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Civil Service Apprenticeship Online Tests: What to Expect and How to Prepare
The Civil Service online tests are: Verbal reasoning, numerical reasoning, and a situational judgement test based on the Civil Service Success Profiles framework. This stage filters out a significant proportion of applicants: preparation makes a real difference.
What the Tests Involve
Verbal reasoning, numerical reasoning, and a situational judgement test based on the Civil Service Success Profiles framework
How to Prepare
- 1.Practice with real test providers. SHL, Korn Ferry, Cubiks, and Talent Q all publish free sample tests. The interface and question format varies by provider: know what to expect.
- 2.Do a full timed practice run. Sitting the test for the first time under actual time pressure is the wrong time to discover you're slower than you thought.
- 3.Optimise your setup. Fast internet, quiet room, laptop (not phone), and attempt it when you're alert. Technical issues mid-test are unlikely to result in a resit.
- 4.For SJTs: think like a professional. Situational judgement tests have no trick answers, but they reward considered, measured responses over impulsive ones. Read each scenario fully before selecting.
Common Mistakes
Free prep pack
Preparing for Civil Service? Get a full pack free
The full PwC School Leaver pack is free: application stages, the competencies they score, real interview questions, commercial awareness, and a pre-submission checklist. The process it walks through is close enough to the other big schemes, Civil Service included, to prep you for all of them.
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Civil Service Apprenticeship Prep Pack
Application stages, competencies, real interview questions, commercial awareness, and a pre-submission checklist: in one complete pack.