The PI Behavioral Assessment: how it works and what the 17 profiles mean
The PI Behavioral Assessment is an untimed adjective checklist from The Predictive Index that takes about six minutes and has no right or wrong answers. You tick words twice, once for how you are expected to act at work and once for how you see yourself; the result is a pattern on four drives (dominance, extraversion, patience and formality), which the software files under one of 17 reference profiles.
Updated October 20, 2026 · by TimedPrep
- Length: about six minutes, untimed
- Format: one list of adjectives, shown twice; tick as many or as few as apply
- Right answers: none; it is not a pass-or-fail test
- Result: a pattern on four factors, filed under one of 17 reference profiles
- Usually sent with: the timed PI Cognitive Assessment (50 questions, 12 minutes)
How the assessment works
The Predictive Index describes its Behavioral Assessment as an "untimed, free-choice, stimulus-response tool" that takes about six minutes. There are two questions, and both use the same list of adjectives (86 of them, according to the publisher's help pages):
- Select the adjectives that describe how you are expected to behave at work.
- Select the adjectives you would really use to describe yourself.
There is no minimum or maximum number of words to tick and no clock. Speed does not matter here, and neither does vocabulary: if a word does not fit you, leave it.
The four factors
Your ticks are turned into a score on four factors, each a drive rather than a skill. The definitions below are the publisher's, from the same page.
| Factor | The drive it describes |
|---|---|
| Dominance | To exert influence on people or events: control, independence and decision-making at work |
| Extraversion | For social interaction: how you communicate, persuade and engage with others at work (not how sociable you are in private) |
| Patience | For consistency and stability: how you handle time, pace and change (not how tolerant or polite you are) |
| Formality | To conform to rules and structure: how much structure, rules and precision you want in your work |
A high or a low score on any factor is neither better nor worse. A sales role and an accounting role simply call for different patterns.
The 17 reference profiles
From the four factor scores, the software places every person in the nearest of 17 reference profiles. The Predictive Index's page on the science behind them sorts them into four groups:
| Group | Profiles | Typical pattern, in the publisher's words |
|---|---|---|
| Analytical | Analyzer, Controller, Specialist, Strategist, Venturer | More dominant than extraverted, with a low amount of patience; focused on tasks more than people, fast pace |
| Social | Altruist, Captain, Collaborator, Maverick, Persuader, Promoter | Highly extraverted; people-oriented and outgoing |
| Stabilizing | Adapter, Artisan, Guardian, Operator | Less dominant and extraverted, with high patience and formality; steady, detailed, work well with structure |
| Persistent | Individualist, Scholar | More dominant than extraverted, with high patience; task-oriented and deliberate |
Two things the publisher says about the profiles matter to a candidate:
- No profile is good or bad. Its help center says there is no such thing as a good or bad reference profile.
- The profile is a label, not the decision. The science page says reference profiles are a rough description of the scores and should not be used to make hiring decisions; the full pattern of the four factors is what counts. So there is no "right profile" to aim for, even for a given job.
What the employer does with it
The employer describes the behavior a role needs inside its PI account, and the software compares your pattern with that target. The publisher's blog on scores says that neither the behavioral nor the cognitive assessment is a test you pass or fail, that it does not recommend cut-off scores for either, and that the results are meant to be one input among several, next to the interview, experience and references.
The PI help center says the person who took the assessment receives an email with their reference profile and some context. Whether you see more than that depends on the employer.
How to answer it
Because you cannot see the role's target and there are no right answers, the useful advice is short:
- Think of your normal working self. Not you at your best or worst day, and not the person you imagine the job wants.
- Treat the two questions differently. The first is about what others expect of you at work; the second is about how you really see yourself. It is normal for the two lists to differ.
- Do not overthink single words. There is no clock, but the publisher expects about six minutes. A word that makes you hesitate probably does not describe you.
Trying to tick the "right" words means guessing a hidden target from a stereotype of the job, and a pattern that wins you a job that does not suit you is no win. The longer version of this advice, for the Wonderlic and Criteria questionnaires too, is in the personality section guide.
The part you can practice: the Cognitive Assessment
Employers who use PI often send the Behavioral Assessment together with the PI Cognitive Assessment. That one is different in every way: 50 questions in 12 minutes, verbal, numerical and abstract reasoning, four answer choices, and a scaled score from 100 to 450. Most people do not answer all 50, which is why timed practice helps: it shows you which question types eat your minutes. What the number means is in PI Cognitive Assessment score.
Free PI Cognitive Assessment practice test. 50 questions on a 12-minute clock, no sign-up. Score, estimated standing and where your time went.
Start the free test