Cut-e (Aon) Tests: Formats, Examples & How to Prepare
The invitation says "Aon Assessment". The test screen says "scales". A forum post you found says "cut-e". You are not looking at three different things. Cut-e, Aon and scales are three labels for one test family, and once you know how they fit together, the tests themselves become a lot less mysterious.
In my coaching the pattern is constant: candidates who know the formats in advance do fine, and those meeting a cut-e format for the first time lose a minute working out what the screen wants. This guide removes that minute: who cut-e is, how each module works (with our own example for each), what we know about scoring, and how to prepare.
Who Is Cut-e, and Why Does Your Invitation Say Aon?
Cut-e was founded in 2002 and based in Hamburg, Germany. From the start it built its tests for the screen rather than digitising old paper formats, which explains a lot about how they look. It grew into an international business, and by the time it was sold it employed more than 250 people and delivered millions of assessments a year.
In 2017 the professional services firm Aon acquired cut-e and folded it into its talent and assessment business. The brand has since shifted to Aon (you will see names like Aon Assessment or Aon Assessment Solutions), but the test catalogue did not disappear. Most of what candidates sit today is still the cut-e "scales" family, sometimes with Aon branding on top and newer Aon products alongside it.
So "the Aon test" and "the cut-e test" are the same thing. For the other big publisher you are likely to meet, see our SHL test guide.
Why Cut-e Tests Feel Different
Candidates who have done SHL tests often call their first cut-e test "weird". Fair enough. There are three reasons.
Short modules. Cut-e designed its tests as compact modules rather than long batteries. Each one measures one thing and is over quickly. An employer might combine three or four of them in a single invitation. There is no settling-in period: by the time you understand the format, a real chunk of the clock is gone.
Strict timers. The time limits are tight on purpose. Your score depends as much on how fast you recognise the question type as on your ability to solve it. The exact limits vary by module and employer, and the start screen tells you yours.
Unusual formats. Inductive items can require two correct answers, deductive items look like logic puzzles, and numerical and verbal data sits behind several tabs. Not harder in principle, just unfamiliar, and unfamiliar costs time.
Which modules you get depends on the role. Graduate schemes lean on numerical, verbal and inductive reasoning; operations or control-room roles may add concentration, memory or spatial tests. The invitation usually names them.
Inductive Reasoning: Scales clx and Scales ix
Inductive reasoning means spotting a rule from examples and applying it. Cut-e has two well-known inductive formats.
Scales clx
In scales clx you see a grid or table with symbols in its cells. Something changes between a starting grid and an end grid according to a hidden rule. You then get several candidate grids and must pick the ones that follow the same rule. The twist that catches people out: there is usually more than one correct answer to select, so your instinct to stop at the first plausible option works against you.
Our own example (in words): the left grid has a black circle in the top-left cell and a white square in the bottom-right. In the transformed grid, every black symbol has moved one cell to the right and every white symbol has swapped to black. Of four options, you look for the two that show that same combined change (move right, colour flip) applied to a new starting grid. An option where the symbols moved right but did not change colour is a distractor; so is one where the colours flipped but the positions stayed.
Name the rule in a few words ("black moves right, white becomes black") before looking at the options, then check each option against it. Skip that step and you end up comparing pictures endlessly.
Scales ix
Scales ix is closer to a classic figure series. You see a set of images that follow a pattern, with one missing, and pick the image that completes it. The rules are the usual suspects: rotation, counting, alternation, adding or removing elements, shading.
Our own example: four boxes show an arrow pointing up, right, down and then a blank, while the number of dots under the arrow goes 1, 2, 3. The missing box should show an arrow pointing left with four dots. Two rules at once is typical.
Checklist for both formats: position, rotation, colour, number, size, appearing or disappearing elements.
Deductive Reasoning: Scales lst and Scales sx
Deductive tests give you rules and ask you to apply them strictly. Cut-e's versions look more like puzzles than exam questions.
Scales lst
Scales lst uses a grid in which each symbol may appear only once in every row and every column, exactly like a small Sudoku with shapes instead of numbers. Some cells are filled, one cell holds a question mark, and you have to work out which symbol belongs there.
Our own example: a four-by-four grid uses a star, a triangle, a circle and a square. The question mark sits in row 2, column 3. Row 2 already contains a star and a circle. Column 3 already contains a triangle. That leaves only the square. Easy on this item; on harder ones you need to fill in one or two other cells first before the target cell is forced.
Look at the row and column of the question mark first, and only expand outward if they do not settle it. Solving the whole grid wastes time on cells nobody asked about.
Scales sx
Scales sx is a different style of deductive task. You are shown an input, an output and a set of operators (think of them as small machines that each change something, such as flipping, swapping or recolouring). Your job is to work out which operator, or which combination of operators, turns the input into the output.
Our own example: operator A swaps the first and last symbol in a row; operator B turns every symbol upside down. The input row is triangle, circle, square. The output is an upside-down square, an upside-down circle and an upside-down triangle. Both the order and the orientation have changed, so the answer is A followed by B (or B followed by A, since in this case the order does not matter). On real items order sometimes matters, and that is the point.
Jot each operator down in shorthand the first time you see it, so you stop re-reading the legend.
Verbal Reasoning
Cut-e's verbal test does not hand you one long passage. Instead, information is spread across several short tabs: a bit of text, a table, sometimes a chart or an email. Each statement you assess draws on one or more tabs, and you answer whether it is true, false or cannot be determined from what you have been given.
Our own example: one tab says a company's Dutch office has 40 employees. Another tab says that all offices with more than 30 employees received a training budget this year. The statement "The Dutch office received a training budget this year" is true. The statement "The Dutch office used its training budget" is cannot say: nothing in the tabs tells you whether the money was spent.
Two things decide your score: discipline about "cannot say" (only the tabs count, not your own knowledge) and navigation speed. Scan the tab titles first so you know where each kind of fact lives.
Numerical Reasoning (Short Version)
The numerical test uses the same tabbed layout: tables and charts with business data, then quick-fire questions. The maths rarely goes beyond percentages and ratios, but the clock is tight and the data you need is often split over two tabs. Our in-depth guide to Aon (cut-e) numerical reasoning tests covers the format and time-saving shortcuts.
Specific-Abilities Modules: Memory, Concentration and Spatial Tests
For some roles, especially in operations, aviation and technical work, employers add modules that measure narrower abilities: holding information and staying accurate under pressure.
Working memory (scales blo). You see a sequence of images and must keep recent ones in mind, then answer quickly whether a new image matches one shown a few steps earlier. It feels simple for the first ten seconds and then becomes surprisingly demanding.
Concentration (scales e3+). You make many fast, simple judgements in a row, such as whether a displayed item matches what the question asks. The difficulty is not any single item but staying accurate across all of them without slowing down.
Spatial and orientation (scales spr and scales nav). Spr involves mentally rotating three-dimensional objects; nav tests your sense of direction on a map or route.
You cannot learn these like a rule checklist, but familiarity helps: the first time you meet a memory task, half your capacity goes to the instructions.
Gamified Assessments: Aon's smartPredict
Aon also offers a gamified series called smartPredict, with short challenges such as switchChallenge, gridChallenge, digitChallenge and motionChallenge. They look like mobile puzzle games but measure cognitive abilities such as logical reasoning, numeracy, attention and planning. If your invitation mentions "challenges" rather than "scales", this is probably what you are getting; play through the format beforehand so the controls do not cost you points.
How Cut-e Tests Are Scored
Be wary of anyone who claims to know exact cut-off scores. Here is what can be said with confidence.
Your raw performance (right answers, and in some modules wrong ones) is compared with a norm group of comparable people, such as graduates, and usually expressed as a percentile or standard score. The employer decides what is good enough, so two employers can set very different bars on the identical test.
Some modules are scored in a way that makes wild guessing unattractive. Others are not. The on-screen instructions normally tell you how a module handles wrong answers, so read them before you click start rather than skimming to the button.
Speed matters indirectly: accurate but slow candidates simply reach fewer items. Aim for a steady pace, not a frantic one.
For the bigger picture of how employers use online tests in the hiring funnel, our overview of online aptitude tests explains where these scores sit next to your CV and interviews.
A Realistic Preparation Plan
You do not need a month. You need a few focused sessions on the right formats.
Step 1: identify your modules. Read the invitation, check the Aon candidate page if it links to one, and note every test name you see (clx, lst, verbal, numerical and so on). Prepare for those, not for every test cut-e has ever made.
Step 2: take a timed baseline. Do one practice run of each module under real time limits. Not to get a good score, but to find out where the clock hurts. Most people discover one format that eats far more time than the others.
Step 3: build rule habits. For inductive items, drill the checklist (position, rotation, colour, number, size, appear or disappear). For lst, train the "row and column of the question mark first" habit. For sx, practise writing operator shorthand. For verbal, practise saying out loud why something is "cannot say".
Step 4: practise in short timed blocks. Twenty to thirty minutes, then review every mistake. Long untimed sessions feel productive but do not build cut-e pace.
Step 5: simulate once. The day before, run a full set of modules in one sitting, in a quiet room, at the time of day you plan to take the real thing.
Practice material that mirrors the actual cut-e layouts makes steps 2 to 5 much more useful than generic puzzle books. Our cut-e practice tests are built around the scales formats described above, including the two-answer inductive items and the tabbed numerical and verbal layout.
On test day: use a laptop unless told otherwise, have rough paper ready, and read each module's instructions before starting: they contain details like how many answers to select and how wrong answers count.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is cut-e the same as Aon?
Yes. Cut-e was a German test publisher founded in 2002 and bought by Aon in 2017. The tests now run under the Aon Assessment name, but most of them are still the cut-e scales tests.
How long does a cut-e test take?
Each module is short, and the employer chooses how many you get. The start screen and your invitation state the exact time limit for every test, so check those rather than relying on forum numbers.
Are cut-e tests harder than other aptitude tests?
The reasoning itself is not harder. What trips people up is the combination of unfamiliar formats and very tight timers, which is why seeing each format in advance makes such a difference.
Should I guess on a cut-e test?
Read the instructions for each module. Some cut-e tests are scored in a way that makes random guessing unattractive, others do not penalise it. The instructions on screen tell you which applies.
Can I retake a cut-e test if I do badly?
That is up to the employer, not Aon. Most employers do not allow a retake within the same application, and some reuse results for a period, so treat your first attempt as the one that counts.
Conclusion
Cut-e tests have a reputation for being strange, and it is partly earned: tight clocks, two-answer inductive items, Sudoku-style grids and data hidden behind tabs. But strange is not hard. Once you have seen each format a few times, only the reasoning is left.
Find out which modules are in your invitation, practise those under time pressure, and build the small habits (name the rule, check the row and column, respect "cannot say") that save seconds on every item. If you want to do that with material that matches the real layouts, start with the cut-e preparation package and take your baseline today.