Saville Assessment 2026: Swift Aptitude, Wave

A Saville assessment is an online aptitude test or personality questionnaire from Saville Assessment, a UK test publisher. Graduates usually meet Swift Analysis Aptitude: 24 questions in 18 minutes, split into verbal, numerical and diagrammatic sections of 6 minutes each. Apprentice and entry-level applicants often take Swift Comprehension Aptitude, a shorter mix of verbal, numerical and error checking. Many employers add the Wave personality questionnaire, which uses a distinctive rate-then-rank format. This guide gives the structure and timings of each test, flags where sources disagree, and provides original practice items with worked answers.

Key facts

What Saville tests look like

Swift Analysis Aptitude

Saville's technical summary for its Analysis range lists Swift Analysis Aptitude as 24 questions in 18 minutes: Verbal Analysis 8 questions in 6 minutes, Numerical Analysis 8 in 6, Diagrammatic Analysis 8 in 6. That is 45 seconds per question, with each section timed separately. The three sections are short versions of the full-length Analysis tests:

• Verbal Analysis. A short passage and statements; you decide whether each is True, False or Cannot say from the passage alone.
• Numerical Analysis. Tables and charts of business data with multiple-choice answers.
• Diagrammatic Analysis. Shapes pass through operators (boxes that change them by a rule); you work out the output, the missing operator, or where a process goes wrong.

Saville also offers Swift Analysis Verbal & Numerical without the diagrammatic part, and Swift Executive Aptitude for senior roles, with abstract reasoning in place of diagrammatic. For Swift Executive, the same Saville summary lists 28 questions in 18 minutes (12 of them abstract), while several prep sites say 24; expect 18 minutes either way.

Swift Comprehension Aptitude

Swift Comprehension is the entry-level combination. Sources agree on verbal, numerical and error checking but not on the timings:

The six-area description probably mixes it up with Swift Technical, but treat your invitation as the authority. The verbal and numerical parts use simpler texts and data than the Analysis range; error checking asks you to compare two versions of the same information and find the differences.

Full-length tests

Some employers use a full single-ability test instead of a Swift combination. A third-party overview gives these timings: Verbal Analysis, Numerical Analysis and Diagrammatic Analysis 24 minutes each; Verbal Comprehension, Numerical Comprehension, Abstract and Mechanical 16 minutes; Spatial 8 minutes; Error Checking 6 minutes. GraduatesFirst puts Diagrammatic Analysis at 32 questions in 24 minutes.

Wave personality questionnaires

Wave measures 108 facets of work behaviour, grouped into 36 dimensions, 12 sections and 4 clusters. Saville's science page says every facet is "measured twice: once for what someone is driven to do, once for what they are good at", so the report can show gaps between motive and talent.

The response format, as Saville's own preparation guide for a Wave-based questionnaire describes it:

1. Statements appear in blocks of six.
2. You rate each on a nine-point scale from 1 "Very Strongly Disagree" to 9 "Very Strongly Agree".
3. You must rate every statement to move on.
4. If you give statements the same rating, you are asked which is most and least like you. Saville says the system derives the ranking from your ratings and only asks you to rank genuine ties.

Professional Styles has 216 items. Saville's handbook gives about 40 minutes as the typical completion time; a BPS review lists 35 minutes as advised. Focus Styles has 72 items and takes about 13 minutes. Neither is timed.

Delivery and practice

• Practice tests. Saville's site offers free, timed practice tests for each range, with onscreen feedback after every question. You can repeat them. Saville warns the practice difficulty "does not necessarily represent" the real test.
• Devices. The practice page says Swift Analysis, Swift Comprehension, Diagrammatic Analysis and Error Checking (among others) can't be taken on a mobile phone and asks for a screen of at least 1366 × 768. The newer candidate area says assessments are optimised for any device. Use a laptop to be safe.
• Timer. In one employer's Saville preparation guide, the aptitude timer cannot be paused once started.
• Product names. Saville's current site groups tests as "Aptitude" and "Executive Aptitude", and personality as behavioural assessments. Your invitation may use these names or the older Swift and Wave names.

Who uses Saville assessments

One of Saville's own employer-branded preparation guides lists Swift Analysis Aptitude for undergraduate and graduate roles, Swift Apprentice Aptitude for Level 3 apprentices and Swift Comprehension Aptitude for Level 6 and 7 apprentices. A Saville case study describes Swift Executive in senior technology hiring. Prep sites report users in professional services, engineering and manufacturing, consumer goods, technology and the public sector; employers change vendors, so check your invitation.

Original Saville-style practice questions

All items are written for this guide in the formats described above. They are not Saville items.

Verbal Analysis (True / False / Cannot say)

Passage: A regional rail operator replaced paper season tickets with a mobile pass in January. Customers who cannot use a smartphone can still request a printed card, which carries the same price. In the first quarter, the operator's ticket office queues were 30 % shorter than a year earlier, and the number of complaints about ticket checks rose slightly. The operator plans to review the scheme after twelve months.

1. Season-ticket holders without a smartphone have to pay more for their ticket.
2. Ticket office queues fell in the first quarter compared with the previous year.
3. The rise in complaints was caused by problems with the mobile pass.

Answers: 1 False, 2 True, 3 Cannot say.

• 1: the printed card "carries the same price".
• 2: queues were 30 % shorter than a year earlier.
• 3: the passage reports the rise but not its cause.

Numerical Analysis

Q1. Which product line has the highest revenue before returns? (A) Basic (B) Plus (C) Pro (D) Basic and Plus equally (E) all three equally

Answer: (A). Basic 120,000 × €25 = €3.0m; Plus 60,000 × €45 = €2.7m; Pro 25,000 × €90 = €2.25m.

Q2. Assume returned units are fully refunded. What is total revenue after returns, to the nearest €0.01m? (A) €7.95m (B) €7.63m (C) €7.44m (D) €7.42m (E) €7.16m

Answer: (C). Apply each line's own return rate: Basic 3.0 × 0.96 = 2.880; Plus 2.7 × 0.94 = 2.538; Pro 2.25 × 0.90 = 2.025. Total 2.880 + 2.538 + 2.025 = 7.443, so €7.44m. The traps: (A) ignores returns; (B) applies 4 % to everything (7.95 × 0.96); (D) applies the simple average of the three rates, 6.67 %, which ignores that Basic sells far more; (E) applies 10 % to everything.

Diagrammatic Analysis

Three operators change a row of shapes:

• P reverses the order of the shapes.
• Q changes every circle into a square.
• R removes the first shape.

Q1. The row circle, triangle, square, circle passes through P, then Q. What comes out? (A) square, square, triangle, square (B) square, triangle, square, square (C) circle, square, triangle, circle (D) square, triangle, square

Answer: (A). P reverses the row: circle, square, triangle, circle. Q turns both circles into squares: square, square, triangle, square. (C) stops after P.

Q2. The row triangle, circle, circle, square passes through R, then P, then Q. What comes out? (A) square, circle, circle (B) square, square, square (C) circle, circle, square (D) square, square, triangle

Answer: (B). R removes the triangle: circle, circle, square. P reverses: square, circle, circle. Q: square, square, square.

Q3. The row square, triangle, circle goes in and circle, triangle comes out. Which pair of operators, in order, was used? (A) P then R (B) R then P (C) Q then R (D) R then Q

Answer: (B). R first gives triangle, circle; P then gives circle, triangle. (A) gives circle, triangle, square → triangle, square. (C) and (D) would turn the circle into a square.

Error checking (Swift Comprehension style)

Compare the original with the copy. Which fields contain an error?

Answer: Reference and Account. Both swap two adjacent digits (71 → 17, 35 → 53), the most common error type. Check digit by digit in pairs rather than reading the whole string.

Wave-style block (no right answers)

Rate each statement 1 to 9, then imagine two of them tie and you must say which is more like you:

• "I enjoy finding flaws in a proposal."
• "I set myself demanding targets."
• "I keep calm when deadlines move."
• "I like to explain ideas to a large group."
• "I check my work carefully before handing it in."
• "I adapt my approach to the person I am dealing with."

Approach: rate from your typical behaviour at work, and use the whole scale. If you rate everything 7 to 9, you will face many tie-breaks, and the forced ranking will decide your profile anyway. The report compares what you are driven to do with what you say you are good at, so consistency matters more than looking strong everywhere.

Traps and how to avoid them

• 45 seconds is not much. Swift Analysis has a separate 6-minute clock per section. Don't let one hard diagrammatic item eat a third of your time.
• Cannot say versus False. "False" needs the passage to contradict the statement; if it is simply silent, it is "Cannot say".
• Absolute versus net figures. Numerical items often add a second step (returns, discounts, exchange rates) after the obvious one. Write the intermediate result down.
• Operator order. In diagrammatic items, applying the right rules in the wrong order gives a plausible wrong answer.
• Transposed digits. In error checking, most differences are swapped neighbours or a single changed character.
• Phone or small screen. Several Swift tests can't be taken on a phone. Check device requirements first.
• Uniformly high Wave ratings. They produce forced choices that may reflect you less well than honest, varied ratings.

How to prepare for a Saville assessment

Sources

• Saville Assessment, Analysis Aptitude Range technical summary (Swift Analysis 24 questions, 18 minutes, 8 questions and 6 minutes per section; Swift Executive 28 questions, 18 minutes): https://www.savilleassessment.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Analysis-Aptitude-Range-Technical-Summary.pdf
• Saville Assessment, practice tests (ranges, desktop-only tests, 1366 × 768, onscreen feedback)
• Saville Assessment, aptitude tests (randomised item bank, same number and difficulty of items, remote supervision add-on, current product names): https://www.savilleassessment.com/aptitude-tests/
• Saville Assessment, candidate area (any device, adjustments, 40+ languages)
• Saville Assessment, employer-branded preparation guide (Swift tests by role, timer cannot be paused, blocks of six statements on a nine-point scale, tie ranking) (Saville candidate preparation guide, savilleassessment.com)
• Saville Assessment, science (rate and rank, 108 facets measured twice)
• Saville Assessment, Wave handbook, chapter 1 (216 and 72 items, about 40 and 13 minutes)
• BPS test review of Wave Professional Styles, 2014 (35 minutes advised, 40 minutes modal)
• Riot IQ, Saville Swift test (Swift Comprehension 4 + 4 minutes + 90 seconds; third-party)
• Practice Aptitude Tests, Saville test types explained (full-length timings, Comprehension areas, negative-marking claim; third-party): https://www.practiceaptitudetests.com/resources/saville-test-types-explained/
• GraduatesFirst, Saville tests (Diagrammatic 32 questions in 24 minutes, Wave timings, user sectors; third-party): https://www.graduatesfirst.com/aptitude-tests-publishers/saville

Scritto da

Adrian, Specialista

MSc Psicologia, 7 anni di test fatti.

Ultimo aggiornamento: Oct 1, 2026