Police Scotland Entrance Test (PSET) Practice
The one written test between your application and the fitness test: 49 questions in 60 minutes across language, numbers and information handling. Practise each element on its own, then the whole paper on one clock.
Free Tests
Free to try with a free account - unlock this provider for unlimited practice.
Premium Tests
PSET Language
The language element of the Police Scotland Entrance Test: two short passages and 13 questions in 16 minutes. Judge statements as true, false or not possible to say, and answer questions in a word or a short phrase taken from the passage. A drill of one element of the real 49-question paper.
PSET Information Handling
The information handling element of the Police Scotland Entrance Test: three tables and grouped bar charts with 16 questions in 20 minutes. Find figures, work out differences, totals and percentages, and name the largest or smallest category. The charts have gridlines and no values on the bars, as the real ones do.
PSET Full Mock Paper
The whole Police Scotland Entrance Test in one sitting: 49 questions in 60 minutes across language, numbers and information handling, on one clock. Your result shows each element against its own reference line, because on the real paper failing any one element fails the test.
Three things most guides get wrong
It is one paper, not three
The Standard Entrance Test was three separate 30-minute papers. Since June 2020 the PSET has been one paper of 49 questions in 60 minutes, with the three elements inside it.
It is handwritten, not online
You mark or write every answer in ink, under exam conditions, at a Police Scotland venue. Most answers are a figure or a word you write, not an option you pick.
You must pass every element
Language, numbers and information handling are passed separately. One failed element fails the paper, however well the other two went.
Applying in England or Wales? That is a different test.
Forces in England and Wales recruit through a national online process with its own situational judgement test and behavioural questionnaire, and none of it is the PSET. See our College of Policing practice for that route.
What is on the paper
Language
Short passages about policing and public services, with two question types in Police Scotland's own examples: judge a statement as true, false or not possible to say from the passage, and give a one-word or short-phrase answer you may lift from it. Not spelling and grammar, which was the old SET.
Numbers
Word problems in policing settings, answered by writing a figure: speeds and distances, officers per crowd, weights, money over weeks, a sentence reduced by a percentage and written in years and months, and averages.
Information handling
Tables of counts and grouped bar charts, with questions that ask you to find a figure, a difference, a total or a percentage, or to name the largest or smallest category. The official chart has gridlines and no values printed on the bars.
The selection process, stage by stage
1. Application form
Not simulatedTwo parts, eligibility then the main form, answered in your own words. Police Scotland’s special constable pages say it does not support AI-generated answers, though its separate AI guidance allows AI for research and interview preparation.
2. Police Scotland Entrance Test
Practised hereOne handwritten paper, 49 questions in 60 minutes, language, numbers and information handling, each passed separately. This is the stage our four practice tests cover.
3. Fitness test
Not simulatedThe multi-stage fitness test, the bleep test, on a 15-metre track to level 5.4. Candidate guides say it is often the same day as the PSET.
4. Assessment day
Not simulatedAn unassessed icebreaker; a 50-minute group task (ten minutes reading a 500 to 600 word scenario, 30 minutes of discussion, ten minutes of assessor questions); a 60-minute situational judgement exercise put to you verbally, with no reading time; then, if the morning goes well, a 20-minute competency interview of four questions. All marked by people against the Competency and Values Framework.
5. Final checks
Not simulatedA medical, a hair-sample substance test, references and vetting.
6. After appointment
Not simulatedProbationer training at Tulliallan, with a published 62.5% pass mark on the first module’s examinations. That figure is sometimes quoted as the PSET pass mark; it is not.
How our practice works, and what nobody has published
The split between the elements is our estimate. Police Scotland publishes 49 questions and one hour, not how many questions each element gets. Its 2025 mock paper has 4 language, 6 numbers and 5 information handling questions; scaled to 49 that is 13, 20 and 16, which is what our full paper uses and what each drill uses, with the same share of the hour.
The pass marks are not published, so we show a reference line. Your result shows each element against the last published bar, from the Standard Entrance Test: 30 of 40 for language, 13 of 20 for number and 16 of 24 for information handling. Those describe a different paper and we say so every time we use them. The pass rate is published, and it is high: 78% in 2022/23, 87% in 2023/24 and 94% in 2024/25.
There is no calculator in our practice. Police Scotland's adjustments pages say one is provided; several candidate guides say it is not. Practising without one is the safe choice either way.
The official mock is missing its information handling questions. The mock paper prints the table and the answer boxes but not the five questions, while the answer sheet still gives five answers: 56, 144, 21, 35% and Fully suspended sentence. Checked against the table, they are a difference between two cells, a column total, a single-figure lookup, a share of a row that totals exactly 100, and the least common outcome overall. Those five operations are exactly what our information handling questions are built from.
We run the elements in the mock's order. The official mock prints language, numbers and information handling as three headed blocks. One candidate guide says the real paper mixes the question types. Either way, nothing stops you working in any order on paper, and our full paper lets you move freely too.
A phone is not a pen and paper. Our tests work properly on a phone, because revising on a train is a real thing people do. But writing answers by hand and reading a printed table is a different physical task, so sit at least one full paper at a desk under a 60-minute clock before the day.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many questions are in the PSET and how long is it?
Police Scotland publishes 49 questions in 60 minutes, in one paper. It was 57 questions when the PSET was introduced in June 2020 and dropped to 49 during 2021, so a guide that still says 57 is describing the earlier version.
What does the PSET test?
Three elements: language (literacy), numbers (numeracy) and information handling. Police Scotland says you must pass all three elements of the paper, so a strong total does not make up for one weak element.
What is the PSET pass mark?
Police Scotland does not publish it. The widely quoted figures, 30 of 40 for language, 13 of 20 for number and 16 of 24 for information handling, were the published pass marks for the Standard Entrance Test the PSET replaced. What is published is the pass rate: a freedom of information request by the Scottish Police Federation’s magazine found 94% of candidates passed in 2024/25.
Is the PSET online?
No. Police Scotland describes it as a handwritten paper of multiple choice selections and free text boxes, completed in ink under exam conditions. Candidate guides say it is usually sat at a local police venue, often on the same day as the fitness test.
Can I use a calculator in the PSET?
Sources disagree. Police Scotland’s reasonable adjustments pages say “You will be provided with a calculator”, while several candidate guides say calculators are not allowed. Practise without one: if a calculator is provided on the day you lose nothing, and the official mock’s questions can all be done by hand.
Do I need qualifications, or can they exempt me from the PSET?
No qualifications are needed, and every applicant must pass the PSET. The only routes that do not list it are route-based rather than qualification-based: serving officers transferring from another UK force and former Police Scotland officers rejoining follow separate processes.
Is the PSET the same as the Standard Entrance Test (SET)?
The PSET replaced the three-paper SET in June 2020. Some Police Scotland pages still use the old name. The SET’s numbers and information handling papers are still useful practice, but its language paper was mostly spelling and grammar, which the PSET’s official examples do not show.
Do special constables sit the PSET?
Yes, the same 49-question, 60-minute paper.
Is there a situational judgement test for Police Scotland?
Not a written one. The assessment day includes a situational judgement exercise, but assessors present unfolding scenarios to you verbally and ask what you would consider and do, with no reading time. It is marked by people against the Competency and Values Framework, so we describe it rather than simulate it.
Companies That Use Police Scotland
The PSET is not a vendor test that employers buy. It is Police Scotland’s own entrance exam, sat by everyone applying to be a police constable or a special constable in Scotland, and by nobody else.
Police Scotland
Government & Public SectorSets the PSET as the second stage of police constable recruitment, after the application form and before the fitness test and assessment day: one paper, 49 questions in 60 minutes, and all three elements must be passed. Special constables sit the same paper.
There is one employer here because there is only one. Police staff roles are recruited differently, and serving officers transferring from another UK force or rejoining Police Scotland follow processes that do not list the entrance test. Applying to a force in England or Wales is a different process with different tests.
Guides and Tips
Read up before you practise: what the tests reward, what catches candidates out, and why shortcuts do not work.
Can You Cheat the Police Scotland PSET?
A printed paper, answered in ink, in a supervised room. Why there is nothing for a shortcut to attach to in the PSET.
PSET Guide: The Police Scotland Entrance Test
Most Police Scotland practice material still describes the Standard Entrance Test, which was retired in 2020. The current paper is one hour, 49 questions and three elements you must each pass, and its language element looks nothing like the old one.
Police, Fire and Emergency Services Assessments: What They Test That Employers Do Not
A corporate assessment predicts performance. A police or fire service also screens for public risk, which is why judgement comes first, physical tests are pass or fail, and disclosure is itself an assessed task.
Practice by Test Type
Compare the same format across every provider that uses it, and see what each one is really measuring.
Numerical Reasoning Test Practice
Tables, charts, percentages and ratios against the clock. The most common screening test on graduate schemes and analyst roles.
Verbal Reasoning Test Practice
Short dense passages and true, false or cannot say answers. Judged on what the text supports, never on what you already know.
About CogniPrep Police Scotland Practice
CogniPrep provides simulations of the Police Scotland Entrance Test (PSET), the written entrance examination for police constables and special constables in Scotland. Police Scotland has been the single national police service for Scotland since 1 April 2013. The PSET replaced the three-paper Standard Entrance Test (SET) in June 2020, started at 57 questions and has been 49 questions in 60 minutes since 2021. It is one handwritten paper with three elements, language, numbers and information handling, and a candidate must pass all three. Police Scotland publishes a short mock paper and an example sheet, but not the pass marks or the split of questions between the elements. Transferees from other UK forces and rejoiners follow processes that do not list the test, and police staff roles are recruited differently.
- 4 practice tests available: PSET Language, PSET Numbers, PSET Information Handling, PSET Full Mock Paper
- Real paper: 49 questions in 60 minutes, handwritten in ink, one paper
- Elements: language (true, false or not possible to say, and short answers), numbers (written figures), information handling (tables and grouped bar charts)
- All three elements must be passed; pass marks are not published
- Last published SET bars, used here as a reference line: 30 of 40, 13 of 20, 16 of 24
- Pass rate: 78% (2022/23), 87% (2023/24), 94% (2024/25)
- Scotland only. Second stage, after the application form
Ready to Start Practising?
Sign up for free to try the numbers element, or unlock all 4 Police Scotland practice tests, including the full 49-question paper, with unlimited practice sessions.