Who uses the SOVA assessment
SOVA is used by a wide spread of consulting and finance employers, not just Bain. The most common sponsors candidates encounter in 2026 are Bain EMEA, BCG (selected offices), Roland Berger, Oliver Wyman, and a long tail of FTSE 100 corporates and UK public-sector graduate schemes.
If you applied to a UK, French, Italian, Spanish, Benelux, or Middle Eastern Bain office, expect SOVA. If you applied to US or APAC offices, you'll usually get TestGorilla instead.
The four sections
Each section runs independently. You'll see roughly 15 questions per reasoning section and 80–100 forced-choice items in the personality questionnaire.
- Verbal reasoning — read a business passage and judge each statement True, False, or Cannot Say.
- Numerical reasoning — multiple-choice math from charts and tables. A calculator is permitted.
- Logical reasoning — abstract shape sequences. Pick the next pattern.
- Personality questionnaire — forced-choice Most/Least items mapped to consulting traits.
How SOVA is scored
Reasoning sections are scored on a 1–9 stanine against a graduate normative group. Recruiters see your stanine per section, total time spent, and a personality fit summary. Most successful candidates score stanine 7 or above (top 23%) on each reasoning section.
There is no published cut-off and the personality section is not pass/fail — it's used to flag fit with the employer's culture profile.
Put it into practice
The fastest way to internalize the format is timed practice that mirrors the real test.
Practice numerical reasoning free