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Public Service Commission of Canada

Can You Cheat Canada's PSC Tests?

The Public Service Commission lets you sit one test at home, and it has built the process so that result is never the last word.

Short answer: no.

The only test you sit at home is confirmed by a supervised one before anyone is hired. The GCT-1, the GCT-2A and the TOJ 377 are sat in person from the start, with photo ID.

Nobody watches you sit the TOJ 376. They do not need to: before anyone is appointed, the same judgement has to be shown again under supervision, and only people who passed at home are invited to show it.

The defence is written into the process

The Public Service Commission of Canada runs four occupational tests. Three of them, the GCT-1, the GCT-2A and the Supervised Test of Judgement 377, are sat in person at a federal government building, on a test-centre computer, with photo identification. There is no shortcut to discuss for those: you are in an exam room.

The fourth, the Unsupervised Test of Judgement 376, is the one you take at home, and it is the one people ask about. The PSC's own guidance to hiring managers answers the question. The TOJ 376 is step 1 of a two-step process. Applicants must pass both steps. Only those who pass step 1 are invited to step 2, and step 2, either the TOJ 377 or a departmental assessment of judgement, must happen before an appointment. The PSC's stated reason is that the supervised step confirms the accuracy and integrity of the results.

A department can also skip the home test and give everyone the TOJ 377. What it cannot do is appoint anyone on a home result alone.

At home, unsupervised
TOJ 376, 52 questions in 90 minutes
Step 1. A desktop or laptop, by the deadline in your invitation. Passing it earns an invitation to step 2, not a job.
In person, supervised
TOJ 377, 40 questions in 60 minutes
Step 2, or the only judgement test. The same situations-and-responses format, with less time per question.
In person, supervised
GCT-2A-324, 50 questions in 120 minutes
The alternative to a university degree. Pass mark 31 out of 50. Photo ID, and a calculator that cannot go online.
In person, supervised
GCT-1-207, 50 questions in 85 minutes
The alternative to a secondary school diploma. Pass mark 28 out of 50. Same room rules as the GCT-2A.

What a shortcut at home actually buys

Suppose someone helps you through the TOJ 376 and you reach a high J-level. The result is your ticket to a supervised sitting of the same kind of test, a situation and one response to rate from Very ineffective to Very effective, with less time per question than you had at home. The help does not come with you. If your own judgement is below the department's bar, the supervised result says so, and the process ends there instead of at step 1.

There is a quieter cost too. Test of Judgement results are portable across the federal public service and the most recent valid one counts. A result you could not reproduce is a result that will keep being checked.

What the PSC can do about a suspected breach
The PSC's test integrity page says it may end a test session early, suspend or invalidate a result, or impose in-person supervision on future tests. Suspected cheating is referred on, and under the Public Service Employment Act a finding can lead to the revocation of an appointment and a referral to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. The PSC reported suspected cheating on its second language tests rising from 3 cases in 2021 to 2022 to 63 in 2024 to 2025, and says it has started using technology to prevent and detect it.

What actually moves a Test of Judgement result

The scale has six points and no neutral middle. The PSC defines each one: Very ineffective makes the situation worse; Ineffective does not make it worse but does not help; Somewhat ineffective may not help; Somewhat effective may help; Effective helps; Very effective solves the problem or makes a very important contribution. Most lost marks come from blurring the two ends of that scale, rating a response that ignores the problem as merely unhelpful, or rating a sensible first step as if it solved everything.

Near misses earn partial marks, so the goal is not a perfect hit on every question. It is to be close on all of them. The same situation often comes back later with a different response, and each response is rated on its own merits, not against the one you saw before.

Do
Sit the TOJ 376 alone, on a desktop or laptop, as you will sit the TOJ 377.
Answer every question. There is no penalty for guessing, and partial marks reward a near miss.
Rate each response against the PSC’s definitions, not against the other responses to the same situation.
On the GCTs, use the on-screen calculator or your own offline one, and keep the whole 50 in view: every blank is a lost mark.
Practise with the real question counts and clocks, so the pace of the supervised sitting is familiar.
Do not
Do not get help at home. Step 2 is supervised, and only people who pass step 1 are invited to it.
Do not use old prep material for the GCT2-314 or the Public Service Entrance Exam. Both are gone, and the GCT-2A has no vocabulary or figure questions.
Do not treat a response that ignores the problem as harmless. On this scale, doing nothing useful is Ineffective, not Somewhat effective.
Do not retake too soon. A result from a retest inside 180 days is not valid.

Our Public Service Commission practice tests cover all four current tests at their real lengths and clocks, with a question list and Mark for Review as on the Candidate Assessment Tool, and feedback that maps a Test of Judgement result onto the J-01 to J-10 levels.

Frequently asked questions

Can someone help me with the Unsupervised Test of Judgement at home?

They can, and it buys you very little. The PSC says the TOJ 376 is step 1 of a two-step process, that applicants must pass both steps, and that the supervised follow-up, the TOJ 377 or a departmental assessment of judgement, must happen before an appointment. A helper lifts you into a supervised sitting you then face alone, on the same kind of questions.

I already have a TOJ 377 result. Can I skip the TOJ 376?

No. The PSC says applicants with a valid earlier score on the supervised test cannot bypass step 1. A TOJ 376 result also cannot stand in for a TOJ 377 result, or the other way round.

Can I cheat on the GCT-2A or GCT-1?

Both are sat in person at a federal government building, on a test-centre computer, and you bring photo identification. Nothing you could do at home reaches that room. A calculator is allowed, but only the on-screen one or your own if it cannot connect to the internet or store content.

Are the answers to the Test of Judgement online?

Not in any form that helps. The TOJ 376 and 377 replaced the TOJ 374 and 375 in July 2025, so anything circulating was written for older tests. Each question rates one response to a situation on a six-point scale with partial marks, so a remembered answer has to be the exact rating to be worth full marks, and the PSC does not publish its key or give item feedback.

What happens if the PSC suspects cheating?

Its test integrity page says it may end your session early, suspend or invalidate your result, or require in-person supervision for future tests. Cases are referred on. Under the Public Service Employment Act a finding can lead to revocation of an appointment and referral to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and other investigations can end in termination of employment.

Does practising help, if cheating does not?

Yes. On the Tests of Judgement it teaches you the six-point scale and the difference between a response that makes things worse and one that merely does not help. On the GCTs it builds the pace for 50 questions on one long clock, and the habit of answering every question, because there is no penalty for a wrong guess.

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What to do with the time instead

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Public Service Commission of Canada practice tests

The Public Service Commission (PSC) tests behind most Government of Canada test invitations, taken on the Candidate Assessment Tool: the General Competency Tests (GCT), GCT-2A-324 (the GCT-2 that replaced the GCT2-314 in July 2025) and GCT-1-207, and the Test of Judgement (TOJ) 376 unsupervised and 377 supervised. A GCT is pass or fail against a fixed mark; a TOJ result is a level from J-01 to J-10. The Second Language Evaluation is covered on the hub page but not simulated.

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