How the EPSO EU knowledge test works
It is a multiple-choice test about the EU, its institutions, procedures and main policies. The AD5 2026 graduate competition sets 30 questions in 40 minutes with a pass mark of 15, and secretaries (AST/SC) also sit an EU knowledge test. EPSO’s own sample questions each have four options.
You sit it in your Language 2, not your Language 1. In AD5 2026 it is part of Part 2, whose dates had not been announced at the time of writing. It is scored first, and only candidates who pass it have their digital skills test scored.
EPSO publishes references to the sources used to write the test about two months before the test date. That list is what to revise from first.
How to revise for it
Work through the content in blocks:
- Start with EPSO’s published source list as soon as it appears.
- Learn the institutions and what each does, especially the ones with similar names.
- Learn how a law is made: who proposes, who adopts, and the types of legal act.
- Cover the treaties in order, the budget, the main policies and the agencies.
- Test yourself with timed sets of questions, not just reading.
Worked example
Which body negotiates and adopts EU laws together with the European Parliament, on proposals from the European Commission? A. The European Council. B. The Council of the European Union. C. The Council of Europe. D. The Court of Justice of the European Union.
Answer: B. The European Council brings together EU leaders to set the EU’s broad policy direction, and the Council of Europe is not an EU body at all. Near-identical names like these are the commonest trap in the test.
Tips for the real EU knowledge test
- Revise in your Language 2. The names of institutions and procedures differ between languages.
- Read every option slowly. Many wrong answers are real bodies with similar names.
- If you do not know an answer, a second look rarely helps: choose, bookmark and move on.
- Leave nothing blank. Scores are a count of correct answers from 0 to 30.
- It matters twice in AD5: a fail ends your application, and a pass decides whether your digital skills test is scored.
Practise the EPSO EU knowledge test on CogniPrep
Our version is 30 questions on one 40-minute clock, each with four options, spread across institutions, decision-making, legal acts, treaties and history, the budget, policies, external action, and agencies. You can move freely and bookmark. Every question is our own, written from the treaties and official EU sources and dated when it was checked. Your mark is out of 30 against EPSO’s pass mark of 15, with a breakdown by area.