Politie Cognitietest Practice: the Dutch Police CCT
This is the cognitieve capaciteitentest you are invited to on kombijdepolitie straight after you register. It is built by Cebir and runs on Tascnet, so you may see either name on screen. Practise Letterpatronen, Woordrelaties and Cijferpatronen one at a time, then the full test in one sitting.
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Cijferpatronen (Number Patterns)
The number part of the Dutch police cognitietest: series, two-number tiles and small tables with one number missing, which you type in. No options to work back from and no calculator. Adaptive, with more time on harder items.
Woordrelaties (Word Relations)
The verbal part of the Dutch police cognitietest: analogies where you choose one word, or one pair of words, from five to complete the relation. The empty slot can be in any position. English items here; the real part is in Dutch.
Cognitietest (Full CCT)
The whole cognitieve capaciteitentest in one sitting: Letterpatronen, Woordrelaties and Cijferpatronen back to back, each adaptive on its own, with a pause allowed between parts and never inside one. The police decide on the three parts combined.
The real test is in Dutch, on a laptop. This practice is in English, anywhere.
The cognitietest is only ever sat in Dutch, and you need Dutch nationality and Dutch at level B1 to be admitted to police training. Our items are in English with the real Dutch part names. For Letterpatronen and Cijferpatronen that barely matters: the alphabet has the same 26 letters and numbers are numbers. For Woordrelaties the relation types transfer and Dutch vocabulary does not, so read Dutch alongside the practice.
The police say smartphones are not suitable for the real test and ask for a desktop, laptop or notebook. A result on a phone here is practice, not a result comparable with the real sitting. Sit your last runs on the device you will use.
Where the cognitietest sits in police selection
The police say the whole procedure takes about six months. The cognitietest is the first step, before you speak to anyone.
1. Cognitieve capaciteitentest
Online, at home, within seven calendar days of the invitation, which arrives straight after you register. This is what the games on this page practise.
2. Intakegesprek
A video call with a recruiter about your motivation, the training you chose, travel and anything that could get in the way. It ends in a binding recommendation.
3. Selection day
At a police location: the taaltest if you need it, the sporttest (an obstacle parcours against the clock) and the verificatietoets. You hear the results the same day.
4. Psychologisch onderzoek
Questionnaires at home, then a conversation with a psychologist and a role-play with an assessor and an actor.
5. Medische keuring
A medical assessment. The police only receive a positive or negative outcome.
6. Screening
A background check, last of all.
The three parts
Letterpatronen
A series of letters with two missing, and you type the two letters that make it work. COTAN describes the part in exactly those terms. Prep sites report rows, small tables and series woven together; we build rows and tables. No options, so there is nothing to eliminate.
Woordrelaties
Word analogies where you choose one word from five, according to COTAN. Prep sites report single analogies and double ones, where you choose a pair of words. The missing word can be in any position. In Dutch on the real test.
Cijferpatronen
Number patterns with one number missing. The police describe the test as measuring numerical insight and general reasoning. Prep sites report plain series plus tiles and tables, and a typed answer. Not to be confused with Cijferreeksen, which is Ixly's test.
How the test behaves, and what we had to estimate
It is adaptive and starts easy. The police: you begin with a relatively easy item, a right answer brings a harder one and a wrong answer an easier one. There is no maximum number of items, and the score is how hard the items became, not how many you answered. The police also warn that everyone ends up finding it hard, which is the adaptation doing its job.
The clock is per item and hidden. An easy item gets a few seconds and a hard one several minutes. Nothing is shown until ten seconds remain, when a bar fills in the top right. When it is full the test moves on, even if you have not answered.
An empty answer is wrong. The police's advice is "Vul altijd iets in": always fill something in, because an empty answer is marked wrong anyway. There is no going back and no feedback on whether you were right.
You may pause between parts, never inside one. You can stop between parts, or log out and come back, but a part you start must be finished. The real test takes about 50 minutes excluding instructions and example questions.
Four things in our simulation are ours, not the police's. The time limits per difficulty level (25 seconds, 1 minute and 2 minutes for the pattern parts, 20, 35 and 60 seconds for Woordrelaties), because the police publish the range and not the numbers. The item counts, 12 to 18 on a single part and 10 to 14 per part in the full test. The order of the parts in the full test, which follows COTAN's listing. And equal weights for the three parts when we combine them, which the police do not publish. Our adaptation is a simple up-and-down staircase, not Cebir's algorithm.
The pass mark is in law: the 16th percentile
Article 8 of the Regeling aanstellingseisen politie 2023 says your score is compared with the reference group for your function level and must reach a minimum percentile score of 16. In plain words: line up 100 comparable candidates from weakest to strongest, and roughly the weakest 15 are turned away at this step while everyone else clears it. The regulation's own explanation is that candidates more than one standard deviation below average drop out.
Your comparison group depends on your training level. A candidate for the mbo 4 agent training and one for a bachelor programme are not compared with the same people, and the police do not publish the groups. That is why our percentile, against people practising here, is a practice ranking and not a prediction.
The bar was lowered in 2023. Before 31 January 2023 the rule was a score of 7 on a 1 to 20 scale per part, on a longer test of about 1 hour 40 minutes. The new bar is the equivalent of 4 on that scale, and the regulation notes that the gap sounds larger than the difference in performance it represents. Prep material written before 2023 describes the old test.
The three parts combine, but not without limit. The police say a weaker part can be offset by the other two, and also that an extremely low score on one part is hard to make up. You receive a pass or a fail by email, not a score.
The verificatietoets: your home result has to be reproduced
You sit the cognitietest at home with nobody watching. The check comes later: on the selection day, alongside the sporttest, you take a short, supervised verificatietoets at a police location.
- It starts directly at the level you reached at home. It is a check, not the whole test again, and it is short.
- Your cognitietest result only counts once you have done the verificatietoets as well.
- If you do not pass it, you can sit the full cognitietest again that same day, under supervision.
- The police say no preparation is needed. In practice that means: prepare for the home test honestly, because the check starts where you finished.
We do not simulate it as a separate game: it is the same item types starting at your level, which the three parts here already practise. Why the verificatietoets makes outside help pointless.
The taaltest and the later steps, which we do not simulate
Taaltest. Only if you have no mbo 4, havo or vwo diploma, or a foreign one. It is sat on the first selection day, is adaptive, takes just over 30 minutes and covers begrijpend lezen, grammatica and woordenschat. It produces two scores, Lezen and Schrijven, and both must reach B1. It is also Cebir's. We do not build it: it measures Dutch against a Dutch standard, which English practice cannot. The police publish their own free taaltest practice and a free cognitietest practice of 12 fixed questions; do both.
Psychologisch onderzoek. About 75 minutes of questionnaires at home, a persoonlijkheidsvragenlijst, a list on mentale weerbaarheid and an ingrijpende gebeurtenissenlijst, with no right or wrong answers, then a conversation with a psychologist and a rollenspel with an assessor and an actor. The police do not name the questionnaire, so we do not pretend to simulate it.
Sporttest, medische keuring and screening. A timed obstacle parcours with limits by age and sex, a medical assessment and a background check. Physical, medical and personal, and nothing a practice test can help with.
Belgian and Curaçao candidates. The Belgian police and the Korps Politie Curaçao run their own, different tests, with different parts and at a test centre. This page and these games cover the Dutch Nationale Politie's cognitietest only.
Dutch words you will meet on the way
Untranslated, because you will see them exactly as written.
cognitieve capaciteitentest
the full name of the test; cognitietest for short
kombijdepolitie
the police recruitment site your invitation comes from
letterpatronen
letter patterns: type two missing letters
woordrelaties
word relations: choose one of five
cijferpatronen
number patterns: find the missing number
adaptief
adaptive: the items follow your level
opgave
an item or question
tijdsbalkje
the time bar that appears for the last ten seconds
kladpapier
scratch paper, which is allowed
rekenmachine
calculator, which is not
verificatietoets
the short supervised check of your home result
referentiegroep
the reference group you are compared with
percentielscore
percentile score; the legal minimum is 16
vigintielscore
the old 1 to 20 scale, used before 2023
taaltest
the Dutch language test, for some candidates only
intakegesprek
the video call with a recruiter
sporttest
the timed parcours on the selection day
psychologisch onderzoek
questionnaires, a psychologist and a role-play
herkansing
a retake; possible after three months
Frequently Asked Questions
What is in the politie cognitietest?
Three parts: Letterpatronen (letter patterns, where you type two missing letters), Woordrelaties (word relations, where you choose one word from five) and Cijferpatronen (number patterns). It is one adaptive online test of about 50 minutes, excluding instructions and example questions, sat at home straight after you register. The police call it the cognitieve capaciteitentest and the Dutch test register COTAN lists it as the Cognitieve Capaciteiten Test, CCT.
How many questions are there and how long do I get?
There is no fixed number: the police say "Er is geen maximum aantal opgaven", and what counts is how hard the items become, not how many you answer. Each item has its own time limit, a few seconds on an easy one and several minutes on a hard one. No clock is shown until ten seconds remain, when a bar fills in the top right; when it is full the test moves on.
What score do I need to pass?
By law, at least the 16th percentile of the reference group for your function level. In plain words, roughly the weakest 15 in every 100 comparable candidates are turned away at this step; the regulation explains it as ruling out anyone more than one standard deviation below average. The police also say they decide on "een combinatie van factoren", and you hear pass or fail by email rather than a score.
Can I use a calculator or scrap paper?
Scrap paper and a pen, as much as you like. No calculator: the police state plainly that a calculator is not allowed.
What is the verificatietoets?
A short supervised test on the selection day that checks your home result. It starts at the level you reached at home, and your cognitietest result only counts once you have done it. If you do not pass it, you can sit the full cognitietest again that same day under supervision.
Do I have to take the taaltest?
Not if you have an mbo 4, havo or vwo diploma, unless it is a foreign one. If you do have to, it is sat on the first selection day, not at home. It is adaptive, takes just over 30 minutes and must reach level B1 on both Lezen and Schrijven. The police publish their own free practice test for it.
What happens if I fail?
There is no immediate retake. You may apply again after three months. Once you have passed the cognitietest, the verificatietoets, the taaltest where it applies and the sporttest, the police say the result stays valid for one year.
Can I take it on my phone?
No. The police say "Smartphones zijn niet geschikt voor het maken van deze testen": use a desktop, laptop or notebook with a stable connection. Our practice works on a phone, but a phone run is practice for the patterns, not a rehearsal of the sitting.
Who makes the test, and what are Cebir and Tascnet?
The police had it built by Cebir, a Belgian test publisher, and it runs on Cebir’s online platform Tascnet, so you may see either name on screen. It is still the police’s own test, and it is the one this page covers. None of the Dutch publishers NOA, LTP, GITP or TMA is involved.
Companies That Use Politie (Dutch police)
The cognitieve capaciteitentest is the Nationale Politie's own selection test, so the only organisation that uses it is the police itself. It is the first step for police training at mbo 4 level and for the bachelor programmes, and for several other police functions.
Nationale Politie
Government & PolicingSets the cognitietest as step 1 of selection for police training at mbo 4 and bachelor level, and for other functions including arrestantenbeveiliger, administratief medewerker and onderzoeker.
The Belgian police and the Korps Politie Curaçao run different tests with different parts, so this practice does not cover them.
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 Politie Cognitietest?
The home test counts only once a supervised check, starting at the level you reached, confirms it. Why outside help backfires.
The Dutch Police Cognitietest After 2023: What the Percentile 16 Rule Means
The police publish their pass mark, in a ministerial regulation. It is lower than it used to be, it is a percentile rather than a score, and a supervised check decides whether your home result stands at all.
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.
Logical Reasoning Test Practice
Shapes, sequences and flowcharts instead of words or numbers. Inductive, deductive, abstract, diagrammatic and spatial in one place.
About CogniPrep Politie Practice
CogniPrep provides independent practice for the cognitieve capaciteitentest of the Dutch Nationale Politie, and is not connected to the police or to Cebir. The test is the first step of selection for police training at mbo 4 level and for the bachelor programmes, and for other police functions such as arrestantenbeveiliger, administratief medewerker and onderzoeker. It was built for the police by the Belgian publisher Cebir nv, is registered with COTAN as the Cognitieve Capaciteiten Test (CCT, 2021), and runs on Cebir's Tascnet platform. It has three adaptive parts, Letterpatronen, Woordrelaties and Cijferpatronen, takes about 50 minutes excluding instructions, and is sat unsupervised at home within seven calendar days of the invitation, on a desktop or laptop, with scrap paper and without a calculator. Each item has its own time limit, with a time bar shown for the last ten seconds, and an empty answer is marked wrong. Under the Regeling aanstellingseisen politie 2023 the result must reach the 16th percentile of the reference group for the candidate's function level. A short supervised verificatietoets on the selection day, starting at the level reached at home, confirms the result.
- 4 practice tests: Letterpatronen, Cijferpatronen, Woordrelaties and the full cognitietest
- Adaptive, starting easy; no fixed number of items
- A hidden clock per item, with a time bar for the last ten seconds
- An empty answer is marked wrong, so always enter something
- Scrap paper allowed; calculator not
- Legal pass mark: the 16th percentile of your reference group, since 2023
- Checked by a supervised verificatietoets on the selection day
- Practice in English; the real test is in Dutch only
- Netherlands only; Belgian and Curaçao police tests are different
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