Civil Service online tests

Civil Service online tests measure the Ability element of Success Profiles. The three you are most likely to meet are the Civil Service Judgement Test (CSJT), the Civil Service Verbal Test and the Civil Service Numerical Test. You take them online through Civil Service Jobs, usually at the very start of a campaign, and they often work as a sift: your result decides whether the rest of your application is read.

Which tests a job uses

The advert lists the tests under “Selection process details”. Entry and junior grades such as Administrative Officer and Executive Officer often use the CSJT alone or with one other test. Analytical and specialist roles may add the numerical or verbal test. The Fast Stream and some professions run their own test sets, which follow a similar pattern but are not identical.

Many specialist and senior roles skip tests and go straight to a CV, personal statement and interview.

Civil Service Judgement Test

The CSJT is a situational judgement test. Each question gives a workplace scenario and a list of possible responses, and you rate how effective each response is. It draws on the Civil Service Code values (honesty, integrity, impartiality and objectivity) and the Success Profiles behaviours.

Responses that tend to rate well involve acting promptly, being honest, bringing in your manager or the right colleague at the right time, and treating the public and colleagues fairly. Responses that tend to rate poorly involve ignoring problems, overstepping your authority or bending rules for convenience. Our guide to situational judgement tests explains the scoring in more detail.

Civil Service Verbal Test

The verbal test gives you short passages of text and statements about them. For each statement you decide whether it is true, false, or cannot be determined from the passage alone. It tests careful reading and reasoning.

People get caught out by using what they already know. If the passage does not say something, the answer is “cannot say”, even when the statement is true in real life. Treat the passage as the only source of information.

Civil Service Numerical Test

The numerical test gives you tables, charts and short data sets with multiple-choice questions on percentages, ratios, averages, rates of change and accurate data reading. You can usually use a calculator, and the instructions confirm it.

The maths is not advanced. Time pressure and misreading the table cause the damage, for example mixing up thousands and units or picking the wrong year. Practise with data from public sources, such as government statistics releases, to get used to reading tables quickly.

How results are used

Your score is usually compared with other candidates in the same campaign, or with a pass mark set for it. The cut-off can shift with the number of applicants, so a similar score may pass in one campaign and miss in another. You are not usually told the exact pass mark.

Some campaigns let a recent test result carry over if you apply for a similar job, and some restrict resitting the same test for a period. The campaign information explains what applies.

You take the tests unsupervised at home. For some campaigns, candidates who reach a later stage sit a similar test again under supervision to confirm the result.

Practising

Civil Service Jobs offers familiarisation tests before you start the real one. Do them, since they show the exact format, the instructions and the screen layout. Other things that help:

• Take the test somewhere quiet, on a computer with a reliable connection rather than a phone
• Read each set of instructions fully, because formats differ between tests
• For the verbal test, practise true/false/cannot say questions until the “cannot say” rule feels automatic
• For the numerical test, practise percentage change and reading multi-column tables under time pressure

If the CSJT is untimed, there is no benefit in rushing it. Read each scenario carefully and think about what a fair, honest civil servant would do.

Adjustments and next steps

If you are disabled or have a condition such as dyslexia, dyscalculia or a visual impairment, you can ask for adjustments such as extra time, a different format or the test being waived and replaced by another assessment. Use the reasonable adjustments section of the application before you start the tests; see our guide on asking for reasonable adjustments in recruitment.

After the tests, successful candidates move on to the written application, usually behaviour examples and a CV or personal statement, then interview. Our guide to how to get into the Civil Service sets out the full process.