Police Scotland
Entrance Test

Police Scotland's candidate portal describes the PSET as "one examination paper with three core elements: numeracy, literacy and information handling" and says you "will be required to answer 49 questions in 60 minutes". You must pass all three elements. Everything Police Scotland publishes about it, in one table:

Police Scotland says you do not need any formal qualifications to apply. The test is how it checks the basics instead. Regulation 6(1)(f) of the Police Service of Scotland Regulations 2013 requires a candidate for constable to satisfy the chief constable that they are "sufficiently educated, including being sufficiently competent in written and spoken English and sufficiently numerate, by passing an assessment" to a standard approved by the chief constable and the Scottish Ministers. The PSET is that assessment.

This is one of the clearest differences from England and Wales, where candidates now go through the College of Policing's online National Sift instead and must have a selected qualification or experience before appointment. See how the two systems compare.

In Police Scotland's example paper, the language questions give you a short passage on a policing or community topic, then a set of statements. For each one you decide whether it is true, false or not possible to say from the information provided. Police Scotland does not publish a full list of every question type it may use, so prepare for this format and be ready to read carefully under time pressure.

The three answers

• True: the passage says it, or it must follow from what the passage says.
• False: the passage says the opposite, or something that cannot be true at the same time.
• Not possible to say: the passage does not give enough information to decide either way.

Worked example (original)

1. "The centre is run by the police." False. It is run by a local charity; officers only visit.
2. "The centre will open on Saturdays from next year." Not possible to say. The charity has applied for funding, but the passage does not say whether it will get it or when.
3. "Community officers visit the centre once a week." True. Officers visit on Thursdays, which is once a week.
4. "Attendance has risen every month since the centre opened." Not possible to say. The passage gives an average over three months, not a month-by-month trend.

The traps

• Using outside knowledge. Even if you know something is true in real life, if the passage does not say it, it is not possible to say.
• Strong words in the statement. "All", "always", "only", "every" and "must" make a statement much harder to prove. Check the passage supports the strong word, not just the general idea.
• Largest is not most. "The biggest group" does not mean "more than half". "An average of 40" does not tell you about any single evening.
• Plans are not facts. "Has applied", "plans to" and "hopes to" do not mean it has happened or will happen.
• Simple sums count. If a passage says this year's figure is more than double last year's, you can work out a limit for last year. That can make a statement true even though the passage never states it.

Police Scotland's example number questions are short, written sums set in policing situations, answered with a figure in a box. The example paper's questions involve subtraction, a ratio, adding weights, multiplying a weekly amount, a percentage reduction expressed in years and months and a speed, distance and time calculation. A calculator is provided on the day, so the skill being tested is mostly knowing which calculation to do and doing it accurately.

What to be confident with

• Percentages: a percentage of an amount, percentage increase and decrease (always divide by the starting figure).
• Ratios and proportions: splitting a total in a ratio, "1 for every 250".
• Speed, distance and time: distance = speed x time, with minutes converted to hours (15 minutes is 0.25 of an hour).
• Time: durations across the hour, the 24-hour clock and converting between hours, minutes and decimals of an hour.
• Money: pence to pounds, totals and averages.
• Averages: the mean (add up, divide by how many).
• Units: metres and kilometres, map scales, kilos.

Worked examples (original)

1. An officer has 10 hours 30 minutes of time off owed and uses 40% of it. How much is left, in hours and minutes? 10 hours 30 minutes is 630 minutes. 40% of 630 is 252 minutes, so 630 − 252 = 378 minutes are left. 378 ÷ 60 = 6 remainder 18, so 6 hours 18 minutes. Converting to minutes first avoids mistakes with decimals of an hour (6.3 hours is 6 hours 18 minutes, not 6 hours 30).
2. An officer drives 18 miles at an average of 24mph. How many minutes does the journey take? Time = distance ÷ speed = 18 ÷ 24 = 0.75 hours. 0.75 x 60 = 45 minutes.
3. A charity event raised £2,400, which was 20% more than last year. How much was raised last year? This year is 120% of last year. £2,400 ÷ 1.2 = £2,000. (Taking 20% off £2,400 gives £1,920, which is wrong: the 20% is of last year's figure, not this year's.)

In Police Scotland's example paper, the information handling questions are based on a table of figures. You are asked to find values, add them across rows or columns, work out a percentage and judge which category is most or least common. Answers are a figure, a percentage or a short written answer.

How to approach a table

1. Read the title and the row and column headings first. Know what one cell means (for example "calls on Monday about theft").
2. Find the exact row and column each question needs. Put a finger or pen on both before you read the number.
3. Watch for totals you need to work out yourself. If a question asks for a percentage "of all", you usually need a total that is not printed.
4. Read "more than", "at least" and "fewer than" carefully. A value equal to the limit is not "more than" it.
5. Check your answer is the right size. A percentage over 100, or a total smaller than one of its parts, means something has gone wrong.

Worked example (original)

• What percentage of all arrests were at Northgate? Total arrests 120 + 80 + 50 = 250. 120 ÷ 250 = 0.48, so 48%.
• Which station released the highest proportion without charge? Northgate 18 ÷ 120 = 15%, Southbank 20 ÷ 80 = 25%, Eastfield 5 ÷ 50 = 10%. Southbank. Note that Southbank also has the highest number here, but proportion and number do not always agree.

That is about 73 seconds a question on average. Police Scotland does not publish separate timings for each element, so you manage the whole hour yourself. Some practical points:

• Read each passage or table once, properly, before the questions about it. Several questions share one passage or table, so the reading time pays back.
• Do not get stuck. If a sum is not working after a minute, move on and come back. Every question is worth trying and you need to pass all three elements.
• Leave a few minutes at the end to check that every box has an answer and that answers have the right units.
• Practise with a basic calculator, not your phone, so the one you are given feels normal.
• Write clearly in ink. The paper is handwritten. If you change an answer, make the new one unmistakable.

• It is a written exam in ink, under exam conditions. Bring what your invitation tells you to bring.
• A calculator is provided.
• If you have a disability or a neurodivergent condition such as dyslexia that could affect you in a timed written test, Police Scotland asks you to raise reasonable adjustments on the eligibility form, before the main application, so support can be arranged. You can contact the recruitment team later if your circumstances change.

Police Scotland's recruitment pages do not publish pass rates. 1919 Magazine reported in October 2025 that figures it obtained from Police Scotland under freedom of information showed the pass rate rising to 94% in 2024/25, from 87% the previous year and 78% in 2022/23. The article's candidate counts for 2024/25 contradict each other, so we quote only the percentages.

Two cautions. First, these are past figures; the test and the candidate pool can change. Second, a high pass rate for the test says nothing about the later stages: Police Scotland says more people fail the fitness test than any other stage and the assessment day and vetting still lie ahead.

Police Scotland's published pages do not say how soon you can resit or how many attempts you get, so ask the recruitment team. What they do say is that if you fail pre-screening you can reapply when you meet the criteria and the application form asks previous applicants: "please explain what you have done to prepare for this new application. Please include details of how you have used the feedback provided." Keep a record of what you practised so you can answer that honestly.