Irish Civil Service Higher Executive Officer Test Preparation (2026)

Our Higher Executive Officer PrepPack is expertly designed to give you the depth, variety, and realism needed to excel in the verbal, numerical, and situational judgement assessments.

• 18 Verbal Reasoning Practice Tests: Including 7 Cut-e (AON) style and 11 SOVA-style tests, these will help you strengthen your ability to analyse written information, improving both accuracy and speed under pressure.
• 24 Numerical Reasoning Practice Tests: Featuring 8 Cut-e style and 16 SOVA-style tests, these drills will enhance your data interpretation and calculation skills, helping you manage detailed data efficiently within tight time limits.
• 16 Situational Judgement Practice Tests & Drills: Prepare for real-life workplace scenarios, refining your decision-making and judgement skills to align with Civil Service expectations.
• 7 Study Guides & 4 Video Tutorials: Access comprehensive study guides and expert video tutorials, covering verbal reasoning, numerical reasoning, and situational judgement, to provide you with strategies and techniques to approach every question confidently.

With targeted practice tests, detailed drills, and expert guidance, our PrepPack ensures you're fully prepared to succeed in the Higher Executive Officer competition.

For the 2026 competition, the published schedule looks like this:

The Irish Civil Service Higher Executive Officer Test is an online assessment used as part of the recruitment process for candidates applying for HEO-level roles.

The assessment evaluates core cognitive and job-related skills, and is designed to identify candidates who possess the necessary abilities to succeed in the HEO role.

It generally consists of three sections, including a verbal reasoning test, a numerical reasoning test, and a situational judgement test. Each section reflects the type of tasks and decisions a Higher Executive Officer would encounter in the workplace.

Let’s take a closer look at each section.

The Higher Executive Officer Test is often administered through platforms like Cut-e (AON) and SOVA, both of which are widely used in the recruitment process for Irish Civil Service roles. These platforms feature adaptive difficulty, meaning the difficulty of each question adjusts based on your answers.

• Correct responses lead to more challenging questions
• Incorrect responses make the next question easier

Our JobTestPrep Higher Executive Officer PrepPack provides targeted training for both Cut-e and SOVA, ensuring you're fully prepared for whichever platform may be used in your promotion competition.

Managed by the Public Appointments Service (PAS), the Irish Civil Service Higher Executive Officer selection process is multi-staged, with essential eligibility requirements set out in the Role Information Booklet for each competition.

Each stage of a publicjobs competition can draw from a range of selection methods, which may include:

• Application form and documentation review
• Assessment questionnaire
• Shortlisting
• Online and/or paper-based assessment
• One-way video interview
• Language tests (oral and/or written)
• Preliminary and/or final interview
• Practical or presentation exercise
• Any other tests or exercises deemed appropriate

But, publicjobs has the discretion to add, remove, or amend stages at any point.

For the HEO competition specifically, the selection process generally begins with an online assessment covering verbal reasoning, numerical ability, and situational judgement. Candidates who progress move on to further stages, which may include an interview and additional exercises such as a Presentation/Analysis exercise, an eTray assessment, or a work sample test.

The HEO interview can be an intimidating experience, but with the right preparation, you can approach it with confidence.

It's generally assessed against the Civil Service Capability Framework for Higher Executive Officers, shown below. This sets out the skills expected at this grade across four dimensions: Building Future Readiness, Evidence Informed Delivery, Leading & Empowering, and Communicating & Collaborating. Candidates are expected to draw on real examples that demonstrate these capabilities.

Here are some key tips to help you prep for your interview:

• It’s crucial to have a strong understanding of the role and the skills it requires.
• Reflect on your strengths and past experiences, and be ready to demonstrate how they align with the demands of the job.
• Present yourself with confidence, and practise your responses with friends or colleagues to feel more prepared and at ease.

Our AI-Driven Interview PrepPack, available as an additional add-on as part of the HEO PrepPack, can help you practise your interview skills so you'll feel more prepared to tackle this part of the recruitment process. Since the interview stage doesn't land until roughly four months after applications close, pairing this add-on with 3-Month Premium access means you're still covered when that stage actually arrives.

Because the new HEO competition is open to external candidates, competition for places is likely to be more intense than in previous internal-only rounds. A wider applicant pool means selection at the shortlisting stage will be applied more rigorously, so strong performance on the verbal, numerical, and situational judgement tests now matters just to reach interview, not only to stand out once there.

Founded 1992, JobTestPrep has over thirty years of experience helping candidates navigate competitive recruitment processes, including thousands preparing for the Irish Civil Service and competitions like the Higher Executive Officer. Our preparation materials are developed by experts and regularly updated to reflect the latest test formats, helping candidates approach every stage with greater confidence. With over 220 preparation courses and more than one million candidates supported worldwide, we offer professionally designed PrepPacks alongside advanced AI-powered tools. Together, these resources help candidates across the UK, Ireland, and beyond strengthen their applications, improve their performance, and achieve outstanding results.