HMPPS (Prison Officer Test)

Can You Cheat the Prison Officer Online Test?

The HMPPS online test decides whether you get through the door, and nothing else. Everything after it is decided live, on camera, by people.

Short answer: no.

A borrowed pass at the scenario-based test buys a seat at the online assessment centre, where trained assessors re-test the same four behaviours in a role play, an interview and a written incident form that nobody can sit for you.

Stage 1

The scenario-based test (SBT): behavioural scenarios and numerical scenarios, around 25 to 40 minutes, pass or fail.

Stage 2

The values-based assessment (VBA) for anyone applying after 29 April 2026: untimed, about 20 minutes, with a pass mark.

What decides the job

The online assessment centre: an interview, a role play with an actor and a written incident form, on camera, about two and a half hours.

If you fail

A six-month wait before you can apply for any prison officer role again.

The online test is a gate, not the decision

HMPPS is unusually clear about what each stage is for. It uses the scenario-based test "to check you have the basic numeracy skills and behaviours expected of a prison officer", and it tells you only whether you passed. The SBT does not rank you. On a merit campaign, HMPPS says you are "allocated to a vacancy in order of merit, based on the online assessment centre performance of all candidates". So a shortcut at stage 1, even one that worked, buys exactly one thing: an invitation to the part of the process where nobody else can help you.

The mechanism that actually defeats it

The assessment centre re-tests the same four behaviours the online scenarios are keyed to: Communicating and Influencing, Managing a Quality Service, Making Effective Decisions and Caring. It does it live, on camera, through a ten-minute role play with an actor playing a prisoner, an interview that also assesses your spoken English, and a 25-minute written incident form. There is no version of that you can outsource.

Why the scenario answers are not a secret worth stealing

The behavioural scenarios ask you to pick the most effective and the least effective of four responses. HMPPS publishes the behaviours they are judged against and its practice feedback explains its keyed answers in the same words: the best responses listen, find out what is going on, act within your authority, involve the right colleague and follow up. That is a description of the job, not a code. Learning it properly is the same thing as preparing for the role play, which is why it is worth doing honestly.

The numerical half is basic prison arithmetic: counting people, totalling rolls, working out money left, reading a table and giving a clock time in 24-hour format. You are allowed a calculator and rough paper. There is no hard maths for a helper to do for you, only careless slips, and the fix for those is practice.

The platform does not make it easy either

The test runs on Sova's player under a Ministry of Justice account. The official practice page blocks copying and pasting, there is no Back button and no skip, and every question needs an answer before Next will work. Stage 1 is timed; the last published limits were 20 minutes for 16 scenarios and 15 minutes for 20 numerical questions, which leaves no room to look anything up.

What preparation that works looks like

Start with HMPPS's own free practice test, linked from its how-to-apply page, because its feedback shows you how the keyed answers are reasoned. Then practise at the real length and pace. Our HMPPS practice tests run the behavioural scenarios with the same tap-most-then-least player, a fresh numerical paper every time, and the full 35-minute sitting end to end, with feedback that names the habit behind each miss.

Do the official HMPPS practice test on Sova first; HMPPS does not see the results.

Learn the four behaviours in HMPPS’s own words, because the scenarios and the assessment centre both use them.

Have a calculator and rough paper ready for the numerical scenarios, as HMPPS allows.

Practise the role play and the written incident form out loud and on paper before the assessment centre.

Sit the real test once, when the practice feels comfortable, because a fail costs six months.

Do not

Do not rely on anyone else to sit stage 1 for you. The assessment centre is live, on camera, and re-tests the same behaviours.

Do not trust prep pages that still describe a stage 2 game. For applications after 29 April 2026 stage 2 is the values-based assessment.

Do not answer the scenarios with what sounds kindest. Responses that bend a rule or promise something you cannot deliver are keyed low.

Do not pay for sites that claim to hold HMPPS answers; HMPPS’s own recruitment pages say unofficial help sites are not endorsed by it.

The integrity is the job

A prison officer holds keys, handles information about risk and is trusted not to be conditioned by the people in their care. Pre-employment checks follow the assessment centre. A process built to find people who keep boundaries under pressure is the last place a shortcut goes unnoticed, and the cost of being caught is not a failed test but a closed route into the career.

Frequently asked questions

Can you cheat the prison officer online test?

No, and the reason is the process rather than the test. The scenario-based test only decides whether you are invited further. Your place on a merit list, and the offer itself, come from the online assessment centre, where trained assessors re-test the same four behaviours live: a role play with an actor, an interview that also assesses your spoken English, and a timed written incident form. Anything borrowed to get through stage 1 is gone by then.

Are the HMPPS online test answers available anywhere?

No real answer key is in circulation, and one would not help much. The behavioural scenarios are keyed to four behaviours HMPPS publishes, so the "answers" are a description of how a good officer behaves, which is exactly what the assessment centre then checks in person. HMPPS offers a free official practice test on Sova with feedback on every question, which is the legitimate way to see how its scenarios are marked.

Can someone else sit the prison officer online test for me?

They could press the buttons, but they cannot sit what comes next. The assessment centre is on a webcam with your identity checked, and it tests the same behaviours through a role play and an interview in real time. A stage 1 pass that does not match how you perform live is not a head start, it is a gap that assessors are trained to notice.

What happens if I fail the online test?

HMPPS applies a six-month wait before you can apply for any prison officer role again, which is the real cost of a rushed attempt. Your scores are also used automatically for any other prisons you applied to at the same time, so one sitting covers every application in the window. Practise until the format is familiar, then sit it once.

Is the values-based assessment easier to game than the SBT?

It has a pass mark, and higher scorers may be invited to the assessment centre sooner, so it is scored rather than a formality. HMPPS says only that it uses "a variety of question styles using different formats" and covers three behaviours, one technical area and one strength. Answering as you think HMPPS wants, rather than as you would act, sets you up to be tested on a version of yourself at the assessment centre that you then have to perform live.

Practise the HMPPS (Prison Officer Test) assessment instead

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What to do with the time instead

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HMPPS (Prison Officer Test) practice tests

The HM Prison and Probation Service online tests for prison officer and youth justice worker applicants in England and Wales. Stage 1 is the scenario-based test (SBT): Behavioural Scenarios, a most and least effective situational judgement test, and Numerical Scenarios, prison numeracy with a calculator allowed. Stage 2 has been the values-based assessment (VBA) since 29 April 2026; the task-based or behaviour-based assessment game it replaced was run by Arctic Shores. Hosted on Sova through SSCL, and still called the POST or Prison Officer Selection Test on prep sites. HM Prison Service applicants, operational support grade (OSG) and trainee probation officer (PQiP) VBAs are covered on the page.

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Employer guide

Ministry of Justice assessment guide

What the Ministry of Justice process involves, stage by stage, and where HMPPS (Prison Officer Test) sits in it.

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