Make the Right Hire with The PI Cognitive Assessment™
The PI Cognitive Assessment™ measures how quickly someone learns, adapts, and solves problems at work so you can match the right person to the pace and complexity of the role
When learning ability doesn’t match the role
Experience matters, but it doesn’t always predict performance. Some roles demand fast thinking, independent learning, and the ability to manage complexity. When someone struggles to keep pace, results slow, pressure builds, and leaders spend time solving problems that should have been prevented.
Cognitive ability is the strongest predictor of job performance. It determines how quickly someone learns, connects information, and adapts when things change. Without measuring it, hiring decisions depend on guesswork and short-term impressions.
The PI Cognitive Assessment™ helps leaders identify people who can handle the demands of the role from day one. It gives a clear view of learning speed, problem-solving ability, and adaptability, so each hire supports performance instead of slowing it down.
What is The Cognitive Assessment™ by The Predective Index®?
The PI Cognitive Assessment™ measures how quickly someone learns, adapts, and solves problems at work. It focuses on learning agility. That is the ability to take in new information, connect ideas, and apply them under pressure.
The assessment is completed online in twelve minutes and includes numerical, verbal, and abstract reasoning questions. Together, they show how a person approaches unfamiliar challenges, processes information, and keeps pace with change.
It doesn’t measure education or intelligence. It measures the mental agility that allows people to think ahead, make connections, and perform in roles where the demands evolve quickly.
Leaders use the PI Cognitive Assessment™ alongside the PI Job Assessment™ to set a target range for each role. This ensures the level of complexity matches the person’s capability, avoiding both over-hiring and under-hiring.
Why learning ability matters to leaders
Every leader wants people who can deliver today and grow into tomorrow’s challenges. Learning ability defines that potential. It shows how quickly someone can take on new information, solve unfamiliar problems, and adapt as the business evolves.
When learning ability aligns with the pace of the role, people perform at a higher level. Teams adapt faster, make better decisions, and sustain results under pressure. When it doesn’t, progress slows and leadership time is lost managing issues that could have been predicted.
The PI Cognitive Assessment™ helps leaders identify potential before hiring. It shows who can learn fast, handle complexity, and grow with the role. With this insight, leaders build teams ready for both current performance and future growth.
How The PI Cognitive Assessment™ works
The PI Cognitive Assessment™ is completed online in twelve minutes and measures how quickly people learn and apply new information. It fits naturally into any recruitment process and works on any device without setup or preparation.
The questions assess three areas of reasoning: numerical, verbal, and abstract. Together they show how someone interprets data, solves unfamiliar problems, and keeps pace in a changing environment.
Each person receives a score out of fifty that reflects their learning speed and problem-solving ability. Leaders can compare this score to the target range created by the PI Job Assessment™ to ensure the role’s complexity matches the person’s capability.
The assessment has been validated through more than five hundred studies, is available in over sixty languages, and continues to be one of the most accurate predictors of future job performance.
Send a secure link to the candidate. The assessment takes twelve minutes to complete and includes fifty multiple-choice questions.
Each question measures how well the candidate understands patterns, logic, and written or numerical information. There are no trick questions or specialist knowledge required.
Once complete, leaders receive a score out of fifty. The results show how quickly the person learns, reasons, and adapts to new challenges.
Compare the candidate’s score to the target range defined by the PI Job Assessment™. This shows whether their learning speed matches the pace and complexity the role requires.
Why more leaders measure cognitive ability
The pace of change in business continues to accelerate. Leaders need people who can think ahead, solve problems quickly, and adapt as priorities shift. Measuring cognitive ability makes this possible. It reveals how fast someone learns, how they handle complexity, and how well they keep pace with new demands.
The PI Cognitive Assessment™ gives leaders a way to see potential before hiring. It identifies people who can learn quickly, make decisions with limited information, and perform when situations change. Every project follows our Recruitment Optimisation Framework with The Predictive Index®, ensuring each hire matches both the demands of the role and the direction of the business.
Leaders who measure cognitive ability build teams that stay ahead of challenges, adjust faster to growth, and deliver results that last.
What does The Cognitive Assessment™ produce
The PI Cognitive Assessment™ produces a clear score out of fifty that shows how quickly someone learns, reasons, and adapts to new information. This result gives leaders an objective way to see if a candidate can meet the cognitive demands of the role. Each output helps leaders make decisions based on evidence rather than assumption. It builds a recruitment process that predicts success, reduces wasted time, and strengthens results across the organisation.
Each person receives a score that reflects their capacity to absorb, process, and apply information. It shows how they handle complexity, change, and problem-solving under pressure.
When used with the PI Job Assessment™, the score is compared to a defined target range for the role. This shows whether someone’s learning ability matches what the position requires.
The score does not stand alone. It is used alongside behavioural data, interviews, and business knowledge to guide decisions that balance speed, fit, and performance.
How we help you
We take time to understand your business, team dynamics, and what success looks like.
We walk you through The Predictive Index ® and give you access to the behavioural assessment.
You receive a clear plan, with the right tools and support to make it work.
What leaders can expect with the PI Cognitive Assessment™
When leaders measure learning ability, they gain a clearer view of who can handle complexity, adapt quickly, and perform in fast-moving environments. The results speak directly to performance and long-term value. Each outcome reflects the same advantage: leaders who measure cognitive ability make smarter, faster, and more sustainable hiring decisions.
Leaders make decisions faster when they know who can meet the demands of the role. The assessment removes uncertainty and focuses discussions on capability and potential.
When people learn faster and adapt sooner, they deliver value more quickly. Each hire adds measurable performance and reduces the cost of slow ramp-up or turnover.
Matching cognitive ability to the pace of the role reduces early attrition. People stay longer, perform better, and grow with the business.
Hear from those making better hiring decisions
The Predictive Index® is a registered trademark of Predictive Index, LLC and is used here with permission.
Trusted by leaders wordwide
10,000 organisations across 90 countries, available in more than 70 languages, with over 38 million assessments completed.
Working together
Every engagement begins with a conversation. We take time to understand your hiring goals, the demands of the roles you’re filling, and the challenges your teams face today.
From there, we show how the PI Cognitive Assessment™ fits within your recruitment process and how it strengthens decisions across your organisation. You’ll see how it helps identify potential, improve hiring speed, and protect long-term results.
Our partnership doesn’t end with the assessment. We help you interpret the data, embed it into your hiring framework, and use it to build a system that continues to improve with every decision.
