ERA Senior Civil Servant Exam study plan

Map the full policy cycle from agenda-setting to evaluation and annotate each stage with the decision gate at which evidence is required.

Draft a problem definition for a selected policy issue using a problem tree with at least three root causes and two measurable symptoms.

Construct a stakeholder power–interest grid with at least eight actors and assign an engagement tactic to each quadrant.

Formulate four mutually exclusive policy options and score them against five appraisal criteria: effectiveness, efficiency, equity, feasibility and legality.

Conduct a cost–benefit and cost-effectiveness comparison of the two strongest Week 1 options, applying a stated discount rate and reporting a sensitivity range.

Draft a regulatory impact assessment outline that names the market failure, the proposed instrument and the compliance cost imposed on business and citizens.

Map the legal hierarchy of instruments - constitution, statute, delegated regulation, guidance - and classify five examples by legal force and amendability.

Analyse a delegated-powers clause by stating who may make rules, the permitted scope, and the procedural and judicial review constraints.

Trace a national budget cycle from circular to audit and identify the decision point at which each actor can influence spending.

Classify ten expenditure lines by economic and functional category and distinguish recurrent from capital spending.

Prepare a budget justification for one programme using activity-based costing and a unit-cost calculation.

Interpret a set of financial statements by calculating variance against budget, explaining two material variances and flagging one fiscal risk.

Build a three-year medium-term expenditure framework for one sector with baseline, ceiling and reprioritisation columns.

Convert programme objectives into five SMART performance indicators, each with a data source, baseline and target.

Diagnose a team-performance problem using goal clarity, capability, motivation and structure, then select two interventions.

Draft a 90-day people plan that assigns accountabilities and sets a feedback cadence.

Apply a market-failure taxonomy - public goods, externalities, information asymmetry and market power - to three policy cases and select the matching instrument.

Calculate and interpret price elasticity, deadweight loss and tax incidence for a proposed tax or subsidy in a worked example.

Diagnose an organisational performance gap using a cause-and-effect chain and propose one measurement that would test the diagnosis.

Design a staff engagement intervention with a pre/post measure and a comparison group.

Map the constitutional and statutory accountability relationships among ministry, agency, regulator and legislature, and identify three overlap risks.

Draft an inter-agency coordination protocol specifying mandate, decision rights, information-sharing and dispute resolution.

Build a project logic model from inputs to impact with two assumptions and two risks at each link.

Complete a change-readiness assessment across six dimensions and select a sequencing strategy.

Design a mixed-methods evaluation for one programme, specifying indicators, data sources, sampling and a counterfactual option.

Clean a dataset, document data-quality issues and produce three charts that answer a stated policy question.

Draft a stakeholder communication plan with audience segmentation, key messages, channels and a feedback loop.

Prepare and record a two-minute verbal briefing for a minister under time pressure, with three key messages and one explicit ask.

Apply a four-test ethics framework - legality, public interest, fairness and transparency - to three integrity dilemmas and justify each decision.

Draft answers to two accountability scenarios covering conflict of interest, gift policy and whistleblowing escalation.

Sit a full timed mock exam under exam conditions and self-mark against a written rubric.

Review the error log and rewrite the five weakest answers into model answers.