Graduate assessment centre group exercises: how to practise with a real decision
Practise a graduate assessment centre group exercise with a timed venue decision, sample contributions and questions for specific feedback.
A group is asked to recommend one of three venues for a careers event. After ten minutes, everyone has described their favourite venue. Nobody has checked which can hold the expected audience. If you notice this, a useful contribution is a question: “Before we compare prices, do all three meet the capacity requirement?” You have helped the group make a decision even if someone else presents it.
Understand what the invitation asks you to do
Read the instructions for your own assessment. Oxford's assessment centre guide describes several possible formats, including group problem solving. Employers choose different tasks and criteria. Check whether yours is online or in person, how much preparation is expected, and whether you will receive individual information. If you need an adjustment, use the contact details in the invitation so you can discuss the arrangements in advance.
Put the deliverable into a sentence. “Agree one venue and explain the main risk” is a different task from “rank all venues against four criteria”. Listen for a change of instruction on the day. If the brief asks for a joint recommendation, spending the last minute preparing separate speeches can leave the actual task unfinished.
Set up a practice exercise with something to decide
Ask two friends to try this fictional brief. There are 80 guests, a venue budget of £600, and guests must be able to reach the event space without steps. Venue A costs £450 and holds 70. Venue B costs £570, holds 90 and confirms step-free access. Venue C costs £500 and holds 100, but the information sheet says nothing about access. Give yourselves twelve minutes and nominate someone to listen to the discussion.
There is enough information here for a provisional decision. B meets all three requirements. A falls short on capacity. C might work, but its access arrangements require confirmation. If one person simply announces B at the outset, the group can still examine the reasoning. Ask what would change the choice. A hidden equipment charge of £50 at B would put the venue over budget. The answer now depends on a new fact.
Make it easy for others to use your contribution
Try stating a fact and its consequence together. “A holds 70, so ten guests would be left without a place” moves the conversation forward. If someone else makes the same point first, build on it by asking what an overflow room would cost or whether the brief allows one. Repeating the point at greater length uses time without giving the group anything new to decide.
When two people disagree, identify the question underneath their preferences. One may favour C for its price while another favours B for its confirmed access. Ask whether both agree that access is a requirement. If they do, the useful disagreement is about how to handle missing information. Record C as an alternative subject to confirmation and see whether the group can endorse B on the available facts.
Share the work without assigning people personalities
If someone has information the group needs, ask for that information directly. “Sam, what did the booking sheet say about equipment?” offers a clearer opening than telling someone they have been quiet. Give them time to find the relevant line. When the task is online, leave a pause after asking. Someone may be unmuting or checking a separate document.
Offer to take a specific piece of work if it helps. For example, you can keep the decision and outstanding condition in a shared note. Read it back once so the group can correct it. During practice, rotate this job. You may find it difficult to contribute while typing, in which case a shorter note with just the recommendation and its reason will serve you better.
Rehearse the final minute
A recommendation should survive a question from someone who missed the discussion. In this exercise, one possible closing is: “We recommend B because it accommodates 80 people, confirms step-free access and fits the £600 budget. Before booking we would check whether equipment costs extra. If that takes B over budget, we would ask C to confirm access.” That is a decision, the supporting evidence and a next step the organiser can act on.
Try the exercise again with one changed constraint. Reduce expected attendance to 65 or increase the budget by £100. A group that memorised its previous answer will miss the change. A group that understood its reasoning can revisit the affected criterion quickly. Keep the example fictional and check the arithmetic before drawing conclusions from it.
Ask for feedback on an observable moment
After practice, ask the listener to identify one intervention that changed the discussion and one point where they lost track of the reasoning. “You spotted the missing access information, but nobody wrote down who would check it” gives you something concrete to practise. An overall rating of your confidence tells you much less about what to do next.
Before the real exercise, revisit the vacancy using our job criteria guide to see which behaviours the employer actually names. Save the invitation, joining details and one practice objective alongside the role in your graduate application tracker. On the day, concentrate on understanding the brief, making a useful contribution and helping the group finish the decision it was given.