting, so that the warning is at least fresh in his mind when he walks in there.
   2. Go and ask the controller yourself whether she ever sent the schedule, without telling your colleague that you are doing it.
   3. Tell your colleague today what the controller said last week, and check together whether the schedule did arrive before he goes and asks for it again.
   4. Let him go into the meeting without mentioning what she said, since he has not asked and she may well be in a better mood about it tomorrow.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: C. Tell your colleague today what the controller said last week, and check together whether the schedule did arrive before he goes and asks for it again.

   Least effective: D. Let him go into the meeting without mentioning what she said, since he has not asked and she may well be in a better mood about it tomorrow.

   A: Times it too late to act on: checking whether the schedule arrived takes longer than the walk to the meeting room.

   B: Duplicates the approach: she now hears from two of you about the same schedule, which is precisely what annoyed her.

   D: Lets a colleague walk into it: a two-minute warning would have changed how he opens the meeting, and the client's goodwill is spent for nothing.

   The most effective response is to tell your colleague today what the controller said last week, and check together whether the schedule did arrive: it gives him the warning while there is still time to check, and checking is what prevents the second ask altogether. It beats messaging him tomorrow morning just before he goes into the meeting, because that leaves no time to look. It beats going to ask the controller yourself whether she ever sent it, because a second approach from a different person is the thing she objected to. The least effective response is letting him go into the meeting without mentioning what she said: he walks in without a fact you hold that would have changed how he ran it. That is withholding it rather than giving it late or acting on it clumsily. The principle: warn the person early enough that the warning is still useful.

4. Question 4 of 10

   You are a research assistant. For the fourth time this month a manager has sent you a “quick” change at 5pm that takes three hours. You have stayed late each time. Tonight you have plans. He is not your line manager and does not know about the previous three. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Tell him in front of the team that he clearly cannot organise his own deadlines and that other people are not there to absorb the consequences.
   2. Stay late again tonight and raise the pattern with your own line manager tomorrow, rather than having the conversation with him directly.
   3. Reply that you cannot do it tonight and leave, without mentioning the previous three or proposing anything about future changes.
   4. Tell him tonight that this is the fourth 5pm change this month, that you cannot do it this evening, and ask to agree a cut-off time for changes.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: D. Tell him tonight that this is the fourth 5pm change this month, that you cannot do it this evening, and ask to agree a cut-off time for changes.

   Least effective: A. Tell him in front of the team that he clearly cannot organise his own deadlines and that other people are not there to absorb the consequences.

   A: Makes a workload problem a public attack on a colleague: the pattern he does not know about is never explained, and what he remembers is being criticised in the open.

   B: Escalates without asking: he does not know he is doing it, and a fourth late night funds the delay.

   C: Refuses the instance and leaves the pattern: tomorrow's 5pm change is exactly as likely as it was this morning.

   The most effective response is to tell him tonight that this is the fourth 5pm change this month, that you cannot do it this evening, and ask to agree a cut-off time for changes: it declines tonight, gives him the information he genuinely does not have, and proposes the one thing that stops it recurring. It beats staying late again and raising the pattern with your own line manager tomorrow, because he cannot fix a habit nobody has told him about. It beats replying that you cannot do it tonight and leaving without mentioning the previous three, because refusing once changes nothing about next week. The least effective response is telling him in front of the team that he clearly cannot organise his own deadlines: a legitimate complaint is delivered as a public character judgement, so the pattern goes unaddressed and the relationship is damaged as well. That is personalising it rather than under-reacting. The principle: name the pattern to the person causing it, and propose the fix.

5. Question 5 of 10

   You are a reporting analyst. In front of the team, a director says you will “of course” have the new board pack ready for Monday. You have never built this pack, the person who normally does it has left, and Monday is three working days away. The director has moved on to the next item. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Spend the three days working it out from the previous packs entirely on your own, and raise it on Monday only if you have not managed to produce something usable.
   2. Speak to the director straight after the meeting, say plainly what you do and do not know how to build, and ask who can walk you through it tomorrow.
   3. Send the request on to another team on Monday morning, explaining to them then that building this pack was never something you could realistically have done.
   4. Contradict the director in the meeting, saying that you have never built the pack and that Monday is not realistic for somebody in your position.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: B. Speak to the director straight after the meeting, say plainly what you do and do not know how to build, and ask who can walk you through it tomorrow.

   Least effective: C. Send the request on to another team on Monday morning, explaining to them then that building this pack was never something you could realistically have done.

   A: Gambles the deadline on self-teaching: if three days are not enough, Monday is the first anybody hears and there is no time left.

   C: Moves the problem on at the deadline: three days in which somebody could have taught you or reassigned it are spent, and another team is handed an overdue pack cold.

   D: Answers a public commitment in public: the point is right and the setting turns it into a disagreement rather than a request for help.

   The most effective response is to speak to the director straight after the meeting, say plainly what you do and do not know how to build, and ask who can walk you through it tomorrow: it is immediate, private, and asks for the specific thing that would make Monday possible. It beats contradicting him in the meeting, because the same point lands far better outside the room. It beats working it out from the previous packs alone and raising it only if you fail, because discovering on Monday that three days were not enough leaves nobody any options. The least effective response is sending the request to another team on Monday morning: the three days that could have solved it are spent in silence and the pack is handed on the morning it is due. That is offloading it rather than raising it clumsily or too late. The principle: ask for the help that makes the deadline possible, and ask today.

6. Question 6 of 10

   You are a reconciliations clerk. Your daily check of forty routine items normally takes an hour and is due by lunchtime. This morning one item is a £9,000 break that a client’s adviser has already telephoned about twice. Investigating it will take most of the morning. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Call the adviser now to say the break is in hand, then decide between the two jobs once you have seen how long the routine items are taking today.
   2. Investigate the £9,000 break first, tell the adviser what you find by lunchtime, and let your team leader know the routine check will run into the afternoon.
   3. Work through the forty routine items as usual and leave the break where it is, on the basis that a client adviser ringing twice is not the same as a formal instruction to investigate.
   4. Do the routine check first because it has a fixed lunchtime deadline, then start on the break in the afternoon and call the adviser back when you know more.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: B. Investigate the £9,000 break first, tell the adviser what you find by lunchtime, and let your team leader know the routine check will run into the afternoon.

   Least effective: C. Work through the forty routine items as usual and leave the break where it is, on the basis that a client adviser ringing twice is not the same as a formal instruction to investigate.

   A: Buys time without deciding anything: the call is useful, and the choice between the two jobs is exactly what is being deferred.

   C: Declines to look at the exception: the one item with a person waiting behind it is the one left untouched, and no instruction was ever needed to look at a £9,000 break.

   D: Ranks by deadline rather than consequence: the routine check has slack in the day and the break has a client waiting on it.

   The most effective response is to investigate the £9,000 break first, tell the adviser what you find by lunchtime, and let your team leader know the routine check will run into the afternoon: the break is the item with an outside party behind it, the routine check has slack, and telling your team leader turns a slip into a managed one. It beats doing the routine check first because it has a fixed lunchtime deadline, since a deadline with slack does not outrank a client waiting on £9,000. It beats calling the adviser to say the break is in hand and deciding later, because a holding call still leaves the decision unmade. The least effective response is working through the forty routine items and leaving the break because nobody formally instructed you: the one item that needed judgement is passed over in favour of routine work. That is avoidance rather than a defensible ordering. The principle: the exception is the work, and the routine is what has slack in it.

7. Question 7 of 10

   You are an audit associate. Your section of the file will not be finished by Thursday as planned; Monday is realistic. Your manager is meeting the client tomorrow morning and will be agreeing the timetable for the rest of the audit. She has not asked you for an update. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Tell her on Thursday when the section is actually due, so that the update you give her is a firm one rather than a forecast.
   2. Tell her today that your section will be ready on Monday rather than Thursday, so she can agree a timetable with the client that she can actually hold.
   3. Work through this evening and tomorrow evening to try to make Thursday, and tell her only if it becomes clear that you are not going to manage it.
   4. Leave it until Thursday without telling her, since the slip is only two working days and the position may look better by the time she asks about it.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: B. Tell her today that your section will be ready on Monday rather than Thursday, so she can agree a timetable with the client that she can actually hold.

   Least effective: D. Leave it until Thursday without telling her, since the slip is only two working days and the position may look better by the time she asks about it.

   A: Delays past the point of use: the timetable is agreed tomorrow, so a firm update on Thursday arrives after the commitment has been made.

   C: Gambles her commitment on your own overtime: if the two evenings are not enough, she has already given the client a date.

   D: Withholds the one fact she needs before the meeting: she commits to a date in front of the client tomorrow, and the first anyone learns otherwise is when Thursday arrives.

   The most effective response is to tell her today that your section will be ready on Monday rather than Thursday: she is about to commit to a timetable, a two-day slip is easy to absorb before it is promised and awkward afterwards, and she cannot ask for what she does not know exists. It beats telling her on Thursday when the section is actually due, because Thursday is after the meeting. It beats working through two evenings to try to make Thursday and telling her only if you fail, because betting her commitment on your own evenings is a risk she has not agreed to take. The least effective response is leaving it until Thursday without telling her: she agrees a date with the client while the one person who knows it is wrong says nothing. That is silence rather than a badly timed update. The principle: bad news travels before the commitment, not after it.

8. Question 8 of 10

   You are a personal banking assistant. A long-standing customer wants his daily transfer limit raised to £20,000 today so he can send a deposit to someone he has met online but never in person. He is certain and slightly impatient. The limit change is within what you can do. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Raise the limit to £20,000 as he has asked, since it is within what you are allowed to do and he is a long-standing customer who has been clear about what he wants.
   2. Explain plainly why sending a large deposit to someone he has never met carries a real risk, ask him a few questions about the arrangement, and only then discuss the limit.
   3. Tell him the limit cannot be raised today and that he will need to come back another time, without going into why you are uncomfortable with the transfer.
   4. Refer him to the fraud team and take no part in the conversation yourself, since deposits to people met online are exactly what they are there for.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: B. Explain plainly why sending a large deposit to someone he has never met carries a real risk, ask him a few questions about the arrangement, and only then discuss the limit.

   Least effective: A. Raise the limit to £20,000 as he has asked, since it is within what you are allowed to do and he is a long-standing customer who has been clear about what he wants.

   A: Decides which parts of the job count: the limit is within your authority, but so is the conversation about why the money is moving, and skipping it is the whole of what the role is for here.

   C: Uses a false obstacle instead of the real reason: he leaves without the information that might actually change his mind, and may simply try another route.

   D: Escalates before speaking to him: an impatient customer handed to a specialist team without a word from you is likely to disengage entirely.

   The most effective response is to explain plainly why sending a large deposit to someone he has never met carries a real risk, ask a few questions about the arrangement, and only then discuss the limit: it treats him as an adult, supplies the thing he does not have, and keeps the limit question open rather than making the conversation a refusal. It beats telling him the limit cannot be raised today without going into why, because inventing an obstacle sends him elsewhere with the same plan and no new information. It beats referring him to the fraud team and taking no part yourself, because a cold referral loses the only person he is currently willing to listen to. The least effective response is raising the limit to £20,000 as he asked because it is within what you may do: the transfer is enabled without any of the conversation the situation calls for, purely because the button was within reach. That is treating an authority as the whole job rather than a clumsily handled warning. The principle: authority to do something is not a reason to do it without the conversation that goes with it.

9. Question 9 of 10

   You are an accounts assistant. A supplier’s credit insurer emails asking you to confirm that your firm has “no disputed invoices” with them. There are two disputed invoices, both small, and your manager is on leave for a week. The insurer says a reply is needed within two days or cover will be withdrawn. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Leave the email until your manager returns, since a request of this kind is plainly above your level to answer either way.
   2. Assure the insurer that there are no disputed invoices, since the two in question are small and will almost certainly be resolved within the week anyway.
   3. Reply that the request has to be answered by somebody with authority, tell the insurer when that will be, and put it to your manager's cover today.
   4. Reply setting out the two disputed invoices and the amounts, so that the insurer has an accurate answer inside their two-day deadline.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: C. Reply that the request has to be answered by somebody with authority, tell the insurer when that will be, and put it to your manager's cover today.

   Least effective: B. Assure the insurer that there are no disputed invoices, since the two in question are small and will almost certainly be resolved within the week anyway.

   A: Lets a deadline run out: cover is withdrawn in two days, and a cover exists precisely so that a week's absence does not do that.

   B: Asserts something you know is untrue to a third party: an insurer withdraws or maintains cover on it, and the two disputes exist today whatever happens next week.

   D: Answers on the firm's behalf without authority: an accurate disclosure to a credit insurer is still a disclosure somebody senior should make.

   The most effective response is to reply that the request has to be answered by somebody with authority, tell the insurer when that will be, and put it to your manager’s cover today: it declines to answer without authority, protects the two-day deadline by saying what is happening, and puts it in front of the person standing in. It beats replying with the two disputed invoices and the amounts, because the disclosure itself needs authority even when it is true. It beats leaving the email until your manager returns, because a week’s silence loses the cover. The least effective response is confirming there are none on the grounds that the two are small and will be resolved within the week: a false confirmation goes to somebody who will act on it, from a person with no authority to send it at all. That is a false statement rather than an over-reach or a delay. The principle: when you cannot answer, say who can and by when, and start that today.

10. Question 10 of 10

    You are an onboarding analyst. A client’s review was due last month and you missed it. Because of the delay the client has been on a higher fee tier for four weeks, costing them about £300. Nobody has queried it, and moving them now would put the fee right from today without anybody asking why. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

    1. Tell the client directly that the review was late and that you will look into the fees, before working out internally what can actually be done about the four weeks.
    2. Move the client to the right tier today, tell your manager the review was missed and the client has overpaid, and ask how the four weeks should be refunded.
    3. Move the client to the right tier today and raise the missed review at your next one-to-one with your manager, when there will be time to talk through how it happened.
    4. Move the client to the right tier today and keep the missed review to yourself, since the fee is correct from now on and nobody has asked about the four weeks.
    Show the answer

    Most effective: B. Move the client to the right tier today, tell your manager the review was missed and the client has overpaid, and ask how the four weeks should be refunded.

    Least effective: D. Move the client to the right tier today and keep the missed review to yourself, since the fee is correct from now on and nobody has asked about the four weeks.

    A: Opens with the client before the firm: a client told about a refund nobody has agreed yet may be promised something that cannot be delivered.

    C: Delays the decision that has money in it: the refund is the client's, and it waits on a diary slot that exists for your development.

    D: Hides your own error behind a fix: the client is still £300 down, and the only person who knows why has decided that a corrected fee going forward settles it.

    The most effective response is to move the client to the right tier today, tell your manager the review was missed and the client has overpaid, and ask how the four weeks should be refunded: the tier is fixed immediately, the £300 is the client’s money, and your manager owns whether and how it goes back. It beats moving the tier and raising the missed review at your next one-to-one, because that meeting is about you and the refund is about the client. It beats telling the client directly before working out internally what can be done, because that risks a second broken expectation. The least effective response is moving the tier and keeping the missed review to yourself: the fee looks right from today, the client stays out of pocket, and the fact that would put it right is held by the one person with a reason not to share it. That is concealment of your own mistake rather than a badly sequenced disclosure. The principle: fixing it forwards is not the same as putting it right.