Switch Challenge: How Aon’s Deductive Reasoning Game Works (Not a HireVue Game)

The Switch Challenge is not a HireVue game. It is Aon’s switchChallenge, the deductive reasoning test from Aon (formerly cut-e). Many candidates call it the “HireVue Switch Challenge”, but HireVue’s own candidate guide, game-based assessment page and help center do not list a game by that name. Some employers use more than one assessment provider in the same hiring process, which makes it easy to mix up who supplies which test.

This guide explains how the test works using Aon’s own published material.

How the switchChallenge works

Aon describes it as a measure of your ability to apply given rules to logical problems in one or more steps. Each question has three parts:

1. Input: a row of shapes, for example triangle, circle, cross, star.
2. Code: four-digit options, such as 1-3-2-4.
3. Output: the same shapes in a new order.

Your task is to pick the code that turns the input into the output. Each digit in the code says which input position ends up in that place:

• 1-2-3-4 means nothing moved.
• 1-3-2-4 means the second and third shapes swapped places.
• 4-1-2-3 means the last shape moved to the front and the others shifted right.

Timing and difficulty

Aon’s candidate preparation page lists the switchChallenge as 6 minutes, with the instruction to finish as many tasks as you can. There is no fixed number of questions: a new one appears each time you answer, so the goal is to work quickly and accurately.

Aon also says the test may get harder as you progress. In harder questions the code is split across several rows, and the output of the first code becomes the input for the next one. You have to apply the steps in order.

A method that works

1. Check position by position. For output position 1, find which input position that shape came from. That is your first digit. Repeat for each position.
2. Spot shapes that did not move. If the first two shapes are unchanged, the code starts with 1-2, which removes most wrong options at once.
3. Eliminate rather than build. You usually choose between a few given codes, so rule out any code whose first digit is already wrong.
4. For multi-row questions, write the middle state. Apply the first code, note the new order, then solve the second code from that order.
5. Do not get stuck. With an unlimited supply of questions, a quick decision on a hard item is usually worth more than a long one.

Official practice

Aon publishes free practice tasks for the switchChallenge, with five worked examples and the reasoning behind each answer. The real assessment also gives you a practice task that you can take as many times as you like before you start. Use those first: they show the exact format you will see.

Candidate Falcon does not simulate the Switch Challenge. If your process also includes HireVue games, our HireVue games guide covers the formats HireVue does document.

Retakes and technical problems

Do not assume you can retake the test. Whether a second attempt is possible depends on the employer’s process. If a technical problem affected your attempt, note what happened and contact the employer and the support channel named in your invitation.

Sources and verification notes

• Aon, Prepare for your online assessment — lists Deductive Reasoning (switchChallenge): 6 minutes, finish as many tasks as you can, identify the right 4-digit sequence; links the official practice tasks.
• Aon, Practice Tasks: Deductive Logical Reasoning (switchChallenge) — what the test measures, the input/code/output format, unlimited questions, increasing difficulty, multi-row codes, repeatable practice task, worked examples.
• HireVue game-based assessment product page and HireVue candidate preparation guide — HireVue’s own descriptions of its games, which do not include a Switch Challenge.

Last fact-check: 14 October 2026.