Free Amazon Financial Analyst Assessment Practice Guide [2024]

The Amazon Financial Assessment is comprised of two tests - Work Simulation and Work Style Assessment.

The Excel assessment, however, is usually sent prior to these two tests, or during one of the interviews rounds. Therefore, we’ll elaborate on this Excel test further down the page.

The Amazon Financial Analyst Work Simulation evaluates your critical thinking, judgment, and decision-making skills. Additionally, it is heavily based on Amazon’s renowned 16 Leadership Principles.

Once you start the simulation, you’ll encounter different emails, videos, and messages from your virtual team members, team leads, and senior leaders at Amazon. Then, you’ll be asked a question and given a set of responses to these challenges.

Try the following sample question from the prep package, to start to get a feel for the assessment:

The prep package includes 10 Work Simulation practice modules that resemble the actual assessment and focus on the same skills and competencies.

The amazon Work Style Assessment is a 15-minute personality test that assesses your work preferences, qualities, and behaviors, to determine if you could fit Amazon’s unique culture.

Each question asks you to decide between two choices, selecting the statement that best represents the preferences and interests that drive your approach to daily work tasks.

Since this assessment is exclusively based on Amazon’s Leadership Principles, you must keep these principles in mind and rely on them when choosing an answer.

Here’s an example of a question from the Work Style Assessment practice:

The prep package includes a full Work Style Assessment practice simulation that's made up of questions that resemble the actual assessment. Each question is coupled with thorough explanations of the Leadership Principles and the preferred answer choices.

The Amazon Excel test is a 30-minute task that evaluates your practical knowledge of Excel.

You’ll receive an Excel file with raw data and several tasks to complete. These tasks include creating Pivot tables, advanced formulas, Vlookups, Index and Match, and others. Usually, you’ll also need to prepare a graph

Amazon’s Excel assessment is usually given either before the phone/virtual interview or during that. If it’s given before the interview, it won’t be recorded by any online software, so you’ll even be able to use Google to solve the questions.

But if it’s during the interview, you won’t be able to use any external aid.

In the prep package, you’ll find a comprehensive Excel practice course, that will teach you everything from Excel basics to advanced formulas and functions.

The interview process for Amazon’s Financial Analyst jobs is quite lengthy and includes several rounds. The interview stages differ depending on the job level you’re applying to, but we’ll focus on the most popular ones here below.\

Interview by phone:

There is a 30-minute to an hour-long phone interview that mostly consists of behavioral questions as well as questions about your previous work experience. In order to pass the behavioral part, you should use the STAR method to answer the questions.

In-person / Virtual Interview:

There are 4-6 back-to-back interviews with a number of hiring managers at Amazon for financial analysts. Candidates usually encounter Amazon Bar Raisers on the interview panel.

These are Amazon workers who are not part of the team but serve as "independent" interviewers who challenge your answers and ask difficult questions.

In order to succeed in these in-person interviews, you must familiarize yourself with Amazon's 16 leadership principles.
If you are not familiar with Amazon's leadership principles, you may find them excessive. Unfortunately, these principles must be mastered in order to succeed in these interviews.

You should already have a good understanding of these principles if you prepare for and pass the Work Simulation and Work Style Assessment. The only thing you need to do before the interviews is refresh your knowledge and prepare your responses.

HireVue Video Interview:

In this virtual interview, you are asked questions, while your responses are recorded. Please note that you will only have one chance to answer each question during this video interview. Ensure that nothing distracts you and that you are well prepared.

The HireVue interview consists mainly of behavioral and financial questions. You are asked behavioral questions by Amazon and need to answer them by following the STAR Method (Situation, Task, Action, and Result). It is therefore imperative that you learn this technique by heart and use it to structure your answers.

In-person / Virtual Interview:

A total of 2-4 interviews will be conducted, most of which will involve behavioral and situational questions. Be ready to use the STAR Method in your answers, as Amazon loves it.

In addition, Amazon expects candidates to be familiar with its 16 leadership principles and cite them frequently in their answers.
The likelihood of one of your interviewers being an Amazon Bar Raiser is high. Your answers will be investigated deeply by this "external" interviewer, and he or she may even challenge your answers.

Don't let that annoy you, since it's all part of the interview and meant to test your maturity and your ability to handle pressure.

A strong leadership background along with high proficiency in Excel is a requirement for Amazon's FLDP program. In-person interviews and Excel case assessments evaluate both of these skills closely.

You will need about 45 minutes to complete the Excel case. Your interviewer will ask you about this Excel assessment later on, and you'll need to be concise in explaining your reasoning and thought process.

There are four face-to-face interviews, each lasting 45 minutes, and there is usually no break between them (so be sure to relieve yourself beforehand). The interview questions emphasize Amazon's 14 leadership principles (except for the Excel case discussion).
You will be expected to use these principles as a basis for your answers since they are Amazon's core principles.

Additionally, you can expect the interviewers to elaborate more (using the leadership principles) on your answers so try to keep your answers consistent.

A Bar Raiser is a skilled evaluator outside of Amazon's hiring department. The main function of these professionals is to provide genuine and reliable opinions about whether or not you should be hired. This is done by throwing off your leadership skills and testing your resiliency with a variety of tactics.

Keeping your composure, staying tight with your answers, and adhering to Amazon's leadership principles are the best ways to handle them.