The police "aptitude test" in England and Wales has no maths in it. It is a judgement test and a questionnaire

Most forces in England and Wales use the College of Policing national sift and online assessment, and neither contains a numerical or logic test. Our reasoning test helps in one narrow way: its verbal questions train you to read a short passage carefully and answer only from what it says, which is the core skill of the written and briefing exercises.

The sift is a situational judgement test and a behavioural styles questionnaire, and the online assessment is a recorded interview, a written exercise and a briefing exercise. Our practice test covers none of those formats. Use it as reading warm-up, and spend most of your time on judgement scenarios and timed writing.

Search for "police aptitude test" and you will find plenty of numerical and verbal practice papers. Those reflect how police recruitment used to work and how some other countries still test. In England and Wales, the College of Policing national sift asks about judgement and working style, not arithmetic.

That matters for how you prepare. Drilling percentages will not move your sift result. Learning how a careful constable weighs risk, fairness and honesty will. The College says no prior policing knowledge is needed, so the scenarios reward sound judgement in ordinary workplace terms rather than knowledge of law or procedure.

Each scenario gives four possible actions. You rate every one of them separately, from counterproductive through ineffective, slightly effective and effective to very effective. It is not a pick-one format, so a candidate who finds the best answer but rates a harmful option as "slightly effective" still loses ground.

Treat the scale as two questions. First, would this action make things worse? If so, it is counterproductive, whatever good intention sits behind it. Second, of the helpful actions, which ones deal with the whole problem, including the person at risk and the duty to report? Those earn the top ratings.

The College links the scenarios to its Competency and Values Framework at level 1: behaviours such as analysing critically, taking ownership, being emotionally aware and working collaboratively, sitting under the values of integrity, impartiality, public service and transparency. Read the framework once before you start; it is the marking scheme in plain sight. Our situational judgement guide covers the general technique.

The behavioural styles questionnaire is about 20 minutes long and untimed. It asks how far statements about your typical behaviour at work describe you. There is nothing to calculate, and the useful preparation is reflection, not practice papers.

Answer as you are on an ordinary working day, not as a fictional ideal recruit. Questionnaires of this kind compare answers across many statements, and a profile that agrees strongly with every flattering statement tends to look inconsistent. Integrity is one of the values the framework names, so honesty is also the safest strategy.

Candidates who pass the sift move to the online assessment. The joining guidance describes a competency-based interview of up to 40 minutes in which each question appears on screen, you get about a minute to prepare and then record your answer. The written exercise takes about 40 minutes and the briefing exercise about 60.

The most important practical rule: once you click start on an exercise it begins and cannot be restarted. Do the system checks first, close everything else and sit where you will not be interrupted. You will get a confirmation email after the interview and the briefing exercise, but not after the written exercise, so do not panic when none arrives.

If you have a disability or condition that affects timed work, ask for a reasonable adjustment before you begin. The College publishes a reasonable adjustment guide for these assessments, and timings change when an adjustment is granted.

The sift and online assessment are national, but recruitment is run by each force. Some add their own interview or assessment day, and all of them run fitness, medical and vetting checks. The Metropolitan Police, for example, describes its own assessment centre with a values-focused interview, a medical and a job-related fitness test; see our Met Police page for that route.

Entry routes also differ: degree apprenticeship, degree holder entry and, in some forces, other programmes. The tests described here apply across those routes, but deadlines and intakes do not, so keep your force's own timetable open while you prepare.

These come from anonymous reviews, university careers pages and prep guides. They often disagree, and Police constable (England and Wales) has not confirmed them. Read them as leads, not rules.

• Prep sites describe the sift as a stage many applicants underestimate because it looks like a personality quiz rather than a test.
• An older prep guide gives the judgement test about 30 minutes, while the current College guidance says it typically takes around 45, so candidates report seeing different figures depending on the guide they read.
• Candidates on recruitment forums say the online interview feels unusual because there is no interviewer to react, and recommend rehearsing to a webcam.