Police Sergeant Exam 2027: Free Practice Questions and Mock Exams

What the police sergeant exam is

The police sergeant exam is the legal knowledge exam at step two of the National Police Promotion Framework (NPPF). The College of Policing runs it for constables in England and Wales who want promotion to sergeant. Your force confirms you are eligible at step one. You then register for a sitting and sit the exam online. Passing it lets you apply for a sergeant post at step three, which is a selection process run by your force.

The exam tests how well you know and can apply the law that a sergeant uses every day. The syllabus is the Blackstone's Police Manuals 2027: Crime, Evidence and Procedure, and General Police Duties, which includes road policing. Only the 2027 editions count for 2027 sittings, because the law changes every year. Our guide to the 2027 manuals explains what each volume covers.

Key fact: of the 150 sergeants' exam questions, 140 count towards your score. You need 77 of those 140 to pass, and 105 or more (75%) is an exceptional pass.

Police sergeant exam dates for 2027

The College of Policing has set two sergeants' sittings for 2027:

1. 16–18 March 2027. Registration opens on 18 January and closes at 6pm on 18 February 2027.
2. 5–7 October 2027. Registration runs from 3 August to 9 September 2027.

The inspectors' exam follows on 11–13 May 2027 (registration 15 March to 15 April) and 2–4 November 2027 (registration 6 September to 4 October). Dates can move, so check them on the College of Policing website before you book leave or plan your revision. Registration is through your force, so tell your line manager and your force's promotion team early: some forces set their own internal deadline before the College's window closes. Our sergeants' exam guide covers eligibility, results and resits.

How to practise for the police sergeant exam here

Reading the manuals is not enough on its own. The exam asks you to apply the law to short scenarios, often with names in capitals, and many questions turn on one word: "intentionally" or "recklessly", a rank, a time limit. You learn to spot those words by answering questions and reading why each wrong option is wrong. A simple order that works:

1. Take the free 20-question diagnostic. It samples the whole syllabus in 24 minutes and shows your weakest areas.
2. Drill your weak topics. Every topic has a free quiz, for example detention and treatment or theft and related offences. Read the matching chapter of your manual, then quiz again.
3. Sit the free full-length mock under real conditions: 150 questions, 3 hours, no notes. Your results show a score for crime, evidence and procedure and general police duties.
4. Repeat until you are ready. We suggest three different mocks at 65% or more, which is the 55% pass mark plus a margin.

Our sergeants' mock exam guide explains how to sit and score a mock, and the revision plan sets out 14 weeks of work around shifts.

How our questions are written

Every question is original. We do not copy or paraphrase the Blackstone's manuals, the Blackstone's Q&A books or College of Policing practice papers. Each question is written from the primary law: the Acts on legislation.gov.uk and the PACE Codes of Practice on gov.uk. The explanation names the Act and section or the Code paragraph, with a link, so you can check the point yourself.

We write to the law in force for the 2027 manuals, and we check figures such as penalties and time limits against the revised text of each Act, including the "changes to legislation" notes that flag amendments not yet in force. Recent changes include non-fatal strangulation and suffocation (section 75A of the Serious Crime Act 2015), the Public Order Act 2023 offences and the Online Safety Act 2023 communications offences. Where we are not sure that a new provision is in force, we leave the question out. A wrong law question does more harm than a missing one. If you think an answer is wrong, email us and we will check it against the legislation.

The inspectors' exam and the NIE

The inspectors' exam uses the same three manuals and the same 150-question format, but the questions are harder and the pass mark is 65%. Sergeants revising for it can use the inspectors' practice route, where every mock is scored against 65%.

The National Investigators' Exam is for trainee detective constables, detective degree holder entry candidates and PIP2 investigators. Our NIE practice uses 80-question, 2-hour mocks built from the crime, evidence and procedure and investigation topics in the Investigators' Manual.

Free and Pro

The diagnostic, the quick practice, the topic quizzes on free questions, mock 1 for each exam, the printable question sheets and every law guide are free. You don't need an account to start. Pro opens every other mock, every question on every topic and every explanation, for all three exams, from £12.99 a month. You can cancel any time.

This is an independent revision site. It is not affiliated with the College of Policing, the Home Office or Oxford University Press, and nothing here is legal advice. Check every point against your 2027 manual.