EPSO AD7 2026: only one test decides your rank, and it is not reasoning

You applied to EPSO/AD/428/26 or EPSO/AD/429/26, testing is close, and you are trying to decide where the next weeks go. Reasoning drills? The field material? The essay? The advice you find is «prepare everything», which is not advice — it is a refusal to read the notice.

The notice answers the question directly, and the answer is unusually clean: in both AD7 competitions, exactly one test produces a ranking. The rest are pass or fail.

Which AD7 test decides your rank?

The field-related MCQ test — 30 questions, 40 minutes, in Language 2, pass score 15/30.

Both notices carry a table headed «How will the test scores be used?». It has three rows, and they do not say the same thing:

• Verbal, numerical and abstract reasoning tests — «The tests will be scored to determine if the candidate obtained at least the required pass scores.»
• Field-related MCQ test — «The scores of candidates who obtained at least the required pass score will be used to create a ranking according to candidates' performance.»
• EUFTE — «The test will be scored to determine if the candidate obtained at least the required pass score.»

Two of those three rows describe a gate. One describes a ranking. There is no weighted combined score anywhere in either notice — no percentages, no formula that mixes a reasoning score with a field score. Your position among candidates comes from 30 field questions and from nothing else.

Does scoring 20/20 in verbal reasoning help my ranking?

No. It gets you through the gate, exactly as 10/20 does. The reasoning tests are scored only «to determine if the candidate obtained at least the required pass scores», and the required scores are 10/20 in verbal and a combined 10/20 across numerical and abstract. Above those thresholds, the extra marks are not carried anywhere.

This is a real difference from AD5, where verbal reasoning is weighted at 40 % of the preliminary combined score and 35 % of the final one. If you have read AD5 guidance and assumed it transfers, this is the point where it does not.

Why might a good EUFTE essay never be read?

Because of a sentence most summaries leave out. Both notices state that the EUFTE scripts are marked, and eligibility checked, «for a limited number of candidates taken in the descending order of the ranking» from the field-related MCQ — a number that «will in principle not exceed 1,5 times the number of successful candidates sought», with the Selection Board free to increase it where candidates are tied.

So the sequence is strict. Reasoning is scored first, and only for candidates who completed every test. The field MCQ is scored only for those who passed the reasoning tests. Candidates who reach 15/30 in the field test are ranked in descending order of score. And only from the top of that ranking, down to roughly 1,5 times the places sought, does anyone open the essay.

The notices also add a second condition on the field test that is easy to skim past: to proceed, a candidate must «obtain at least a pass score of 15/30, and be amongst the candidates who score the highest». Clearing the pass mark is not, on its own, enough.

How many places are we talking about?

The AD7 ICT figure is the sum of the four field quotas printed in the notice: ICT infrastructure 204, ICT project management 228, Clouds and networks 166, Data science 184. A candidate may apply for only one field, so the ranking that matters to you is the one inside your own field, against that field's quota.

The «about» column is arithmetic on the notices' own 1,5 factor, not a prediction — the notices say the number will «in principle» not exceed it and may be raised for equal scores.

So what should the last weeks look like?

The notice implies a straightforward allocation, and it is not the one most candidates default to.

• Reasoning: reach the threshold reliably, then stop optimising it. The target is 10/20 verbal and 10/20 combined across numerical and abstract, in Language 1, under real time pressure — 105 seconds per verbal item, 120 per numerical, 60 per abstract. Being comfortably above the line protects you; being far above it buys nothing.
• Field material: this is where rank is made. Thirty questions in Language 2 decide your position among everyone else who passed the gate.
• EUFTE: aim at 5/10, not at brilliance. It is pass/fail, it is «neither a language test nor a test of factual knowledge», and the documentation is handed to you with the assignment. Structure and use of the provided material are what the published anchors describe.

When do the AD7 tests take place?

For AD7 Audit, EU Careers announced on 29 July 2026 that testing «will take place in one day, indicatively at the end of September 2026», and reminded candidates that supporting documents are due by 30 September 2026. For AD7 ICT, the notice sets the supporting-documents deadline at 1 October 2026 at 12.00 (midday), Brussels time; the testing date is communicated by EPSO and was not published at the time of writing. Anything more specific than that, from any source, is not coming from EPSO.

Where to start

With a measurement, not a schedule. Sit one timed verbal set and one timed numerical-plus-abstract set and see where you actually stand against 10/20 — because that single number tells you whether the reasoning block still needs weeks of your time or is already a solved problem, and everything else follows from the answer.

PassEPSO provides timed reasoning practice in all 24 official EU languages with an explanation for every item, field-related material for the AD7 competitions, and EUFTE writing practice against the published assessment anchors. See also how AD5, AD7 Audit, AD7 ICT and CAST differ in format and eligibility.

PassEPSO is an independent preparation platform. It is not affiliated with, sponsored by, or endorsed by EPSO, EU Careers, or any European Union institution.