USA Hire Assessment Practice Tests
The tests OPM sends after you apply on USAJOBS, and how to tell which ones your job will use. Practise each one as it runs: a five-minute clock on every question, no going back, and no score at the end.
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Occupational Reading
The reading comprehension part of the USA Hire battery: short government notices, policies and tables, each with one question and four options. Five minutes per question, and it adapts to your answers.
Occupational Interaction
The work-style questionnaire every USA Hire candidate sits: statements about how you work, answered on agreement, frequency and comparison scales. You get a profile across OPM’s 11 competencies rather than a mark.
ECTA Early Career Interaction
The work-style half of OPM’s Early Career Talent Assessment: two statements at a time, and you record the one more true of you. A profile across Attention to Detail, Learning and Self-Management.
Premium Tests
Occupational Reasoning
The reasoning part of the USA Hire battery: statements you mark True, False or Insufficient Information, scheduling puzzles and short arguments. Each question has its own five-minute clock and gets harder while you keep answering correctly.
Occupational Math
The maths part of the USA Hire battery: percentages, fractions, proportions, equations, geometry and probability as short word problems with five options. Five minutes per question; have your own calculator ready.
Occupational Judgment
The decision-making part of the USA Hire battery: a federal workplace scene, then the Most effective and the Least effective of four courses of action, inside five minutes. The real scenes are animated videos; ours are written transcripts.
ECTA Early Career Judgment
The judgement half of OPM’s Early Career Talent Assessment for student trainee jobs: situations a student or intern meets at work, with every response rated from Highly Ineffective to Highly Effective.
Which tests will your job use?
It depends on the job's series and grade, not on the agency. Open the announcement on USAJOBS and read the competencies under "How you will be evaluated". Each one tells you an assessment, which is OPM's own method. Where each is used comes from OPM's lookup data for standard series and grades.
Reading Comprehension
- Assessment
- Occupational Reading
- Used
- Almost every battery from GS-4 to GS-7; about a fifth from GS-9 to GS-13
Reasoning
- Assessment
- Occupational Reasoning
- Used
- About one in ten batteries at GS-4 to GS-7; almost every battery from GS-9
Decision Making
- Assessment
- Occupational Judgment
- Used
- Rising with grade: about a third at GS-7, most at GS-12 and above, all at GS-15
Arithmetic or Mathematical Reasoning
- Assessment
- Occupational Math
- Used
- Only a few job families, such as finance, accounting, budget and contracting
Everything else (Integrity/Honesty, Interpersonal Skills and so on)
- Assessment
- Occupational Interaction
- Used
- Every battery, at every grade
Most batteries are three assessments, some two, a few four. Student trainee posts (series ending in 99) use the Early Career Talent Assessment instead, and supervisory posts may add the Federal Supervisor Assessment.
The one thing to know about each test
Reasoning: Insufficient Information is a real answer
Many items give premises and ask whether a conclusion is true, false or not settled by what you have. Scheduling puzzles are the other big type, and scratch paper is allowed for exactly those.
Reading: nothing you know about government helps
Passages, tables and word-in-context items, and OPM says no knowledge of federal rules is needed. Answer from the text; the traps are options that are true in the world but not in the passage.
Math: five minutes and a calculator
Percentages, ratios, equations and probability, in a small number of job families. Have your own calculator and paper ready, and estimate before you calculate so you can reject options of the wrong size.
Judgment: the best and the worst are scored separately
Each scene asks for the most and the least effective response. The effective answer usually deals with the problem at your level and keeps people informed; the least effective hides a problem or passes it on.
Interaction: it counts, and it is re-scored per job
Statements about how you work, with no clock. The same answers are scored against the competencies each job needs, so answering as you actually are, consistently, is the only strategy that holds for a year.
ECTA: student trainee jobs get a different test
Student trainee posts use the Early Career Talent Assessment instead: pick which of two statements is more true of you, then rate responses to work scenarios from Highly Ineffective to Highly Effective.
How you are scored, and the score you never see
One battery score, 70 to 100
Each assessment is scored, then weighted into a single battery score by a formula set for the job's series and grade, which OPM does not publish. The result is put on a 70 to 100 scale. Agencies use it to place you in a category, and referrals come from the top one.
A cut score on some jobs
In 13 job series OPM sets a government-wide minimum, and on average 20 to 30% of applicants fall below it. Elsewhere you cannot fail, but your score still decides whether you go forward. OPM never tells you your score or the minimum; the agency may tell you your category.
Your answers are kept for 12 months
You cannot retake an assessment for 12 months. Your answers, not your score, are reused for every job that uses the same assessment in that time, at any agency, and re-scored under each job's weights. The same sitting can clear one job and not another.
Where these practice versions differ from the real tests
- The real Judgment Assessment plays a short animated video for each scenario. Ours shows the full transcript of the scene instead, as the captions would read.
- OPM does not publish item counts. Ours are 15 questions each for Reasoning, Reading and Math and 10 scenarios for Judgment, with the real five-minute clock on every question; each game's instructions say so.
- OPM confirms some assessments are adaptive without saying which. Our Reasoning, Reading and Math versions adapt, moving the next question up a level after a right answer and down after a wrong one.
- We give you feedback and a practice percentile, which OPM never does. It is placed against CogniPrep players, not OPM's applicants, so read it as an approximation.
- The real assessments mostly run on a phone as well as a computer, and so do ours. A result here is practice on the same format, not a prediction of how OPM would score you.
Tests we do not simulate
- The Writing Skills Assessment, a 25-minute written response that is machine scored. A practice version could not mark it faithfully.
- The Data Skills Assessment and the Program and Project Management Assessment, which use downloadable files, an in-basket and branching video role play.
- The Federal Supervisor Assessment, because OPM has not documented either component's response format.
- Custom agency exams such as the CBP Officer and Border Patrol Agent entrance exams, which the agencies own.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the USA Hire assessment?
USA Hire is the US Office of Personnel Management’s online test battery for federal jobs. OPM says it is used by more than 80 federal agencies and nearly one million applicants a year. You get the link on screen and by email after you apply on USAJOBS.
Which USA Hire tests will I take?
It depends on the job’s series and grade, not on the agency. Look at the competencies under "How you will be evaluated" in the announcement: Reading Comprehension means the Reading Assessment, Reasoning means the Reasoning Assessment, Decision Making means the Judgment Assessment, Arithmetic or Mathematical Reasoning means the Math Assessment, and the rest are measured by the Interaction Assessment.
How long does USA Hire take, and is it timed?
OPM says it could take up to three hours, and that most applicants finish the standard battery in about an hour and a half. The Reasoning, Reading, Math and Judgment assessments give you five minutes per question; the Interaction Assessment is untimed.
Can I use a calculator or scratch paper?
Yes, unless the instructions for an assessment say otherwise. The Math Assessment instructions say you may use a calculator and scratch paper. There is no on-screen calculator, so have your own ready.
Will I find out my USA Hire score or whether I passed?
No. OPM does not release scores or cut scores to applicants. The agency may tell you which category you were placed in, or that you did not reach the minimum score, but never a number.
Can I retake USA Hire?
Not for 12 months. Your answers are kept and reused for any job that uses the same assessment in that time, at any agency, and re-scored for each job. So the same sitting can clear one job and not another.
Can I take USA Hire on my phone?
Most assessments, yes: OPM made the standard battery work on mobile devices, and the Early Career Talent Assessment was designed for one. Some assessments tell you to use a computer, and OPM does not list which.
Is the Judgment test really a video?
Yes. The Occupational Judgment Assessment shows short animated scenes with captions, then asks for the most and least effective response. No webcam is ever needed. Our version shows the full transcript of each scene in place of the video.
Companies That Use USA Hire
USA Hire is run by the US Office of Personnel Management, which says more than 80 federal agencies use it and nearly a million applicants sit it every year. You are sent the link after applying on USAJOBS. The agencies below each have a current announcement that names the USA Hire Assessments and lists the competencies they measure.
US Office of Personnel Management
Government & Public SectorRuns USA Hire for other agencies and describes it as trusted by more than 80 federal agencies, evaluating nearly one million applicants a year.
Internal Revenue Service
Government & Public SectorAn Individual Taxpayer Advisory Specialist announcement (GS-5 to 9) lists Arithmetic/Mathematical Reasoning and Reasoning among the competencies, with a cut score.
Transportation Security Administration
Government & Public SectorA Training Manager announcement (SV-I) states that the USA Hire Assessments include a cut score you must meet or exceed.
US Customs and Border Protection
Government & Public SectorA Mission Support Specialist announcement (GS-11 to 12) uses the USA Hire Competency Based Assessment, including Decision Making, Reading Comprehension and Reasoning.
Veterans Health Administration
Government & Public SectorA Program Support Assistant announcement (GS-6) lists 13 competencies from Reading Comprehension to Teamwork, with a cut score, and advises allowing about three hours.
Federal Bureau of Prisons
Government & Public SectorA Correctional Treatment Specialist announcement (GS-11) uses the USA Hire Assessments with a cut score, including Influencing/Negotiating and Stress Tolerance.
Indian Health Service
Government & Public SectorA Nurse (Clinical Care Coordinator) announcement at GS-11 requires the USA Hire Assessments, including Reasoning, within the assessment window.
Which parts of the battery you sit depends on the job’s series and grade, not on the agency. The competencies listed under “How you will be evaluated” in the announcement tell you which assessments to expect.
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 USA Hire? Answers Stick a Year
Your answers are kept for 12 months and re-scored for every federal job. Why a USA Hire shortcut is a bet on a year of applications.
Which USA Hire Tests Will My Federal Job Use?
Which USA Hire assessments you sit depends on the job’s series and grade, not the agency, and the announcement names them in code. How to decode it, and the grade pattern in OPM’s lookup data.
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.
Situational Judgement Test Practice
Realistic workplace scenarios scored against an employer competency framework. No maths, no time pressure, and a scoring key you can reason about.
Personality Test Practice for Job Applications
No right answers, which is exactly why they unsettle people. Learn the traits, the consistency checks and the formats before you sit one for real.
About CogniPrep USA Hire Practice
USA Hire is run by the US Office of Personnel Management and used by federal agencies after you apply on USAJOBS. It is sometimes called the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments or the USAJOBS assessment. Verified September 2026.
- 7 practice tests: Occupational Reasoning, Reading, Math, Judgment and Interaction, and both parts of the Early Career Talent Assessment
- Reasoning, Reading and Math: five minutes per question, no going back, calculator and scratch paper allowed
- Judgment: a short scene per scenario, then the most and least effective response, five minutes each
- Interaction: untimed statements about how you work, scored per job
- Early Career Talent Assessment: two-statement forced choice, then five-point effectiveness ratings, for student trainee posts
- One battery score from 70 to 100 that you never see, and answers reused for 12 months
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