AO Verbal and Situational Judgement Practice: Evidence Before Assumptions

Strong reading and sound judgement both begin with noticing what the information actually supports. They differ in what happens next: a verbal question asks you to assess a statement against a passage; a judgement question asks you to consider the consequences of an action in a situation.

Here are two original practice examples. For judgement, PSP leads with six-point AO practice: rate five actions independently, with repeated ratings allowed. The timed mock contains 10 scenarios in 50 minutes. These are PSP practice settings, not confirmed vacancy 9005 specifications. Your own competition invitation and familiarisation material establish the actual format.

Verbal reasoning: keep your answer inside the passage

Read this short invented report:

During a twelve-week pilot, three offices offered appointments on Thursday evenings. Two offices recorded fewer missed appointments than in the previous twelve weeks. The third office recorded no change. The report did not compare these offices with offices that kept their usual opening hours. No decision on extending the pilot has been made.

Statement 1: Every office in the pilot recorded fewer missed appointments.

False. The passage says the third office recorded no change. “Every” makes the claim broader than the evidence allows.

Statement 2: Two pilot offices recorded fewer missed appointments than in the preceding twelve weeks.

True. That is directly supported. It does not add a claim about why the number fell.

Statement 3: The evening appointments caused the reduction in missed appointments.

Cannot Say. The report describes a change but does not establish its cause. There is no comparison with offices that kept their usual hours, and the passage gives no other evidence establishing causation. The claim could be right, but the supplied information does not prove it.

Statement 4: The pilot will be extended to all offices.

Cannot Say. No decision has been made. That neither confirms an extension nor establishes that it will never happen.

The distinction between False and Cannot Say matters. False needs contradictory evidence. Cannot Say means the passage does not settle the statement. Do not replace missing evidence with your own knowledge of how public services usually operate.

Judgement: assess what each action would achieve

Consider this invented situation:

You are an AO preparing a briefing for your manager, who will approve it before it is circulated tomorrow. A headline figure differs between a source table and the draft briefing. You do not know which version is correct. A colleague says the difference is probably too small to matter.

Consider each action on its own. Do not assume one action will be followed by another unless the wording says so.

Check the source with the data owner, tell your manager about the discrepancy and agree how to handle any unresolved uncertainty before approval.

This is a strong response in the stated situation. It seeks evidence, recognises your manager’s approval responsibility and creates a route to meet the deadline without hiding uncertainty. It is stronger than simply delaying the briefing with no explanation or next step.

Use the figure that makes the policy proposal look stronger.

This is a poor response. It selects evidence to support a preferred conclusion rather than checking accuracy. A small discrepancy does not justify knowingly choosing an unsupported figure.

Tell your manager there is a discrepancy, but leave all checking to them despite having access to the source.

This does identify the issue, which is useful. It also passes on work you could help resolve. Assess the complete action: a helpful first step does not automatically make the whole response as effective as one that combines escalation with proportionate investigation.

Rate each action independently

In six-point AO practice, give every action a rating from 1 (highly inappropriate) to 6 (highly appropriate). You may use the same rating several times. You are not placing the actions in a unique order. PSP awards full practice credit for an exact match to its suggested rating, half credit for an adjacent rating and zero otherwise. This is independent learning feedback, not publicjobs’ marking scheme.

Before rating an action, consider four questions:

• Does the action address the actual problem with the evidence available?
• Does it respect the candidate’s responsibility and decision-making authority?
• What effect would it have on colleagues, the public or the quality of the work?
• Is the response proportionate to the risk and urgency described?

Avoid shortcuts such as “always escalate” or “always speak privately first”. A routine disagreement and an immediate safety concern call for different responses. Read the situation before applying a familiar rule.

Turn feedback into better reasoning

When you disagree with a suggested action score, identify the sentence that led you to your answer. Compare the explanation with that sentence. Ask whether you assumed extra authority, extra information or a later step that the action never promised.

Try free six-point AO judgement practice or the AO verbal sample. Both give worked feedback without an account or card.

Premium’s main AO bank includes 60 six-point judgement scenarios, 90 verbal questions and 120 numerical questions. Secondary sample-format papers add 54 single-choice scenarios, 118 verbal statements and 108 numerical questions, for 550 items overall. Single-choice practice asks for one action and remains an alternative exercise; it does not establish this competition’s format. See AO practice and Premium at €39/month, renewing until cancelled. Existing members can open the six-point AO mock.

For your next session, use the AO preparation plan or work through the numerical examples. These are independent practice methods and examples; your invitation governs the official assessment.