EPSO numerical reasoning test: tables, the calculator and common mistakes

The numerical reasoning test is 10 questions in 20 minutes, two minutes each, with an on-screen calculator and no pen or paper. It has no pass mark of its own: your numerical and abstract scores are added together and need to reach 10 out of 20. Here is what a question looks like, the calculations that come up, the mistakes the wrong options are built on and a worked example.

What a question looks like

Each question shows a data table, usually five rows and several columns of figures with their units in the headings, then a single question and five options. In EPSO’s public sample the table is shown as a picture, so you cannot select or highlight its figures, and on a laptop screen its print is small. In four of the five sample questions the last option is “None of the above”. Treat it as a real option: when your result is not among the figures offered, and your set-up is right, it is the answer.

The calculator and the decimal point

There is no physical calculator and no paper. The platform’s calculator works with the keyboard or its on-screen buttons, and EPSO’s instructions say to use a dot as the decimal separator, because the comma is not supported. If your test is in Italian, French, German or another language that writes 1,35, you will read commas in the table and type points into the calculator. Practise that switch before the day.

On EPSO’s sample, the calculator and the scratchpad stay open when you move to the next question, so you can keep a figure on screen while you check the table again.

The calculations that come up

• Percentage change: the new figure minus the old, divided by the old. The base is always the earlier figure.
• Share of a total: a part divided by the whole, or the whole worked out from a part and its share.
• Per head or per unit: a total divided by population, area or output, often after converting a unit (thousands, millions).
• Ratios: between two rows or two years, reduced to the simplest whole numbers.
• Two or three steps chained: a figure that is not in the table has to be worked out before the question can be answered. Four of the five questions in EPSO’s sample need a step like this.

The mistakes the wrong options are built on

In a well-built numerical test the wrong options are seldom random. Most are the result of one predictable slip, which is why the figure you reach after a mistake is so often there waiting for you. Ours are built on these:

• Wrong base: dividing a change by the later figure instead of the earlier one.
• Percentage points for per cent: a rate that moves from 4% to 5% has risen by one percentage point, which is a rise of 25%.
• Wrong row, column or year, including a column that looks relevant and is never needed.
• One step short: stopping at an intermediate figure.
• Unit slip: thousands read as units, or millions as thousands.
• Ratio upside down: 3:2 where the question asked for 2:3.
• Average of percentages: averaging two rates instead of working from the totals behind them.
• Rounding too early: rounding the first step changes the last digit of the answer.

A worked example

A question of our own in the same format, with invented figures. Give yourself two minutes before you open the answer.

Pacing, and a shared pass mark

Two minutes is enough for a two-step question if you set it up before you touch the calculator: which rows, which columns, which year is the base. If a question is still unclear after a minute, choose your best option, bookmark it and come back. Because numerical and abstract share one pass mark of 10 out of 20, a strong abstract score can carry a weaker numerical one, and the other way round. Neither score counts towards the ranking.

How to practise

• Use an on-screen calculator only, with a dot for decimals, and no paper. Keep intermediate figures in the calculator or an on-screen scratchpad.
• Say the set-up in words before you calculate, for example “international in 2025 over international in 2023, minus one”. It catches the wrong-base mistake.
• Time each set of 10 at 20 minutes, on screen.
• Check every miss against the list of mistakes above and keep a tally. Most people repeat the same two or three.

Each of our six mocks has 10 numerical questions on our own tables. Every answer is worked out by code from the table and checked by a second, separate calculation, and the worked answer shows each step. For the other tests, see the abstract reasoning guide and the overview of Part 1.