Police Briefing Exercise 2026: Questions and How It Is Marked

Section 1

What the briefing exercise is

It sits alongside the competency-based interview and the written exercise, and like them it is taken online on the Tazio platform after the sift. It is the only one of the three where the situation keeps moving while you answer, which is why many applicants find it the hardest to picture before the day.

For how the three exercises fit together, see the police online assessment guide. For the interview, with twenty example stems, see the police competency based interview guide.

Section 2

The format, step by step

1. 1

   Preparation material

   About 10 minutes to read it. This stage is untimed and is not assessed.

2. 2

   Part one

   Four questions, each read on video. Up to 60 seconds to think, then 180 seconds to answer.

3. 3

   Part two

   New information, then four more questions on the same timings.

4. 4

   Part three

   More new information and the last four questions, 12 in all.

The three parts take about 50 minutes, and the whole exercise about 60, because the reading comes first. Use that reading time properly: it is untimed and not assessed, so read everything before you start part one.

A video reads each question to you, and every answer is spoken. Listen for exactly what each question asks, because the thinking time that follows is short.

Section 3

The four areas it marks

The assessors mark your answers against four areas of the Competency and Values Framework at Level 1. They are not looking for a single correct answer, and the College says no policing knowledge is needed. In plain English:

For each area in more depth, with everyday examples, read CVF Level 1 explained.

Section 4

How the three parts escalate

Part one works from the preparation material. Parts two and three each bring new information before their four questions, so the situation you planned for moves on twice. The new information tends to bring one of these:

• Higher stakes. Something that looked routine now needs a faster or firmer response.
• A new person or agency. Someone else now needs to be involved or reassured.
• Changed facts. Part of the plan you made earlier no longer fits.

An invented illustration of the pattern, not the College’s scenario: residents complain about noise and litter at a park in part one; a video of an argument there starts circulating online in part two; a local councillor asks for a public meeting in part three.

The skill being tested is not predicting the change but adapting to it out loud. If your plan from part one no longer fits, say why and what you would do instead. Changing course for a good reason is how the fourth area, we are innovative and open-minded, shows up in this exercise.

Section 5

A routine for the thinking minute

You get up to 60 seconds before each answer, and a fixed routine stops that minute slipping away. Ask yourself these, in this order:

1. 1.What is the issue? The one the question is asking about, not everything in the material.
2. 2.Who is affected? The people in the material, and anyone the issue reaches beyond them.
3. 3.What would you do first, and why? Your first step and the reason for it.
4. 4.What risk are you managing? The risk to the people involved, and of the situation getting worse.
5. 5.How do people hear from you? Who you keep informed, and how you reassure them.

Then speak in that order. In 180 seconds you will not cover everything, so lead with what matters most and stop when you have answered the question.

Section 6

The kind of question it asks

These are stems of the kind the exercise asks, to practise with. They are not the live questions, and there are no model answers here: your answer has to come from the material in front of you on the day.

• “What are the main issues in what you have read?”
• “Who would you speak to first, and why?”
• “What would you do to reduce the risk to the people involved?”
• “How would you make sure the community feels listened to?”
• “Which other organisations could help, and how would you involve them?”
• “The picture has changed: what do you do now?”
• “How would you keep the people affected informed about what happens next?”
• “Looking back at your plan from part one, what would you change now, and why?”

The first few suit part one. The ones about change and what happens next come into their own once new information has arrived.

Section 7

Where applicants lose marks

• Inventing facts. Use only the information in the material. Details that are not there, however realistic, cost you time and pull the answer away from what you were given.
• Answering a different question. A strong point that answers something else earns little. Listen to exactly what the video asks, and answer that.
• No risk or reassurance. Saying what you would do without the risk you are managing, or how the people affected will hear from you, leaves out much of what the four areas describe.
• Running out of time. 180 seconds goes quickly. Lead with your first step and the reason for it, then add detail while the time allows.
• Sounding scripted. Nothing prepared in advance is allowed, and a rehearsed speech rarely fits a question built on new information. Practise the routine, not the words.

Section 8

How to prepare

Practise to the clock. Sit at least one full run: ten minutes of reading, then 12 questions with 60 seconds to think and 180 seconds to speak. Twelve spoken answers in about 50 minutes is a lot of talking, and the only way to know how it feels is to do it.

Use any short local scenario. A local news story or a council notice will do. Read it for ten minutes, answer the stems above out loud, then change one fact and answer again, as parts two and three will make you.

Record yourself and listen back. Check whether each answer named the issue, the people affected, your first step, the risk and how people hear from you.

Learn the four areas in plain English, so you notice when a question is reaching for one of them. The other two exercises mark different areas, and the online assessment guide covers all three.

Section 9

Questions applicants ask