Internal competitions in 2027: what is planned, and when to start practising the cognitive assessment

If you missed the 2026 AD5, AD7 and AST3 competitions, or sat one and fell short of the line, the sensible question is what comes next and when. The Commission has published a plan running to the end of 2027, reported in detail by a Commission staff union. Here is what it says, what it does not say, and how to use the gap.

The plan, as reported

Two cautions. The plan has already slipped: the union notes generalist competitions originally scheduled for one quarter sliding to the end of the year, and the 2026 AD5 and AST3 notices in fact appeared in May and July 2026. And the notices themselves are internal, published through My IntraComm and the Single Candidate Portal rather than EUR-Lex, so the first you may hear of one is the notice itself.

Will the cognitive assessment be used again?

Nothing is published about the 2027 formats. What is known: the three 2026 generalist competitions, AD7, AD5 and AST3, all opened with the same adaptive cognitive assessment, and the union reports that the AD6 specialist competition did not include it. The pattern so far is generalist competitions use it and at least one specialist one did not. Candidates who sat the September 2026 rounds say they expect further competitions with the same assessment early in 2027; that is expectation rather than announcement.

Who can apply, and the quota problem

The union's analysis is blunt about access. Contract agents in function group IV are admitted to AD5 and AD6 competitions, but only within the restrictive quota in Article 82(7) of the Conditions of Employment of Other Servants. Contract agents in function groups II and III get one competition in the whole 2025 to 2027 period. Function group I is excluded altogether, and AST10 and AST11 remain blocked from progression. If you are in one of those groups, the eligibility text of each notice matters more than the calendar.

Why two weeks' notice is too late to start

HR is reported to have committed to announcing each test at least two weeks before it takes place. Two weeks is enough to revise EU knowledge. It is not enough to become fluent in an interactive format you have never seen, on a clock that gives you ninety seconds a question. The candidates who struggle most, according to the union's reflection on the AD7 test, are experienced officials meeting a high-speed screening exercise cold.

1. Now, in an evening: learn every interactive item type until the mechanics feel automatic. The question types guide lists them.
2. Now, once: sit one full-length timed test so you know your baseline and which section costs you time. The first one here is free.
3. When a notice appears: a short, timed cycle of full tests, one every few days, with the exam-day checklist on the desk. Format familiarity fades slowly; pace does not, so the timed work goes last.

Sources: a Commission staff union's analysis of the 2025 to 2027 internal competition plan and its analysis of the AD5 notice (29 May 2026), including the note on the AD6 specialist competition; its reflection on the AD7 cognitive test (28 May 2026); candidates who sat the September 2026 rounds. Read 26 September 2026. Nothing about 2027 formats has been published.