> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.interviewflowai.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Assessments overview

> Test Candidates with timed, auto-scored questions before they reach your AI Interviewer.

Assessments are written tests that Candidates complete before their AI interview. You attach a flow of one to five assessments to an Interviewer. Candidates answer questions such as multiple choice, true or false, and numeric questions, and most answers are scored automatically.

## When to use assessments

Use an assessment when you want to check knowledge or skills with clear right answers, for example product knowledge, aptitude, or a technical topic. Use the AI interview when you want to hear how a Candidate explains their thinking in a spoken conversation.

You can use both. The assessment filters Candidates first, and the Candidates who do well move on to the AI interview.

## How an assessment flow works

* An assessment flow belongs to one active Interviewer. Each Interviewer can have only one flow.
* A flow holds one to five assessments. Candidates take them in the order you set.
* You choose a pass score and a weight for each assessment. The weighted results make up the Candidate's overall **Assessment score**.
* Language and proctoring settings apply to the whole flow.
* The flow is open only between the start and end times you set.

To build a flow, see [Create an assessment](/assessments/create-an-assessment).

## The Candidate journey

When you shortlist a Candidate for an Interviewer that has an assessment flow, the Candidate goes to the assessment first. They move through these stages:

1. **Shortlisted for Assessment**: the Candidate gets an email invitation to the assessment.
2. **Assessment In Progress**: the Candidate has started the assessment.
3. **Assessment Completed**: the Candidate has finished every assessment in the flow.

What happens next depends on your settings.

### Automatically continue to the AI interview

If you turn on **Automatically continue to the AI interview**, the Candidate moves on by themselves when both of these are true:

* Their weighted total meets your **Required total score**.
* They met the pass score of every assessment you marked as **Required**.

If the Candidate falls short, they are declined automatically.

<Note>
  Short answer and long answer questions are not scored. They don't count toward the total score or toward pass or fail.
</Note>

### Public Interviewers

If your Interviewer is public and **Automatically continue to the AI interview** is off, every Candidate who completes the assessment moves on to the AI interview automatically, whatever their score.

### Move Candidates on yourself

If automatic progression is off and the Interviewer is not public, Candidates stay in **Assessment Completed**. Review their results, then click **Shortlist for AI interview** on the Candidate's report. In the Candidate list, the accept action on the Candidate's row does the same thing.

## Credits

Assessments use credits. You are charged once per Candidate, when the Candidate starts the assessment flow. A Candidate who never starts it costs nothing.

## Related docs

* [Create an assessment](/assessments/create-an-assessment)
* [Interviewers](/interview-automation/interviewers)
* [Invite Candidates to interview](/interview-automation/invite-applications-to-interview)


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