Cashier roles draw large applicant pools, and the CV tells you very little. Most applicants have similar experience, or none, and the things that separate a good cashier from a costly one (accurate change, a balanced drawer, patience with an angry customer, honesty with cash) never show up on paper. A short cashier assessment test is the fairest way to see them before you interview.
This guide covers what to test, what large retailers say publicly about their own assessments, sample tasks you can adapt, and how candidates can prepare.
What is a cashier assessment test?
A cashier assessment test is a short pre-employment test that checks whether an applicant can handle the core work of a checkout: taking payment, giving correct change, keeping records accurate and serving customers well. It usually runs online, after the application and before the interview.
O*NET, the US Department of Labor's occupation database, lists the cashier's top tasks as receiving payment "by cash, check, credit cards, vouchers, or automatic debits", greeting customers, issuing "receipts, refunds, credits, or change", helping customers and "resolving their complaints", and monitoring checkout stations. It lists integrity and dependability as the role's work styles. Those tasks are a good blueprint for the test.
What should a cashier pre-employment test measure?
Measure the four things that cost you money or customers when they go wrong: cash accuracy, attention to detail, customer handling and integrity. Everything else can be trained in the first week.
| Skill | Why it matters at the till | How to test it | Our deeper guide |
|---|---|---|---|
| Counting change and cash arithmetic | Short or over drawers, slow queues | Timed but realistic change, discount and refund calculations | Numerical reasoning |
| Accuracy and attention to detail | Wrong prices, double scans, mismatched receipts | Spot-the-error tasks on receipts, price lists and till counts | Attention to detail |
| Customer handling | Complaints, walkouts, poor reviews | A written scenario or short role-play with an upset customer | Customer service |
| Integrity and policy judgement | Shrinkage, sweethearting, refund abuse | Situational judgement questions about cash and policy | Situational judgement tests |
| Dependability | No-shows on busy shifts | Ask about availability and check references | Interview scorecard |
Keep the whole assessment short. A cashier applicant often has several other applications open, and a long test loses good people before you see them.
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Do large retailers use a cashier assessment?
Some do, but none of the big US retailers publishes what its test contains. Here is what each says on its own careers pages, as of October 2026.
| Retailer | What it says publicly | What it does not publish |
|---|---|---|
| Walmart | "Some positions require the completion of assessments", done as part of the application, which "may take additional time" | Which roles, the content, length or scoring |
| Target | Some applications ask for "a quick assessment regarding job-related skills" or availability | The content, length or vendor |
| CVS Health | For "many of our high-volume roles", applicants complete a Virtual Job Tryout, launched as a task in Workday after applying | Which roles, the content or scoring |
Our Walmart hiring process guide covers that company's steps in more detail. Treat question counts, pass marks and retake rules for any retailer's cashier test that you read on prep sites as unconfirmed. The retailers have not published them.
The useful lesson for your own hiring is the pattern: the test sits inside the application, before any interview, and it is used for roles with more applicants than managers can interview.
What does a cashier test look like? Sample tasks
Below are sample tasks you can adapt. They are our own examples, written to mirror real till work. None comes from a retailer's assessment.
Counting change
- A customer's total is $17.38 and they hand you a $20 bill. How much change is due, and which notes and coins would you give? (Answer: $2.62. Two $1 bills, two quarters, one dime and two pennies.)
- The total is $13.65. The customer hands you $20.15 so they get round change back. How much change is due? (Answer: $6.50, for example a $5 bill, a $1 bill and two quarters.)
- A $24.00 item is 25% off. What does the customer pay before tax? (Answer: $18.00.)
Score the answer and the method. A candidate who counts up from the total to the amount tendered is showing exactly the habit you want.
Till reconciliation
The drawer opened with a $150.00 float. The shift took $612.40 in cash sales and paid out $18.75 in cash refunds. The cashier counts $733.65 at close. Is the drawer right? (Answer: expected cash is $743.65, so the drawer is $10.00 short.)
Follow up with a judgement question: what should the cashier do next? Good answers recount, check the refund slips and report the difference to a supervisor. Weak answers make up the difference from their own pocket or say nothing.
Spot the error
Show a receipt with eight lines and one mistake, such as an item scanned twice or a quantity of 3 charged at the price for 4. Ask the candidate to find it in a set time. This tests the care that stops a customer complaint before it happens.
Customer handling
"A customer says they were charged full price for an item marked on sale. The queue behind them is long. What do you say and do?" In writing, look for an apology, a quick check of the shelf price or a call to a colleague, a fix within policy, and an offer to escalate. In a spoken role-play, also listen for tone and pace. Our customer service assessment page covers testing this skill in more depth.
Integrity and policy
Situational questions work better than asking "are you honest?". For example: "A friend comes through your till and asks you to skip scanning one item. What do you do?" Or: "You find $20 on the floor near your register at the end of a shift." Offer four realistic responses and score against your store's actual policy.
Is an integrity or honesty test legal for cashiers?
Under federal law, generally yes, but Massachusetts is an important exception, so check the law in each state where you hire. This section is a plain-English explainer, not legal advice.
The federal Employee Polygraph Protection Act stops most private employers from using lie detector tests on applicants. Its regulations say the term does not include "written or oral tests commonly referred to as 'honesty' or 'paper and pencil' tests". So a written integrity questionnaire is generally outside the federal ban.
Massachusetts is different. Its law defines a lie detector test to include any "written examination" used to detect deception or judge honesty, bans requiring one as a condition of employment, and requires a notice about the ban on job applications. Employers hiring in Massachusetts should leave written honesty tests out and take advice on their application forms.
Whatever you use, the EEOC's guidance on employment tests applies. Tests should be job-related and validated for the role, you should check whether a test screens out a protected group at a higher rate and look for an equally effective alternative if it does, and you must offer reasonable accommodations in how the test is given, such as a reader, to applicants with disabilities unless that would cause undue hardship. Before a conditional offer you may not ask about disability or require a medical examination. If an AI tool scores your cashier assessment, also read our summary of AI hiring laws in 2026.
How do you run a cashier assessment fairly at volume?
Send the same short assessment to every applicant for the role, score it the same way, and interview only those above a threshold you set in advance.
- Write down the job's first-month tasks. Taking cash, card and voucher payments, refunds, opening and closing the till, the busiest customer situations.
- Pick one task per skill from the table above. Four tasks is usually enough.
- Try it on your best current cashiers. Their scores tell you where a sensible threshold sits, and whether any question is confusing.
- Tell candidates what to expect and offer accommodations in the invitation.
- Interview with structured questions that follow up on the test, such as asking how they would handle the short drawer.
- Review after a few months. Compare test scores with till variances and manager ratings, and drop any task that predicts nothing.
For the wider process, our guide to pre-employment assessments for high-volume hiring covers tools, funnel design and candidate drop-off.
Where does Cohesyve fit?
If you would rather not write and score cashier tasks yourself, Cohesyve, which publishes this guide, does the screening end to end. You give it the job description; it sources candidates, handles outreach, puts them through AI job simulations of the real work, such as a chat or voice role-play with an awkward customer, and returns a ranked shortlist. Pricing is a subscription from $199 a month billed annually, and new accounts include 10 free candidates.
How can candidates prepare for a cashier test?
Candidates prepare best by practising real till arithmetic and customer scenarios. Memorising answers does little. If you share this with applicants, the advice is:
- Practise counting up. Work out change by counting from the total to the amount handed over, then check it by subtracting.
- Know percentages. Be quick with 10%, 20%, 25% and 50% off.
- Read carefully. Many errors on spot-the-error tasks are a single digit or a wrong quantity.
- Answer judgement questions honestly. Pick what you would really do under the store's rules.
- Do it in one quiet sitting on a reliable connection.
Job seekers can try free practice simulations for customer-facing roles on Cohesyve's candidate app, or start with the customer service practice page.
Frequently asked questions
How long should a cashier assessment test take? As short as it can be while covering cash, accuracy, customers and integrity. Take it yourself first; if it drags for you, it will lose applicants.
Is a cashier test timed? That is your choice. A time limit on change questions reflects a busy queue, but score accuracy first. Speed comes with practice on your own system; careless cash handling is harder to train out.
Can I use a general maths test instead? You can, but realistic till tasks are easier to defend as job-related and tell you more. A cashier needs quick money arithmetic, and algebra tells you little about that.
What is the Walmart cashier test? Walmart says some positions require assessments during the application, but it does not publish their content. Anything more specific you read elsewhere is unconfirmed.
Should I test for speed on the register itself? Register speed depends on your system and is learned in training. Test the judgement and accuracy that training cannot easily fix.
Do I need a different test for self-checkout attendants? The core is the same. Put more weight on customer handling and policy judgement, such as age-restricted items and suspected missed scans, and less on counting change.