GCHQ publishes one sample test and a strict AI ban. Here is what the rest of its process asks of you

GCHQ names a situational judgement test with a minimum pass mark on several role pages and a short bespoke analysis test for intelligence data analysts. Our reasoning test and the CCAT practice test build the data-reading and logic habits an analysis test is likely to lean on.

GCHQ does not publish what its bespoke analysis tests contain, and the sample mathematics aptitude test it does publish is a separate 90-minute paper for mathematics and cryptography roles. Our tests are neither. Use them for general analytical fluency, then use GCHQ's own sample paper if your role is mathematical.

GCHQ's own outline says you might be asked to complete an online test after the application form. Which one depends on the job advert. Several role pages require a situational judgement test with a minimum pass mark. The Intelligence Data Analyst role uses a short bespoke analysis test, then a longer one later. The mathematics roles use a mathematics aptitude test.

That spread makes advice by role the only honest kind. Read the advert for the role first and look for the phrase online test. Then decide whether your preparation should be judgement, analysis or mathematics.

Where a role page requires a minimum pass mark on the situational judgement test, the test works as a gate. The test asks you to rate how appropriate each response is to a series of short scenarios.

The preparation is to read GCHQ's published competencies and interview preparation material, because the scenarios and the rating scale reflect them. Then answer by asking what a careful, trustworthy colleague in a sensitive organisation would do. The content of each scenario is unpredictable; the values are not.

For intelligence data analysts, GCHQ describes an initial short bespoke analysis test and a longer one later. For mathematics and cryptography roles, it publishes a sample mathematics aptitude test: a 90-minute paper with more questions than anyone is expected to finish. It also says the live test may differ in subject areas.

If your role is analytical, train reading data fast and drawing careful conclusions: our free reasoning test is a fair start, and the CCAT practice test adds logic. If your role is mathematical, go straight to GCHQ's own sample paper. It is the only practice material that the employer itself publishes.

GCHQ bans the use of AI at online tests and interviews, and says it may ask candidates to retake a test or interview under controlled conditions if it suspects AI was used. That means a retake in a supervised setting is a real possibility.

The safest approach is to do each test cleanly and unaided. If you ever feel you cannot do the test without help, that is a signal to practise more beforehand, not a reason to use a tool.

One cyber security analyst page says an application may take around 6 to 9 months to process, including vetting. Vetting runs after the tests and interviews and can involve checks on your background.

Plan around that. Do not let a long silence persuade you the application has failed, and keep your other applications moving. A graduate who was interviewed described completing an online assessment and then an interview; the details vary, so rely on your invitation, not on a forum thread.

These come from anonymous reviews, university careers pages and prep guides. They often disagree, and GCHQ has not confirmed them. Read them as leads, not rules.

• A graduate who was interviewed described completing an online assessment and then going to an interview, with a hair-sample drugs test as part of vetting. GCHQ's own pages are the authority on which steps apply to your role.