Does practising for Arctic Shores help?

Arctic Shores says no practice is needed, but that getting familiar with the format is "totally fine". It offers a practice task in the onboarding, which does not count towards your score, and a public demo task. Familiarity can make the format, controls and pace less of a surprise, but nothing Arctic Shores publishes says practice changes your result. It also says guides found online outside its help centre or website may be misleading, and that using them "will result in poor or invalid measures, meaning you’re less likely to progress".

When do I need to ask for a reasonable adjustment?

Before you begin. Arctic Shores says adjustments cannot be applied once you have started. It describes two routes, explained in your invitation: contact the employer through the support email before you start, or self-declare by ticking the adjustments you need from a list in the onboarding.

Should I complete all the Arctic Shores tasks in one sitting?

Arctic Shores recommends one sitting if possible, in a quiet, distraction-free place with a stable connection, at the time of day you feel most alert.

What happens if I miss the deadline?

Arctic Shores support cannot extend a deadline without the employer’s permission. Contact the support email in your invitation and ask the employer whether an extension is possible.

How to Pass the Arctic Shores Assessment: Evidence-Checked Tips

Q: What score do you need to pass the Arctic Shores assessment?

Arctic Shores does not publish a pass mark. It says results are compared with a norm group and with an ideal framework of behaviours for the specific role and culture, and that each employer values different qualities, so there is no single way to pass.

Arctic Shores' help centre tells candidates to "be yourself", and some candidates read that as a polite way of saying there is nothing you can do to pass. That is not quite right. Several things are under your control: how well you understand the format, the conditions you take it in, whether you ask for an adjustment in time, and how calm you are when an unfamiliar screen appears.

This guide separates three kinds of information: what Arctic Shores officially states, what candidates and prep sites report, and what nobody outside Arctic Shores knows.

The reliable picture in 60 seconds

It is a task-based assessment, not a question test. Arctic Shores says you complete interactive tasks while it records how you naturally think, behave and solve problems.
Your employer chooses the tasks. The candidate guidance says an assessment has up to nine tasks, and the help centre says the employer chooses the tasks based on what it wants to assess.
There is no published pass mark. Results are compared with a norm group and with an ideal framework of behaviours for the role.
There is an official practice task. It sits in the onboarding, does not count towards your score and can be used to check your device. Arctic Shores also hosts a public demo task; the demo page says its practice task takes about five minutes.
Adjustments must come first. Once you start without an adjustment, Arctic Shores says it cannot be added later.

What "passing" means for Arctic Shores

Arctic Shores describes its assessment as a measure of underlying "enablers": how you focus, consider emotions, work out problems, learn, handle tasks and apply yourself. Its help centre says the results are compared with a representative "comparison group", also called a "norm group", and with an ideal "framework" of behaviours for the specific role and culture.

Two consequences follow. First, there is no universal score to beat: the same result can suit one role and not another. Second, on behaviour-style tasks there is no right answer to learn. Arctic Shores says plainly that each employer is looking for something different.

So "passing" really means progressing in one employer's process. You cannot see the employer's framework, but you can make sure your result reflects you on a good day rather than you on a distracted phone at midnight.

What the assessment looks like

Based on Arctic Shores' own descriptions, the journey runs like this:

Invitation. An email from the employer, sent to the address you applied with (check spam), with a brief introduction, reasonable-adjustment information and a support email address.
Onboarding. A short sequence with the practice task, information about reasonable adjustments and advice to read before you begin.
The tasks. You complete them one by one; finishing a task unlocks the next.
Feedback. Arctic Shores says a report is emailed to you, and the employer also receives your result at this stage. The candidate guidance adds that feedback is sent if the employer chooses.

Arctic Shores publishes no task list and does not say how tasks are scored. The closest it comes is a 2024 podcast on its website, in which an occupational psychologist describes the "Code Breaker" security task and says it measures processing speed and perseverance. Candidates and prep sites report around fifteen tasks, from an arrow-flanker task (Direction) and a lock-code reaction task (Security) to a balloon-pumping task (Balloon) and a timed charts-and-tables test (Analysis). Treat those descriptions as reports, not specifications. Our Arctic Shores assessment overview lists each reported task with what candidates say it involves.

How results are reported

Arctic Shores describes the candidate report in two slightly different ways. Its candidate guidance says each behaviour is shown on a 1 to 10 spectrum. A help-centre article describes dimensions shown on a four-point scale. The candidate guidance adds that there is "no better or worse". The help-centre article explains how to read its scale:

Your report compares you with a large group of similar candidates.
Either end of a scale means your behaviour is more distinctive: you are more likely than most of the comparison group to show certain behaviours.
The middle means you are as likely as others, or slightly more likely, to behave that way.

If a result surprises you, Arctic Shores lists a few reasons: distractions or notifications, which can slightly skew results; comparing yourself with friends rather than with a large population; and the difference between your natural default behaviour and learned behaviour.

For a fuller walkthrough, see how to read your Arctic Shores feedback report.

A preparation plan that does not rely on hacks

Read the invitation the day it arrives. Note the deadline, the support email and the adjustment information.
Decide on adjustments before anything else. If you are neurodivergent, have a disability or a condition that affects timed or visual tasks, read the adjustment options first. More on this below.
Learn the format, not a script. Read what candidates report about the common tasks so that no screen is a complete surprise. Do not memorise "ideal" behaviour for behaviour-style tasks. Arctic Shores says getting familiar with the format is "totally fine", but that guides found online outside its help centre or website may be misleading or false, and that using them "will result in poor or invalid measures, meaning you're less likely to progress". Its advice is to forget any guides and complete the tasks naturally. That warning covers this guide too, so treat everything labelled candidate-reported here as background, not strategy.
Use the official practice task. Arctic Shores advises using the practice opportunities in the assessment. Its practice task does not count towards your score and is a chance to check your device works. The public Arctic Shores demo task is another official preview.
If you practise elsewhere, keep the goal modest. Candidates report that some tasks, such as Direction, speed up as you go. Short rounds of similar formats can make the reported task types less unfamiliar, but they are not the real tasks, nothing Arctic Shores publishes says they change a result, and they cannot tell you what the employer wants. Can you practise for Arctic Shores? looks at what familiarity can and cannot do.
Plan one uninterrupted sitting. Arctic Shores recommends completing everything in one sitting if possible, in a quiet place, at the time of day you feel most alert.

Candidate Falcon's Arctic Shores practice offers simulations of 15 candidate-reported tasks. Candidate Falcon is not affiliated with Arctic Shores. The simulations are independent recreations for familiarity, not copies of the real tasks, and they do not produce Arctic Shores scores. The task guides are free to read; playing the simulations needs the HireVue Games Prep plan or Full Access.

Devices and technical problems

Arctic Shores' technical advice is short and worth following exactly:

Use a device that is no more than four years old, fully charged, on a stable connection.
Close other tabs, disable browser extensions such as ad blockers, turn off automatic translation and switch off any VPN.
Turn off alerts and notifications before you start.
The help centre lists Chrome, Firefox and Edge on Windows 8, 8.1 and 10 (64-bit), and Chrome and Firefox on macOS El Capitan to Big Sur, iOS 12–14 and Android 6–11.
If your device is too old, Arctic Shores suggests borrowing one: the owner cannot see or affect your results.

If a technical problem disrupts a task, Arctic Shores asks candidates to use its Candidate Support Form. It says most problems come from the device or a poor connection, so battery and Wi-Fi are worth checking before the first task, not during it.

Reasonable adjustments

Arctic Shores says assessments can be challenging, particularly for candidates who are neurodivergent or have disabilities, and that it offers a range of reasonable adjustments to reduce barriers. There are two routes, both explained in your invitation:

Ask the employer first. Email the support address in the invitation before you start. The employer reviews the request, applies the adjustment and confirms it before you can proceed.
Self-declare in the onboarding. Tick the adjustments you need from a list; they are then applied automatically.

If you do not need one, you tick a box confirming that. Arctic Shores is explicit that adjustments cannot be applied after you start, so decide before the first task. If none of the listed options fits your situation, contact the employer. Our guide to Arctic Shores reasonable adjustments and neurodiversity covers both routes in more detail.

Deadlines, AI tools and repeat invitations

Missed deadline: Arctic Shores support cannot extend it without the employer's permission. Write to the employer's support email.
ChatGPT and similar tools: Arctic Shores suggests checking the employer's policy and says the tools it tested could not complete an assessment.
Self-registering again with the same employer: if you apply for a similar job, you are told you are already registered. For a different job, you take a new assessment, and can reuse your earlier results for any tasks the two share.

Claims to treat cautiously

Arctic Shores publishes no universal "good score" and no list of behaviours every employer wants, and there is no published right answer for Balloon or Team Sales. Be wary of any guide that promises one, including guides that present candidate reports as official task specifications. For forum claims checked against official sources, see what candidates report on Reddit. Candidate Falcon is independent from Arctic Shores.

Sources and verification notes

Arctic Shores candidate guidance — up to nine tasks, practice task, preparation and technical advice, 1 to 10 feedback spectrum.
The Arctic Shores Task-Based Assessment: An Overview — the enablers it measures and advice on when and where to take it.
Arctic Shores demo task — public demo; its practice task takes about five minutes.
What does the assessment involve? — invitation, onboarding, tasks unlocked one by one, feedback report.
Do I need to practice? — official position on practice, the practice task and unofficial guides.
What do the tasks in the assessment measure? and What's the science behind the assessment? — measurement approach and professional standards.
Will I receive a report?, How will my results be used? and I disagree with my results — report scale, norm groups and role frameworks.
Devices and web browsers and Technical issues — device and browser support, and the Candidate Support Form for problems during a task.
What is a reasonable adjustment? and How do I request a reasonable adjustment? — the two adjustment routes.
I've missed my deadline, ChatGPT and generative AI and Repeat self-registration.
Arctic Shores insight: task-based assessments from an occupational psychologist — 2024 podcast describing the Code Breaker task and what it measures.

Task names and mechanics are candidate-reported: Arctic Shores publishes no task list, though it has described the Code Breaker task in a podcast.

Last fact-check: 15 October 2026.

Next steps

Read the Arctic Shores assessment overview or see the Arctic Shores practice simulations (HireVue Games Prep or Full Access).