Somewhere around 174,000 people applied to the AD5 2026 generalist competition. The great majority of them will prepare, if they prepare at all, by opening a bank of practice questions and grinding through it at random until the test arrives. That is not a plan; it is an activity that feels like a plan. This article is the other thing — a week-by-week structure that starts with what the tests actually are, drills them in the order that gives the best return, and finishes with full simulations under the conditions you will really sit them in.
The timing is not hypothetical any more. Under the split AD5 procedure (EPSO/AD/427/26), the reasoning tests form Part 1 and are expected as of October–November 2026. Everyone who submitted a valid application sits them first; only those who pass move on to Part 2 — the EU-knowledge MCQ, the digital-skills test and the EUFTE essay — in the first half of 2027. So the reasoning tests are the gate. If you are reading this in late summer, eight weeks is almost exactly the runway you have, and it is enough — if you spend it well.
What you are actually preparing for
Before any schedule, the facts. There are three reasoning tests, all taken in your Language 1, all remotely proctored, all with no negative marking — which means an educated guess always beats a blank.
| Test | Questions & time | Pass mark | Counts toward ranking? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Verbal reasoning | 20 in 35 min (~105 s each) | 10 / 20 | Yes — heavily |
| Numerical reasoning | 10 in 20 min (~2 min each) | 5 / 10 | No — pass/fail only |
| Abstract reasoning | 10 in 10 min (~1 min each) | 4 / 10 | No — pass/fail only |
That final column is the most important thing on this page, and almost nobody plans around it. Verbal reasoning carries 40% of the preliminary combined score and 35% of the final combined score — the single most heavily weighted test in the whole competition. Numerical and abstract, by contrast, are pure pass/fail hurdles: you must clear their thresholds, but a mark above the pass line earns you exactly nothing towards your rank. The strategic consequence is blunt. Numerical and abstract need enough preparation to clear the bar reliably; verbal needs as much as you can give it, because that is where the ranking — and therefore your place on the reserve list — is built.
The two rules the plan is built on
Rule one: diagnose before you drill. You cannot allocate eight weeks sensibly until you know where you actually stand on each test. A candidate who is already comfortable with numerical tables but slow on abstract should not spend equal time on both. The plan therefore opens with a timed diagnostic and revisits your numbers as you go.
Rule two: drill one test hard while keeping the others warm. Skills decay when you drop them for a fortnight. Each phase below has a primary test that gets the bulk of your hours and a maintenance load — two or three short timed sets a week — on the tests you drilled earlier, so nothing goes cold before test day.
The plan assumes roughly five to seven hours a week. If you have less, cut the maintenance sets before you cut the primary drill. If you have more, add full timed sets, not untimed ones — more on why below.
Weeks 1–2 — Diagnostic and verbal foundations
Establish your baseline, then start on the test that matters most
- Day 1 — the diagnostic. Sit one full timed set of each test back-to-back: 20 verbal in 35 minutes, 10 numerical in 20, 10 abstract in 10. Record two numbers per test: accuracy and how many you left unanswered. That is your map.
- Then verbal, every session. Verbal is the ranking test, so it gets the front of your freshest fortnight. Learn the recurring distractor traps — the absolute qualifier, the scope shift, “not stated” versus “false,” the reversed relation, the unsupported causal link — and drill them until you can name the trap on every wrong option.
- Adopt the method now: read the question first, then the passage, then the options; set a hard ceiling near 100 seconds and guess-and-move rather than overrun; do a first pass and a second pass so one hard item never eats the tail of the test.
- Untimed, then timed. In week 1 work a few sets untimed and write one sentence per miss naming the trap. In week 2 put the clock on.
Two guides go deep on this: the verbal reasoning test explained, with worked examples in the official style, and — if you are sitting in a language you did not grow up speaking, as most candidates are — verbal reasoning in your second language, which covers choosing your Language 1 and the timing tax that a second language quietly adds.
Start with a free timed set
Realistic EPSO-style verbal, numerical and abstract questions — with the trap built into every distractor and an explanation that names it. Set 1 is free, so you can run your Day 1 diagnostic right now.
Run your diagnostic → First set free · instant feedback on every answerWeeks 3–4 — Numerical: tables and speed
The arithmetic is easy; reading the table is the test
- Primary drill: numerical. Ten questions in twenty minutes is two minutes each — comfortable for the calculation itself. The marks are lost in the table, not the sum: unit confusion (thousands vs millions, % vs percentage points), absolute versus relative change, clustered distractors that are all “nearly right,” and the “cannot be determined from the data” option.
- Work the calculator in. You get one; practise with an on-screen calculator, not the mental shortcuts you would use on paper, so the tool is second nature on the day.
- Build a table-reading checklist: before computing, read the column headers, the units, and any footnotes; identify exactly which cells the question needs; only then calculate.
- Maintenance: verbal. Two or three timed verbal sets across the fortnight so the trap-spotting reflex you built in Phase 1 does not fade.
See the numerical reasoning test explained for the table traps and worked examples. For heavier practice on real EU-data tables — population, GDP, the MFF budget — the Numerical Reasoning · Focus card runs 60 questions graded medium to very hard, every answer computed from the table in front of you.
Weeks 5–6 — Abstract: patterns under a one-minute clock
The most time-pressured test in the whole selection
- Primary drill: abstract. Ten questions in ten minutes — about sixty seconds each — is the tightest budget you will face. There is no language and no knowledge in it: just shapes and the parallel rules that govern them.
- Learn the recurring rule families: rotation, changes in the number of sides or elements, fill and shading, and position/movement. Most items combine two of these; the classic error is spotting one rule, feeling relieved, and stopping before you find the second.
- Train recognition speed, not deliberation. Short daily bursts beat long weekly sessions here. Five minutes of abstract every day for a fortnight rewires pattern recognition better than one ninety-minute block.
- Maintenance: verbal + numerical. One short timed set of each per week.
The abstract reasoning test explained breaks down each rule family with worked examples; practise abstract items free inside Set 1.
Weeks 7–8 — Full mocks under real conditions
Stop drilling topics; start rehearsing the day
- Simulate the whole sequence. Run all three tests in one sitting, timed, no interruptions. The goal now is stamina and switching — going from a 35-minute verbal test into a 10-minute abstract sprint without your pacing falling apart.
- Rehearse the environment. The tests are remotely proctored, so mock on your own machine, at your own desk, webcam on. Sort out the logistics — ID, a clear room, a stable connection — before test day, not on it.
- Review harder than you practise. After each mock, go through every miss and name the cause: a trap, a misread table, a rule you stopped one short of. Patterns in your errors are worth more than the raw score.
- Taper. Ease off in the final days. Arriving rested and calm is worth more marks than one last cramming session, especially on the sixty-second abstract test where composure is everything.
Why timed practice, always
One habit underpins the whole plan: from the first week you can manage it, practise against the clock. Untimed practice quietly trains the one behaviour you cannot afford — rereading — and it flatters your accuracy in a way that will not survive contact with the real timer. Fifteen minutes free today? Do a timed set of eight, not a leisurely set of twenty. The number you care about is not “can I get this right” but “can I get this right in the seconds I will actually have.”
If you only have four weeks
The structure compresses cleanly. Run the phases in parallel rather than in series: keep the Day 1 diagnostic, then pair verbal with numerical in the first fortnight and abstract with full mocks in the second, roughly doubling the weekly hours. Keep the non-negotiables intact — diagnose first, protect verbal, always time your practice, and finish with at least three full simulations under proctor conditions. What you must not do is skip the mocks; the single most common avoidable failure is a candidate who drilled topics well but never once rehearsed the full, timed, back-to-back sequence.
This article reflects the structure of the reasoning tests in Notice of Open Competition EPSO/AD/427/26, published in the Official Journal of the European Union C/2026/711 on 5 February 2026, and its subsequent amendment splitting the procedure into two parts. Test formats, weightings, pass marks and timelines differ between competitions and can change. Always verify against the notice governing the competition you are sitting — where any summary and the official notice diverge, the notice and its Annex I “General rules” prevail.
For the wider picture — how Part 1 feeds into Part 2 and the 2027 timeline — see how the AD5 testing was split into two parts and the AD5 competition explained.
Frequently asked questions
When are the EPSO AD5 2026 reasoning tests?
The reasoning tests — verbal, numerical and abstract — form Part 1 of the split AD5 procedure (EPSO/AD/427/26) and are expected as of October–November 2026. Candidates who pass are invited to Part 2 (EU-knowledge MCQ, digital-skills test and the EUFTE essay) in the first half of 2027. Eight weeks is enough time to prepare all three if you start now.
How are the three reasoning tests structured?
Verbal reasoning is 20 questions in 35 minutes (pass mark 10 out of 20). Numerical reasoning is 10 questions in 20 minutes with a calculator and a data table (pass mark 5 out of 10). Abstract reasoning is 10 questions in 10 minutes (pass mark 4 out of 10). All three are taken in your Language 1, remotely proctored, with no negative marking.
Which reasoning test should I prioritise?
Verbal reasoning. In the AD5 2026 competition it carries 40% of the preliminary combined score and 35% of the final combined score — the single most heavily weighted test — so it is where your ranking is built. Numerical and abstract are pass/fail hurdles (pass marks 5/10 and 4/10): you must clear them, but marks above the threshold add nothing to your rank. Prepare all three, but budget more hours for verbal.
Can I compress the eight-week plan into four weeks?
Yes. The plan assumes roughly five to seven hours a week across eight weeks. To fit four weeks, run two phases in parallel and roughly double the weekly hours — but keep the core rhythm: diagnose first, drill one test intensively while keeping the others warm, and finish with full timed simulations under remote-proctor conditions.