Most candidates prepare for an EPSO competition as though it were a driving test: a set of hurdles, each of which must be cleared, after which you are through. It is not. It is a ranking. About 1,490 places on a reserve list, roughly 174,727 applicants, and a final score built from four weighted components — two of which you will not sit until 2027, and one of which you sit this autumn and can never revisit. Understanding the arithmetic changes what you should study, and it changes it in a direction that surprises people.
The full picture in one table
| Test | Format | Language | Pass mark | Weight in final score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Verbal reasoning | 20 questions, 35 min | Language 1 | 10/20 | 35% |
| Numerical reasoning | 10 questions, 20 min | Language 1 | 10/20 combined | 0% |
| Abstract reasoning | 10 questions, 10 min | Language 1 | ||
| EU knowledge | 30 questions, 40 min | Language 2 | 15/30 | 25% |
| Digital skills | 40 questions, 30 min | Language 2 | 20/40 | 25% |
| EUFTE (free-text essay) | 40 min, scored 0–10 | Language 2 | 5/10 | 15% |
Language 1 is the language in which you declared a thorough knowledge (minimum C1); Language 2 the different language in which you declared a satisfactory knowledge (minimum B2). The split is not decorative — the entire reasoning stage is sat in your strongest language, and everything that follows in your second.
The first three tests are Part 1, sat in a single session on one day, expected from October–November 2026. The last three are Part 2, expected in 2027. The split was announced on 30 June 2026, driven by the sheer number of applicants: all candidates with a valid application sit Part 1, scheduled across many different dates.
The two hurdles that pay nothing
To progress from Part 1 to Part 2 you need two things: at least 10/20 in verbal reasoning, and at least 10/20 combined across numerical and abstract. That combined score then disappears. It is not carried forward, not weighted, not tie-broken on. It has exactly one job: to let you through the door.
This does not mean ignoring numerical and abstract. A failed hurdle ends the competition outright, no matter how strong your verbal mark is, and the combined format means a genuinely weak test can be dragged under by the other. Keep them safe. Then stop.
What the weights are worth, in numbers
EPSO publishes the weights, not a worked formula. The natural reading — and the one that makes the weights meaningful — is that each test is expressed as a proportion of its maximum and then weighted. On that basis, take two candidates who are identical in Part 2 and differ only in the verbal mark they earned back in October:
| Component | Weight | Candidate A | Candidate B |
|---|---|---|---|
| Verbal reasoning | 35% | 11/20 → 55% | 16/20 → 80% |
| EU knowledge | 25% | 20/30 → 66.7% | 20/30 → 66.7% |
| Digital skills | 25% | 28/40 → 70% | 28/40 → 70% |
| EUFTE | 15% | 6/10 → 60% | 6/10 → 60% |
| Final score | 62.4 | 71.2 |
Five verbal marks — five questions, out of twenty, in a thirty-five-minute test — are worth 8.75 points of final score. In a field of 174,727 competing for 1,490 places, that is not a rounding difference. It is the difference between two very different positions in the ranking.
Now push the comparison the other way. Suppose Candidate A wants to recover that gap in Part 2 by mastering EU knowledge. Going from 20/30 to a perfect 30/30 — ten extra marks, an outstanding paper — adds 8.33 points. A flawless EU knowledge test does not fully recover five verbal marks. And it is available only to a candidate who was already 10 marks short of perfect; if you were at 26/30, the ceiling is far lower.
That asymmetry is the whole argument for treating verbal reasoning as the centre of gravity of this competition. It carries the biggest weight, it is scored out of the smallest number of questions — so each question is worth the most — and it is the one component you cannot revisit.
The test that carries 35% of your score
EPSO-style verbal reasoning with a worked explanation for every answer, plus numerical and abstract to keep the hurdles safe. Set 1 is free and needs no account.
Try a free practice set → First set free · instant feedback on every answerHow the reserve list is actually drawn
The rule is comparative. Candidates who meet all the eligibility requirements and have the highest final scores are placed on the reserve list. There is no published total that guarantees a place, because the threshold is produced by the field, not announced in advance. Clearing every pass mark makes you eligible for the list. It does not put you on it.
Two consequences follow, and both are worth internalising early:
- “Did I pass?” is the wrong question. The right one is “how far above the pass mark am I, on the components that are weighted?”
- Being on the list is still not a job. A reserve list is a pool the institutions, bodies and agencies may recruit from. EPSO selects; the institutions recruit. Where you sit in that pool affects how visible you are to recruiters — which is the second reason ranking matters. What EPSO is and is not covers this distinction in full.
The rules around the score
A few procedural facts belong in any honest account of scoring, because they are the mechanisms through which a score can change — or be lost entirely.
| Situation | Rule |
|---|---|
| You do not sit or complete a test | Participation in the competition comes to an end |
| You want to challenge a specific MCQ question | 3 calendar days from the day after you sat the test |
| You want a selection board decision reviewed | 5 calendar days from the day after it is published in your account |
| Administrative complaint, Article 90(2) Staff Regulations | 3 months from notification of the decision |
| Judicial appeal, Article 270 TFEU | Only after the administrative complaint route is exhausted |
| Cheating, recording tests, manipulating fair conduct | Disqualification; EPSO may also bar you from future competitions for a limited period |
| Supporting documents missing after 7 October 2026 | May be considered ineligible, or the qualification is not taken into account |
The three-day window on question complaints is the one people miss. It runs from the day after the test, not from the day you receive your results — so if you leave a test convinced that a question was defective, the clock is already running while you are still deciding whether to bother.
What this means for the autumn
If you take one thing from the arithmetic, take this: in Part 1 you are sitting one test that counts and two that merely qualify you. Prepare accordingly — protect the combined numerical-and-abstract hurdle until it is reliably safe, then put everything else into verbal reasoning, where each of the twenty questions is worth 1.75 points of final score.
And note what the weights say about 2027. EU knowledge and digital skills together carry 50% — more than verbal — and both are sat in your second language. Part 2 is where the competition is ultimately decided; Part 1 is where a third of it is quietly banked, months earlier, by candidates who understood that the verbal test was never just a hurdle.
To turn this into a schedule: the 8-week prep plan if you have the time, the final three weeks if you do not, and the test-day guide for the conditions you will sit in.
Frequently asked questions
How is the final AD5 score calculated?
Four tests carry weights in the final ranking: verbal reasoning 35%, EU knowledge 25%, digital skills 25% and the EUFTE essay 15%. Numerical and abstract reasoning carry no weight at all — they exist only as a combined 10/20 hurdle in Part 1. Candidates with the highest final scores who meet all the eligibility requirements are placed on the reserve list, so the competition is decided by ranking rather than by clearing thresholds.
Do numerical and abstract reasoning count towards my final EPSO score?
No. They are combined into a single 10/20 threshold that you must clear to progress from Part 1 to Part 2, and they contribute nothing to the final ranking. A candidate who scores 19/20 on the combined hurdle and one who scores 10/20 arrive at Part 2 in exactly the same position. This is the single most consequential fact about how to allocate your preparation time.
Is there a minimum total score to get on the reserve list?
The published rule is comparative, not absolute: you must clear every individual pass mark, and then the candidates with the highest final scores are placed on the list. With roughly 174,727 applicants for about 1,490 places, the effective cut-off is set by how everyone else performs, not by a number announced in advance. Passing every test is necessary; it is very far from sufficient.
Can I challenge a test question or a selection board decision?
There are three separate routes with three separate clocks. A complaint about a specific multiple-choice question must be made within 3 calendar days counting from the day after you sat the test. A request for review of a selection board decision must be made within 5 calendar days from the day after the decision is published in your account. An administrative complaint under Article 90(2) of the Staff Regulations runs to 3 months. Judicial appeal under Article 270 TFEU is available only after the administrative route has been exhausted.