Online Assessments

How to Ace Online Assessment Games (Pymetrics, Arctic Shores, …)

7 min readNov 2025

Game-based assessments look playful, but they are built to measure serious traits: attention, memory, risk preferences, fairness, and how you behave under time pressure. You can’t “hack” the algorithm, but you can absolutely prepare your mindset and habits.

1. What these games actually measure

Most games don’t care whether you ‘win’ the game in a normal sense. They care about patterns in your behaviour.

  • Consistency: do you stay focused or become erratic?
  • Learning: do you adapt when the pattern changes?
  • Risk: do you take extreme risks or balanced ones?
  • Self-control: can you wait when waiting is better?

2. Set up your environment properly

Small details add up. You want your brain to focus only on the task, not on noise, messages, or lag.

  • Use a laptop/desktop with a stable internet connection.
  • Close all notifications, apps, and browser tabs you don’t need.
  • Use a mouse if possible — it can be faster and more precise than a trackpad.
  • Do the test when you’re reasonably rested, not at 2 a.m.

3. Read the instructions slowly, once

Every game starts with a tutorial. Many candidates rush this part and lose easy points because they didn’t actually understand the rules.

Your aim is not to over-optimise each click; it’s to understand the principle of the game so your behaviour is stable and logical.

4. Strategies by common game type

You will see many variations, but most games fit into a few classic families:

  • ⚡ Reaction / go–nogo: react quickly to target stimuli, ignore others. Prioritise accuracy first, then gently push speed once you’re confident.
  • 🧠 Working memory (digits, shapes, sequences): say the pattern in your head, chunk information (e.g. 3–3–3 instead of 9 separate items).
  • 🎯 Planning / path games: take a couple of seconds to visualise the path before you start clicking. Calm planning is usually rewarded.
  • 💰 Risk / reward games: avoid extremes. Neither super-aggressive nor ultra-cautious — behave like a balanced, rational person under uncertainty.
  • 🤝 Fairness / sharing games: behave how you would in a real professional interaction — fair, not exploitative.

5. Train the underlying skills, not specific games

You don’t need the exact same game to improve. Anything that trains working memory, attention, and timing can help.

  • Practice short bursts (10–15 minutes) of focused tasks rather than 2-hour marathons.
  • Use apps or exercises that train memory, pattern recognition, and quick but accurate decisions.
  • Simulate test conditions sometimes: timer on, no phone, one continuous block.

6. On the day: mindset and behaviour

Treat the games like a serious experiment, not a casual mobile game.

  • Aim to be calm and consistent instead of chasing a ‘perfect score’.
  • If you make a mistake, don’t panic — just return to your usual pattern.
  • Trust the instructions; don’t try to outsmart the algorithm with weird behaviour.

7. After the test

You won’t always get feedback, and that’s normal. Don’t obsess over a single game result.

Focus on what you can control for next time: your environment, your energy level, and your ability to stay present for the whole test.