What Is the cut-e Test?

The cut-e test (pronounced "cute") is a family of short online psychometric assessments originally built by cut-e GmbH of Hamburg, Germany, and now delivered under the Aon brand. The best-known modules are the "scales" cognitive tests covering numerical, verbal, inductive, and deductive reasoning, alongside gamified exercises and a messenger-style judgment test. Most modules run just 5 to 12 minutes and are deliberately speeded, with instructions telling you to finish as many tasks as you can. This article covers the company's history, each module, what the tests measure, and how to prepare.

Aon, the professional services firm, announced its acquisition of cut-e on May 4, 2017, describing it as "a global leader in online talent assessments based in Hamburg, Germany." At the time of the acquisition, cut-e had 35 offices around the world and assessed "more than 12 million candidates across more than 70 countries in over 40 languages each year." The cut-e name has since been folded into Aon's talent assessment brand, so an invitation may say Aon, cut-e, or both. The tests themselves continue as an active product line; the company was acquired, not shut down.

Unlike a single fixed exam, the cut-e system is modular. Employers assemble a battery from separately timed modules, so two candidates at different companies can face quite different "cut-e tests." The figures below come from Aon's official prepare-for-your-assessment page.

• scales numerical: Decide whether statements about tables and charts of numerical data are true, false, or cannot be judged. 12 minutes, 37 tasks.

• scales verbal: The same true-false-cannot-say judgment applied to short written passages. 12 minutes, 49 tasks.

• scales ix, cls, and clx: Three measures of inductive reasoning: spotting the odd one out among nine patterned items (5 minutes, 20 tasks), assigning new images to the patterns they belong to (12 minutes, 12 tasks), and drawing logical conclusions from interrelated items (6 minutes). Our guide to the inductive reasoning test covers this question style in depth.

• gapChallenge and switchChallenge: Deductive exercises: using logic to fill the empty cell in a patterned grid, and identifying the 4-digit sequences of operators that produce a given result. 6 minutes each; see our guide to the deductive reasoning test for the underlying skill.

• gridChallenge: A working memory exercise combining pattern recall with interleaved tasks. 9 minutes, nine tasks.

• motionChallenge and digitChallenge: Gamified measures of complex planning and numeracy respectively, at 6 minutes each.

• chatAssess: A situational judgment module in a messenger-style interface where you choose replies to incoming messages. 20 minutes.

The recurring phrase on Aon's module descriptions is "finish as many as you can." The tests are built so that most candidates will not complete every task; working quickly and accurately under time pressure is part of what is being measured.

A short test is not necessarily an easy one. The verbal module asks up to 49 tasks in 12 minutes, which works out to roughly 15 seconds per item, and both speed and accuracy feed the result. Aon does not publish its exact scoring mechanics, so treat any precise formula you read on prep sites as guesswork; what is certain is that the clock is part of the measurement.

The scales modules are short measures of classic cognitive abilities: numerical and verbal reasoning plus the inductive and deductive reasoning that sit under "fluid reasoning" in the Cattell-Horn-Carroll model of intelligence, the framework modern testing is built on. The research case for screening on these abilities is well established. Schmidt and Hunter's review of 85 years of selection research found general cognitive ability among the strongest predictors of job and training performance, and a 2022 reanalysis by Sackett and colleagues, while trimming the classic validity estimates, still left cognitive ability among the more useful selection tools.

A cut-e score is still not an IQ. Each 5-to-12-minute module samples one narrow ability under heavy time pressure and reports how you did on that slice. A full battery measures the broader profile: the RIOT IQ test (the Reasoning and Intelligence Online Test) reports six indices, Verbal Reasoning, Fluid Reasoning, Spatial Ability, Working Memory, Processing Speed, and Reaction Time. The overlap is real (gridChallenge taps working memory, and the speeded format leans on processing speed), but the coverage is not. The RIOT IQ assessments page shows how a complete profile is assembled.

At the time of the 2017 acquisition, the vendor reported more than 12 million candidates assessed per year across more than 70 countries. The format is common in graduate and professional hiring, and Aon has maintained a dedicated aviation assessment practice; test-prep communities widely report cut-e batteries in airline pilot selection, though specific airline clients are their reporting rather than vendor-confirmed fact. Candidates comparing formats will find the closest big-vendor sibling in the SHL test, which covers similar abilities in somewhat longer modules. Because batteries are assembled per role, read your invitation carefully: it names the modules you will actually face, and preparing for the wrong one wastes scarce practice time.

Practice helps on tests like these. A meta-analysis of 107 samples and 134,436 participants found that practice and retesting raise cognitive ability test scores by about a quarter of a standard deviation on average, with larger gains when practice came with coaching. For cut-e specifically, the unusual formats and tight clocks reward familiarity.

• Use Aon's official practice tasks: Aon publishes free practice-task PDFs on its prepare-for-your-assessment page. Working the real vendor's items beats third-party imitations.

• Learn each module's format cold: Odd-one-out grids, rule classification, and operator chains are unusual question styles. Decoding the instructions on the clock is the most expensive mistake available.

• Rehearse the pace: With up to 49 tasks in 12 minutes, pacing matters more than on longer tests. Practice moving on from stubborn items quickly.

If a battery of six-minute screeners leaves you wanting a fuller picture of your abilities, the RIOT IQ test at riotiq.com is normed on adults 18 and older, measures six indices rather than one narrow slice, and publishes a margin of error for every version.

Yes. Aon acquired cut-e GmbH in May 2017 and the assessments continue under Aon's talent assessment brand. Invitations may use either name.

Each module is separately timed, mostly 5 to 12 minutes, with chatAssess at 20 minutes. Total time depends on how many modules the employer assigns.

No. Each module samples one narrow ability, such as numerical reasoning or working memory, under time pressure. An IQ score comes from a normed battery that measures several broad abilities together.

Generally no. Aon's own module descriptions say "finish as many as you can," and task counts like 49 verbal items in 12 minutes are set so that speed and accuracy both matter.

1. Aon. (2017, May 4). [Press release announcing Aon's acquisition of cut-e]. aon.mediaroom.com

2. Aon. (n.d.). Prepare for your online assessment. aon.com

3. Hausknecht, J. P., Halpert, J. A., Di Paolo, N. T., & Moriarty Gerrard, M. O. (2007). Retesting in selection: A meta-analysis of coaching and practice effects for tests of cognitive ability. Journal of Applied Psychology, 92(2), 373-385. doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.92.2.373

4. Sackett, P. R., Zhang, C., Berry, C. M., & Lievens, F. (2022). Revisiting meta-analytic estimates of validity in personnel selection: Addressing systematic overcorrection for restriction of range. Journal of Applied Psychology, 107(11), 2040-2068. doi.org/10.1037/apl0000994

5. Schmidt, F. L., & Hunter, J. E. (1998). The validity and utility of selection methods in personnel psychology: Practical and theoretical implications of 85 years of research findings. Psychological Bulletin, 124(2), 262-274. doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.124.2.262