EPSO AD5 test dates 2026: letters, prerequisite test, test week

EPSO has fixed Part 1 of the AD5 graduates competition to one week: Monday 9 to Friday 13 November 2026. Invitation letters went out on Monday 19 October, and from that day your own date and time are on the testing platform. From Tuesday 20 October you can do the one-off prerequisite test, which must be done by Friday 6 November. Here is every date, what to do on it, and what EPSO has not yet said.

The calendar

Your invitation letter

The letter arrives in your Single Candidate Portal account on 19 October. It confirms the week and gives further instructions, and your individual date and time are shown only on the testing platform, where candidates could see them from the evening of 19 October. EPSO tells candidates to check its website and their account at least twice a week. With the test this close, check daily.

The prerequisite test can be done only once

Between 20 October and 6 November you do a technical prerequisite test on the real platform: a check of your system, your webcam image and your ID, and a scan of your room and desk. No score is recorded. You can do it only once per competition, unless your letter says otherwise, and EPSO’s latest instructions say that if you skip it and then have technical problems during the test, any complaint about them will be dismissed.

So do it early, and do it exactly as you will sit the test: the same computer, the same room, the same internet connection and the same browser. One candidate in another EPSO competition this year reported that their computer crashed during the desk scan; the check was marked as terminated and could not be taken again.

Can you change your date?

No. EPSO has said rescheduling will not be possible. The one exception is its standing policy for a medical problem or an emergency involving a close relative, backed by documents. Candidates whose case is accepted are offered a contingency session, which EPSO says is typically held within three to four weeks of the main session. Professional or private commitments do not qualify.

When will you get your results?

After Part 1 the reasoning tests are scored and candidates are told their results. EPSO made that change in June 2026; the original notice kept every result until the end of the competition. EPSO has not given a date. Candidates who reach both pass marks are invited to Part 2 in 2027.

What EPSO has not said yet

• How candidates are spread across the five days: by language, by surname or in some other way.
• The order of the three tests in the session, and whether there are breaks between them.
• When Part 1 results and the Part 2 dates will be published.

We update this page when EPSO publishes anything new. The date at the top shows when we last checked.

Using the weeks you have

If you are reading this before 9 November, you have about three weeks. The most useful things to do are a timed diagnostic, then most of your practice on verbal reasoning, then full timed mocks with each test on its own clock. Our three-week plan lays it out, and the overview of Part 1 covers the tests themselves.