Police Officer Aptitude Test: Complete 2026 Preparation Guide

Becoming a police officer in England and Wales involves a structured selection process overseen by individual police forces, with a standardised framework set by the College of Policing. Competition is high: applications to major forces like the Metropolitan Police often outnumber available places by 10:1 or more. Understanding exactly what each stage tests — and preparing specifically for those components — is the single most important factor in getting through.

The good news is that police aptitude tests are not as academically demanding as graduate employer assessments. The verbal and numerical questions are broadly at GCSE-to-A-level standard. What matters most is speed, accuracy under pressure, and demonstrating the Competency and Values Framework (CVF) behaviours in written and role-play exercises. Candidates who fail typically do so not because the content is too hard, but because they haven't practised the format.

The College of Policing developed the National Police Selection (NPS) framework to standardise how all 43 forces in England and Wales recruit police constables. Before NPS, every force ran its own bespoke tests, creating confusion for candidates and inconsistency in standards. The NPS brings a common set of online assessment components and assessment centre exercises that all participating forces use.

Not all forces have adopted NPS at the same pace — check with your target force whether they use the full NPS process or a modified version. However, the core testing components (verbal reasoning, numerical reasoning, situational judgement) are now standard across the vast majority of forces.

The online assessment is completed at home (or at an invigilation centre, depending on the force) and typically takes 2–3 hours in total. It covers five distinct components, each measuring a different capability. You must pass each component — a strong performance in one area does not compensate for a weak performance in another.

1. Situational Awareness and Observation

You watch a short video of an everyday police scenario (a busy street scene, an incident report, a public area). After the video ends, you answer questions about specific details: what colour jacket was the man wearing, how many people were near the entrance, what time did the incident occur. This tests the observational skills that are fundamental to police work — note-taking, attention to detail, and accurate recall.

2. Competency-Based Questions (Written)

You write short (typically 200–400 word) responses to behavioural scenarios. These are graded against the CVF (see Section 07). Each question describes a situation and asks how you handled it or would handle it. Strong answers use a clear structure (situation → actions → outcome) and explicitly demonstrate CVF competencies like collaborative working, taking ownership, or emotional awareness.

3. Verbal Reasoning

A reading comprehension exercise: passages of text followed by multiple-choice questions. The questions test whether you can identify what a passage states directly, make valid inferences from it, and distinguish between what is stated and what is merely implied. This is covered in detail in Section 04.

4. Numerical Reasoning

Arithmetic, percentages, basic data tables, and simple calculations — at broadly GCSE standard. Covered in detail in Section 05.

5. Written Assessment (force-dependent)

Some forces include a longer written exercise at the online stage: a scenario requiring you to write a report, a memo, or a briefing note. This assesses written communication skills, structure, and clarity — essential for police officers who write reports and statements daily.

The verbal reasoning component in police recruitment is similar in format to SHL's Verbal Reasoning Test — reading a passage and answering True / False / Cannot Say questions — but is typically at a lower difficulty level and focuses on factual accuracy rather than complex logical inference.

Passages are drawn from realistic police-adjacent contexts: public safety announcements, policy documents, community notices, crime statistics summaries. You need to read carefully and answer based only on what the passage states — not on prior knowledge or common sense. Candidates often fail by "knowing" something to be true in real life that isn't directly stated in the passage.

The Three Answer Types

Preparation: read the question (the statement to assess) before reading the passage. This tells you what information to look for. Underline or mentally flag relevant sections. Work quickly but don't rush past ambiguous phrasing. Our SHL Verbal Reasoning guide covers the same True/False/Cannot Say format with worked examples.

Police numerical reasoning tests are generally at GCSE level — fractions, percentages, ratios, basic arithmetic, and reading data from tables or simple charts. Unlike the more complex SHL Numerical Reasoning Test used by graduate employers (which involves multi-step data manipulation), police numerical tests prioritise speed and accuracy over analytical complexity.

Topics Typically Covered

• Basic arithmetic: Addition, subtraction, multiplication, division — often without a calculator. Practise mental arithmetic daily. Timed pressure is where most candidates lose marks.
• Percentages and ratios: "What percentage of reported crimes resulted in a charge?" — calculate from given numbers. Also percentage increase/decrease between two values.
• Reading data tables: Extract specific figures from a table of crime statistics, response times, or resource allocations. The question is usually simple if you read the table correctly.
• Unit conversions: Time (hours to minutes), distances, basic currency. Not complex but common in police contexts (e.g. response time conversions).
• Averages (mean): Calculate the average of a short set of numbers. Occasionally median.

Candidates who pass the online assessment are invited to a police assessment centre — a half or full day of structured exercises assessed by trained police assessors. Everything is scored against the CVF (see Section 07). There are typically three core exercises.

Every part of the police assessment — online questions, CBI, written exercise, role plays — is scored against the College of Policing's Competency and Values Framework (CVF). Understanding the CVF is not optional; it defines what "good" looks like at every stage. The CVF has six core competencies:

The CVF also includes four core values: integrity, impartiality, public service, and transparency. These underpin all six competencies and appear explicitly in some CBI questions.

For each example you prepare for your CBI, identify which CVF competency it primarily demonstrates. Don't force one example to cover multiple competencies in a single answer — assessors score competencies individually and prefer clear, specific examples over sprawling multi-competency stories.

• Week 1 — Know the framework: Read the full CVF on the College of Policing website. Download your target force's candidate guidance. Identify 8–10 real personal examples from work, volunteering, sport, or education that demonstrate CVF competencies. Write each out in STAR format and label the primary competency it demonstrates.
• Week 2 — Online assessment practice: Complete 3–4 timed verbal reasoning practice tests (True/False/Cannot Say format) — see our Verbal Reasoning guide. Complete 3–4 numerical reasoning sessions focusing on percentages, ratio, and data table questions. Practise observational memory exercises daily.
• Week 3 — Assessment centre preparation: Practise your CBI answers out loud — ideally recorded — until you can deliver each within 3 minutes. Time yourself on the written exercise format: read briefing documents quickly, identify key information, write clearly under time pressure. Arrange mock role plays with a friend or family member.
• Week 4 — Fitness and integration: Run 3 timed bleep tests to ensure you're comfortably exceeding level 5.4. Complete a full simulated assessment session (all components in sequence) to build endurance. Review any consistently weak areas from your practice tests. Rest in the 2 days before your assessment.