Promotion Exam
& Board Prep
Practise on 347 original, checked questions and see where you stand before the day. Our paid toolkit, with a free sample first. Promotion pays about £6,160 more a year at the top of Sergeant than ConstableInspector pays about £13,220 more a year at the top of the scale than the top of Sergeant, outside the Met and City (basis and date).
Not ready to pay? Try the free 20-question timed mini mock first (sergeant or inspector, no sign-in), or the free 6-question sample below.
Why This Is Worth It
One payment for 6 months access, nothing renews, 14-day refund with no reason needed (refund policy). Covers a full revision cycle to the next sitting.
The pay difference if you are promoted: about £6,160 more at the top of Sergeant than the top of Constable, and about £13,220 more at the top of Inspector (outside the Met and City) than the top of Sergeant. Top of the Constable scale (£52,015) to top of the Sergeant scale (£58,175), and top of Sergeant to top of Inspector outside the Met and City (£71,396). England and Wales scales from 1 September 2026, before tax, from PolicePay's pay-scale data. Passing the exam does not itself promote you. Work out your own figure in the promotion calculator.
58.5% of Sergeant candidates passed in March 2026, and 37.0% of Inspector candidates in May 2026 (24.4% in November 2025), the most recent sittings the College has published. A practice paper scored against the published cut score gives you a rough check on where you stand, though a practice score does not predict the real result.
- ✓ 347 checked questions, each with an explanation and source (342 apply to the inspector paper)
- ✓ Full 150-question timed sitting, weighted like the College's published breakdown (3 hours)
- ✓ Practise by area, drill weak spots, review what you missed
- ✓ Progress tracking and a daily revision plan to your sitting
- ✓ 16 CVF board scenarios (self-rated)
- ✓ Scored against the real 55% / 65% cut scores
- ✓ 6 months access, both ranks
- ✓ One payment, nothing renews, 14-day refund
- ✓ Everything in Standard
- ✓ AI tutor on every question: explain it differently, why you were wrong, how to remember it
- ✓ Fresh questions on demand, checked by a second AI pass and aimed at your weak spots
- ✓ AI board assessor: scored on five supervisory dimensions, plus the follow-up a board would ask
- ✓ 6 months access, both ranks
What this is, and is not. Both tiers are PolicePay's own products. The questions are original, not real or past exam questions, and the toolkit is not from, or endorsed by, the College of Policing or any publisher. It cannot promise you a pass. The Blackstone's Police Manuals are the syllabus and you still need to read them; Blackstone's own online service also offers timed mocks and progress tracking. AI Pro is a revision aid only: check the College's exam rules for what is allowed on the day.
Already own Standard? Upgrading to AI Pro only charges the difference, not the full price again.
Sitting the inspector exam?
91 of the 140 scored questions. Sergeants need 55%.
May 2026; 24.4% in November 2025 (College of Policing results).
The 5 on the sergeants-only weapons chapter (1.8) are left out.
Choose Inspector in the practice tool below (or arrive with ?rank=inspector) and a full timed
sitting is weighted 57 Crime, 32 Evidence and procedure and 61 General police duties,
scaled to 150 from the College's May 2026 inspector breakdown (which is approximate, and past weighting does not predict the next paper),
and scored against 65%. If you are registered for the November 2026 sitting, the
28-day plan
sets out when to sit each full paper and what to do in the final 72 hours. With 342 questions you get about two unseen full sittings, so pair the toolkit with another source for a third.
Next inspector sitting
Inspector exam: Tuesday 3 to Thursday 5 November 2026
Registration closed on 5 October 2026 at 6pm. If you are registered, you are in the final 4 weeks: practise under timed conditions and fix the areas you keep missing.
Results for this sitting are expected by about 26 November 2026 (the College's handbook date).
Dates as we last checked them against the College of Policing. Always confirm yours with the College.
Module 1: NPPF Legal Knowledge Mock Exam
AI Pro: Your Tutor and Board Assessor
The question bank tells you what you got wrong. AI Pro helps you understand why. Ask the tutor to explain a point another way, work out why the tempting option was wrong, or give you something to hang it on. When you want more practice on a weak area, it writes fresh questions aimed at exactly the points you keep missing. For the board, write your own answer to a scenario and get scored on judgement, ownership, people and welfare, law and policy, and structure, then answer the follow-up question a board member would ask next.
Module 2: CVF Promotion Board Practice
Passing the exam only makes you "board ready": you still need to succeed at a local force selection board assessed against the Competency and Values Framework, now applied at a supervisory level: managing people, holding colleagues to account, and making resourcing calls under pressure. These scenarios use the same four-actions-rated format as our free candidate SJT tool, written for the judgement a board actually wants to see from a Sergeant or Inspector.
A Capable Officer Who's Started Missing The Basics
One of your constables has been solid for two years, but over the last six weeks their statements have been late, two court files were returned for missing exhibits, and this morning they were 20 minutes late for parade with no explanation. There's no indication of misconduct, and you've noticed they seem tired and withdrawn rather than careless.
Rate each action's effectiveness in responding to this situation
A. Issue a formal written warning for the lateness and file quality now, before it gets any worse.
B. Say nothing for now and monitor whether it continues, since it might just be a rough patch.
C. Have a direct, private conversation with them about what you've noticed, framed around their wellbeing first and the work second.
D. Have that same private conversation, and separately flag the returned court files to whoever needs to know so the immediate case risk is covered regardless of what the conversation uncovers.
Frequently Asked Questions
What do I actually get with Standard?
347 original practice questions (about 116 in each of Crime, Evidence and procedure, and General police duties), each with an explanation and its legal source. You can sit a full timed 150-question paper (weighted across the three areas like the College's published breakdown of recent papers, in the same 3 hours), practise one area at a time, drill your weak spots, and revisit what you got wrong on a spaced schedule. The tool tracks what you have covered and works out how many questions a day you need before your sitting. 16 board scenarios for the promotion board are included. 6 months access, Sergeant and Inspector.
What does AI Pro add?
AI Pro (£99.99 in total, 6 months) adds an AI tutor on every question (explain it differently, why your answer was wrong, a way to remember it, or ask your own question), fresh AI-written questions aimed at the points you keep missing, and an AI assessor for your board answers: scored on judgement, ownership, people and welfare, law and policy, and structure, plus the follow-up question a board would ask next. If you already own Standard, upgrading only charges the difference.
How were the questions checked?
Each question was written from the primary text (legislation.gov.uk, the PACE Codes of Practice, College of Policing and CPS guidance) and then independently re-checked by a separate review against the current law as at October 2026. Where that review found wording that was out of date, too broad or arguable, it was corrected or removed. We use AI to help write and check, and a human decides what ships. The exam tests the law as it appears in the Blackstone's Police Manuals for your sitting, so if an explanation here ever differs from the manual, go with the manual and tell us. Each explanation shows its source. If you ever spot something that looks wrong, the Tell us link under every question comes straight to us and we fix it.
How does this fit with Blackstone's?
Blackstone's Police Manuals are the syllabus: the exam tests the law as it appears in the edition for your sitting, so you need them, and we would never suggest otherwise. Blackstone's also sells its own Q&A books and an online service that offers timed mock exams and progress tracking, so those features are not unique to us. Compare current prices and sample content for both before you buy (we do not quote their prices here because they change). What this toolkit adds is a revision plan counted back from your sitting date, drilling on the questions you missed, board scenarios with AI-assessed answers and an AI tutor on every question, at one price of £69.99 for 6 months (£99.99 with AI Pro). Our questions are original and are not a substitute for reading the Manuals. If you already use Blackstone's online service and are happy with it, you may not need this.
Is this real College of Policing exam content?
No, and nobody selling exam prep can honestly claim it is. The College of Policing doesn't publish real questions or the answer key. This is original PolicePay material (and, in AI Pro, original AI-written material) covering the same three named subject areas, written to build the underlying legal judgement rather than to memorise leaked or guessed questions.
Why is this worth the price?
Passing the exam is one step. Promotion also depends on the selection board and a vacancy, and nothing here guarantees either. If you are promoted, PolicePay's scale data puts the difference at about £6,160 a year more at the top of Sergeant than at the top of Constable, and about £13,220 a year more at the top of Inspector (outside the Met and City) than at the top of Sergeant. Top of the Constable scale (£52,015) to top of the Sergeant scale (£58,175), and top of Sergeant to top of Inspector outside the Met and City (£71,396). England and Wales scales from 1 September 2026, before tax, from PolicePay's pay-scale data. Where you land on the new scale, your force and allowances change the real figure, so use our promotion calculator (policepay.co.uk/calculators/promotion-calculator/) with your own details. Standard at £69.99 is about 1.1% of the Sergeant difference for one year, but the toolkit only helps you practise: it cannot make you pass.
Does one purchase cover both Sergeant and Inspector prep?
Yes. Both papers share the same three subject areas and format, and the College's handbook says all areas of the syllabus apply to both ranks except one chapter of the Manuals (1.8, weapons), which is sergeants only. Choose Inspector and the toolkit leaves out the 5 questions on that chapter (342 apply to you), weights a full sitting 57 / 32 / 61 like the College's May 2026 inspector breakdown, and scores you against 65% instead of 55%. Your choice of rank is remembered in this browser, including when you come back from checkout.
How does the free sample work?
Six of the 347 questions (two from each subject area) are fully free, with complete explanations. That's enough to judge whether the format and depth is right for you before paying for the rest.
Related
Independent guidance and original practice material: not affiliated with, endorsed by, or produced by the College of Policing. Exam structure and results figures are the College of Policing's own published data (see our Sergeant and Inspector exam guides); practice questions and board scenarios are entirely original PolicePay content.