Cigna Assessment Tests

Cigna Situational Judgement Test

1. Question 1 of 10

   You are a settlements assistant. You realise that a trade you booked yesterday went to the wrong account, and the error will show on a client report that goes out at 5pm today. Nobody has spotted it. Correcting it takes twenty minutes and needs your supervisor to approve the change. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Ask a colleague whether a booking like this usually corrects itself overnight, and decide what to do about the report once you know what normally happens.
   2. Tell your supervisor what happened, ask them to approve the correction now, and check the report before 5pm to confirm the account it shows is the right one.
   3. Correct the booking yourself and mention it to your supervisor at the end of the day, once the report has gone and the change has already worked its way through.
   4. Reassure your supervisor that the day's bookings are all clean, and correct the account quietly tomorrow morning once the report everybody is looking at today has already gone out.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: B. Tell your supervisor what happened, ask them to approve the correction now, and check the report before 5pm to confirm the account it shows is the right one.

   Least effective: D. Reassure your supervisor that the day's bookings are all clean, and correct the account quietly tomorrow morning once the report everybody is looking at today has already gone out.

   A: Acts on second-hand practice instead of the facts: you already know the account is wrong and when the report goes, so nothing a colleague says changes what needs doing.

   C: Bypasses the approval the change needs: the correction is not yours to make alone, and telling your supervisor afterwards leaves them approving something that has happened.

   D: Gives an assurance you know is untrue: the words buy a quiet afternoon and leave your supervisor defending a report to a client on the strength of something you have just told them that is wrong.

   The most effective response is to tell your supervisor what happened, ask them to approve the correction now, and check the report before 5pm: the error is yours, the fix is short, the approval exists, and there is time to use it. It beats correcting the booking yourself and mentioning it at the end of the day, because the change needs an approval that cannot be given after the fact. It beats asking a colleague whether a booking like this usually corrects itself overnight, because the relevant facts are already in your hands and asking around only spends the time you have. The least effective response is reassuring your supervisor that the day’s bookings are all clean and correcting the account quietly tomorrow: it is a statement you know to be false, made to the one person who could have fixed it, and it sends a wrong report to a client with their name behind it. That is dishonesty rather than a clumsy way of putting it right. The principle: own your own error to the person who can still act on it.

2. Question 2 of 10

   You are an onboarding analyst. A colleague in sales asks you to confirm to his prospect that their account can be live by the end of the month, which would win the deal. Accounts like this usually take six weeks and the checks are not yours. It is the eighteenth. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Tell him six weeks is typical, that you cannot commit to month end, and offer to ask the checks team today whether this one could be prioritised.
   2. Promise him the account will be live by month end, since he needs it to win the deal and there is a reasonable chance the checks come back quickly this time.
   3. Tell him the timing is nothing to do with you at all, and that he will have to ask the checks team himself if he wants a firm date for the prospect.
   4. Tell him you will find out and come back to him, without saying anything now about how long these accounts normally take.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: A. Tell him six weeks is typical, that you cannot commit to month end, and offer to ask the checks team today whether this one could be prioritised.

   Least effective: B. Promise him the account will be live by month end, since he needs it to win the deal and there is a reasonable chance the checks come back quickly this time.

   B: Gives a promise about somebody else's process: the prospect signs on it, and when six weeks turns out to be six weeks the firm has broken a commitment it never made.

   C: Passes a colleague away from help you could give: you know the typical timescale and could ask, and he is left starting from nothing.

   D: Withholds the useful part: he is talking to the prospect today, and the six-week norm is the thing that would stop him promising anything.

   The most effective response is to tell him six weeks is typical, that you cannot commit to month end, and offer to ask the checks team today whether this one could be prioritised: it gives him the fact that matters now, refuses the commitment that is not yours, and offers the one action that might help. It beats telling him the timing is nothing to do with you and he must ask the checks team himself, because you hold information he needs and can ask a question he cannot. It beats saying you will find out and come back without giving him the usual timescale, because he may promise month end today while waiting. The least effective response is promising the account will be live by month end: a firm date is given for a process run by another team, and a prospect signs a deal on it. That is a commitment you cannot back rather than an unhelpful answer. The principle: give the norm, refuse the promise, and offer the ask.

3. Question 3 of 10

   You are a client services associate. A client emails at 9am insisting that a routine quarterly statement is sent to her today rather than next week, and will not say why. Producing it early takes about forty minutes. Your other work today has no fixed deadline. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Reply that the statement will follow on the usual date next week, and assume that a client who will not explain the urgency does not really have any.
   2. Reply asking her to explain why she needs it today, and produce the statement once she has told you what the underlying deadline actually is.
   3. Produce the statement today and send it without any covering message, so that she has what she asked for and nothing more is made of it.
   4. Produce the statement today, and when you send it ask whether there is a deadline behind the request so the timing can be built in from next quarter.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: D. Produce the statement today, and when you send it ask whether there is a deadline behind the request so the timing can be built in from next quarter.

   Least effective: A. Reply that the statement will follow on the usual date next week, and assume that a client who will not explain the urgency does not really have any.

   A: Declines to find out: forty minutes of uncommitted time is available, and the reason she will not explain is treated as evidence that there is no reason.

   B: Makes help conditional on an explanation: she has already declined to give one, and forty minutes of your time is not worth the standoff.

   C: Solves today and not next quarter: the same scramble happens again because nobody ever asked what sits behind the date.

   The most effective response is to produce the statement today and ask, when you send it, whether there is a deadline behind the request: she gets what she asked for inside a day that has room for it, and the question is asked at the point where it costs nothing. It beats replying to ask why she needs it today before producing anything, because forty spare minutes is not worth a standoff over an explanation. It beats producing it today and sending it without any covering message, because asking once prevents the same request arriving urgently every quarter. The least effective response is replying that the statement will follow on the usual date next week: a client is refused something the day plainly had room for, on an assumption about her motives that nobody tested. That is avoidance rather than an unhelpful way of helping. The principle: do the cheap thing, and ask the question that stops it recurring.

4. Question 4 of 10

   You are a financial crime analyst. A colleague has closed eleven alerts in one afternoon with the same one-line reason. Some of those alerts look to you as though they needed more work. He is well regarded and closed them within policy. Your team leader reviews a sample of closures monthly. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Reopen the eleven alerts yourself and work them properly, without raising it with him or your team leader at all.
   2. Say nothing and let the monthly sample review pick it up, since that is exactly what the sampling process exists to catch.
   3. Ask him first what the one-line reason covers, and if the answer does not satisfy you, put the eleven closures to your team leader as something to look at.
   4. Tell your team leader the eleven closures were properly reasoned and consistent with policy, so that nothing has to be reopened and your colleague is not put under suspicion.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: C. Ask him first what the one-line reason covers, and if the answer does not satisfy you, put the eleven closures to your team leader as something to look at.

   Least effective: D. Tell your team leader the eleven closures were properly reasoned and consistent with policy, so that nothing has to be reopened and your colleague is not put under suspicion.

   A: Redoes a colleague's work in silence: he learns nothing, the duplication is invisible, and nobody decides whether the closures were wrong.

   B: Leaves it to a sample: eleven closures in an afternoon may well not be sampled at all, and the specific thing you noticed is not what sampling looks for.

   D: Vouches for work you have not verified: your team leader relies on it when choosing the monthly sample, and the one signal that something needed another look is removed by the person who saw it.

   The most effective response is to ask him first what the one-line reason covers, and if the answer does not satisfy you, put the eleven closures to your team leader: he may have a perfectly good answer, asking costs nothing and is recoverable, and the route onward is clear if the answer is thin. It beats saying nothing and letting the monthly sample review pick it up, because a monthly sample is unlikely to land on these eleven. It beats reopening the alerts yourself and working them properly, because quietly redoing them decides nothing and duplicates everything. The least effective response is telling your team leader the closures were properly reasoned and consistent with policy: she is told they were sound by the one person who thought otherwise, so the sample is chosen on a false picture. That is asserting something you have not checked rather than under-reacting. The principle: ask the person, then take a real doubt to the person who samples.

5. Question 5 of 10

   You are an onboarding analyst. Two colleagues are in dispute about a missed client deadline, and your team leader is deciding between their accounts. You saw the email that settles it: one of them did send the information on time. That colleague is the one you get on with least. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Keep what you saw to yourself and let your team leader decide on the two accounts, since it is not your dispute and you have no wish to be drawn into it.
   2. Forward the email to your team leader with no explanation, so the facts are available without you appearing to take a side.
   3. Tell your team leader today that you saw the email and when it was sent, and offer to forward it so the decision rests on the record rather than on recollection.
   4. Tell the colleague you get on with least that you saw the email, and leave it to him to raise it with your team leader himself.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: C. Tell your team leader today that you saw the email and when it was sent, and offer to forward it so the decision rests on the record rather than on recollection.

   Least effective: A. Keep what you saw to yourself and let your team leader decide on the two accounts, since it is not your dispute and you have no wish to be drawn into it.

   A: Withholds the fact that settles it: a colleague is blamed for something the record shows he did not do, and the one person who could correct that has chosen not to.

   B: Supplies the document and not the context: an unexplained email in a dispute is easy to misread and invites a question you have avoided answering.

   D: Routes the evidence through the interested party: it arrives as his claim rather than as your observation, which is exactly what is in doubt.

   The most effective response is to tell your team leader today that you saw the email and when it was sent, and offer to forward it: it puts the decisive fact in front of the person deciding, in your own words, and offers the document behind it. It beats telling the colleague you get on with least and leaving him to raise it, because evidence relayed by the person it helps carries less weight. It beats forwarding the email with no explanation, because a bare forward leaves your team leader guessing what it shows. The least effective response is keeping what you saw to yourself because it is not your dispute: a colleague is found at fault for something the record disproves, because the only witness preferred not to be involved. That is silence rather than an awkward or indirect way of speaking up. The principle: if you hold the fact that settles it, say so plainly, whoever it helps.

6. Question 6 of 10

   You are an assurance trainee. A confirmation from the client’s bank is three weeks late and the file cannot close without it. Firm policy is that only the engagement manager contacts third parties. She is on holiday until Monday and the file is due Wednesday. You have the bank contact’s details. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Telephone the bank contact yourself today to chase the confirmation, since the manager is away and one telephone call is all that stands between the file and closing on time.
   2. Ask the engagement manager's cover today whether she will chase the bank, and set out that the file is due Wednesday and the confirmation is three weeks late.
   3. Ask the client to chase their own bank for the confirmation, since they hold the relationship and it would reach the bank far faster coming from them than from you.
   4. Wait for the engagement manager to come back on Monday and ask her to chase the bank then, which still leaves two clear days before the file is due on Wednesday.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: B. Ask the engagement manager's cover today whether she will chase the bank, and set out that the file is due Wednesday and the confirmation is three weeks late.

   Least effective: A. Telephone the bank contact yourself today to chase the confirmation, since the manager is away and one telephone call is all that stands between the file and closing on time.

   A: Contacts a third party the policy reserves to somebody else: an unauthorised approach on an audit confirmation puts the evidence itself in question, whoever ends up receiving it.

   C: Routes the evidence through the client: a confirmation the client has chased is exactly the independence that a direct request from the audit team exists to protect.

   D: Spends three of the five remaining days: a bank that has taken three weeks is unlikely to answer inside two.

   The most effective response is to ask the engagement manager’s cover today whether she will chase the bank, setting out that the file is due Wednesday and the confirmation is three weeks late: a cover exists precisely for a week like this, the request is squarely within her authority, and it costs a message. It beats waiting for the engagement manager on Monday and asking her to chase then, because that leaves two days for a bank that has taken three weeks. It beats asking the client to chase their own bank, because a confirmation the client has chased is no longer independent of the client. The least effective response is telephoning the bank contact yourself: a third party is contacted by somebody the policy does not permit to contact them, which is the one thing that can make the confirmation worthless. That is breaching the policy rather than applying it too slowly. The principle: the cover exists so the rule and the deadline do not have to fight.

7. Question 7 of 10

   You are a branch adviser. The colleague who does the weekly cash reconciliation has left and nobody has been trained to replace her. It is due Friday. You have watched her do it a few times and there is a written procedure. Your branch manager is aware the role is vacant. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Attempt the reconciliation on Friday from the written procedure, and ask your branch manager to look over it afterwards rather than before you start on it.
   2. Tell your branch manager that the reconciliation cannot be done this week because the trained person has left, and leave it until somebody is trained.
   3. Tell your branch manager you will attempt it from the written procedure this Friday, and ask her to check it with you the first time so nothing is missed.
   4. Refer the reconciliation on to the area operations team and take it off the branch's list, without sending them the branch records they would need to do it.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: C. Tell your branch manager you will attempt it from the written procedure this Friday, and ask her to check it with you the first time so nothing is missed.

   Least effective: D. Refer the reconciliation on to the area operations team and take it off the branch's list, without sending them the branch records they would need to do it.

   A: Puts the check after the work: a first attempt at a cash control is reviewed once it is already done rather than while it can still be steered.

   B: Treats a written procedure as no procedure: the document exists precisely so somebody else can pick it up.

   D: Passes a branch task to a team that does not do it: nobody there has the branch's records, and Friday arrives with the reconciliation no closer to being done.

   The most effective response is to tell your branch manager you will attempt it from the written procedure this Friday, and ask her to check it with you the first time: the procedure exists, you have seen it done, and asking for a check on the first attempt is what makes trying it safe. It beats attempting it from the procedure and asking her to look it over afterwards, because an unchecked first cash reconciliation is the one most likely to be wrong. It beats telling her it cannot be done this week because the trained person has left, because a written procedure is what allows the work to continue. The least effective response is referring it to the area operations team without sending them the branch records: the task goes to people who neither own it nor hold what they would need, and Friday still arrives. That is offloading it rather than attempting it unsafely or declining it. The principle: pick it up from the procedure, and ask to be checked the first time.

8. Question 8 of 10

   You are an audit associate testing a client’s stock records. Four of the thirty items in your sample have no paperwork behind them. Your senior told the client’s finance team yesterday that the testing was going well. The file is reviewed on Friday, and the four items would change what it concludes. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Ask the client's finance team to find the missing paperwork, and decide what the working paper should say once you have seen whether they can produce it.
   2. Write the four items up in the working paper today and take them to your senior straight away, so the conclusion can be revisited well before the file is reviewed on Friday.
   3. Write the four items up in the working paper without telling your senior, so the file records the position and nobody has to reopen what the client has already been told about the testing.
   4. Finish the remaining testing first and put all of the sample's problems to your senior together on Friday morning, so the discussion happens once rather than in pieces.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: B. Write the four items up in the working paper today and take them to your senior straight away, so the conclusion can be revisited well before the file is reviewed on Friday.

   Least effective: C. Write the four items up in the working paper without telling your senior, so the file records the position and nobody has to reopen what the client has already been told about the testing.

   A: Lets the client settle a file point: the gap is evidence in its own right, and whether it is recorded stops being your judgement or your senior's.

   C: Stays silent on a point the reviewer needs: the paper is technically complete, but the one person who could act on it before Friday learns nothing, and the client keeps a picture that is now wrong.

   D: Delays the decision: Friday morning is the review itself, which leaves no time to do anything about four items that change the conclusion.

   The most effective response is to write the four items up in the working paper today and take them to your senior straight away: four unsupported items in a sample of thirty is a finding, your senior owns the conclusion, and there are days left to act on it. It beats finishing the remaining testing and putting all the sample’s problems to them together on Friday morning, because Friday is the review, so raising it then is raising it too late to change anything. It beats asking the client’s finance team to find the missing paperwork first, because missing paperwork is itself the evidence, and waiting hands them the decision about what your file says. The least effective response is writing the four items up without telling your senior: the paper is complete and the one person who could act is not told, so the error survives review and the client keeps an assurance that is no longer true. That is silence about something somebody needed, which is a different kind of wrong from raising it late, or from keeping the question open with the client. The principle: put evidence in front of the person who owns the conclusion while they can still use it.

9. Question 9 of 10

   You are a reporting analyst. Two months ago you raised a data quality problem and were told by the owning team that you had wasted their time. The same problem has appeared again, larger. You have been co-operating with that team on a separate project since. Your manager is available. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Leave it this time, since you raised it once, were rebuffed, and it is their data and their responsibility to notice.
   2. Stop helping the owning team on the separate project because of how they responded last time, and let them discover the data problem for themselves.
   3. Raise it with your manager this time rather than the owning team directly, setting out both occurrences so the pattern is visible and the route is hers to choose.
   4. Raise it with the owning team again exactly as before, since the process says problems go to the team that owns the data.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: C. Raise it with your manager this time rather than the owning team directly, setting out both occurrences so the pattern is visible and the route is hers to choose.

   Least effective: B. Stop helping the owning team on the separate project because of how they responded last time, and let them discover the data problem for themselves.

   A: Treats a rebuff as a decision: being told you wasted somebody's time is not a finding that the problem does not exist.

   B: Withdraws co-operation after a disagreement: a separate project loses your help for reasons nobody has explained, and the data problem is left to be found by accident.

   D: Repeats an approach that failed: the same route produced a dismissal last time and nothing about it has changed.

   The most effective response is to raise it with your manager this time rather than the owning team directly, setting out both occurrences: two is a pattern rather than an incident, she can pick a route that does not depend on the same reception, and nothing is dropped. It beats raising it with the owning team again exactly as before, because that route already failed. It beats leaving it because you raised it once and were rebuffed, because a rude response is not evidence about the data. The least effective response is stopping your help on the separate project and letting them discover the problem themselves: unrelated co-operation is withdrawn as payback and the problem is deliberately left for somebody else to find. That is retaliation rather than a badly chosen route. The principle: change the route, not your willingness to raise it.

10. Question 10 of 10

    You are a customer service adviser. You and a colleague set up a daily handover at 2pm and run it together. She disagreed with you sharply in front of the team on Monday and it has been awkward since. Nobody else attends, and the afternoon shift works from what comes out of it. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

    1. Stop turning up to the handover so that you do not have to face her every afternoon, and leave the afternoon shift to work out for themselves that it has stopped.
    2. Keep going to the handover and say nothing at all about Monday, on the basis that these things fade if nobody picks at them.
    3. Ask your team leader to take the daily handover over from the two of you entirely, without explaining to her that Monday is the reason you would rather not be running it.
    4. Keep going to the handover, and tell her plainly that Monday is finished as far as you are concerned so that it does not sit between you every afternoon.
    Show the answer

    Most effective: D. Keep going to the handover, and tell her plainly that Monday is finished as far as you are concerned so that it does not sit between you every afternoon.

    Least effective: A. Stop turning up to the handover so that you do not have to face her every afternoon, and leave the afternoon shift to work out for themselves that it has stopped.

    A: Withdraws from a shared commitment to avoid somebody: the afternoon shift loses the handover it works from, and the people who pay for Monday are the ones who were not in the room.

    B: Waits out an atmosphere: the handover keeps running and both of you keep having it in a silence neither can break.

    C: Hands off a working arrangement without the reason: your team leader inherits it not knowing why, and the disagreement is still there underneath.

    The most effective response is to keep going to the handover and tell her plainly that Monday is finished as far as you are concerned: the handover matters to a shift that was not part of the argument, and saying it is closed is the smallest thing that lets both of you carry on. It beats keeping going and saying nothing at all about Monday, because an unspoken disagreement makes every handover harder. It beats asking your team leader to take the handover over without explaining why, because handing it upward without the reason solves nothing and loses the arrangement. The least effective response is stopping turning up to the handover so you do not have to face her: a commitment you set up yourself is dropped to avoid somebody, and the afternoon shift finds out by missing it. That is withdrawal as payback rather than an awkward or evasive response. The principle: never let the people outside the argument pay for it.