The SHL G+ exam in Commission internal competitions: what it is and how to practise for it

If you are eligible for one of the Commission's 2026 internal competitions, you will have seen the stage-one test called three different things: the cognitive reasoning assessment in the notice, the SHL G+ exam in the training offers circulated by a Commission staff union, and simply the EPSO exam by colleagues. This guide sets out what is reported about it, which SHL product it appears to be, and how to practise for it.

Three names, one test

The notice of competition, as quoted in the staff union's briefing slides, says that an external company with recognised expertise in psychometric tests is entrusted with the assessment, and that it measures numerical, inductive and deductive reasoning through 24 questions in 36 minutes. The Commission has never publicly named that company. The prep providers covering the competition say the test runs on SHL's platform, and the training packages promoted through the staff union sell SHL's own mock of a product called Verify Interactive G+. That is where the SHL G+ name comes from: it is what the market has settled on, with the Commission itself saying only an external company.

What is reported about the format

SHL G+ or Verify Interactive G+, and why it matters

SHL sells two general-ability tests that cover the same three abilities. The multiple-choice Verify G+ runs to around 30 questions at a fixed difficulty. The Verify Interactive G+ has 24 questions, adapts as you go, and asks you to build answers by dragging, adjusting and clicking rather than picking from a list. The reported specification for the Commission's test, 24 questions and adaptive, matches the interactive product on both counts. Candidates from the 11 June 2026 AD7 sitting independently reported interactive items: dragging lines, adjusting bars, clicking chart and person elements. The staff union's slides describe the deductive items in the same way, as exercises where you drag and drop elements to construct your answer.

The practical consequence is large. Most reasoning practice on the market is multiple choice, and multiple choice trains a reflex this test never asks for: eliminating four wrong options. In the interactive format there are no options to eliminate. You have to produce the answer on the widget, under a clock, and the mechanics of each widget are something you can learn in advance.

What the items look like, according to the staff union's briefing

• Numerical: a table of sales figures with bonus conditions to apply; a pie chart to adjust so the slices match a described distribution; a graph to plot from a table, finding the strongest variation.
• Deductive: a day planner with blocked slots and tasks to schedule as early as possible; a one-month calendar where you select the dates that satisfy a set of conditions; a set of rooms and four to six people, each with their own constraints.
• Inductive: shapes to fill with the right colours by spotting the rule across a series; circles of letters or numbers where you find the logic and complete the sequence.

Every one of those is an item type you can practise on this platform. The question types guide goes through each one with the traps the briefing warns about.

How to practise

1. Learn the mechanics of each interactive type once. Dragging a point to an exact value, resizing a bar, placing a person in a room and colouring a shape should each feel automatic before test day. This takes an evening.
2. Then practise only at full length and against the clock. Twenty-four questions in thirty-six minutes is ninety seconds each. The staff union's own conclusion after the AD7 sitting was that 36 minutes is tight but possible, and that the exam is easier than it first seems if you keep calm.
3. Answer everything. No negative marking is reported, and the briefing's advice was to finish every question rather than leave any blank.
4. Have paper, a pen and a calculator on the desk. Candidates report both a phone used as a calculator and a physical one are allowed. Our exam-day guide has the full checklist, including printable grids.
5. Expect some information to be hidden. Candidates who sat on 21 September 2026 report that the real assessment shows some conditions only when you click a person or a tab, and hides them again afterwards. Write them down as you reveal them. The practice test in the invitation does not show this, and neither do ours. The practice offered on the day does, so take it. See what candidates report.

The first full test here is free, timed, interactive and needs no card. Sit it, see which item types cost you time, and decide from there.

Sources: a Commission staff union's analysis of the AD5 notice (29 May 2026) and its briefing slides for the AD5 and AST3 competitions (June and July 2026); the training offer for the AD5 and AST3 competitions circulated through that union, read 26 September 2026; EPSOHQ and EU Training, prep providers, read 20 and 26 September 2026; candidate feedback from the 11 June 2026 AD7 sitting, relayed through an EU Training webinar and labelled unofficial; SHL's public product pages. The Commission has not published the notice, so nothing here is its own statement.