ERA Senior Civil Servant Exam study guide
ERA Senior Civil Servant Exam · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.
The ERA Senior Civil Servant Examination is a competency-based selection assessment for experienced public administrators moving into, or already holding, senior civil service positions. It is designed for candidates who already understand how government machinery works and are now being tested on judgement at the level where policy, law, money, people and politics intersect. The ERA Senior Civil Servant Exam study guide has 10 sections and about 3,053 words.
01Policy Analysis and Policy Formulation
This domain tests whether you can move from a contested problem to a defensible, costed and implementable option. Expect scenarios that ask you to challenge a ministerial 'solution', set objectives, appraise options and design the evaluation before money is spent.
330 words, about 2 min02Law, Regulation and Regulatory Practice
Legal literacy for non-lawyers: identifying a valid legal basis, respecting proportionality and fundamental rights, drafting implementable rules, and planning regulatory delivery and enforcement. Every intervention needs a legal base and an empowered actor.
306 words, about 2 min03Public Finance and Budgetary Management
Budget literacy: how public money is authorised, controlled, accounted for and shown to deliver value. Scenarios ask you to cost proposals, fit them to fiscal ceilings and spot control failures.
329 words, about 2 min04Leadership, People Management and Organisational Performance
People leadership and organisational performance: setting direction, managing performance fairly, building capability, and handling change and underperformance within a merit-based public service. Public-service leadership is exercised within legal mandates, ministerial accountability and codes of conduct; personal authority never substitutes for lawful authority.
308 words, about 2 min05Economics and Market Analysis
Applied microeconomics for decision-makers: diagnosing market failure, choosing the right instrument, and quantifying costs and benefits with defensible, sourced assumptions. Markets fail through externalities, public goods, information asymmetry, market power and natural monopoly.
319 words, about 2 min06Governance, Institutional Affairs and Inter-agency Framework
Whether you can design and operate accountability structures across organisational boundaries: who decides, who delivers, who oversees, and how disputes are resolved. Governance allocates decision rights, accountability and resources explicitly.
290 words, about 1 min07Project, Programme and Change Management
Delivering through projects and programmes while managing the human side of change: business cases, governance, benefits, risk and adoption. Distinguish portfolio (investment mix), programme (interrelated projects delivering outcomes) and project (temporary, unique output).
299 words, about 1 min08Evidence, Data and Digital Competence
Whether you can commission, interpret and challenge evidence, govern data lawfully, and assure digital services and algorithmic tools. Evidence quality varies: systematic reviews and evaluations sit above single studies and anecdote.
288 words, about 1 min09Communication and Stakeholder Engagement
Designing credible communication and genuine engagement: mapping stakeholders, consulting fairly, managing risk and crisis messages, and closing the feedback loop. Stakeholder analysis maps interest, influence and attitude; then match the engagement level - inform, consult, involve, collaborate or empower - to the decision and to legal requirements.
295 words, about 1 min10Ethics, Integrity and Accountability
Applying public-service values under pressure: identifying and managing conflicts of interest, protecting whistleblowers, resisting improper influence and accounting for decisions. Integrity is a system, not a personality trait: standards, codes, training, risk assessment, oversight and enforcement, plus a culture in which advice can be challenged.
289 words, about 1 min