Goldman Sachs Assessment Tests

Goldman Sachs Situational Judgement Test

1. Question 1 of 10

   You are an accounts assistant. A supplier payment run has to be approved by 3pm or the supplier will not be paid until Monday, and they have said they will hold a delivery until they are. It is 2:15pm. A colleague asks you to reformat last month’s expenses spreadsheet, which is wanted for a meeting next week. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Start on the expenses spreadsheet and leave the payment run alone until it is done, on the grounds that somebody more senior would have said something if the 3pm deadline really mattered today.
   2. Ask a colleague to take the payment run so that you can make a proper start on the expenses spreadsheet while the request is still fresh in your mind.
   3. Get the payment run approved before 3pm, then tell your colleague you will reformat the expenses spreadsheet afterwards and give them a time when it will be with them.
   4. Work on the expenses spreadsheet and the payment run in turn through the afternoon, giving each of them a few minutes at a time, so that your colleague sees progress and the payment is not left untouched.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: C. Get the payment run approved before 3pm, then tell your colleague you will reformat the expenses spreadsheet afterwards and give them a time when it will be with them.

   Least effective: A. Start on the expenses spreadsheet and leave the payment run alone until it is done, on the grounds that somebody more senior would have said something if the 3pm deadline really mattered today.

   A: Assumes the deadline away: nobody has been asked and nothing has been checked, so a delivery is put at risk on the strength of a silence that means nothing at all.

   B: Hands off the urgent job: the deadline stays yours, and the harder task goes to somebody who has not been following it, to protect work that is not wanted until next week.

   D: Splits effort so nothing finishes: the payment run needs a clear run at it before 3pm, and alternating is the one approach that risks missing a deadline nothing else in the day competes with.

   The most effective response is to get the payment run approved before 3pm, then tell your colleague you will reformat the expenses spreadsheet afterwards and give them a time: 3pm is the only fixed point in the day, the spreadsheet is wanted next week, and a word means they are not left wondering. It beats working on both in turn through the afternoon, because dividing the next forty-five minutes is exactly how the payment run misses 3pm. It beats asking a colleague to take the payment run so you can start the spreadsheet, because moving the urgent work to somebody unfamiliar with it buys time on a task nothing is waiting for. The least effective response is starting on the expenses spreadsheet and leaving the payment run on the assumption that somebody would have said if 3pm mattered: it puts a delivery at risk on a premise nobody was asked to confirm. That is avoidance rather than a defensible ordering of work. The principle: protect the deadline the outside world is holding you to, and tell the person whose work waits.

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 customer service adviser. A customer has been told by a colleague that his claim would be settled this week. It will not be: it needs information from him that nobody has asked for, and that will take another fortnight. He is telephoning now, expecting good news. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Tell him there has been a delay and that somebody will contact him with a new date once the file has been properly reviewed.
   2. Assure him it is still on track for this week, and leave the letter to correct him when it does not arrive, by which time somebody else will be handling it.
   3. Apologise at length for the wrong information, and offer to raise a complaint about the colleague who gave him the original date.
   4. Tell him plainly that it will take about a fortnight, apologise that he was told otherwise, and take the information you need from him on this call.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: D. Tell him plainly that it will take about a fortnight, apologise that he was told otherwise, and take the information you need from him on this call.

   Least effective: B. Assure him it is still on track for this week, and leave the letter to correct him when it does not arrive, by which time somebody else will be handling it.

   A: Gives him a delay and no plan: the information you need is still not asked for, so the fortnight does not start today.

   B: Repeats a promise you know is wrong: he plans around a settlement that is not coming, and the correction is left to arrive by post from nobody in particular.

   C: Offers process instead of progress: he wants his claim settled, and a complaint about a colleague does not move it forward by a day.

   The most effective response is to tell him plainly that it will take about a fortnight, apologise that he was told otherwise, and take what you need from him on this call: it corrects the expectation, owns the firm’s error, and uses the call to start the fortnight rather than to schedule another one. It beats telling him there has been a delay and that somebody will contact him with a new date, because a vague delay leaves the clock stopped. It beats apologising at length and offering to raise a complaint about the colleague who gave the original date, because a complaint does not settle his claim. The least effective response is assuring him it is still on track for this week: a promise you know to be false buys a comfortable call, and he discovers the truth when nothing arrives. That is a false statement rather than an incomplete or misdirected response. The principle: give the real date, own the error, and start the clock on the call.

4. Question 4 of 10

   You are a branch adviser. A customer at the next desk raises his voice at a new colleague, saying she has “wasted an hour” of his time. Other customers are looking. Your colleague has gone quiet and is close to tears. The customer’s underlying problem is one you know how to fix. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Wait to see whether your colleague can manage it herself, and step in only if the customer's voice gets louder than it already is.
   2. Tell the customer in front of the others that speaking to staff like that is unacceptable, and that his behaviour is the reason his problem is still unresolved.
   3. Step across, offer to take the customer's problem yourself so your colleague can step away, and deal with him calmly at your own desk.
   4. Take your colleague aside straight away to check she is all right, and leave the customer at the desk until somebody else becomes free.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: C. Step across, offer to take the customer's problem yourself so your colleague can step away, and deal with him calmly at your own desk.

   Least effective: B. Tell the customer in front of the others that speaking to staff like that is unacceptable, and that his behaviour is the reason his problem is still unresolved.

   A: Leaves a new colleague to absorb it: she has already gone quiet, and the test of whether she can cope is being run in front of a full branch.

   B: Makes it about the person in public: the branch now has two people raising their voices, the customer's problem is untouched, and your colleague is still at the centre of it.

   D: Solves half of it: she is looked after, and an angry customer is left unattended in a branch where everybody is watching.

   The most effective response is to step across, offer to take the customer’s problem yourself so your colleague can step away, and deal with him calmly at your own desk: it removes her from the exchange, gives him the one thing that will actually calm him, and moves it away from the audience. It beats waiting to see whether she can manage it herself, because she has already stopped coping and the branch is watching. It beats taking her aside to check she is all right and leaving him at the desk, because an abandoned angry customer gets louder, not quieter. The least effective response is telling him in front of the others that his behaviour is why his problem is unresolved: it answers a scene with a scene, the problem is no closer to being fixed, and she is left standing in the middle of a public argument about herself. That is personalising it rather than misjudging the timing. The principle: take the problem off them both, then deal with the behaviour privately.

5. Question 5 of 10

   You are a settlements assistant. The daily control log should be completed each afternoon and you have not filled it in for four days. Everything was actually checked. Your supervisor reviews the log weekly and it is due tomorrow. Filling in the four days now would look identical to filling them in on the day. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Mark the four days as checked on their own dates so the log reads as complete, since the checks genuinely were done and the timing of the entry changes nothing about that.
   2. Complete the four days now without any note about when they were entered, since the substance is accurate and nobody asked about entry times.
   3. Complete the four days now, mark clearly that they were entered late, and tell your supervisor before the review so she knows what she is looking at.
   4. Leave the four days blank and tell your supervisor tomorrow morning that the checks were all done but the log was simply not kept up, so nothing inaccurate is written down at all.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: C. Complete the four days now, mark clearly that they were entered late, and tell your supervisor before the review so she knows what she is looking at.

   Least effective: A. Mark the four days as checked on their own dates so the log reads as complete, since the checks genuinely were done and the timing of the entry changes nothing about that.

   A: Records four entries as made on days they were not: the log's value is that it shows when a check happened, and your supervisor reviews it believing exactly that.

   B: Leaves out the one fact that matters: an unmarked backfill is indistinguishable from a contemporaneous entry, which is the whole question.

   D: Discards a real record: the checks happened and the log should say so, just with the entry date visible.

   The most effective response is to complete the four days now, mark clearly that they were entered late, and tell your supervisor before the review: the substance is captured, the lateness is visible, and she reviews the log knowing what it represents. It beats completing the four days now without any note about when they were entered, because an unmarked backfill looks exactly like a contemporaneous entry. It beats leaving them blank and telling her the checks were done but the log was not kept up, because throwing away accurate information helps nobody. The least effective response is marking the four days as checked on their own dates: entries are dated to days on which they were not made, so a log that exists to show when checks happened is made to show something untrue. That is falsifying the record rather than under-documenting or over-correcting. The principle: backfill if you must, and say on the face of it that you did.

6. Question 6 of 10

   You are a financial crime analyst. A colleague on your team has forty alerts outstanding against a five-day limit, and some are now eight days old. They have said twice that they are on top of it. Your own queue is clear. The weekly figures your team leader sees do not show individual backlogs. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Offer to take a share of the older alerts today, and say that if the backlog is still there at the end of the week you will both need to raise it with your team leader.
   2. Send a note over to your team leader asking them to look at your colleague's queue, and offer none of your own spare capacity while somebody senior decides what to do.
   3. Work through a few of the oldest alerts yourself and mention it to your colleague afterwards, so the backlog comes down without an awkward conversation about it now.
   4. Take them at their word that they are on top of it and leave the alerts with them, since it is their own queue to manage and they have now said twice that it is under control.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: A. Offer to take a share of the older alerts today, and say that if the backlog is still there at the end of the week you will both need to raise it with your team leader.

   Least effective: B. Send a note over to your team leader asking them to look at your colleague's queue, and offer none of your own spare capacity while somebody senior decides what to do.

   B: Hands the colleague to their manager instead of helping: your queue is clear, the alerts are eight days old today, and the first they know of it is a conversation with their team leader.

   C: Helps quietly and leaves the cause: the queue comes down this week, the reason it built up is never discussed, and it builds up again next month.

   D: Accepts a reassurance the facts contradict: forty alerts against a five-day limit, some eight days old, is not a queue under control.

   The most effective response is to offer to take a share of the older alerts today, and say that if the backlog is still there at the end of the week you will both need to raise it: the alerts have a limit already breached, you have capacity, and naming the escalation point makes the offer honest rather than a favour. It beats working through a few of the oldest yourself and mentioning it afterwards, because silently clearing somebody’s queue fixes this week and nothing else. It beats taking them at their word and leaving the alerts with them, because the numbers contradict the reassurance. The least effective response is asking your team leader to look at your colleague’s queue while offering none of your own capacity: help that costs you nothing is withheld, the alerts are no closer to being worked, and a colleague who has twice said they are managing hears about it from above. That is passing a colleague on rather than a slower way of helping. The principle: offer the help you can actually give, and be open about when it stops being enough.

7. Question 7 of 10

   You are an audit junior at the end of a long week. A section needs a second reviewer’s initials before it can be sent, and your colleague who reviewed it has gone home. You watched him review it and you know he finished. The section is needed tonight. Your manager is contactable. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Record the second review as completed on the file so the section can go out tonight, since you watched him do the work and the initials are a formality once it is finished.
   2. Telephone your colleague at home and ask him to come back in to initial it, since the section genuinely is needed tonight.
   3. Send the section tonight without the second initials, and get them added first thing in the morning before anybody reads it properly.
   4. Message your manager with the position and ask whether to hold the section until the morning or find another reviewer who can initial it tonight.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: D. Message your manager with the position and ask whether to hold the section until the morning or find another reviewer who can initial it tonight.

   Least effective: A. Record the second review as completed on the file so the section can go out tonight, since you watched him do the work and the initials are a formality once it is finished.

   A: Records a review as completed that nobody has signed off: the file states that two people cleared the section, and the second of them has not been asked and does not know.

   B: Spends a colleague's evening before asking your manager: there may be another reviewer, or the section may be able to wait.

   C: Sends work the control has not cleared: whether an unreviewed section can go out tonight is not a decision for the person who wants to go home.

   The most effective response is to message your manager with the position and ask whether to hold the section until the morning or find another reviewer tonight: she owns the deadline and the resource, both routes are available to her, and neither costs anything to ask. It beats sending the section tonight without the second initials and adding them in the morning, because sending an uncleared section is her call. It beats telephoning your colleague at home to come back in and initial it, because that is the most expensive option and has not been shown to be necessary. The least effective response is recording the second review as completed so the section can go out: the file says a second review happened when nobody has cleared it, so the one record proving two people looked at it is false. That is making the record say something the work does not. The principle: never let the file assert a check that has not happened, however sure you are of the work behind it.

8. Question 8 of 10

   You are a risk assistant. In a meeting, a manager from another team says your report was late and “not worth reading”, in front of eight people. The report was two days late because their team sent data late, which you can show. The meeting has ten minutes left and the chair is waiting for the next item. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Point out in front of the others that their own team sent the data two days late, and that this is not the first time their delays have been described as somebody else's problem.
   2. Say that you will take the quality point away and look at it, note that the timing depended on data that arrived late, and offer to go through both with them afterwards.
   3. Say nothing in the meeting and send the manager the dates afterwards, so that the correction is made privately and the meeting can move on.
   4. Ask the chair for time now to go through the timeline properly, so that the meeting can see exactly when the data arrived and when the report followed.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: B. Say that you will take the quality point away and look at it, note that the timing depended on data that arrived late, and offer to go through both with them afterwards.

   Least effective: A. Point out in front of the others that their own team sent the data two days late, and that this is not the first time their delays have been described as somebody else's problem.

   A: Answers a criticism with a criticism in the room: the substance of both points is lost, and eight people watch a dispute between two teams instead of the next item.

   C: Leaves an unchallenged claim standing: eight people heard the report called not worth reading and none of them will see the private correction.

   D: Spends a contested ten minutes on your own position: the meeting has other business, and a timeline walk-through reads as defensiveness whatever it shows.

   The most effective response is to say you will take the quality point away and look at it, note that the timing depended on data that arrived late, and offer to go through both afterwards: it concedes what might be fair, corrects the factual point briefly in front of the same eight people, and moves the argument somewhere it can be had properly. It beats saying nothing in the meeting and sending the manager the dates afterwards, because a private correction never reaches the audience that heard the claim. It beats asking the chair for time now to go through the timeline properly, because taking the meeting’s last ten minutes to litigate it costs more than it recovers. The least effective response is pointing out in front of the others that their own team sent the data two days late and that this is not the first time: it turns a criticism of a report into a public dispute about another team’s reliability, and the room leaves remembering the row. That is personalising it rather than pitching the response badly. The principle: take the point, correct the fact briefly, and move the argument off the floor.

9. Question 9 of 10

   You are a payments assistant. A large client payment has failed and the client’s finance director needs to know within the hour. The approved route is through their relationship manager, who is on a flight. You have the finance director’s mobile number on a file you are not supposed to use for contact details. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Call the relationship manager's team now for another contact route, and tell your manager the clock so somebody with authority can decide how to reach the client.
   2. Take the finance director's mobile number from the file and telephone him directly, since he needs to know within the hour and the number is right there in front of you.
   3. Ask a colleague to telephone the client's main switchboard and try to reach the finance director without saying what it is about.
   4. Email the relationship manager and wait for her to land, since she is the approved route and the client is hers to contact.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: A. Call the relationship manager's team now for another contact route, and tell your manager the clock so somebody with authority can decide how to reach the client.

   Least effective: B. Take the finance director's mobile number from the file and telephone him directly, since he needs to know within the hour and the number is right there in front of you.

   B: Uses a record for a purpose it is not permitted for: the restriction exists whatever the reason, and urgency is exactly the circumstance it was written to cover.

   C: Sends somebody to make a call they cannot explain: a vague approach from an unnamed colleague will not reach him inside an hour.

   D: Follows the route past the deadline: an hour is the whole window and a flight is longer than that.

   The most effective response is to call the relationship manager’s team now for another contact route, and tell your manager the clock so somebody with authority can decide how to reach the client: her team almost certainly has another route, and your manager can authorise whatever is needed if it does not. It beats emailing the relationship manager and waiting for her to land, because the flight is longer than the hour. It beats asking a colleague to ring the client’s switchboard without saying what it is about, because a call nobody can explain will not get through. The least effective response is taking the finance director’s mobile number from the file and telephoning him directly: contact details are used from a source you are specifically not permitted to use for that, on your own judgement that the circumstances justify it. That is breaching a stated restriction rather than being too slow or too indirect. The principle: when the approved route will not make the deadline, get authority for another one.

10. Question 10 of 10

    You are a relationship support assistant. The weekly client report takes your team four hours because it is assembled by hand. A colleague in another team built a version that does it in twenty minutes but never rolled it out. Your team leader has asked for ideas to save time. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

    1. Suggest to your team leader that the weekly report ought to be automated somehow, without mentioning that a working version already exists in the other team or who it was that actually put it together.
    2. Say in front of the team that the four hours are entirely down to whoever designed this report in the first place, and that somebody should have sorted it out years ago.
    3. Rebuild the colleague's version yourself for your team's report, and present it to your team leader once it is working properly end to end.
    4. Tell your team leader about the colleague's version, name him as the person who built it, and offer to help get it working for your team's report.
    Show the answer

    Most effective: D. Tell your team leader about the colleague's version, name him as the person who built it, and offer to help get it working for your team's report.

    Least effective: B. Say in front of the team that the four hours are entirely down to whoever designed this report in the first place, and that somebody should have sorted it out years ago.

    A: Offers the idea and withholds the asset: a suggestion to automate is worth far less than a tool somebody has already finished.

    B: Blames an absent designer in front of the team: the twenty-minute version already exists, and none of the people in the room hear about the thing that would actually fix it.

    C: Duplicates work that exists: the colleague has already built it, and rebuilding it quietly takes the credit with it.

    The most effective response is to tell your team leader about the colleague’s version, name him as the person who built it, and offer to help get it working for your team: the fix already exists, she can act on it immediately, and naming the builder is both accurate and the thing that gets his help. It beats rebuilding his version yourself and presenting it once it works, because rebuilding a finished tool wastes time and credit. It beats suggesting the report ought to be automated without mentioning that a working version exists, because an idea is worth much less than a working version. The least effective response is saying in front of the team that the four hours are down to whoever designed the report: a real complaint becomes a public criticism, and the solution one team away never gets mentioned. That is personalising it rather than proposing it weakly. The principle: point at the fix that exists, and name whose it is.