The EPSO reasoning pass marks

The same two gates everywhere

These two thresholds are not specific to one competition. AD5 graduate administrators, the specialist AD6 and AD7 competitions, the assistant and secretary competitions and CAST all use the same pair: verbal scored on its own out of 20, and numerical plus abstract summed into a second score out of 20, each needing at least 10.

Why the gates are independent

Both thresholds have to be met. There is no compensation between them: scoring 18 out of 20 on verbal does not raise your numerical-plus-abstract score by a single mark, and clearing the reasoning gate comfortably does nothing for a verbal score of 9.

The practical consequence is about where to spend preparation time. If you are comfortably over one gate and marginal on the other, every hour spent on the comfortable one is worth nothing. Most candidates instinctively practise what they are already good at, and under a two-gate scheme that instinct is exactly wrong.

How many questions is that?

• Verbal: 20 questions, 35 minutes, at least 10 correct.
• Numerical: 10 questions, 20 minutes.
• Abstract: 10 questions, 10 minutes.
• Numerical + abstract together: at least 10 correct out of the combined 20.

Every question is multiple choice with one correct option, and there is no negative marking, so an unanswered question and a wrong one score the same. Guess rather than leave anything blank when a clock is about to run out.

What the score is used for, which does vary

In most competitions the three reasoning tests are purely a gate. Clear them and the marks are never looked at again, so anything above 10 buys you margin for error and nothing else.

AD5 is the exception worth knowing about. There, verbal reasoning is a gate and a ranked score carried into your final position, weighted more heavily than any other single component. Numerical and abstract stay pass or fail. If you are sitting AD5, that asymmetry should decide how you split your preparation time.

What else your competition makes you pass

The reasoning tests are never the whole procedure, and the rest has its own thresholds.

• AD5: an EU knowledge test (15 out of 30), a digital competence test (20 out of 40) and a free-text essay on EU matters (5 out of 10), all in language 2.
• Specialist AD: a field-related multiple-choice test (15 out of 30) in language 2, plus the essay.
• AST and AST-SC: accuracy and precision, and prioritising and organising. These carry the ranking, so clearing them is not enough on its own.
• CAST: a competency or field test set by the recruiting service.

None of those are practised on this site. It drills the three reasoning tests and says so.

A note on where these numbers come from

EPSO does not publish the per-test timings and thresholds in one place. The reasoning figures here are the ones consistently reported by candidates and preparation providers, and they are what this site's practice and mock are built around. The competition-specific thresholds come from the notices of competition, checked in September 2026. Your own notice and your own EPSO invitation are the authoritative source for the sitting you are actually taking. If either differs, believe it and not this page.