| Test | Questions | Duration | Language | Scoring | Pass mark | Eliminatory | Ranked | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Raisonnement verbal | 20 | 35 min | — | 1 pt/question | 10/20 | Yes | Yes | 35 % |
| Raisonnement numerique | 10 | 20 min | — | 1 pt/question | 10/20 (combined) | Yes | No | — |
| Raisonnement abstrait | 10 | 10 min | — | 1 pt/question | 10/20 (combined) | Yes | No | — |
The EPSO abstract reasoning test measures your ability to spot the rule governing a series of figures: 10 questions in 10 minutes, one minute per question.
Nothing in it is verbal or numerical. It is shapes, positions, rotations and counts, and the question asked is always the same one: what changes from one cell to the next, and under which rule.
The pass mark is not individual: this test is marked together with numerical reasoning, and it is the combined score of the two that must reach 10/20.
Abstract reasoning sits alongside verbal and numerical reasoning in almost every EPSO competition, from generalist administrators to assistants and specialists.
The table below sets out, competition by competition, the settings published in the Official Journal: number of questions, duration, and how the pass mark is calculated.
It is the shortest test of the competition, and often the most underestimated: ten minutes are enough to lose your place on the reserve list when the pass mark is shared with numerical reasoning.
| Competition | Questions |
|---|
The most widespread mistake is to look for the answer before having stated the rule. As long as the rule is not put into a single sentence, all five options look alike.
The second is to read the series from left to right like a piece of text. Many series read better by columns, or in steps of two.
The third is to dig in. At one minute per question, a series that resists for thirty seconds should be flagged and left: the cost of getting stuck is two easy questions.
The method that works: name what varies, name what does not, validate the rule on the first three cells, then eliminate the options that contradict it before choosing.
Every explanation names the rule in plain words and shows by which mechanism each wrong option fails: you improve by identifying your blind rules, not by running through series after series.
Spaced repetition (the FSRS algorithm) reschedules the families of rules you miss, rather than the ones you already handle.
The readiness index (ERI) combines coverage, regularity and success rate to tell you whether you are ready, on this test as on the others in the competition.
Timed mock tests reproduce the time constraint: ten minutes is the real subject of this test.
| Connaissances de l'Union europeenne | 30 | 40 min | L2 | 1 pt/question | 15/30 | Yes | Yes | 25 % |
|---|
| Competences numeriques | 40 | 30 min | L2 | 1 pt/question | 20/40 | Yes | Yes | 25 % |
|---|
| EUFTE (epreuve ecrite) | 1 | 40 min | L2 | 1 pt/question | — | Yes | Yes | 15 % |
|---|
| Duration |
|---|
| Language |
|---|
| Pass mark |
|---|
| Weight |
|---|
| Administrateurs generalistes (AD 5)EPSO/AD/427/26 | 10 | 10 min | — | 10/20 (combined) | — |
| Assistants communication (AST 3)EPSO/AST/157/25 | 10 | 10 min | — | 10/20 (combined) | — |
| Administrateurs audit (AD 7)EPSO/AD/428/26 | 10 | 10 min | — | 10/20 (combined) | — |
| CAST Permanent (agents contractuels FG I a FG IV)CAST Permanent | 10 | 10 min | — | 10/20 (combined) | — |
| Administrateurs fiscalite (AD 6)EPSO/AD/422/25 | 10 | 10 min | — | 10/20 (combined) | — |
| Administrateurs gestion et connaissance des donnees (AD 7)EPSO/AD/426/25 | 10 | 10 min | — | 10/20 (combined) | — |
| Juristes-linguistes CJUE (AD 7)EPSO/AD/424/25 | 10 | 10 min | — | 20/40 (combined) | — |
| Juristes-linguistes / reviseurs juridiques PE-Conseil-Commission (AD 7)EPSO/AD/423/25 | 10 | 10 min | — | 15/30 (combined) | — |
| Administrateurs TIC (AD 7)EPSO/AD/429/26 | 10 | 10 min | — | 10/20 (combined) | — |
| Traducteurs (AD 5)EPSO/AD/414/24 a EPSO/AD/421/24 | 10 | 20 min | — | 22/40 (combined) | — |
The notice of competition publishes no sub-domains for abstract reasoning: it sets the number of questions, the duration and the way the pass mark works, not a taxonomy. What follows is therefore not an official list, but the typology we draw from our own question bank, which covers the very large majority of the series you will meet.
Typology established by Erudiam on its own question bank. The official notice of competition publishes no sub-domains for this test: the only official figures on this page are those in the table and the banner, taken from the Official Journal.
10 questions in 10 minutes for the generalist administrators competition, according to the official notice (reference at the foot of the page). The settings differ from one competition to another: the table on this page compares them.
There is no individual pass mark for this test in this competition: it is marked together with numerical reasoning, and it is the combined score of the two that must reach 10 points out of 20. A weak result in abstract reasoning can therefore be offset by numerical reasoning, and the other way round.
No, and that is the whole point of it. The test is deliberately non-verbal: it measures the detection of logical patterns without relying on language, numbers or spatial orientation.
Yes, and it is the test where practice pays off fastest, because the repertoire of rules is finite. Progression, rotation, alternation, combination, constant element: once you recognise these families at a glance, the time spent per question collapses.
Because abstract questions are series of figures, and we would rather show nothing than a badly rendered figure. The complete series are in the practice module, where they appear exactly as they do in the test.
By working one family of rules at a time rather than running through series at random: find the one that catches you out, drill it on its own, then go back to timed conditions to check it holds under one minute per question.
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