How to Prepare for an EPSO Competition in 2026: A Step-by-Step Guide

Updated 6 October 2026. This guide covers the current EPSO format: fully online tests on the TAO platform, the AD5 2026 competition in two parts (reasoning tests from November 2026, the rest in 2027) and the CAST sessions of 6 October and 19 November 2026.

Preparing for an EPSO competition is less about knowing more and more about being fast and accurate on a very specific format. Candidates with excellent degrees fail the reasoning tests every year because they practised the wrong thing, in the wrong language, without a clock. Here is the sequence that works, whatever your profile.

Step 1: Read your notice of competition first

Everything starts with the notice of competition (for AD and AST competitions) or the call for expressions of interest (for CAST). It fixes five things you must know before you open a single practice question:

• Which tests you sit. The AD5 2026 generalist competition (EPSO/AD/427/26) has five multiple-choice tests plus a written essay. CAST selections for contract agents use only the three reasoning tests. Specialist competitions add field-related questions.
• In which language. For AD5 2026, verbal, numerical and abstract reasoning are in your Language 1 (C1 level); EU knowledge, digital skills and the essay are in your Language 2 (B2 level), which can now be any official EU language.
• The pass marks. In AD5 2026 you need at least 10 out of 20 in verbal reasoning, and 10 out of 20 for numerical and abstract reasoning combined. Both are eliminatory.
• The weights. In AD5 2026, verbal reasoning counts for 35% of the final score, EU knowledge 25%, digital skills 25% and the essay 15%. Numerical and abstract reasoning are pass or fail only. That tells you where to invest.
• The calendar. AD5 2026 Part 1 (reasoning) starts in November 2026, with invitations about three weeks before your session; Part 2 follows in 2027. CAST test sessions are scheduled on 6 October and 19 November 2026.

The official formats, which every practice session should copy:

If you are not sure which competition fits you, read AD5 vs AST vs CAST: the differences. For the full AD5 2026 notice, see EPSO AD5 2026: the competition notice explained.

Step 2: Take a diagnostic before you study

Do not start with a textbook. Start with a timed test of every section you will sit, and note three numbers per section: your score, the time you used, and the kind of mistakes you made. Each mistake falls into one of three categories:

• Knowledge: you did not know the rule, the institution, the percentage shortcut.
• Method: you knew, but read the question wrong, used outside knowledge in verbal reasoning, or picked the wrong row in a table.
• Time: you would have found it with two more minutes.

The category decides your plan. Knowledge gaps are fixed by study; method gaps by learning the technique of each test; time gaps only by timed drilling. The free EPSO diagnostic gives you 25 questions across the five test types in about 15 minutes, with a score per section, without an account.

Step 3: Learn the method of each test

Each EPSO test has its own traps. Learn them before you drill, otherwise you repeat the same errors faster.

Verbal reasoning

You read a short passage and pick the one statement that follows from it. Only the text counts: your knowledge of the EU, however good, is a liability here. Train yourself to classify each statement as supported, contradicted, or not deducible, and be suspicious of absolute words ("always", "never", "all") in the options. In AD5 2026 this test has its own 10/20 threshold and the largest weight, so it deserves the most time. Full method in How to pass EPSO verbal reasoning.

Numerical reasoning

Ten questions in twenty minutes, each built on a table or chart. Read the question before the data, check units and scales, estimate before you calculate, and skip a question that eats more than three minutes. The real test runs on EPSO's TAO platform with a basic on-screen calculator and a notepad; paper and physical calculators are not allowed. Practise with the same tools. See the calculator strategy for numerical reasoning.

Abstract reasoning

One minute per question. Instead of staring at the sequence, test variables one by one: rotation, number of elements, colour or fill, position, size, symmetry, elements added or removed, alternation, and combinations of two rules. The pattern families are listed in Abstract reasoning pattern types.

EU knowledge

Thirty questions in forty minutes on institutions, decision-making, treaties and policies. Build it around the institutions and the ordinary legislative procedure first, then the main policies. For AD5 2026, EPSO publishes the references used to prepare the test about two months before it, so do not memorise a thousand pages now. Start with the EU knowledge study guide.

Digital skills

Forty questions in thirty minutes on the five areas of the DigComp 2.2 framework: information and data literacy, communication and collaboration, digital content creation, safety, and problem solving. It is less about tools than about good practice. See the DigComp 2.2 guide.

Step 4: Practise under real conditions

The reasoning tests are speed tests. Practising untimed teaches you the method; only timed practice teaches you the pace. Once your accuracy is stable, switch to sessions at the official pace: 105 seconds per verbal question, 2 minutes per numerical question, 1 minute per abstract question.

Reproduce the environment too. The real tests run remotely: one computer, one screen, a webcam, a quiet room, no paper, no physical calculator. The TAO platform gives you an on-screen calculator, a notepad, a button to strike out answer options, a bookmark to come back to a question, and a review screen before you submit. Practise with the same tools so none of them costs you time on the day. The EPSO practice tests follow the official formats and include these tools; exam mode reproduces the full test without pauses.

Step 5: Analyse every mistake

Volume without analysis is the most common way to waste a month. After each session, open every question you missed and write down why, in one of the three categories above. Then redo those questions a few days later. Most candidates discover that their errors come from a handful of recurring traps: a misread "closest to", a percentage point confused with a percent, outside knowledge sneaking into verbal reasoning. Fixing those is worth more than two hundred new questions.

Work your weakest section first. Improvement there moves your total faster than polishing a strength, and in AD5 2026 a single section below its threshold eliminates you whatever the others.

Step 6: Simulate in the last weeks

Two or three weeks before the test, replace drills with full simulations: the complete sequence of your tests, in one sitting, at the official timing, without pauses. The goal is stamina and pacing, not learning. Target comfortably above the threshold: if the pass mark is 50%, aim for 70 to 80% in simulations. That margin is what absorbs the stress of exam day.

Keep the last two days light. A simulation the evening before helps nobody.

A timeline that fits your calendar

Thirty to sixty minutes a day beats a five-hour Sunday. For a detailed hours budget, see How many hours to study for EPSO.

Which resources to use

• EPSO's own sample tests on the EU Careers site. They are free, official, and the only ones that show the exact question style and interface. Do them first. They are samples, not a course: a handful per test type.
• Your notice of competition and, for EU knowledge in AD5 2026, the references EPSO publishes about two months before the test.
• Official EU sources for EU knowledge: the institutions' websites and EUR-Lex for the treaties, rather than second-hand summaries.
• A practice bank with the official formats and explanations. EPSO does not offer preparation courses and does not endorse any provider, so judge a platform on three things: the exact question counts and time limits, an explanation for every answer, and the tools of the real interface. EPSO Genius offers all five test types in the official formats, 13,000+ questions in five languages, a free diagnostic and 3 free practice tests a day without a card; exam mode and the spaced-repetition review queue are on the Pro and CAST plans.

The short version

1. Read your notice: tests, language, pass marks, weights, dates.
2. Take a timed diagnostic and classify your mistakes: knowledge, method or time.
3. Learn the method of each test before drilling.
4. Practise at the official pace, with the TAO tools, without paper.
5. Keep an error log and redo what you missed; weakest section first.
6. Full simulations in the last two or three weeks, aiming 20 to 30 points above the threshold.

Start with the free diagnostic, then pick your first section on the practice hub. CAST candidates have a dedicated page: CAST preparation.