EPSO EU Knowledge Practice

The EU Knowledge test covers 12 topic areas: institutions, legislative procedures, economic governance, energy, external action, internal market, digital economy, migration, research, EU history, legal instruments, and the budget.

What the EPSO EU Knowledge test is

The EU Knowledge test checks whether you understand how the Union actually works: its institutions and their powers, how a directive becomes law, who controls the budget, what the treaties changed. Questions are multiple-choice, sat in your Language 2, and range from straight facts ("how many members does the European Parliament have?") to procedural detail ("which institution proposes legislation under the ordinary legislative procedure?").

Under EPSO/AD/427/26 (AD5 2026) the test has 30 questions in 40 minutes — about 80 seconds each. It appears in generalist AD5 competitions; specialist AD7 and AST competitions replace it with a field-related multiple-choice test (FRMCQ) on the domain of the competition, and CAST selections have no knowledge test at all.

How it is scored

The pass mark is 15 out of 30, and the test counts for 25% of the AD5 2026 ranking — tied with Digital Skills as the second-heaviest component after verbal reasoning (35%). Unlike the reasoning gate, every point here moves your position on the reserve list, so EU Knowledge rewards systematic study more directly than any other test.

Formats are set per competition in the Notice of Competition, so always verify the current numbers in yours.

What to study — and the classic confusions

Institutions and the ordinary legislative procedure produce the largest share of questions: who initiates, who amends, who can veto, and the differences between regulations, directives, decisions and recommendations. From there, questions extend across economic governance, external action, the internal market, the budget (MFF), enlargement and EU history.

The single most classic trap: the Council of the European Union (ministers, co-legislator), the European Council (heads of state or government, sets direction, does not legislate) and the Council of Europe (not an EU institution at all) are three different things. A close second: assuming the Commission votes on laws — it proposes, Parliament and Council decide.

Study from official sources — EUR-Lex for treaty articles, europa.eu factsheets for institutions and policies — because that is exactly where EPSO draws its material from. Our question bank is built the same way: every question is grounded in an official, citable source.

How to practise effectively

Alternate reading and testing instead of reading everything first: practice reveals which of the topic areas actually cost you points, and 30-question sessions at 80 seconds per question build the pacing you will need. Review every explanation, including for questions you got right — recognising why the wrong options were wrong is what stops EPSO's paraphrased variants from catching you on exam day.

Frequently asked questions

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