NPPF Online Exam Rules
and Exam Day
The sergeants' and inspectors' legal exam is sat online, unsupervised, wherever you choose, in a 12-hour window from 8am to 8pm. That freedom comes with strict rules and very few second chances. This guide sets out what the College of Policing's candidate handbook, online candidate guide and technical support page actually say about breaks, equipment, what you can have in the room, AI, sharing questions and reporting problems, with a pacing plan for 150 questions in 180 minutes and a checklist for the night before.
Independent information, not advice · Sources checked 4 October 2026 · England and Wales unless stated
You can take a comfort break, but the 3-hour clock keeps running: there is no pause button unless you have agreed scheduled breaks as a reasonable adjustment. You sit alone, on a laptop, desktop or tablet (not a phone), in Chrome, Edge or Safari, starting any time from 8am and before 8pm. AI tools, copying or screenshotting questions, getting help and discussing questions afterwards are all rule breaches. Problems must be reported within three days: for the October 2026 sergeants' exam (6 to 8 October), by Sunday 11 October 2026 at 8pm.
Exam day at a glance
Everything on this page comes from three College of Policing documents, all read on 4 October 2026: the NPPF step two candidate handbook (the 2026 edition for the 2026 sittings and the 2027 edition, shown as updated on 10 September 2026), the online examinations candidate guide (updated 5 August 2026) and the technical support page for exam day. Where they are silent, we say so. For the exam itself (format, syllabus and pass rates), see sergeant exam explained and inspector exam explained.
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Format | 150 multiple-choice questions in one 3-hour sitting; 10 are removed after marking review, so you are scored on 140 |
| Where | Anywhere suitable: home, work or a force location. No testing centre or supervision is required |
| When | Start any time from 8am and before 8pm on your exam day. College support runs 8am to 8pm |
| October 2026 sitting | Sergeants: Tuesday 6 to Thursday 8 October 2026 |
| Platform | Civica Assess in a browser (not AIMS, which is only for registration and results) |
| Timer starts | When you open the first question, not when you log in |
| Breaks | Allowed, but the clock keeps running unless you have agreed scheduled breaks as an adjustment |
| Devices | Laptop, desktop or tablet in landscape. Not a mobile phone |
| Browsers | Chrome 100+, Edge 100+ or Safari 15+. Not private or incognito mode |
| Identity | Your own username and password and a declaration. No webcam or ID check is described |
| Banned | AI tools, copying or screenshotting questions, searching question text, help from anyone, other people in the room, notes on questions outside the workings tool, pausing the clock |
| Reporting deadline | Three days. October 2026 sergeants: Sunday 11 October 2026 by 8pm |
| Results | October 2026 sergeants: by Thursday 29 October 2026 |
- The window for this sitting is 6 to 8 October 2026 (under way as at 6 October); after 8 October this box is for reference. Your dates and deadlines are in the 2026 candidate handbook, and the syllabus is the 2026 Blackstone's Police Manuals.
- You should already have your login email. If it has not arrived 24 hours before your exam date, contact your force exams contact straight away.
- Do the familiarisation exercise before exam day if you have not. You can open it only once, so do it on the device, browser and connection you will use.
- Change your password on first login and write the new one down somewhere safe. Three wrong attempts lock the account.
- Start early in the day if you can. Support runs 8am to 8pm and the exam takes 3 hours.
- Report any problem by Sunday 11 October 2026 at 8pm, and sooner if you sat on Tuesday: the handbook also says within three days of sitting.
- Results are expected by Thursday 29 October 2026. Do not discuss the questions with anyone in the meantime.
Which rulebook applies to your sitting
The handbook page on the College's website now shows the 2027 version, marked as updated on 10 September 2026, a month before the October 2026 sergeants' exam. The 2027 handbook says it contains the rules for 2027 and supersedes all earlier handbooks. Its dates, deadlines and syllabus are all for 2027 sittings, so in our reading the October and November 2026 sittings are still covered by the 2026 handbook, available as a PDF dated September 2025. The College does not say this in terms, so if in doubt ask your force examinations officer. The online candidate guide, updated in August 2026, also still refers to the 2026 Manuals. The rules on exam day are almost identical. The differences we found:
| 2026 handbook (Oct and Nov 2026 sittings) | 2027 handbook (2027 sittings) | |
|---|---|---|
| Which sittings | March, May, October and November 2026 | March, May, October and November 2027 |
| Syllabus edition | Blackstone's Police Manuals 2026 | Blackstone's Police Manuals 2027 |
| Comfort breaks | Allowed, clock keeps running | Same |
| AI | Use of AI applications strictly prohibited during the exam | Same, and names ChatGPT as an example |
| Devices | Not listed separately in the unfair advantage examples | Adds using any unauthorised device that can record, transmit, receive, display or access information |
| Copying methods named | Copying and pasting, photos, search software | Adds smart glasses and other recording technology |
| Reporting an exit | An exceptional reason to close the browser must be reported within three days | Covers stopping or exiting the exam before completing it, within three days |
| Unscheduled incident deadline (October sergeants) | Sunday 11 October 2026 by 8pm | Sunday 10 October 2027 by 8pm |
The 2027 additions spell out things that were already breaches in substance: smart glasses are a way of copying questions, and a second device used to look things up is help you are not allowed. Treat the 2027 wording as the safe standard whichever year you sit. For the syllabus side of the switch, see which Blackstone's edition for your exam.
The 12-hour window and how the 3 hours work
Each sitting runs over three days, Tuesday to Thursday, between 8am and 8pm each day. The handbook says there is flexibility to sit on any day in the exam period and that the College gives forces more information on this; the candidate guide talks about your "specified exam date". Check with your force examinations officer which day or days you are allocated. There are no alternative dates or times outside the published window, and if you do not sit within it you are marked absent (forces are charged for absent candidates and may set their own penalties).
How the time actually runs
- Log in with the URL, username and password from your exam email. The exam opens in a new window.
- Read and agree to the candidate declaration and privacy notice. No exam time is used.
- Check your exam and any adjustments on the list of assigned exams. Extra time shows in the time allowance; the "i" icon next to Time Allowed shows any scheduled breaks.
- Set the display scheme (standard, high contrast or high visibility) from the toggle at the top right before you go in. You cannot change it once you are in the exam.
- Click Start Test. The countdown starts when the first question opens and runs for 3 hours. It must not be paused.
- Finish by clicking Finish Assessment and confirming, or let the clock run out: answers given up to then are submitted automatically.
Starting late in the day
The candidate guide says you must start before 8pm, and that because support only runs from 8am to 8pm it recommends finishing before 8pm in case you hit a problem. Start at 5pm and you finish at 8pm with no margin; start at 7pm and two of your three hours are outside support hours. We could not find anything saying the platform cuts off an exam started shortly before 8pm, but there is no reason to test it. A start between about 9am and 2pm leaves the most room to sort out a login or connection problem with the College still answering emails.
The College spreads the sitting so it can support a large number of candidates. The side effect is that thousands of officers are sitting the same paper at different times. That is the reason the rules on sharing questions are so strict, covered below in copying and sharing.
Breaks: does the clock stop?
No. Both the 2026 and 2027 handbooks say the exam must be completed in one sitting. You may take a comfort break, but it is not a valid reason to pause the timer, and it must be taken while the clock continues to count down. The candidate guide says the same: you can take a comfort break but you will not get any extra time for it.
- Do not try to pause, restart or stop the timer. Attempts are logged, recorded as unusual activity, reviewed after the exam and can be referred to the reports and disqualification panel. The handbook says it could mean your result is removed.
- Do not close the browser to take a break. A browser closure is logged and reviewed. If it happens you must give a reason before you can carry on, and you can send evidence to the College within three days.
- Leave the exam open and walk away. That is all a comfort break is. The clock keeps running.
- Scheduled breaks are only for agreed adjustments. If you have a reasonable adjustment or accommodation that includes breaks, the exam is split into sections with breaks between them. You cannot go back to an earlier section once you have finished it, so answer everything in a section before moving on.
| Break | Questions' worth of time | Our view |
|---|---|---|
| 2 minutes | About 2 questions | Fine if it resets you |
| 5 minutes | About 4 questions | Plan it at a natural point, such as the end of a section |
| 10 minutes | About 8 questions | Only if you really need it; it comes straight out of your review time |
| 15 minutes | About 12 to 13 questions | Speak to your force exams contact before the exam about an adjustment if you will need this |
If you know you will need to leave the desk, for example because of a medical condition, pregnancy or pain that makes sitting for 3 hours hard, that is exactly what scheduled breaks as an adjustment or accommodation are for. For the October 2026 sitting it is too late to apply; for a future sitting, see adjustments.
Equipment and technical checks
You supply the device, the room and the connection, and the College will not accept appeals about any of them. These are the published requirements from the candidate guide and the technical support page.
| Item | Requirement | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Device | Laptop, desktop or tablet. Mobile phones are not supported | A larger screen means less scrolling; small tablets are discouraged |
| Orientation | Landscape, not portrait | Matters for tablets |
| Operating system | Windows 10+, macOS Big Sur+, iPadOS 15+, Android 12+ | macOS Catalina is named as not supported |
| Browser | Chrome 100+, Edge 100+, Safari 15+ | Update to the latest version; no private or incognito windows |
| Screen resolution | At least 1280 x 720 | Too low means scrolling to find the next button |
| Connection | At least 2 Mbps; ethernet preferred | Test a few days before at the time of day you will sit |
| Cache | Must not be cleared automatically or restricted | Your answers live in the cache if the connection drops |
| Updates | Install software updates before the exam | If an update starts mid-exam, contact the College immediately |
| Force device | Allowed if it meets the specification | Goes through the force VPN, which may limit bandwidth, block content or restrict the cache; check with force IT |
The system check
The login page has a "Check system requirements" link in the bottom right-hand corner, and the College also publishes a system check webpage. You can run it as many times as you like. If the check fails, or cannot confirm one of the specifications, the College says not to use that device. If you have no other device, contact the College before you start so it can monitor your progress and check all your answers arrive.
Why the cache matters so much
The platform saves your answer after each question. If your connection drops, it carries on offline and keeps your answers in your browser's cache until the connection returns. That safety net disappears if your browser is in private or incognito mode, if it clears the cache automatically, or if security software deletes temporary files while the exam is open. Some force-managed laptops have exactly those restrictions. If you lose connection with a cleared cache, the College says your answers cannot be recovered.
Force device or personal device?
A force device is allowed if it meets the specification, but it will run through the force VPN. The College warns that force bandwidth can be limited even if your home broadband is fast, that the exam URL must be approved by force IT, that pop-ups, secure files or images may be blocked, and that some syllabus words may trip network content filters. It cannot help with force network issues. If you have a suitable personal laptop, it removes most of these risks. If you have neither, ask your force exams contact whether the force can lend one; forces do not have to.
The platform, logging in and the familiarisation exercise
The exam runs on Civica Assess, a different system from AIMS, where you registered and where your results will appear. About a week before the exam you get an email with the URL, a unique username and a temporary password, and a link to the familiarisation exercise; a reminder follows a few days before.
- Copy and paste your username from the email. The candidate guide warns that if you enter the wrong username your results will not be assigned to you.
- You will be asked to change your password on first login, usually when you open the familiarisation exercise. The same new password gets you into the exam. Forget it and you need the College to reset it, on its busiest day.
- If you sat a Civica exam with the College in the last 18 months, your password stays as you set it then. If you cannot remember it, get it reset before exam day.
- Three failed login attempts lock the account (technical support page).
- Allow the assessment player update if a message asks on first login, and make sure pop-ups are allowed.
- Never share your login or use anyone else's. Sitting the exam for someone else is listed as an unfair advantage.
The familiarisation exercise
It shows you the real interface: the navigation panel, flags, strikethrough, workings and the submission and confirmation screens. You can open it only once. The candidate guide says it is available until 7pm on your exam day; the 2026 handbook says until 7pm on the last day of the exam period. Either way, do it days before, not on the morning. The College asks every candidate to complete it, even if you have sat an online exam before, because the platform changes. Do it on the same device, browser and connection you will use for the exam, and check that you get the confirmation screen at the end; if you do not, contact the College before exam day.
Adjustments are not automatically added to the familiarisation exercise. If you want to see how your extra time or breaks will look, ask your force exams contact early whether that can be arranged.
Identity checks, supervision and the declaration
People expect remote proctoring: webcams, ID held up to the camera, a room scan. None of that is described in the handbook, the candidate guide or the technical support page. The candidate guide says plainly that you will not be supervised, and that as a police officer taking a professional exam you are expected to act with integrity under the Code of Ethics.
What the College relies on instead:
- Your unique login. The username and password are yours alone.
- The declaration. Before you can open the exam, you must agree that you will abide by all the rules and that you are fit and suitably prepared. If you decline, you cannot sit.
- System logging. The guide says attempts to cheat are easy to identify because of the way the system records activity. Browser closures and attempts to pause the clock are logged.
- Post-exam analysis. On collusion, the guide says detailed reports of performance will be analysed.
- Consequences. Referral to the reports and disqualification panel, your professional standards unit and, under the handbook, a letter to your chief officer.
Agreeing to the declaration confirms that you are fit to sit. The handbook lists sickness before or during the exam as something it will not accept as an unscheduled incident, and says it is your choice whether to agree and sit. If you are unwell, the decision point is the declaration screen, not afterwards.
What you may and may not have in the room
Neither handbook has a single list of permitted items, so this table pulls together what the handbook and candidate guide say, and marks where they are silent.
| Item or action | Position | Where it comes from |
|---|---|---|
| Other people in the room | Not allowed | Candidate guide: no-one else present, unless it is an organised force delivery |
| Help from anyone, before or during | Not allowed | Handbook: accepting or giving assistance is an unfair advantage |
| AI tools of any kind | Not allowed | Handbook: strictly prohibited; treated as help from another person |
| Searching the web with question text | Not allowed | Handbook: using software to search, or adding a question to search functionality, is a breach |
| Screenshots, photos, smart glasses, recording | Not allowed | Handbook: copying any part of a question in any form is a breach |
| Handwritten or typed notes about questions | Not allowed | Candidate guide: use the built-in workings tool only |
| Devices that can record, transmit, receive, display or access information | Not to be used | 2027 handbook wording. Neither handbook says a phone must be out of the room; see below |
| Blackstone's Manuals or other printed reference | Strongly discouraged | Candidate guide: not reported or classed as cheating, but expected not to be used and unlikely to help |
| Earplugs or noise-cancelling headphones | Allowed | Candidate guide, as a choice open to all candidates |
| Larger monitor, touch screen, alternative input | Allowed | Candidate guide, where suitable; test it on the familiarisation exercise |
| Text to speech, screen overlays, colour software | Allowed | Candidate guide; you must provide and test them |
| Water, food, medication | Handbook silent | Nothing in either handbook or the guide prohibits them |
| Paper with the College's email address | Recommended | Candidate guide: note the College email address before you start |
Your phone
Neither handbook says a phone must leave the room. The 2027 handbook treats using any unauthorised device that can record, transmit, receive, display or access information as an attempt to gain an unfair advantage, the copying rules ban photos, and the technical support page tells you to turn on do not disturb. Our suggestion: switch it off, put it out of reach, and only use it if your exam device has failed and you need to email the College about the fault. If you do that, say so in the email. The guide does not cover this situation, so keep the use to reporting the problem and nothing else.
The Manuals on the shelf
The candidate guide is unusually frank. It says the College expects you to sit as you would in an invigilated room, without reference materials; that the number of questions and the time make looking things up likely to be ineffective or counterproductive; and that, because of that, looking at reference material such as the Manual will not be reported to professional standards or classed as cheating, though you are strongly discouraged from doing it. Three points to take from this:
- It does not extend to anything electronic. Searching online, typing question text into anything, AI tools and a second device are all breaches.
- At 72 seconds a question, there is no time. The questions are application questions: knowing where the offence is in Volume 1 does not tell you whether the facts in front of you meet it.
- Put the books in another room. It removes the temptation to burn five minutes on one question you would have got right on instinct.
Setting up the room
The candidate guide's own advice: a room where you will not be interrupted, ideally with a door you can close; good light; a stable chair and desk with the screen at eye level; the device plugged in; ethernet if possible; others in the house asked to stop streaming and gaming; all other apps, tabs and notifications closed; and the College email address noted before you start. If you sit at a force location, the force's arrangements apply and any problem with that environment is for the force, not the College.
The AI ban
Both handbooks prohibit artificial intelligence during the exam, and the 2027 handbook names ChatGPT as an example. The rules work at three levels:
- Using or trying to use an AI application during the exam is treated as trying to get assistance from another person, which is one of the listed forms of unfair advantage.
- Adding a question, or any part of one, to an AI application or search tool is a listed rule breach, separate from cheating, because it copies College content out of the platform.
- The consequence under the candidate guide is referral to the reports and disqualification panel and your force's professional standards unit, removal of the result and a potential ban from future exams.
"Trying to" matters. The handbook does not require that the AI tool gave you a right answer, or any answer. Opening one during your exam is enough to be in breach. In our reading, built-in assistants count too: a browser sidebar assistant or an operating system AI feature that reads the screen is still an AI application. Turn them off before you start. (Neither handbook deals specifically with AI used for revision before the exam, although the 2027 handbook's sentence banning AI tools is not limited in terms to exam time; if you use it, check it against the Manuals.)
What happens if the rules are broken
Suspected breaches go to the NPPF reports and disqualification panel: a chief moderator nominated by the National Police Chiefs' Council, a College workforce representative, the head of the College's occupational psychology unit and a member of its legal services team. The panel can:
- fail you;
- disqualify you from the current attempt and bar further attempts for two years or more;
- refer you to your chief officer and your professional standards department.
Separately, a marker can nullify a result if your behaviour reduces the reliability of your score. The handbook also says candidates who act against the Code of Ethics may be removed from the promotion process by their force. Any misconduct outcome that followed would bring its own consequences for promotion; see promotion and misconduct.
You can appeal the panel's decision to the chair of the NPPF governance board, but only on two grounds: reasonable grounds to believe the panel did not follow its rules, or fresh evidence that was not available at the time. Disagreeing with the decision is not enough. The appeal must be countersigned by your line manager or above and received within 21 days of the letter telling you the decision. The chair can vary or confirm the decision but cannot turn a fail into a pass.
If something goes wrong on the day
The first rule in the candidate guide is to contact the College at the time. The handbook lists not contacting the College in the first instance as one of the reasons it will reject a later report.
| Problem | What to do | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|
| Exam will not load (no question opened yet) | Close all tabs, clear the cache and history, reopen the browser and reload | Only before you open any question. Never clear the cache once the assessment has started |
| Forgotten new password | Contact the College to reset it | Expect a delay on a busy exam day. Three wrong attempts lock the account |
| No login email 24 hours before your exam date | Contact your force exams contact | Login details come about a week before, with a reminder a few days before |
| Adjustment missing or wrong on the start screen | Contact the College or your force exams contact before you start | Adjustments cannot usually be changed once the exam has begun, and appeals are not accepted if you start without checking |
| Connection drops mid-exam | Keep going: the exam continues offline and resyncs | Works only if the cache is not restricted or cleared |
| Connection never returns before you finish | Download the encrypted answer file; do not rename or open it; email it to nppf.enquiries@college.police.uk with your candidate number, exam date and what happened | If you do not send the file, the College cannot recover your answers |
| Screen freezes | The technical support page suggests closing and reopening the browser | A browser closure is logged; you will be asked for a reason, and can send evidence within three days |
| Software update starts during the exam | Contact the College immediately for advice | Prevent it by updating beforehand |
| No confirmation screen after submitting | Contact the College immediately | There is no confirmation email |
| Pressed Finish by mistake | You are asked to confirm; choose return | Once confirmed, there is no second chance and no time back |
Emailing the College during the exam
On exam day the address for NPPF candidates is nppf.enquiries@college.police.uk. The technical support page asks you to include:
- your candidate number or exam username (or your full name, date of birth and force if you do not know it);
- a full description of the issue, without screenshots of any questions;
- the device and browser you are using;
- whether it is a force or personal device.
Expect a delay, send one email per issue, and try the fixes yourself first. The College says it also monitors connections and will email you if it detects a loss of connection or a submission problem.
The candidate guide says a browser closure is logged and treated as a breach to be reviewed, and the 2026 handbook says an exceptional reason for closing it must be reported within three days. The technical support page says that if the screen freezes you can try closing and reopening the browser. Both are true: a genuine technical reason is reviewed, and the panel looks at why it happened. If you have to close the browser, type an accurate reason when asked, email the College at the time, and send any evidence within three days.
Reporting deadlines after the exam
Every route for raising a problem with the exam itself closes three days after the exam (only an appeal against a disqualification panel decision runs longer). Late reports are not considered under any circumstances.
| What | How | Deadline |
|---|---|---|
| Unscheduled incident report | Written report or email to NPPF.enquiries@college.police.uk, copying in your force examinations officer, with evidence | Received no later than three days after you sat. October 2026 sergeants: Sunday 11 October 2026 by 8pm |
| Query about a question's accuracy or fairness | Through your force exams contact; describe the question, never copy it | Within three days of the exam |
| Evidence about closing the browser | To the College for review (the 2026 handbook says via your force contact officer) | Within three days of the exam date |
| Appeal against a disqualification panel decision | Email to the chair of the NPPF governance board, countersigned by your line manager or above | Received within 21 days of the letter telling you of the decision |
The handbook gives one date for the whole sitting, Sunday 11 October 2026 at 8pm, and also says your report must be received no later than three days after you sat. If you sat on Tuesday 6 October, the safe course is to send it by Friday 9 October. For later sittings: November 2026 inspectors, Sunday 8 November 2026 by 8pm; March 2027 sergeants, Sunday 21 March 2027 by 8pm.
What an unscheduled incident is, and what it is not
The handbook defines it as an unforeseen disruption, outside your control, that could have had a direct and substantial impact on your result. It then lists what will not be accepted:
| Not accepted | What you can do instead (before the exam) |
|---|---|
| The testing environment you chose | Plan the room; a force-provided room is a matter for the force |
| Local connection problems | Ethernet, test at the same time of day, ask the household to stop streaming |
| Device or local setup problems | Run the system check and the familiarisation exercise on the same device |
| Lack of preparation or a heavy workload | None after the event |
| Illness or injury before or during, including a family member's | Decide before you agree to the declaration |
| Issues you knew about when you started | Fix them, or decide not to start |
| Not following guidance or not contacting the College at the time | Email the College as soon as an issue occurs |
| How a reasonable adjustment was applied, if you signed the agreement | Check the agreement form and the start screen before you begin |
What a successful report can achieve
- Special consideration: only in very exceptional circumstances, where the marking and debrief panels agree. The allowance is 1% of the total raw marks, applied to everyone affected by the same issue, not just those who reported it. The handbook says this may in some cases make the difference between a pass and a fail.
- No conversion of a fail: apart from that allowance, the panels cannot change a fail into a pass or add marks, and there is no remarking once results are out.
- An extra attempt: the reports and disqualification panel can recommend that your force disregards the attempt, which matters if your force limits resits.
- Passed anyway: reports from candidates who pass are not considered further.
Reasonable adjustments and accommodations
Reasonable adjustments are for disabled candidates and those with physical or mental health conditions, including neurodivergence such as dyslexia. Accommodations cover conditions outside the Equality Act definition, such as short-term ones. Pregnant officers and officers on maternity or paternity leave can also ask for accommodations.
- How to ask: through your force exams contact, or directly to the College at nppf.enquiries@college.police.uk if you would rather not go through the force. You do not need your line manager's endorsement.
- When: the handbook deadline is the registration closing date. Your force may set an earlier one. Late requests may still be considered, but there may not be time to arrange support.
- Every sitting: you must make a new request for each exam or resit, even if you had the same support before.
- Examples: extra time, several short breaks, one longer break, or a reader where appropriate.
- The agreement form: your adjustment is applied only if you sign and return it in time. Read how breaks and extra time will work before signing; you cannot appeal afterwards because you did not understand how it was applied.
- On the day: check the time allowance and the "i" icon for breaks before you start. If it is wrong, contact the College before you begin.
Some things need no request at all. The candidate guide says every candidate can choose the room and start time, use a larger monitor or alternative input, noise-cancelling headphones, text to speech, screen overlays and colour software, and the platform's high-contrast or high-visibility display. Test anything you plan to use on the familiarisation exercise. Full details are in the NPPF registration checklist.
Feeling unwell before or during the exam
- Already off sick or on limited duties: you need a certificate from your force medical examiner (or equivalent) confirming you are fit to sit, even at home, submitted at registration. Without it you are not permitted to sit.
- Ill on the morning: it is your decision whether to sit. The College cannot offer another date. Not sitting means being marked absent, so tell your force examinations officer the reason.
- Ill during the exam: it is your decision whether to carry on. Illness, yours or a family member's, is not accepted as an unscheduled incident.
- If you stop early for an exceptional reason: the 2027 handbook says to report it to the College via your force contact within three days.
If the exam is coming at a hard time, a bad sitting does not have to be the end of it: there is no national limit on resits, though forces can set one. See results, validity and resits.
The night before and the morning of
The handbook's own message is that most exam-day failures are preventable and none of them can be appealed. This is the order we would do things in. The technical items come from the College's guidance; the timing and revision points are our suggestions.
The evening before
- Find the exam email. Copy the URL and username somewhere you can reach without searching your inbox tomorrow.
- Log in to the platform (not the exam) to confirm your new password works. Do not start the exam.
- Run the system check on the exact device and browser.
- Install any pending operating system and browser updates now, restart, and pause automatic updates for tomorrow.
- Check the browser is not set to clear data on close, and that you are not using a private window.
- Allow pop-ups for the exam site. Switch off browser and system AI assistants and notification pop-ups.
- Test the connection at roughly the time you plan to sit tomorrow. Find the ethernet cable.
- Decide your start time and tell the household. Ask for no streaming or gaming during it.
- Set up the room: charger, water, lighting, chair, books in another room, phone charger elsewhere.
- Write the College email address (nppf.enquiries@college.police.uk) on a piece of paper.
- Light revision only. Read through your own summary of weak areas and stop. A new topic tonight is unlikely to survive the stress of tomorrow.
The morning of
- Eat, and leave time to settle. Do not cram right up to the start.
- Restart the device, plug it in, connect the cable, close every other app and tab.
- Phone on do not disturb, then off and out of reach.
- Log in, read the declaration properly and agree only if you are fit to sit.
- Check your exam and any adjustment. Set the display scheme.
- Look at the navigation panel once the paper opens, note how many questions are in each section, and start.
Time management: pacing 150 questions in 180 minutes
The arithmetic is simple: 180 minutes for 150 questions is 72 seconds per question. You do not know which 10 will be removed, so every one of the 150 has to be treated as if it counts. The countdown at the top of the screen shows time remaining, so the table is written that way round.
| Time remaining | Even pace (72 sec each) | First pass with 30-minute review (60 sec each) | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3:00:00 (start) | Question 1 | Question 1 | Check the section sizes in the left-hand panel first |
| 2:30:00 | Question 25 | Question 30 | |
| 2:00:00 | Question 50 | Question 60 | About a third of the way through on an even pace |
| 1:30:00 | Question 75 | Question 90 | Halfway on time |
| 1:00:00 | Question 100 | Question 120 | |
| 0:30:00 | Question 125 | Question 150 | First pass done; start the flagged list |
| 0:05:00 | Question 146 | Review | Make sure every question has an answer |
| 0:00:00 | Question 150 | Review complete | Unsubmitted answers are submitted automatically |
We prefer the second plan for most candidates: a first pass at about a minute a question, answering and flagging as you go, then 30 minutes for the flagged list. It builds in a buffer for a comfort break, a slow section or a technical blip. If you are consistently behind the even-pace column, you need to flag faster, not read faster.
Budgeting by section
The questions are grouped by subject, and the navigation panel shows the sections. The College publishes which subjects came up but not how the full 150 are split, so the budget below is scaled from the 140 scored questions in the March 2026 sergeants' paper. Your paper may differ, which is why it is worth counting the sections in the panel at the start.
| Area | Scored questions, March 2026 | First pass at 60 sec | Even pace at 72 sec |
|---|---|---|---|
| Crime | 60 (43%) | about 64 minutes | about 77 minutes |
| Evidence and procedure | 31 (22%) | about 33 minutes | about 40 minutes |
| General police duties | 49 (35%) | about 53 minutes | about 63 minutes |
| Total | 140 scored | 150 minutes + 30 review | 180 minutes |
The May 2026 inspectors' paper leaned more towards general police duties (52 crime, 29 evidence and procedure and 55 general police duties among the 136 rows the College's breakdown lists, rather than 140, so treat these as approximate). For what these splits mean for revision, see what comes up in the exam.
Flag and return, step by step
- Read the last line first. Know what you are being asked (is an offence committed, is a power available, which is correct) before you read the facts.
- Strike out what you can rule out using the strikethrough tool.
- Always pick an answer before you flag. If time runs out, only answered questions count. The handbook scores correct answers and we found no penalty for wrong ones.
- Set a limit. If you have not narrowed it down after about 90 seconds, choose your best answer, flag it and move on.
- Use workings for a one-line reason ("think s.24 condition missing") so your return visit is quick. Never copy the question.
- On the review pass, change an answer only for a reason, such as a fact you misread or a rule you now remember. The guide warns to take care not to change answers by accident when moving around.
- With five minutes left, check the panel for any empty circles and answer them.
Breaks split the paper into sections and you cannot go back to an earlier section after a break. Flag and return still works, but only inside each section. Clear your flags before you move on.
The surest way to make this pacing automatic is to have done it before, against a clock, at full length. The College's own free practice set is small by design. If you want a timed run-through, our free mini mock is short and free, and our exam prep toolkit includes a timed 150-question sitting weighted like the real paper. Both are ours and are original practice material, not real exam questions; neither is endorsed by the College. Blackstone's Q&As Online offers quarter, half and full-length mock exams, and Oxford University Press publishes a printed Sergeants' and Inspectors' Mock Examination Paper (2026 edition), both checked on the publishers' pages on 4 October 2026. Neither page describes a built-in exam timer, so time yourself.
Using the platform's tools
The final page shows how many questions are answered, unanswered and flagged. "Return to Assessment" takes you back; "Finish Assessment" ends it, after a confirmation. You should then see a confirmation screen. There is no confirmation email.
If you panic
It happens to well-prepared people, usually after a run of hard questions early on. Some facts that help:
- The pass mark leaves room for a lot of wrong answers. The sergeants' pass mark is 77 of 140 (55%), so you can get 63 scored questions wrong and still pass. For inspectors it is 91 of 140 (65%), leaving 49. The debrief panel can alter the pass mark in exceptional circumstances, so treat this as a guide, not a guarantee.
- Ten questions do not count. The marking panel removes the 10 that performed least well against its quality criteria. You will not know which they are, but the question that threw you may be one of them.
- Difficulty is spread through the paper. A hard run tells you nothing about the next ten.
- Everyone finds it hard. In March 2026, 58.5% of sergeant candidates passed; in May 2026, 37.0% of inspector candidates did. Feeling stretched is normal, not a sign you are failing.
A two-minute reset
- Answer the question in front of you with your best guess and flag it. Do not leave it blank.
- Take your hands off the keyboard. Breathe out slowly, longer than you breathe in, a few times.
- Look at the clock and your pacing checkpoint. You are almost certainly less behind than it feels.
- If you need to, take a short comfort break. Leave the exam open; the clock runs, and two minutes costs about two questions.
- Come back to an easier section if one is available. A few quick answers rebuild momentum.
If anxiety is something you know affects you in exams, breaks as an accommodation exist for exactly that, and the College's examples include anxiety. For support outside the exam, see the police mental health support directory.
Worked scenarios
Illustrative examples, not real cases, showing how the rules apply.
Common myths about the online exam
Pre-exam checklist
Work through this in the days before. Each item comes from the College's guidance unless marked as our suggestion.
A week to a few days before
- Login email received with URL, username and temporary password (chase your force exams contact if not, at least 24 hours before)
- Confirmed with your force examinations officer which day(s) you may sit
- System check passed on the device and browser you will use
- Operating system and browser on supported versions and updated
- Familiarisation exercise completed, password changed and recorded, confirmation screen seen
- Connection tested (2 Mbps minimum) at the time of day you will sit; ethernet cable ready
- Force device only: exam URL approved, pop-ups and content not blocked, cache not restricted (check with force IT)
- Any adjustment agreement form signed and returned
- Any assistive software, overlay or extra monitor tested on the familiarisation exercise
The day before
- Login tested (platform only, do not start the exam)
- Automatic updates paused (our suggestion), browser set not to clear data, no private window
- Browser and system AI assistants and notifications off (our suggestion)
- Room chosen, household briefed, start time decided (our suggestion: well before 5pm)
- College email address written down: nppf.enquiries@college.police.uk
Before clicking Start Test
- Device plugged in and on the cable; every other app and tab closed
- Phone off and out of reach; books out of the room (our suggestion)
- No-one else in the room
- Declaration read; you are fit to sit
- Correct exam shown; adjustment and breaks checked
- Display scheme set
- Pacing checkpoints in your head: 2:30 left, question 30; 1:30 left, question 90; 0:30 left, first pass done
After you submit
- Check the confirmation screen. If it does not appear, contact the College straight away.
- Write down anything that went wrong while it is fresh, with times, and send it within three days if it is an unscheduled incident. For a question you think was wrong, describe it in your own words to your force exams contact within three days.
- Say nothing about the content. Not to colleagues, family, group chats or forums, during the sitting or after it.
- Results: by Thursday 29 October 2026 for the October 2026 sergeants' exam, through a link to AIMS. You will need your date of birth, national insurance number and email address. Keep your feedback report: it is your proof of result, there is no certificate and the College cannot reissue it.
- A pass is valid for five years (less one day): for this sitting, the final stage of step three must be done by 7 October 2031.
What comes next is step three, the force process and board; see common promotion board mistakes. If it does not go your way, read results, validity and resits and, for a fresh start, the sergeant exam revision plan. The next sergeants' sitting is 16 to 18 March 2027 on the 2027 Manuals, with registration from 18 January to 18 February 2027 (see NPPF exam dates 2027).
What we could not verify
- The latest web text of the 2026 handbook. The College's web page for the handbook now shows the 2027 version, so we read the 2026 PDF dated September 2025. We could not see whether the web text of the 2026 handbook was changed after that PDF, so we cannot rule out small differences.
- Exams started shortly before 8pm. The guidance says you must start before 8pm. We found nothing saying whether an exam started at, say, 7.30pm runs for the full 3 hours or closes at a set time.
- Which day you may sit. The handbook says there is flexibility to sit on any day of the exam period and that forces get more information; how forces allocate days is not published.
- Negative marking. The handbook expresses the pass mark as correct answers out of 140 and we found no mention of a penalty for wrong answers, but neither document says in terms that there is none.
- Phones in the room, food and drink. Neither handbook nor the candidate guide says a phone must be removed, or mentions food and drink. Our advice on phones is a suggestion.
- Emailing the College from a phone during the exam. The guidance tells you to note the email address but does not say which device to use if your exam device has failed.
- Familiarisation exercise closing time. The candidate guide says 7pm on your exam day; the 2026 handbook says 7pm on the last day of the exam period.
- How the full 150 questions split by subject. The College publishes the scored questions only. Our section budget is scaled from the 140 scored sergeants' questions in March 2026 and is approximate.
- The Knowledge Hub materials. The College's own exam tips, environment video and break guidance sit behind a login; we did not review them for this page.
- How cheating is detected. The College says activity is recorded and performance analysed, but does not publish the methods. We have not speculated.
If anything here conflicts with an instruction from the College or your force examinations officer for your sitting, follow their instruction.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can you take a break in the sergeants exam?
Yes, you can take a comfort break, but the clock keeps running. The candidate handbook says a comfort break is not a valid reason to pause the timer and must be taken while the exam clock continues to count down. The only exception is a reasonable adjustment or accommodation that gives you scheduled breaks, agreed before the exam. Do not close the browser or try to pause the timer: both are logged and reviewed.
Can I sit the sergeants exam at home?
Yes. There is no national requirement to sit at a testing centre or under supervision, and the College's candidate guide says you can choose where to sit, for example at home or at a force location. You are responsible for the room, the device and the connection, and the College will not accept appeals about an unsuitable testing environment or local connection problems.
What time can I start the NPPF exam?
Any time between 8am and 8pm on your exam day; the candidate guide says you must start before 8pm. College support runs from 8am to 8pm on exam days, so the guide recommends finishing before 8pm. The exam lasts 3 hours, so if you want support available for the whole sitting, start by about 5pm, and earlier still to leave a margin.
When does the exam timer start?
When you open the first question. You log in, read and agree to the candidate declaration and check any adjustments first, and none of that uses exam time. Once you click Start Test, the timer runs for 3 hours and must not be paused.
Can I use ChatGPT or other AI tools in the NPPF exam?
No. The handbook says the use of artificial intelligence tools is strictly prohibited, that using or trying to use an AI application during the exam is treated as getting help from another person, and that pasting any part of a question into an AI application or search tool is a rule breach. Breaches go to the reports and disqualification panel and your professional standards unit.
Can I have Blackstone's Manuals open during the exam?
The College expects you to sit as if you were in an invigilated room, without reference materials. Its candidate guide says that looking at reference material such as the Manual will not be reported to professional standards or classed as cheating, because it is unlikely to help, but candidates are strongly discouraged from doing it. Searching online, copying question text or using AI is a different matter and is a breach.
Can I write notes on paper during the exam?
Not about the questions. The candidate guide says the built-in workings tool is the only place to make notes on questions, and that handwritten notes or notes in other software are prohibited. Workings notes are deleted automatically when you submit.
Is there a webcam or ID check in the NPPF online exam?
The handbook and candidate guide describe no webcam, no photo ID check and no live invigilator. You are not supervised. Your identity is tied to your own unique username and password, you agree to a declaration before starting, and the system records activity such as browser closures and attempts to pause the clock.
What happens if my internet drops during the exam?
The platform saves after each question and carries on offline, storing answers in your browser cache, so you may not notice. If the connection does not return before you finish, the platform asks you to download an encrypted file of your answers, which you email unaltered to nppf.enquiries@college.police.uk. This only works if your device is not clearing its cache and you are not in private or incognito mode.
How long do I have to report a problem after the exam?
Three days. For the October 2026 sergeants' exam the 2026 handbook gives the deadline as Sunday 11 October 2026 by 8pm, sent to NPPF.enquiries@college.police.uk copying in your force examinations officer. Queries about a question's accuracy, and evidence about why you closed the browser, are also due within three days.
Can I appeal because of a bad connection or noisy house?
No. The handbook lists things the College will not accept as unscheduled incidents, including the testing environment you provided, local connection problems, device or setup issues, lack of preparation, sickness (yours or a family member's) and issues you knew about when you started. No panel can simply change a fail into a pass. The most an accepted report can bring is special consideration: an allowance of 1% of the total raw marks, in very exceptional circumstances, which the handbook says may in some cases make the difference between a pass and a fail.
What if I click finish by mistake?
The platform asks you to confirm whether you want to finish or return. If you confirm, the College cannot give you a second chance or time back. If time simply runs out, everything you have answered is submitted automatically and you get a confirmation screen.
Can I talk about the exam questions afterwards?
No, not even topic areas. The handbook lists discussing questions or topic areas with anyone, including on social media, as a rule breach. Because candidates sit at different times across a 12-hour window and three days, and the College reuses questions, sharing content can give others an unfair advantage. Suspected disclosure can mean your result is removed, a ban of two years or more and a referral to professional standards.
When do October 2026 sergeants' exam results come out?
The 2026 candidate handbook says results for the October sergeants' examination are expected by Thursday 29 October 2026. You receive an email with a link to your feedback report in AIMS, the registration platform, and need your date of birth, national insurance number and email address to open it.
Sources and how we checked them
Every factual claim on this page was written from the sources below, read on 4 October 2026. Rules and figures change, so check the source for the date you are reading this. Where we could not confirm something from an official or independent source, the page says so rather than guessing. Spotted something out of date? See our corrections policy.
- College of Policing: NPPF step two legal examinations candidate handbook 2026 (PDF, dated September 2025) — the rules for the March, May, October and November 2026 sittings: exam dates and 8am to 8pm window, familiarisation exercise, declaration, comfort breaks with the clock running, rule breaches, the 12-hour window, sickness, results by 29 October 2026, unscheduled incidents and the Sunday 11 October 2026 8pm deadline, special considerations, question queries, reasonable adjustments (accessed 4 October 2026)
- College of Policing: NPPF step two legal examinations candidate handbook (2027 version, updated 10 September 2026) — the current web handbook for 2027 sittings: 150 questions in 3 hours, 10 removed, pass marks, testing environment, declaration, AI ban, unfair advantage list (including devices and smart glasses), disclosure rules, unscheduled incidents, disqualification procedure and 21-day appeal. The College's main site blocked our reader, so we read the same page on the College's own production mirror (accessed 4 October 2026)
- College of Policing: Online examinations candidate guide (updated 5 August 2026) — exam times, Civica Assess, devices, cache, browsers, exam venue, no supervision, familiarisation exercise, display options, timer, navigation, flagging, strikethrough, workings, reference materials, notes, collusion, logging in, connection loss, submission, unscheduled incidents and question queries (accessed 4 October 2026)
- College of Policing: Technical support for exam day — supported operating systems and browsers, 1280 x 720 minimum resolution, 2 Mbps minimum connection, cache rules, force devices and VPNs, account lock after three failed logins, encrypted answer file, what to put in an email to the College (accessed 4 October 2026)
- College of Policing: Sergeants' and inspectors' NPPF step two legal exams (exam hub) — 2026 and 2027 exam and registration dates, links to the handbook, guides, policy and published results (accessed 4 October 2026)
- College of Policing: Reasonable adjustments and accommodations policy (first published 5 August 2026) — how to request support, and why a new request is needed for each assessment or resit. The old online exams adjustments address now redirects here (accessed 4 October 2026)
- College of Policing: Subject area breakdown, NPPF sergeants' step two legal exam, March 2026 (PDF) — 140 scored questions: crime 60, evidence and procedure 31, general police duties 49 (our count of the rows); used for the section time budget (accessed 4 October 2026)
- Knowledge Hub: Candidate online exam guidance group (login required) — the College's own practice questions, exam tips, exam environment and familiarisation videos, and guidance on how breaks work for adjustments. We did not access the group's contents for this page (accessed 4 October 2026)
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Disclaimer
PolicePay.co.uk is an independent guide. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by or produced by the College of Policing or Oxford University Press (Blackstone's). Exam rules, dates, syllabus editions and prices change, so check the College of Policing's current candidate handbook and exam pages before you register or buy. Practice material on this site is original and is not real exam content. Details apply to England and Wales unless stated. Details are as checked on 4 October 2026.