American Express Assessment Centre: 3 Exercises, Case & Interviews

Last updated: October 2026

Quick Answer

The American Express assessment centre is the final round for UK undergraduate summer internships: competency-based interviews, a case study and a group discussion, scored on communication, analytical and collaboration skills. Amex’s own student page says you reach it after a pre-recorded video. Candidates report a single day, often in Brighton or virtual. Rehearse the interviews and the case in OphyAI Interview Practice.

Part	What Amex or candidates say
Who sits it	UK undergraduate summer interns (Amex page); some Italy, Spain and Germany internships too
Before it	A pre-recorded video interview
Exercises	Competency interviews, case study, group discussion (Amex page)
What is scored	Communication, analytical and collaboration skills (Amex page)
Length	Up to a full working day, reported
Tech apprentices	A Virtual Discovery Day with two 30-minute interviews instead

What American Express Is Testing in This Round

Amex names the three skills on its student programs page: communication, analytical and collaboration. Each exercise checks one or more of them. The behaviours underneath are the Blue Box Values in the American Express interview guide, especially “We Back Our Customers” and “We Respect People”.

Red flags that fail candidates:

• Talking most in the group exercise but never building on anyone else’s point.
• A case answer with an opinion and no numbers behind it.
• Competency stories that say “we” all the way through, so assessors cannot score your part.
• No clear answer to “why Amex and why this internship?”

What to Expect

The UK route on the Amex page is two steps: a pre-recorded video with role-specific questions, then the assessment centre. Candidate reports on Glassdoor describe a day at the Brighton European headquarters lasting up to seven hours with two interviews, a group exercise and an individual presentation; a November 2024 report lists one interview on your CV and skills and one on motivation and fit. Some years run virtually, and the mix varies by business area.

The Technology Apprentice Program is different. Amex says applicants complete an online coding assessment within seven days, then attend a Virtual Discovery Day to meet engineering teams, followed by two consecutive 30-minute interviews. US internships do not list an assessment centre: the Sophomore Finance Internship, for example, uses a recorded video and then two 30-minute HireVue interviews.

Example Questions and How to Answer Them

1. “Tell me about a time you worked in a team that disagreed.” (Competency) State your role in a sentence, spend most of the answer on what you did to reach a decision, then give the result.

2. “Why American Express, and why this internship?” (Motivation) Name the business area you applied to, one Amex product you understand from a card member’s or merchant’s view, and one skill the internship would build. Keep it under 90 seconds.

3. Case study: “Card spending in one customer segment fell 8% last quarter. What would you look at?” (Case) Split the drop into customers, frequency and spend per transaction, say which data you would request first, and finish with one recommendation you could test. This is an illustrative prompt, not a reported one.

4. Group discussion: rank five options for a limited budget (Group) Propose a quick process (criteria first, then vote), keep time, bring in quieter members by name and summarise the group’s view at the end.

5. Individual presentation (Reported) Lead with your recommendation, give three reasons with numbers, then the main risk. Practise cutting a five-minute version to three.

How to Prepare in 3 Days

• Day 1: stories. Write six competency stories covering teamwork, a difficult customer, a deadline, a mistake, influence and a data-driven decision. Map each to a Blue Box Value.
• Day 2: the case. Do two 20-minute business cases on paper: a spending drop and a new-product launch. Then talk one through as a voice mock in OphyAI Interview Practice and read the per-answer feedback.
• Day 3: the group and logistics. Read our group interview questions guide for group-exercise roles, plan your travel to Brighton or test your camera, and prepare two questions for the assessors.

When the day runs virtually on Zoom, Teams or Meet, OphyAI Interview Copilot gives real-time answer suggestions in the interviews, and One-way Interview mode in the desktop app handles the pre-recorded video. Both windows are excluded from screen sharing and recording, but not from a webcam or a person in the room.

Start practicing →

Common Mistakes

Treating the group exercise as a debate. Agreement plus one improvement scores better than winning.

Skipping the numbers in the case. Even rough estimates show analytical skill.

Recycling the video answers. Assessors may have watched it; bring new examples.

Ignoring the clock. Volunteer to keep time in the group task; it is a visible, useful role.

Related Guides

• American Express interview guide
• American Express HireVue interview questions
• American Express online assessment
• Capital One Power Day case interview

Frequently Asked Questions

What happens at the American Express assessment centre?

Amex says its UK undergraduate summer internship assessment centre includes competency-based interviews, case studies and group discussions that test communication, analytical and collaboration skills. Candidates also report an individual presentation and two separate interviews, one on your CV and one on motivation.

How long is the American Express assessment centre?

Amex does not publish a length. Candidate reports on Glassdoor describe a single day of up to about seven hours at the Brighton headquarters, while virtual versions are reported as shorter. Plan for a full day, keep your calendar clear and ask the recruiter for the agenda if it is not in the invitation.

Does American Express use assessment centres in the US?

Its student programs page does not list one for US internships. The Sophomore Finance Internship, for example, uses a recorded video and two 30-minute HireVue interviews, plus a technical assessment for tech roles. US experienced hires go through live interviews instead, covered in the main guide.

What is the American Express Virtual Discovery Day?

It is the second stage of the UK Technology Apprentice Program. After passing an online coding assessment, which Amex says must be done within seven days, candidates join a virtual day to meet engineering teams, then sit two consecutive 30-minute interviews. Prepare as you would for a short technical and motivation interview.

How soon do you hear back after the Amex assessment centre?

Amex does not publish a timeline. One test-preparation site, GraduatesFirst, says decisions can come within 48 hours or a few days after the assessment centre, and candidate reports vary. If a week passes with no news, email your recruiter politely.

Sources and verification notes

Checked October 2026.

• American Express careers, student programs (UK page): first-party, read in this run; the UK undergraduate summer internship selection process (pre-recorded video, then an assessment centre with competency-based interviews, case studies and group discussions), the Technology Apprentice Program’s seven-day coding assessment, Virtual Discovery Day and two 30-minute interviews, the US Sophomore Finance Internship’s video and two 30-minute HireVue interviews, and the London, Brighton and Burgess Hill locations.
• GraduatesFirst, American Express recruitment process: third-party test-preparation vendor, read in this run; the Virtual Discovery Day name and the “within 48 hours” decision note.
• Glassdoor, American Express interviews: candidate-reported; the seven-hour Brighton day, the group exercise, presentation and two-interview format, and the November 2024 report. Glassdoor returned 403 in this run, so these come from search excerpts of individual reviews.
• The case study and group-task prompts above are illustrative, written for practice, not reported Amex questions.