GCT2 Sample Questions with Answers (2026) and the Other PSC Tests

If you have been invited to the General Competency Test: Level 2 (GCT2), check which version you are preparing for. The Public Service Commission of Canada (PSC) now gives the General Competency Test: Level 2 Abridged (GCT-2A-324): 50 multiple-choice questions in 120 minutes, of three types. The PSC's page calls the 90-item GCT-2-314 "the previous version". This guide sets out the current GCT2 from the PSC's own page, works through two example questions, and lists the PSC's current occupational tests and the status of the Unsupervised Internet Test 208 (UIT-208) and the Public Service Entrance Exam (PSEE). ProSyllabus is an independent study site, not part of the Public Service Commission of Canada or the Government of Canada. Every rule here is quoted or summarised from the Public Service Commission pages on canada.ca listed at the foot of the page.

PSC page for the General Competency Test: Level 2 Abridged (GCT-2A-324), read 23 Oct 2026.

The PSC says the GCT-2A-324 "assesses your ability to use reasoning skills to solve problems at the level required for officer-level positions." Its stated use is as an alternative to a university education requirement: "If you pass this test, you can use your score to meet the university education requirement in some selection processes." The pass mark for that purpose is 31 out of 50.

Two older results still count for the same purpose. The PSC says: "If you received a 58 or above on the previous version of the GCT-2 with 90 items (GCT-2-314), that result is still valid. If you passed the GIT-310, you can use that result as an alternative to a university education requirement too."

The PSC page does not say how many questions of each type the test has. 120 minutes for 50 questions is an average of 2 minutes 24 seconds a question (our arithmetic). Our advice: keep some of that time for the analytical reasoning sets, because each starts with a passage to read.

The PSC's instruction is: "Find the rule used to produce each series, then select the answer (number or letter) that would logically complete the series." In our practice questions a series may use steady gaps, gaps that grow, alternating steps, two series woven together, or a number and a letter that each follow their own rule (the PSC's second sample question pairs numbers with letters). For letters, it helps to write the alphabet positions (A = 1, B = 2 ... Z = 26) on your rough paper.

The PSC says these questions "require you to use basic arithmetic skills. You can use a calculator and rough paper to arrive at your answers." Our practice problems use percentages, ratios, rates, averages and budgets in a workplace setting. With a calculator allowed, the work is reading the problem correctly: decide what the question asks for before you calculate.

In this section, the PSC says, "you read a short passage and then answer a set of related questions." The PSC's own sample is a passage of rules for ordering a book's chapters, followed by a question about how many orders are possible. In our practice questions the passages set out an order, a schedule or a group to be chosen, and the questions ask what must be true, what could be true or how many arrangements are possible, sometimes after adding a condition. A quick sketch of the slots or groups on rough paper is usually faster than holding the rules in your head.

The PSC's own page has four sample questions with answers, one or two of each type: try them on canada.ca. The PSC also has a GCT2 sample test on the Candidate Assessment Tool, so you can see the screen and the format before the day.

The PSC's Candidate Assessment Tool page describes the screen. A column on the left lists every question with its status: not viewed, viewed, unanswered, answered, and marked for review. You can move with Next and Previous, skip a question, change any answer "at any time before the test time expires", and mark a question for review. Five points from that page are worth knowing before the day:

Because there is no penalty for guessing and the system will not remind you about skipped questions before you submit, our advice is to answer every question, marking the ones you guessed so you can come back if time allows.

The PSC's list of currently available tests has four occupational tests: the GCT1 and GCT2, and the two Tests of Judgement. The same list also has competency-based assessments and second language evaluations (reading, writing and oral), which are not covered here.

The two Tests of Judgement are a different kind of test from the GCT2. They present work situations and ask how effective each possible response is, on a six-point scale from "Very ineffective" to "Very effective". The PSC says no specialized training, knowledge or experience is required. Results on both are valid for an indefinite period unless a hiring process specifically requires a new test result, and can be reused when applying to jobs across the federal public service; a TOJ 376 result cannot replace a TOJ 377 result.

Here is the status the PSC's own pages show for older tests you may still see named.

So if a job posting or an old guide mentions UIT-208 or the PSEE, our advice is to read your invitation and, if it is unclear, ask the hiring contact which test you will take. Of the tests on the PSC's current list, the ones for officer-level positions are the GCT2 (GCT-2A-324) and the two Tests of Judgement (TOJ 376 and TOJ 377).

For the GCT2 the PSC is direct: "There is a 180-day waiting period before you can retake the test, regardless of the format (in-person on the Candidate Assessment Tool or paper). If you retake the test during the waiting period, your result will not be valid, and a new retest period will be set from the most recent test date."

A pass you already hold matters too. The PSC's FAQ on previous results says a manager may ask all candidates to be retested, but "the manager cannot request that you be retested in the case of tests used as alternatives to formal education or if the prescribed retest period is not over". If you need an official copy of an earlier result, the PSC has a form for it: "Confirmation of previous Public Service Commission of Canada test results". On test day, the GCT2 page also says: if you feel unwell, tell the test administrator; "otherwise, if you complete the test, you must accept the test result and the retest restrictions."

The rows are from the PSC's GCT2 page and its Candidate Assessment Tool page.