How To Actually Pass The Sergeants Exam
The method that works, what the NPPF step two exam actually tests, the real 55% pass mark and the mistakes that cost candidates marks. Every exam fact is taken from the College of Policing's own handbook and results reports.
Checked on 4 October 2026
Exam facts on this page were checked against the College of Policing's NPPF step two candidate handbook (2027 version, updated 10 September 2026), the step two exam hub and the March 2026 sergeants' results and subject area PDFs. Sitting on Tuesday 6 to Thursday 8 October 2026? That paper is set on the 2026 Manuals; skip to the last-48-hours plan. The next sergeants' sitting is 16 to 18 March 2027, with College registration from 18 January to 6pm on 18 February 2027.
The Short Answer
To pass the sergeants' exam you need 77 correct answers out of the 140 scored questions, in a paper of 150 questions sat in 3 hours. The syllabus is the Blackstone's Police Manuals and nothing else. The candidates who give themselves the best chance do four things: they test themselves from the first week, they check every answer against the Manuals, they space their reviews so each topic comes back several times, and they rehearse the real conditions with full timed sittings. Reading the Manuals harder, on its own, is the weakest version of revision.
1. Test yourself from week one
Use practice questions as the revision, not as the check at the end. Attempt questions on a chapter before you read it, then read to find the answers, then close the book and recall the key points. In Roediger and Karpicke's 2006 study, students who tested themselves remembered more a week later than students who reread, even though rereading made them feel more confident.
2. Check every answer against the Manuals
Right or wrong, look up why. The Blackstone's Police Manuals are the syllabus, so the Manual is the answer key, not the question bank and not how your force does it on the street. Log every mistake with its cause: did not know it, half knew it, misread the question, fell for a distractor, or ran out of time.
3. Space your reviews
Bring each topic back after a gap: roughly the next day, the next week and again two to three weeks later. If you get it right easily, stretch the gap; if you get it wrong, shorten it. Spaced practice is one of the two techniques Dunlosky and colleagues (2013) rated high utility, alongside practice testing.
4. Mix topics, then sit full timed papers
The real paper does not tell you which chapter a question comes from, so once a topic is learned, practise it in mixed sets. Then sit at least two full 150-question papers in 3 hours, the last one four to seven days before the exam, to rehearse pacing and concentration over the full sitting.
A fair caveat: the learning research behind these techniques was done with students and lab material, not police officers and the Blackstone's Manuals. The principles are among the most replicated in the field, but no study has tested them on the NPPF exam itself. The research, with references, is set out in our sergeant exam revision plan.
What The Exam Actually Tests
The sergeants' exam is step two of the National Police Promotion Framework: the legal knowledge examination. The same step two exam format is used for inspectors, with a higher pass mark. Here is what the College's 2027 candidate handbook says about it.
| Where it sits | Step two of the four-step National Police Promotion Framework (NPPF): the legal knowledge examination |
|---|---|
| Format | 150 multiple-choice questions in one 3-hour exam, sat online |
| Scored on | 140: the 10 questions that performed least well are removed after the sitting, and you are not told which |
| Pass mark | 55% (77 of 140). Exceptional: 75% or more (105 of 140). Low band fail: below 30% |
| Syllabus | Only contained within the Blackstone's Police Manuals for your sitting: 2026 edition for October 2026, 2027 edition for 2027 sittings |
| Subject areas | Crime; Evidence and procedure; General police duties |
| Rank-specific content | Crime Manual chapter 1.8 (Weapons) is examined for sergeants only. The handbook says some other rank-specific areas differ, as indicated in the Manuals |
| What it tests | The handbook says the exam is not aimed at testing pure factual recall: expect to apply the law to short scenarios |
| Question balance | Set by a blueprint from a nationwide survey of operational sergeants and inspectors; any part of the syllabus can be examined |
| Where you sit it | Online, starting between 8am and 8pm on your exam date; no national requirement to use a test centre |
The real weighting: March 2026
After each sitting the College publishes a subject area breakdown listing every scored question by area, topic and subject. For the March 2026 sergeants' paper we counted the rows: 60 Crime, 31 Evidence and procedure and 49 General police duties, making 140.
| Area | Scored | Share | What it covers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Crime | 60 | 43% | Offences, their points to prove and defences, from mens rea and actus reus to theft, assaults, sexual offences, drugs and weapons |
| Evidence and procedure | 31 | 22% | PACE Code C detention, interviews, release and bail, identification, exclusion of evidence, disclosure, court and witnesses |
| General police duties | 49 | 35% | Police powers, entry search and seizure, public order, hatred and harassment, road policing, domestic abuse and more |
| Total scored | 140 | 100% | Plus 10 removed after the sitting (Crime 6, Evidence and procedure 3, General police duties 1 in March 2026) |
Use it to split time, not to skip chapters
The College says the breakdown is only valid for the March 2026 exam and should not be used to try to work out what will be tested in future. The handbook adds that you may be asked about any part of the syllabus. A rough split of new-learning time of about 45% Crime, 20% Evidence and procedure and 35% General police duties, adjusted for your own weak areas, is a sensible starting point.
The topic-by-topic picture, including how the inspectors' paper differed, is in what comes up in the sergeants and inspectors exam. For the exam as a whole, read the NPPF step 2 legal knowledge exam explained.
The Numbers You Are Working To
150 questions in 3 hours is 72 seconds a question, and that includes the reading. The March 2026 paper ran to roughly 24,606 words, so a large share of your time goes on reading the scenario and the options before you start thinking. That is why timed practice matters as much as knowledge.
| Correct answers needed to pass | 77 of 140 |
|---|---|
| Wrong or blank answers you can afford | 63 of 140 |
| Correct answers for an exceptional grade | 105 of 140 |
| Average time per question | 72 seconds |
| Approximate length of the March 2026 paper | 24,606 words for the full 150 questions (College subject area breakdown), about 164 words a question |
- Treat every question as if it counts. You do not know which 10 will be removed.
- Answer every question. The handbook describes no deduction for wrong answers, so a blank can only cost you.
- Use the flag. The online platform lets you flag a question and come back to it. Put down your best answer first, then flag and move on if you are stuck. If you have scheduled breaks as a reasonable adjustment, you cannot return to flagged questions from an earlier section.
- Comfort breaks do not stop the clock. The College's candidate guide says you get no extra time for them.
A Plan Outline, Not A Cram
The College does not publish a recommended number of study hours, and we found no data linking hours to passing. Our planning figures are about 85 hours over 12 weeks, 70 over 8 or 50 over 4. More weeks beats more hours a week, because spacing only works if there is time between reviews. Whatever the length, a good plan moves through the same four phases.
Base · Weeks 1 to 8 of 12; 1 to 6 of 8
Crime, then Evidence and procedure, then General police duties, chapter by chapter, with short question sets on each chapter from day one
Mixed and timed · From around week 8 of 12
Mixed sets across all three Manuals at exam pace; first full 150-question timed sitting
Repair · Weeks 9 to 11 of 12
Work through each sitting by area and by mistake type; reread only the sections behind your errors
Taper · Final week
Last full sitting four to seven days out, then short mixed sets, your error log, the familiarisation exercise and sleep
Throughout, keep a daily floor of around 15 mixed questions so the spacing survives a bad week of shifts, and plan new learning and full sittings for rest days rather than after nights. A 12-week plan for the March 2027 sitting starts around 21 December 2026.
What To Revise From
- The Blackstone's Police Manuals. The handbook says the syllabus is only contained within them and that they are the only official resource the College endorses. Use the edition for your sitting; see which Blackstone's edition.
- The College's free practice questions. The handbook points candidates to practice questions in the Candidate Online Examination Guidance group on the Knowledge Hub, which needs a login.
- A question bank, used properly. The Blackstone's Q&As and other banks, ours included, are not affiliated with or endorsed by the College. Their value is in testing you and showing your gaps, not in predicting the paper. Compare the options in revision resources compared, are the Blackstone's Q&A and mock worth it and free sergeant and inspector exam resources.
- A starting score. Our free mini mock is 20 timed original questions weighted like the March 2026 paper. It is a quick read on where you are, not a prediction.
The Pass Mark And Results
The sergeants' pass mark is 55%, which is 77 of 140. It is published in advance, and the College's results reports state that an absolute cut score of 55% was applied to all candidates. It is not a quota and not a curve: everyone who reaches it passes. The one qualification is that the NPPF debrief panel reserves the right to alter the pass mark in exceptional circumstances if it sees a significant deviation in the success rate. Here is how the March 2026 sitting came out.
| Candidates | 3,215 |
|---|---|
| Passed | 1,882 (58.5%) |
| Exceptional (75% or more) | 387 (12%) |
| Pass | 1,495 (46.5%) |
| Fail | 1,288 (40.1%) |
| Low band fail (below 30%) | 45 (1.4%) |
- Results are expected within three weeks of the exam. Your feedback report gives your grade and total percentage, broken down by subject area, which is the starting point for a resit plan if you need one.
- A pass is valid for five years less one day from the date you sat.
- Resits: there is no national limit, but forces may set their own. Resitting while you hold a valid pass forfeits the remaining validity, whatever the result.
- Pass rates vary a lot by force. In March 2026 the Metropolitan Police passed 40.8% of its 1,148 candidates. Force tables are in the sergeant exam explained.
More detail: the pass mark explained and results, validity and resits.
Common Mistakes
The College does not publish why candidates fail, so these are not statistics. They are the patterns that follow from how the exam works and from the learning research, and each one has a fix.
Reading for weeks before testing yourself
Rereading makes the text feel familiar, which is easy to mistake for knowing it. You can feel prepared for weeks and only discover in your first mock that you cannot recall what you read. Start questions in week one.
Revising from the wrong edition, or from force practice
The exam tests the law as it appears in the Manuals for your sitting. Old notes, an older edition or how your force does things locally can all cost marks where they differ from the Manual.
Leaving General police duties or Evidence and procedure to the end
General police duties carried 49 scored questions in March 2026, more than Evidence and procedure's 31, and it is broad, with many short chapters. Both need regular, spaced time, not a rush in the final fortnight.
Only practising untimed
72 seconds a question includes the reading. Knowledge you can produce slowly at your desk does not automatically come out at exam pace. Time your mixed sets and do full sittings.
Trusting a practice score too much
Scores on questions you have seen before, or on ten questions from the chapter you just read, flatter you. Judge yourself on first attempts at fresh, mixed, timed questions, and watch the trend over weeks.
Not reviewing the answers you got right
A right answer reached by a guess is a future wrong answer. Check the reasoning on every question, not only the ones you missed.
Writing a second Manual as notes
Summarising is rated low utility in the research and eats hours. Keep two short lists instead: numbers and authorities (time limits, ages, ranks, who authorises what), and your error log.
Missing the admin
Registration is through your force on the College's AIMS system, and forces often set an internal deadline earlier than the College's. Reasonable adjustment requests go to your force by the registration closing date.
Skipping the familiarisation exercise
The College emails a link about a week before the exam. It can be opened only once and is available until 7pm on your exam day. It shows you the platform, the flag button and the countdown clock before it matters.
For a longer look at this, read why good officers fail the sergeant exam.
Registration And Exam Day In Brief
- You register through your force on the College's assessment information management system (AIMS); your force checks your eligibility. Ask your force exams officer early, because internal deadlines are often earlier than the College's. See the registration checklist.
- You sit online, starting any time between 8am and 8pm on your exam date. There is no national requirement for a test centre or supervision, so you are responsible for a quiet, suitable room and a reliable connection.
- Do the familiarisation exercise: the link arrives about a week before and can be opened only once.
- Using AI tools such as ChatGPT during the exam is strictly prohibited, and copying, photographing or sharing questions is a breach of the rules.
The full rules, breaks and what to do if the technology fails are in NPPF online exam rules and exam day. Dates for every 2027 sitting are in NPPF exam dates 2027.
After You Pass
Passing the exam does not promote you. It completes step two of four. Step three is assessment against rank-specific competencies and matching to vacancies, which your force runs, often through an application and a promotion board. Step four is temporary promotion and a work-based assessment. Your five-year validity gives you time to get through step three, so it is worth preparing your evidence while you revise. See how to get promoted to sergeant.
Put This Into Practice
A free 6-question sample, hundreds of checked questions with a full 150-question timed sitting, spaced review of what you got wrong and, on AI Pro, an AI tutor and board assessor. Scored against the real 55% pass mark. Original practice questions, not real exam content, and not a substitute for the Manuals.
Start The Free Sample →Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best way to pass the sergeants exam?
Test yourself from the first week instead of reading the Blackstone's Police Manuals first and testing later, check every answer against the Manuals, bring each topic back after a gap (spaced review), mix topics together once you have learned them, and sit at least two full 150-question papers in 3 hours before the exam. The learning research rates practice testing and spaced practice as the most useful study techniques, and rereading and highlighting as low utility.
What is the pass mark for the sergeants exam?
55%, which is 77 correct answers out of the 140 scored questions (College of Policing candidate handbook, 2027 version, updated 10 September 2026). 75% or more is graded exceptional. The College's results reports say an absolute cut score of 55% was applied to all candidates. The NPPF debrief panel can alter the pass mark in exceptional circumstances if it sees a significant deviation in the success rate.
How many questions are in the sergeants exam and how long is it?
150 multiple-choice questions in a single 3-hour exam, sat online. After the sitting the College removes the 10 questions that performed least well, so you are scored on 140. You are not told which 10 were removed. That works out at 72 seconds a question on average.
How long should I revise for the sergeants exam?
The College does not publish a recommended number of hours. Our sergeant exam revision plan gives 12, 8 and 4 week timetables, as planning figures of roughly 85, 70 and 50 hours. Twelve weeks is the safer choice if you have not studied the Manuals before, because spreading revision out over a longer period helps you remember it on the day.
Which subject area carries the most marks?
In the March 2026 sergeants' paper, the College's subject area breakdown lists 60 Crime, 31 Evidence and procedure and 49 General police duties questions out of 140 scored. The handbook says the balance follows a blueprint built from a nationwide survey of operational sergeants and inspectors, but you can be asked about any part of the syllabus, and the College warns that one sitting's breakdown should not be used to predict the next.
Which Blackstone's edition do I need?
The edition for your sitting. The October 2026 sergeants' exam uses the 2026 Blackstone's Police Manuals. The 2027 candidate handbook says the 2027 sittings examine the law as it appears in the 2027 edition, and later changes in the law are only included in exceptional circumstances.
Are the Blackstone's Q&A books official?
No. The College says it only endorses the Blackstone's Police Manuals and that other products, including the Blackstone's Q&As, are not affiliated with the College of Policing. They can still be useful practice, as can other question banks, including ours, but none of them is official or uses real exam questions.
What practice score do I need before I sit?
No practice score predicts your result: question banks differ in difficulty, and scores rise when you repeat questions you have already seen. Track your first-attempt score on fresh, mixed, timed questions over several weeks. As a cautious personal rule, not College guidance, we would want a margin of around 10 percentage points over 55% on fresh timed questions.
Are wrong answers penalised?
The handbook expresses the pass mark as a number of correct answers (77 out of 140) and does not describe any deduction for wrong answers. On that wording a blank and a wrong answer score the same, so answer every question. The handbook does not say this in terms, so treat it as our reading.
How many times can I sit the sergeants exam?
There is no national limit on resits, although forces may set their own local limit. There are two sergeants' sittings a year, usually in March and October. If you resit while you still hold a valid pass, the handbook says any remaining validity is forfeited from the time you sit, whatever the result.
When do results come out and how long does a pass last?
The handbook says results are expected within three weeks of the exam; for March 2027 the target date is Thursday 8 April 2027. Your feedback report gives your grade and total percentage, broken down by subject area. A pass is valid for five years less one day from the date you sat the exam.
Does passing the exam make me a sergeant?
No. The exam is step two of the four-step National Police Promotion Framework. Step three is assessment against rank-specific competencies and matching to vacancies, which your force runs, and step four is temporary promotion and a work-based assessment.
Do I have to sit the exam at a test centre?
No. The handbook says there is no national requirement to sit at a testing centre or under supervision. You sit online, starting at a time you choose between 8am and 8pm on your exam date, and you must start before 8pm. Some forces provide a room, but they do not have to.
Results day: what to do next
Leave your email and we will email you ourselves around results day with what to do next, whether you passed or not: the resit plan and dates if you need them, the next steps if you passed. Also exam dates and rule changes as they happen. No automatic emails.
Sources
- College of Policing: NPPF step two legal examinations candidate handbook (2027 version, updated 10 September 2026): four NPPF steps, format, 140 scored questions, pass and exceptional marks, debrief panel, syllabus and chapter 1.8, survey blueprint, not pure factual recall, AIMS registration, no test-centre requirement, resits, validity, results and feedback, AI ban.
- College of Policing: NPPF step two exam hub: 2026 and 2027 exam and registration dates, links to results PDFs.
- Results and analysis overview, sergeants, March 2026 (PDF): candidates, passes, bands, absolute 55% cut score, force table.
- Subject area breakdown, sergeants, March 2026 (PDF): 60, 31 and 49 scored questions by area (our count of rows), questions removed, word count, the College's warning on future papers.
- College of Policing: online examinations candidate guide (updated 5 August 2026): flagging, familiarisation exercise, comfort breaks, 8am to 8pm.
- Roediger and Karpicke (2006), Psychological Science 17(3); Dunlosky and others (2013), Psychological Science in the Public Interest 14(1). Full references in the revision plan.
PolicePay is independent and is not endorsed by the College of Policing or Oxford University Press. Checked on 4 October 2026.