EPSO Assessment Centre — Case Study

What the case study is

The EPSO Assessment Centre case study gives you a written brief — typically 10 to 25 pages of mixed-format material: a memo from a senior official, statistical annexes, press clippings, stakeholder letters, draft policy options. You are asked to produce a written response within a fixed time window, usually a memo or note that analyses the situation, frames the options and recommends a course of action.

The exercise is the closest analogue in EPSO's selection model to the actual job of a junior administrator. Real EU policy work consists of digesting a thick dossier, identifying what matters, and producing a structured note for a decision-maker. The case study tests whether you can do that on a deadline.

The case study sits inside the broader Assessment Centre, which also includes oral exercises and a competency interview. See the umbrella EPSO competitions guide for context, and the AD5 page for the eligibility route most candidates take to reach this stage.

What is being measured

The case study scores you against four of the eight EU general competencies most directly:

• Analysis and problem-solving — do you identify the real issue, separate signal from noise, and frame credible options?
• Communicating — is your written response clear, structured, and pitched to a non-specialist senior reader?
• Delivering quality and results — is your note accurate, complete, and free of unsupported claims?
• Prioritising and organising — did you allocate your time well within the dossier and finish a coherent draft?

Two assessors mark each case study independently against an EPSO-published rubric; a moderator reconciles differences. They are looking for evidence of the competencies in your text — not a "right answer" to the policy question.

Structure of the exercise

1. Reading time (around 20–30 minutes).

   You receive the case dossier. Read once for orientation, twice for content. Mark each piece of evidence with the issue it speaks to.

2. Writing time (around 60–90 minutes).

   You draft a memo or note. The brief tells you who you are writing for (often a Director-General or Head of Unit) and what they need (typically: situation analysis, options, recommendation).

3. Submission.

   Computer-based. Word count limits are typically generous (1,000–1,500 words) but EPSO rewards concision over length.

Recent format changes (2024–2026)

The case study has remained part of the EPSO Assessment Centre throughout the 2024–2025 modernisation. Recent cycles have experimented with shorter dossiers paired with tighter writing windows, and with case studies that include short data-analysis sub-tasks. Format may evolve further; check the official EU Careers portal for the live notice and any guidance documents shared with invited candidates.

Common mistakes

1. Writing an essay, not a note. Senior readers want structured headings, short paragraphs, and a clear recommendation, not flowing prose.
2. Missing the recommendation. A balanced analysis without a clear recommendation fails the communicating competency. Pick one and defend it.
3. Citing outside knowledge. Anything you write must be supported by the dossier. Outside knowledge can frame, but cannot replace, evidence from the brief.
4. Reading too long. If you have 90 minutes total and spend 50 reading, you cannot finish a coherent draft. Cap reading time strictly.
5. Polishing the introduction. Spending 15 minutes on the opening paragraph leaves the recommendation under-evidenced. The marks are at the back.
6. Ignoring stakeholders. Memos, letters and press articles in the dossier are signals, not noise. Address them in your options analysis.
7. Treating the recommendation as obvious. If your draft says "obviously" or "clearly", delete those words and add the supporting evidence in their place.
8. Forgetting next steps. A senior official wants to know what to do next, not only what you think. End with three concrete actions and a timeline.

Preparation resources

Official

• EU Careers sample tests — sample assessment exercises and reference rubrics.
• Commission writing guides — institutional drafting style. Useful for tone and structure.
• Commission strategy documents — read three and observe how a Commission note is structured.

Public study material

The Civil Service Commissioning Handbook (UK) and OECD policy-brief templates are close in style to what EPSO expects. McKinsey Quarterly's structured-writing primers are a useful proxy for "options and recommendation" structure.

Related guides on this site

• EPSO competitions overview
• Assessment Centre oral exercises
• Situational judgement
• EPSO AD5 graduates competition

Test-day strategy

Three habits beat any other preparation tactic. First, time-box. If you have 90 minutes, force yourself to switch from reading to writing at the 30-minute mark, even if you feel under-read. A complete note built on partial reading scores better than a perfectly-read note that does not finish. Second, write to a fixed structure: situation, options, recommendation, next steps. The rubric rewards structure; structure also halves your decision load while writing. Third, leave five minutes at the end for a single edit pass — fixing the most egregious typos and confirming the recommendation is unambiguous in the opening of the recommendation section.

On the day, manage your physical state. Assessment Centres are tiring; the case study often comes after or before another exercise. A short walk between exercises, plenty of water, and a deliberate break from rehearsing competencies in your head all help. The candidates who do well are usually not the ones who arrive most "prepared" in a frantic sense, but the ones who arrive composed and rested. The EPSO panel notices the difference — composure shows up in your written prose as clean structure and clear recommendations; fatigue shows up as wandering analysis and missed sections.

Practice with a stopwatch and a real dossier. Pull a Commission communication of the right length and use it as a brief: assign yourself a question, set the timer, write the note. Have a friend score it against the EU general competencies. Two or three full-length practice runs at 90 minutes each are worth more than ten short outlining exercises.

One specific drill that pays off: rewrite a published Commission policy note into a one-page memo addressed to a fictional Director-General. The exercise forces you to compress, prioritise and pick a recommendation. Repeat with three different policy areas and you will have rehearsed almost every type of dossier EPSO can put in front of you. Keep the memos; reread your earliest one alongside your latest, and you will see the structure becoming sharper. That sharpening is exactly what the assessors are looking for.

Frequently asked questions