Cappfinity vs Arctic Shores vs HireVue: How the Assessments Differ
Luca from Candidate Falcon
Editorial Team
UK graduate schemes now use several online assessment platforms, and it is common to get a Cappfinity assessment from one employer, Arctic Shores tasks from another and a HireVue interview from a third in the same week. They are built on different ideas, so preparing for one does not prepare you for the others.
This guide sets out what each vendor and the employers using it say, and where the formats differ. "Prep sites report" or "candidates report" means the claim does not come from the vendor.
The short answer
- Cappfinity is a strengths-based assessment. You rank responses to work scenarios, answer reasoning questions where your time usually counts, and at some employers move on to a job simulation and a recorded video interview. The employer chooses the modules.
- Arctic Shores is a task-based assessment: up to nine interactive tasks, with no direct questions and no written or spoken answers. Arctic Shores says there is no right or wrong way to do them.
- HireVue runs two different things: short game-based assessments and recorded video interviews. An employer can use either or both.
This guide does not rank any of them as easier or fairer.
Side by side
| Cappfinity | Arctic Shores | HireVue | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Built around | Strengths: what you do well, what energises you and what you do often | Natural behaviour shown in interactive tasks | Games in three competency areas, and recorded interview answers |
| What you do | Rank responses to scenarios, answer numerical, verbal and other reasoning questions, sometimes record video answers | Play interactive tasks one by one | Play short games, or record answers to interview questions |
| Right answers? | Reasoning questions have them; Cappfinity publishes no answer key for the behavioural part | Arctic Shores says there is no right or wrong way | Not published game by game; no universal pass mark |
| Timing | Reasoning usually "time-recorded" rather than time-limited; behavioural parts untimed | No total time published; some tasks timed | Many games about 3 minutes; interview think and answer times set by the employer |
| Video? | At some employers, in the job simulation or a separate video interview | No written or spoken answers | Yes, in the video interview |
| Feedback | Often an automatic strengths report | A report, if the employer chooses | No candidate report described in our sources |
Cappfinity
What it is
Cappfinity builds its assessments around strengths. Its Preparation Hub looks at three things for each skill: Performance (how well you do something), Energy (how much it energises you) and Use (how often you do it). Deloitte, HSBC, the Financial Conduct Authority, M&G and Aviva all run early-careers preparation hubs marked "Powered by Cappfinity".
Cappfinity's public G-Cloud listing names its products: an online assessment of behavioural and cognitive questions, role-specific work simulations (Simulate) and a video interview product (Snapshot). It also sells assessments for experienced, high-volume and leadership hiring.
What you do
The employer picks the modules, so two candidates can get different sets. The parts Cappfinity and its employers describe are:
- Situational strengths test: rank the responses to a work scenario from the action you would most likely take to the least likely.
- Reasoning tests: numerical, verbal, critical and diagrammatic reasoning, plus Coding Potential, which needs no programming experience.
- Immersive assessment: behavioural and reasoning questions together; HSBC describes real-life scenarios with information sources such as graphs, data tables and audio or visual content.
- Job simulation: ranking, choosing responses, writing and recording video answers.
- Video interview: recorded strengths-based questions, with time limits for preparing and answering.
Timing
Cappfinity's demo calls its numerical, verbal and critical reasoning tests "time-recorded, as distinct from time-limited": there is no countdown, but your score combines accuracy with the time you take. Deloitte and Aviva say the same about their tests. The FCA is the exception: a 2024 FCA video says its online assessment is untimed and that time is not scored. Behavioural modules are untimed, apart from written and video answers.
Results
Many candidates get an automatic strengths feedback report. Deloitte says its report is not the outcome of your assessment. No pass mark is published. Our guide to Cappfinity results and the strengths feedback report explains more.
Arctic Shores
What it is
Arctic Shores calls its product a task-based assessment. It says it is a UK-based company working since 2014, and that its assessment was built by an in-house team of neuroscientists and psychometricians.
What you do
You complete up to nine interactive tasks, chosen by the employer, one after another. Arctic Shores says there are no direct questions with definitive answers and no written or spoken responses. It publishes no task list; candidates report tasks such as repeating tile sequences, labelling facial expressions and pumping balloons for money.
Right answers and results
Arctic Shores says there is no right or wrong way to approach the tasks and no single way to pass. Candidate reports suggest some tasks, such as working out weights on scales, do have correct answers. If the employer chooses, you get a report that compares you with similar candidates, with no better or worse end of each scale.
Its view on practice
Arctic Shores says no practice is needed, though getting familiar with the format is "totally fine". It also warns that guides found outside its own website may be misleading and lead to poor or invalid measures. See can you practise for Arctic Shores?
HireVue
Games
HireVue's games cover three competency areas: Personality & Work Style, Working with People, and Working with Information. HireVue's candidate guide says many games take about 3 minutes, and its product page says under 20 minutes in total, with adaptive levels. Employers choose the mix, and there is no universal pass mark. The Switch Challenge, often mentioned alongside them, is an Aon assessment, not a HireVue game.
Video interviews
In a HireVue video interview you read or watch a question, get some thinking time and then record your answer. The employer sets the think time, answer time and number of retakes.
Where the formats overlap
- Cappfinity and HireVue both use recorded video. Aviva and M&G describe their Cappfinity video interviews as strengths-based; Aviva's examples ask what you are good at and what energises you. HireVue questions are set by the employer and are often competency or motivation questions. Our article on strengths-based interview questions covers the Cappfinity style.
- Cappfinity and Arctic Shores both describe a personal profile, not just a score. Cappfinity reports strengths; Arctic Shores reports behaviours compared with a norm group. Neither publishes a pass mark.
- Cappfinity's ranking task is not a situational judgement test in the usual sense. It asks what you would most likely do, not what the best action is. See situational strengths test vs situational judgement test.
- Arctic Shores is the only one with no reading or typing. Cappfinity and HireVue video interviews both involve reading questions and giving answers.
Which one is in my invitation?
- Look at the sender and branding. Cappfinity assessments often come with an employer preparation hub marked "Powered by Cappfinity". Arctic Shores calls its product a task-based assessment. HireVue names itself on the interview page.
- Read what the stages are called. "Immersive online assessment", "situational strengths" and "job simulation" are Cappfinity wording at Deloitte, HSBC, Aviva and M&G. A "digital interview" or "on-demand video interview" is often HireVue, but not always.
- Still unsure? Ask the employer which platform it uses.
How preparation differs
Cappfinity
- Read your invitation and your employer's preparation hub: they list the modules and the deadline.
- Try Cappfinity's free demo, which has example numerical, verbal and critical reasoning questions with no sign-up.
- In reasoning tests, work quickly as well as accurately, because time usually counts. Keep a calculator, pen and paper ready for numerical questions.
- In the situational strengths test, answer as you would really act. Cappfinity advises not to second-guess what the employer wants.
- For video questions, prepare real examples of when you did your best work and what energised you.
- Follow the integrity rules. Deloitte, for example, bans AI tools in its online assessments.
Candidate Falcon has independent simulations of seven Cappfinity parts at Cappfinity practice: numerical, verbal, critical and diagrammatic reasoning, Coding Potential, situational strengths and an immersive assessment. They are not Cappfinity's tests. The job simulation and the video interview are not covered. The free Cappfinity assessment guide explains each part.
Arctic Shores
Arctic Shores' own advice is about conditions: a quiet space, a charged device, notifications off and the time of day you feel most alert. Declare any reasonable adjustment before you start. The free Arctic Shores task guides describe what candidates report, and Arctic Shores practice has 15 independent task simulations. Arctic Shores' warning about outside guides applies to these too, and we do not claim they change your results.
HireVue
Check whether your process includes games, a video interview or both. The HireVue games guide covers the games, and HireVue games practice simulates 11 formats. For the video interview, the HireVue interview practice simulator gives you a timed practice run with feedback on each answer.
Candidate Falcon's simulations are not free to play. Playing them needs one of our games plans (1 Game Platform Prep with your chosen platform, or All Games Platforms Prep, which includes every assessment platform we cover) or Full Access; see pricing. The guides are free to read.
FAQs
Is Cappfinity the same as Arctic Shores?
No. Cappfinity asks you to rank responses, answer reasoning questions and sometimes record video. Arctic Shores uses interactive tasks with no written or spoken answers. Both are used for UK graduate schemes, which is why they are often confused.
Is Cappfinity a game-based assessment?
No. Cappfinity's modules are questions, scenarios and simulations, not games. Arctic Shores and HireVue games are the game-like formats in this comparison.
Does time count in all three?
It differs. Cappfinity's reasoning tests usually record your time and use it in your score, while its behavioural parts are untimed. Arctic Shores publishes no total time. HireVue says many of its games take about 3 minutes, and video interviews have set answer times.
Which one has a pass mark?
None of the three publishes one. Cappfinity's G-Cloud listing includes pass, consider and fail data among its analytics, which suggests employers sort results into bands, but the cut-offs are not public.
Sources
- Cappfinity demo: "time-recorded, as distinct from time-limited", answer formats and sections.
- Cappfinity Preparation Hub: Performance, Energy and Use; behavioural formats; untimed behavioural modules; devices.
- Cappfinity G-Cloud listing: products, work simulations and pass, consider and fail analytics.
- Deloitte, HSBC, FCA, M&G and Aviva preparation hubs and careers pages, as listed in our Cappfinity assessment guide.
- Arctic Shores candidate guidance and help centre: up to nine tasks, no right or wrong way, feedback report and practice stance.
- Candidate Falcon's HireVue games guide, drawing on HireVue's candidate guide and product page.
Candidate Falcon is independent and not affiliated with Cappfinity, Arctic Shores, HireVue or any employer named here.
