EPSO AST/SC study guide
EPSO AST/SC · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.
This page supports candidates preparing for an EPSO AST/SC competition - the selection process used by the European Union to recruit assistants, secretaries and clerks for its institutions and bodies. It is written for people who want a structured, independent way to practise the reasoning and behavioural skills such competitions typically assess, and who need a realistic sense of what preparation actually demands. The EPSO AST/SC study guide has 4 sections and about 1,603 words.
01Verbal Reasoning: Deducing What the Passage Actually Says
Verbal reasoning on the EPSO AST/SC computer-based tests checks whether you can extract meaning from a short written passage and answer a five-option question using only that passage. Texts are typically administrative, policy-related or institutional, and the questions ask for the main idea, a stated detail, a valid inference, the author's tone, or the meaning of a term in context.
458 words, about 2 min02Numerical Reasoning: Choosing the Right Operation and Base
Numerical reasoning in EPSO AST/SC presents data in tables, charts or short word problems and asks for one correct value among five options. The arithmetic is school-level; the difficulty is choosing the right operation, tracking units and bases, and avoiding answers that are intermediate steps.
375 words, about 2 min03Abstract Reasoning: Testing Rules Systematically
Abstract reasoning measures fluid intelligence: your ability to infer a rule from figures alone and apply it. EPSO AST/SC items include series (what comes next), analogies (A is to B as C is to ?), matrices (a missing cell in a grid) and odd-one-out sets.
375 words, about 2 min04Situational Judgement and Organisational Skills: Prioritising and Communicating
The situational judgement and organisational skills test places you in realistic EU-institution workplace scenarios and asks you to choose the most or least effective response, or to rank options. There is no single legal answer; scoring rewards judgement about priorities, hierarchy, confidentiality, teamwork and service delivery.
395 words, about 2 min