The Prison Officer Online Test After 29 April 2026: What Changed
The HMPPS stage 2 game was replaced by a values-based assessment on 29 April 2026. What the scenario-based test and the new stage 2 now look like.
If you search for the prison officer online test, most of what comes back describes a two-part test followed by a game with nine levels. For anyone who applied after 29 April 2026, that game is gone. HMPPS replaced it with a values-based assessment, and the first stage has moved platforms twice without changing much at all. Here is what the process looks like now, what HMPPS actually publishes, and what it does not.
What changed on 29 April 2026
HMPPS's own application information site puts the change in one sentence: if you applied after 29 April 2026 you will have been invited to complete the values-based assessment, and if you applied before it you may have been invited to complete the task-based assessment, depending on the prison you applied to.
The task-based assessment, sometimes called the behaviour-based assessment, was the stage 2 game. HMPPS's how-to-apply page linked candidates straight to Arctic Shores' candidate guidance for it in 2024 and January 2025, so its vendor was never really a mystery. If your invitation still says task-based assessment, our Arctic Shores practice is the relevant one. If you are applying now, you will not meet it.
Stage 1: the scenario-based test
HMPPS says it uses the SBT "to check you have the basic numeracy skills and behaviours expected of a prison officer", and that it takes around 25 to 40 minutes. It has two parts, and the names on HMPPS's official practice test are the names to know: Behavioural Scenarios and Numerical Scenarios.
Behavioural Scenarios is a situational judgement test. Each item is a short prison scenario with four possible responses. You choose the most effective first and the least effective second, and the other two are not ranked. On the player HMPPS uses, the question heading flips from "most" to "least" after your first tap, and tapping a third response once both are chosen clears both picks. There is no Back button.
Numerical Scenarios is basic prison numeracy with four options per question. HMPPS's own list of what to practise is counting, adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing, basic ratios and fractions, reading tables, and reading the time in the 24-hour format. The reason is practical: officers account for the people in their care, which means counting prisoners moving between locations and checking that roll counts add up. You may use a calculator and rough paper.
The platform: Sova, and Criterion before it
The SBT runs on Sova Assessment's player under a Ministry of Justice account; the official practice lives at an address beginning assess-sscl.sovaonline.co.uk. SSCL is the recruitment shared service, not the test publisher. Until at least December 2023 the same practice scenarios ran on Criterion's Psycruit platform. The content is HMPPS's own in both cases, which is why generic Sova or Criterion practice is not a substitute: the scenarios are keyed to HMPPS's behaviours, not to a vendor's framework.
How stage 1 is judged
HMPPS tells you only whether you passed, and it does not publish the pass mark. It does not say whether the two parts are passed separately or on a combined score, and it does not publish how the scenarios are marked. The usual rule for a most-and-least test, and the one we use, is one mark for each correct pick. The behaviours the scenarios are judged against are published, though, and they are worth knowing word for word:
- Communicating and Influencing: communicating clearly and respectfully, listening, and challenging others with confidence.
- Managing a Quality Service: personal responsibility, managing your time, assessing risks and adhering to processes and rules.
- Making Effective Decisions: building a full picture from the evidence, and recognising when to defer to others.
- Caring: decency and respect while maintaining clear boundaries, and delivering on your promises.
The SBT is a gate. On a merit campaign, places are allocated in order of performance at the online assessment centre, not at the online test, so the aim at stage 1 is a comfortable margin rather than a perfect score.
Stage 2: what is known about the values-based assessment
Less than anyone would like. HMPPS says it is used "to understand how well you demonstrate the values needed to be an effective prison officer", takes up to about 20 minutes with no time limit, and "contains a variety of question styles using different formats". It covers three behaviours, one technical area and one strength, and it has a pass mark: candidates who achieve a higher score may be invited to the assessment centre sooner. Example questions arrive with the invitation. HMPPS publishes nothing about the formats themselves, and no vendor is named.
That is why we do not simulate it. Inventing a set of question styles and calling it the VBA would train you for a test that may not exist. Our advice instead: do the example questions in your invitation carefully, and prepare the four behaviours above, because they run through every stage of the process.
After the online tests
The online assessment centre takes about two and a half hours on a laptop with a webcam, with short breaks. It has an interview of up to 30 minutes mixing strengths and behaviour questions, a ten-minute role play with an actor playing a prisoner, and a 25-minute written incident form. Youth justice workers do a second role play with a young person in custody. HMPPS warns that the content includes strong language and sensitive topics. Medical and fitness checks follow later.
How to prepare for stage 1
Our HMPPS practice tests cover both parts of stage 1 and the full 35-minute sitting end to end. The behavioural scenarios use the same tap-most-then-least player, the numerical paper is generated fresh every time, and the feedback tells you which habit or which slip cost you marks rather than just how many.