Assistant Principal 2026
Assistant Principal aptitude test practice, in the Irish format
The AP competition closed on 18 June 2026 and the stage 1 online tests are provisionally July 2026. Practise the senior-judgement SJT, data interpretation and business-policy verbal in the Irish publicjobs style, mapped to the 2024 AP capability framework.
At a glance
What stage 1 involves
The online assessment, as candidates sat it
Stage 1 is three separate online tests - verbal reasoning, numerical reasoning and a situational judgement test. Candidates in the November 2024 sitting took each test on its own, in any order, inside a deadline window - on different days if they wanted. There is no logical reasoning test and no checking test at this stage: those belong to clerical-grade assessments, whatever the prep sites are still selling.
Candidates from that sitting also report the tests ran on the SOVA platform, that the verbal and numerical tests adapted to their answers, and that the sitting was remote proctored with ID and room checks. publicjobs publishes none of this officially, so every count and timer in our practice stays labelled indicative: the numerical ran to about 15 minutes for roughly 15 questions, the verbal to about 15 TRUE / FALSE / CANNOT SAY statements, and the SJT somewhat more items. We practise the tests as sat - we do not imitate the adaptive engine or the proctoring.
The AP capability framework
Eight capabilities, four groupings
The 2024 Civil Service Capability Framework at Assistant Principal level. Every AP scenario we write is tagged to one of these.
Building Future Readiness
Digital Focus, Innovation & Upskilling for the Future
Building Future Readiness
Strategy, Change & Reform
Evidence Informed Delivery
Delivering Excellence
Evidence Informed Delivery
Analysis, Judgement & Decision Making
Leading and Empowering
Leading, Motivating & Developing
Leading and Empowering
Leading with Specialist Insight
Communicating and Collaborating
Communicating & Influencing
Communicating and Collaborating
Engaging & Collaborating
AP is not EO with a bigger clock
What makes the AP assessment different
Senior-judgement ranked SJT
The scenarios sit at Assistant Principal level: cross-departmental exposure, ministerial sensitivity and staff you lead rather than sit alongside. You still rank the responses most to least effective, but the judgement being tested is a senior one.
Management-report data interpretation
The numerical is data-interpretation heavy: tables and charts at the complexity of a management report, where reading the source correctly matters as much as the arithmetic.
Business and policy verbal
The verbal passages are written in a business and policy register, the kind of material an AP works with daily. You still judge each statement True, False or Cannot Say against the clock.
Built to the AP framework
Everything is mapped to the 2024 AP capabilities, weighted toward Analysis and Judgement, Leading and Motivating, and Communicating and Influencing, so your practice reflects the AP spine.
The 2026 cycle
One sitting, on this timeline
- 1
Applications closed 18 June 2026
The open and interdepartmental competitions ran side by side.
- 2
Stage 1 online tests, provisionally July 2026
Three separate online tests every applicant sits - remote proctored in the 2024 sitting.
- 3
Interview and practical exercise, provisionally mid-September 2026
Shortlisting on the application form, then the later stages.
One sitting per cycle. The best time to practise is before the assessment invite lands, not after.
Try it before you pay
One AP scenario, one policy passage, one data question - free with an account
No card to start. Create a free account and run the AP samples end to end, scored and explained, so you can see the format for yourself.
One plan, every grade
One plan covers EO and AP
There is no separate AP subscription. Every plan gives you every grade, so if you are working up from EO to AP, one plan carries you the whole way.
Guides to help you succeed
Read more before you sit the AP assessment
Civil service grades explained
What CO, EO, AO, HEO, AP and PO mean, and how to pick the grade to target.
Read the guide →The 2024 Capability Framework explained
A grade-by-grade guide to the framework and how publicjobs uses it to assess candidates.
Read the guide →Mapping your answers to the framework
How to align your SJT and interview answers to the 2024 Capability Framework competencies, with examples.
Read the guide →All capability guides
Every capability guide, each with a full high-scored versus low-scored example answer.
Read the guide →