What you may have on your desk during an EPSO test: the official list

Nine things may be on your desk while you sit an EPSO online test, and everything else is forbidden. The list is not folklore: it is printed in EPSO's own Instructions for online Testing (TAO) of March 2026, and it is the list a proctor checks against during the desk scan. Pens and paper are not on it.

The official sentence is worth reading once, slowly, because every word in it is doing work:

"On your desk you may only have your laptop or computer together with its charger, a mouse and keyboard (if they are separate; mouse and keyboard can be wireless), one external display, your ID (such as an ID card or passport), a mousepad, a label-free drink (water or other clear beverages), and two plain white tissues of standard size. Anything beyond this list is forbidden."

Source: EPSO, Instructions for online Testing (TAO), March 2026 (PDF), section 2.4, published on the EU Careers page Instructions and policies for candidates.

What exactly may you have on your desk during an EPSO online test?

Only these items, in the words of the instructions themselves:

• your laptop or computer, together with its charger;
• a mouse and keyboard, if they are separate — and they may be wireless;
• one external display;
• your ID, such as an ID card or passport;
• a mousepad;
• a label-free drink — water or another clear beverage;
• two plain white tissues of standard size.

The closing sentence is the one candidates underestimate: "Anything beyond this list is forbidden." It is not a list of examples. A phone charger you are not using, a spare pair of glasses in a case, a coaster, a watch, a second bottle, a printed page of the instructions themselves — none of those is on the list, so none of them belongs on the desk. The safest reading is the literal one: clear the desk down to the seven categories above, then put your ID on it.

Can you keep a pen and paper on your desk?

No. This is the single most common misunderstanding about EPSO's online tests, and the instructions do not leave room for it. The same document lists the behaviours that "may lead to the invalidation of your test session and/or disqualification", and among them, in plain words, is to "keep writing tools such as pens or paper on the desk". A separate entry forbids you to "take handwritten notes", and a third forbids you to "consult books, notes, or any other reference material".

So it is not only that writing on paper is prohibited during the test: the pen and the paper may not be present, unused, within reach. The desk-scan step exists precisely to establish that they are not. EPSO's summary page for the same instructions puts "Writing materials" and "Books/notes/paper" under the heading Forbidden, next to mobile phones, docking stations and headphones.

What replaces them is on the screen. TAO provides an on-screen scratchpad — a window you can write in, draw in, resize and move, with a text tool, a brush, shapes and an eraser — and an on-screen calculator you drive with the calculator buttons or your keyboard, pressing the equals sign rather than Enter to get a result. Both are described in section 4.2.2 of the instructions. If your numerical-reasoning technique currently depends on scribbling in a margin, that technique has to be rebuilt before your session, not during it.

What drink is allowed, and does the label matter?

The label matters. The instructions allow "a label-free drink (water or other clear beverages)" — so the container must carry no label, and the liquid itself is expected to be clear. In practice that means water in a plain bottle or a plain glass. A branded bottle with the wrapper still on it, a coffee, a soft drink with colour in it: none of those matches what is written, and the desk scan records what is there. Peel the label off, or decant into a plain glass, and the question disappears.

The two tissues are specified just as tightly: two, plain white, of standard size. A printed tissue, a pack of tissues, or a small towel is not what the sentence allows.

Where must your phone be during the test?

Off the desk. The instructions forbid the use of "any additional device such as a mobile phone, another computer, tablet, smartwatch, docking station, extra webcam, etc.", with one exception: contacting support for a technical problem. For that exception to be usable, the phone has to be somewhere — and the document says exactly where: "During the test, your muted phone must stay off the desk, positioned at a reasonable distance and out of reach from your workstation."

If you do need the helpdesk, the procedure is also written down: you may stand up and go to pick up your phone, you must return to your seat without delay, and while you are on the call you must remain seated in front of the camera for its entire duration. Everything else about standing up is forbidden, so this is the one sanctioned exception and it is worth knowing before you need it.

Is a second screen allowed, and what about a docking station?

One display, and no docking station. The desk list allows "one external display", and the hardware rules are stricter than most candidates expect: you must use a single display, and if you use an external monitor with a laptop, the lid of the laptop must be closed — which also disables its built-in camera, keyboard and trackpad, so your external webcam, keyboard and mouse have to be working before the session starts.

Docking stations are forbidden outright; a USB multi-port adapter may be used instead. Allowed input devices are a mouse, a keyboard and a numeric keypad. Wired pen tablets or any similar writing devices are forbidden — which is the same rule as the pen-and-paper one, applied to hardware. Earphones, earbuds, earplugs, headsets and any comparable audio gear are forbidden. Firewalls and antivirus programs must be disabled, and the system clock must match your current time zone.

Connecting an extra screen during the test is one of the events that terminates it automatically. So is trying to download a file, closing or reloading the test tab, opening developer tools, changing your network connection, leaving full-screen mode, revoking camera, microphone or screen-recording permission, uninstalling the Proctorio extension, or being disconnected from Proctorio for more than two minutes.

By when must you upload your ID document?

By the night after the test. The instructions are explicit about the deadline and about the consequence: "You must upload the document by 23:59 CET on the calendar day after the tests, otherwise you risk disqualification."

The requirement behind it is that the identity document you submit — passport or ID card — shows both your name and your photo on the same side. If yours does not, you upload a single PDF containing images of both sides and notify EPSO through the Single Candidate Portal. Note the shape of this obligation: your test is finished, you have logged out, and there is still one action left with a hard deadline attached. Put it in your calendar the moment your session ends, because "I passed the test" and "I completed the procedure" are not the same thing.

The same document lists "Lack of a valid identity document" and "Missing valid ID" among the situations that create a risk of disqualification without a retest — alongside an incorrect peripheral setup, not completing the mandatory technical prerequisite check, not following the environment and desk-check procedures, moving out of camera view, another person in the room, talking or reading out loud, and using unauthorised devices.

Who runs the platform that watches the desk?

Two systems, running at the same time. TAO is the test platform itself: the instructions describe it as "a secure online platform provided by Open Assessment Technologies S.A. (OAT)" where you access your sessions, navigate the questions, use the on-screen tools and submit your answers. Proctorio is a browser extension that runs the automated proctoring: before TAO opens it performs the browser, ID and environment checks, then hands you back to TAO to start, and its movable toolbar lets you zoom in and out during the exam.

EPSO states that Proctorio will record all audio, video and screen activity from your device and analyse the recordings to detect suspicious behaviour, and that it will inform EPSO and the selection boards for their final decision. It also states that Proctorio is not an automated decision-making tool: it may terminate an exam, but once your exam is submitted EPSO evaluates the Proctorio data before deciding whether a breach has occurred. In other words, the extension flags; a human decides.

Supported browsers are Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge. Mobile devices, phones and tablets are not supported at all. The extension is installed from getproctorio.com following the on-screen prompts, and the mandatory technical prerequisite check must be run no later than the deadline in your invitation letter.

How long is the desk scan, and what does it cover?

Between 20 and 60 seconds of video, and it covers more than the desktop. EPSO requires a video scan of your workspace to verify that no unauthorised materials are present. The instructions ask you to clear the workspace of all notes, books, headphones and forbidden electronics, and also to remove "any personal items that could reveal religion, politics, lifestyle or orientation" — a point in your favour, not a burden, and one worth acting on deliberately.

The scan itself is a slow 360-degree turn of the camera showing walls, doors and windows, then a sweep of the desk, the space under the desk, around the chair and behind the screen. After roughly 20 seconds an "I'm done. Continue" prompt appears; you may add a few seconds but must not exceed 60. Before that step there is an identification check, in which you hold your photo ID inside a green frame until Proctorio captures it, with a manual option and a retake if the image is blurry.

Two more environment rules sit alongside the scan: take the tests alone, in a quiet and well-lit room, with all other applications and tabs closed, using a webcam that faces you for the whole duration, and arrange not to be interrupted from beginning to end. And while the test is running you must not open additional browser tabs — the testing extension will close any new tab automatically and could remove you from the session instantly.

Does any of this depend on which competition you are sitting?

No. These instructions govern EPSO's online testing as such, not one competition, so the same desk applies whether you are sitting AD5 reasoning tests, an AD7 field-related test or the EUFTE. For candidates in the AD5 Graduates competition (EPSO/AD/427/26), the first part of the testing — verbal, numerical and abstract reasoning — is planned to start in November 2026, which makes the desk a practical question rather than a theoretical one. Your exact date and time appear on the testing platform at least two weeks before the test, after an invitation letter reaches your Single Candidate Portal account about three weeks before the first session naming the week.

One administrative detail from the same instructions is easy to miss: complaints about the calculator or the scratchpad do not automatically trigger a retest, and neither does an improper peripheral setup, the use of a corporate laptop or a device without administrator rights, or a power loss because the device was not plugged in. The setup is treated as the candidate's responsibility, which is the strongest argument for doing the prerequisite check early and on the exact machine you will use.

Sources

• EPSO — Instructions for online Testing (TAO), March 2026 (PDF): desk and environment rules (§2.4), peripheral and system requirements (§2.1–2.2), identity document (§2.3), identification and desk scan (§3.5.4–3.5.5), on-screen tools (§4.2.2), complaints policy (§7.1).
• EU Careers — Instructions and policies for candidates.
• EU Careers — "AD5 Graduates Testing – more details about timing and roll-out", 18 September 2026, for the planned November 2026 start of Part 1.

The rules above have one practical consequence that outlives the desk scan: if pens and paper are forbidden, then every calculation, every elimination and every note has to happen on screen or in your head. That is a skill, and it is trained the same way the tests are taken — in the real format, against the clock, with the on-screen scratchpad and calculator instead of a margin. You can start for free with the Score Predictor, and the full picture of the competition is on the EPSO AD5 2026 page.

PassEPSO is an independent preparation platform. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by or connected to EPSO, EU Careers or any European Union institution. The binding version of the testing instructions is the one EPSO publishes; check your invitation letter and your Single Candidate Portal account for the rules that apply to your own session.