Scoring: the 15/30 pass mark and the top-2.5x rule

How each answer is scored

The Commission's guidance to candidates sets the marking: one point for a correct answer, zero for a wrong one, and zero for an unanswered one. Wrong answers are not penalised. The screen will not let you move on without choosing an option in any case, so every question gets an answer.

The pass mark is 15/30 in every 2026 generalist notice, as relayed by vendors: EU Training for AD7, EPSOHQ for AD5, AST3 and AD6, and EU-Now for AST2. The notices themselves are published only on the Commission's intranet.

The real bar is a rank

Reaching 15/30 keeps you in the competition. It does not get your written test read. Only candidates who pass and are among the highest scorers, up to 2.5 times the number of places, have their written test marked (reported by EPSOHQ, EU Training and EU-Now, relaying the notices).

The written test is sat on the same day and lasts 90 minutes. It passes at 30/50 at AD grades, 25/50 for AST2 and, by one vendor's account, 26/50 for AST3. A candidate whose knowledge score falls outside the top 2.5x never receives a written mark at all.

Where the working bar may sit

No score distribution for any of these tests has ever been published, so nobody can tell you the score that will reach the top 250. What can be said is this. AD7 drew 2,291 applicants, as reported by a Commission staff union. No count has been published for AD5. If 1,000 to 2,500 AD5 candidates reach the knowledge test (our estimate, and a weak one), the top 250 is the best 10% to 25% of the field.

On that basis we estimate the working bar for AD5 in the low to mid 20s out of 30. Treat that as a planning figure, not a target that guarantees anything. The bar moves with the number of candidates, the difficulty of the paper and any questions neutralised afterwards.

The arithmetic of guessing

With four options and no penalty, a blind guess is right one time in four. That gives three useful numbers:

Two lessons follow. First, a blank is never better than a guess, and on this screen it is not even possible. Second, elimination is worth as much as knowledge at the margin: removing two wrong options doubles your chance on a question from 25% to 50%. The forward-only tactics guide turns that into a routine, and the "which is NOT" method applies it to the hardest question type.

What the score does next

After the written test, qualifications are checked in descending order of score until 1.5 times the places are eligible, and an online oral passes at 25/50 (reported by EPSOHQ for AD5). The reserve list is listed alphabetically.

No public summary of the notices says the knowledge-test score is added into the final ranking. We therefore treat it as a filter: it decides whether you go on and whether your written test is read, and the later stages decide the list. If your notice says otherwise, follow your notice.

EPSO AD5 Part 2 scores differently

In EPSO's open competition EPSO/AD/427/26 the knowledge test is a weighted part of the ranking, not only a gate. The notice states:

• 30 questions in 40 minutes, scored 0 to 30, pass mark 15/30, in language 2;
• the knowledge test weighs 30% of the preliminary combined score and 25% of the final combined score (verbal reasoning 40% and 35%, digital skills 30% and 25%, the written essay 15% of the final only);
• the knowledge test is scored first, and the digital skills test is scored only for candidates who pass it;
• the written essay is scored, with the eligibility check, for a number that will in principle not exceed 1.5 times the 1,490 successful candidates sought;
• test results are notified only at the end of the competition.

So every point counts twice at EPSO: once to pass, and again in the ranking. More in the EPSO AD5 Part 2 guide.

When questions are neutralised

A flawed question can be removed after the test. Two cases are on the public record:

• AD5, 2023. A candidate's testimony annexed to a note sent to the European Ombudsman in July 2023 records that three questions of the 50-question paper were neutralised. The pass mark became 29 correct answers out of 47 (61.7%) instead of 30 out of 50 (60%).
• AD7, 2026. A Commission staff union reported that no review of the knowledge-test results was possible, and that a complaint asking for a specific question to be neutralised had to be lodged within three calendar days, counted from the day after the test, and only through the Single Candidate Portal.

Check your own notice and invitation for the complaint window that applies to you, and note down any question you think is flawed as soon as the test ends.