SHL Aptitude Tests at The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS)

The Royal Bank of Scotland (also commonly known as RBS) are one of the biggest retail banks in the UK. RBS is part of The Royal Bank of Scotland Group along with its sibling retail bank Natwest.

Recruitment Processes at Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS)

Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) offer a multitude of different programs and departments for prospective employees to apply for and work in. As a result of this, a variety of recruitment workflows are employed across the bank. It is unlikely that two candidates who applied for different roles or departments would face the same steps in their recruitment experience with RBS.

Initially, all applicants are asked to complete either an online application form, or provide a CV with covering letter, or for some programs they may have to provide both a CV and complete an online form. Providing a candidates initial application is accepted, they may face one of several steps. A candidate may be asked to complete an online psychometric assessment, take an online aptitude test in the form of a numerical reasoning test, or they may be asked to take a telephone interview.

Candidates who sit the online psychometric assessment will usually have to complete the numerical reasoning test after their initial assessment, and then they may have to take a telephone interview, have an in person interview, or go straight forward to an ability centre, super centre or assessment centre (more on these in a moment).

Depending on the role and program being applied for, an RBS telephone interview can take on different guises. Some interviews are largely or wholly competency based interviews similar to those used at many other financial institutions and banks such as Lloyds Banking Group, Nomura and Deutsche Bank. Other interviews are more designed to find out about a candidates personality, what passions they have, what makes them tick and whether the interviewer thinks they have the social skills required to work at RBS. Candidates who complete a telephone interview may then next face an ability centre or super centre, a further interview (usually in person), or skip ahead to the final assessment centre.

What is a Royal Bank of Scotland Ability Centre or Super Centre?

A super centre or ability centre held by RBS is a form of mini assessment centre used for applicants on some programs, but not on all. An RBS ability centre seems to usually consist of one or two ability / aptitude tests and an in person competency style interview. Candidates may find they are asked to complete an additional SHL numerical reasoning test, the RBS ABLE financial test or both assessments, it completely depends on their chosen department they have applied to. As mentioned above, the competency based interview will likely be of a style used in many other companies and there is plenty of advice around the Internet for preparing for these kinds of interviews.

The final stage of the Royal Bank of Scotland recruitment process is the full Assessement Centre. In some cases candidates may have to do preparation work ahead of the assessment centre but they will be notified by RBS if this is the case and what is required of them. The Assessment Centre will usually last at least one full day and will consist of any or all of the following: additional aptitude / psychometric tests, role plays, interviews, group work and presentations. Candidates should be notified fairly promptly of their success or failure after the conclusion of the assessment centre.

How Does Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) Use SHL Aptitude Tests

As stated above, the number of SHL tests a candidate may face during their application process will potentially vary from person to person depending on the position being applied for. It is extremely unlikely that any candidate will go through the entire process without sitting at least one SHL numerical reasoning test, usually in the initial online stages. It is also entirely plausible that an applicant will have to sit an additional computerised or paper shl aptitude test at a super centre or at the final assessment centre. These SHL numerical tests of the standard makeup and require candidates to complete twenty questions in twenty minutes. In addition, some candidates may be asked to take an SHL personality test prior to sitting the online numerical assessment, though this is not true in all cases.

The other major aptitude style assessment candidates may face during the RBS recruitment process is the RBS ABLE Financial test. This will usually take place at the super centre stage of the recruitment process. It seems more common that front office stage do not have to sit the ABLE test and the more finance based the program being applied for, the greater the likelyhood the candidate will have to sit the ABLE assessment. If it can be established which departments definitely require a candidate to sit the RBS ABLE test we will update this page accordingly.

Help and Preparation for RBS Aptitude Tests

As the primary aptitude test for Royal Bank of Scotland is an SHL numerical test, PracticeSHLTests.com has quite a few resources that may be useful to readers of this page. There is a page exclusively dedicated to information about numerical reasoning aptitude tests, as well as a more generalised help and tips for passing aptitude tests page.

A standard SHL numerical test will require candidates to answer questions on topics such as currency exchange, percentages, ratios and being able to analyse and process information such as financial data or company profits from graphs, charts and tables to find the answers to the questions. On average a candidate will only have one minute for each question so time is of the essence. It seems that RBS do not employ negative marking and would also prefer candidates to answer 16 out of 16 correctly, rather than speeding through all twenty questions and getting several wrong.

The best (standard) advice for candidates is to take practice numerical reasoning tests, more information about where to find these can be found below.

Those RBS candidates who think it likely or know they will also have to face the ABLE financial test can also benefit from revision of numerical reasoning papers. The ABLE test requires the test taker to be able to work quickly under substantial time pressures, and it is not expected that many candidates will complete the test, so applicants who do not finish within the time limit should not be concerned about this alone. Past takers of the ABLE test have remarked that candidates are asked to perform such tasks as processing data from graphical representations (similar to the SHL numerical test) and offer opinions on topics such as investment risk and return on investment (ROI). As there is overlap between the ABLE test and the SHL numerical reasoning assessment the practicing of numerical reasoning tests may additionally aid candidates in their preparation for the ABLE financial test.

Where to Practice for RBS SHL Numerical Tests

Currently, the best location on the Internet to take SHL style practice numerical tests is at the Assessment Day website. Assessment Day is currently the largest specialist provider of on-line practice aptitude tests designed to give job candidates realistic test practice to aid their preparation for real company tests and assessment centres. Practising these kinds of tests is proven to aid applicants in their quests to get their desired jobs so for any candidate who wants to boost their chances of success should head to Assessment Day now and start practising.