Independent practice for the Fast Stream Assessment Centre
Practise the whole Fast Stream assessment centre in one sitting
The official guide describes the Fast Stream Assessment Centre as a half-day online event with 3 exercises: the Written Exercise, the Oral Briefing Exercise and the Personal Development Conversation, each marked independently by a different assessor. This mock day runs all three on the official timings, with invented packs for the Written Exercise and the Oral Briefing Exercise, and ends with one report: a practice score from 1 to 4 for each exercise and out of 12 in all, on our own rubric; what held your score back, quoted from your own text or transcript where a quote fits; your weakest exercise; and the 2 things to fix first.
- 1. Written Exercise55 minutes to review a pack and complete 4 written tasks
- 2. Oral Briefing Exercise45 minutes to prepare, then a 25-minute meeting: a 10-minute briefing and 15 minutes of questions from a simulated director
- 3. Personal Development Conversationofficially 30 minutes, one to one; here a simulated practice conversation with follow-up questions
Try 4 minutes of the Written Exercise, free
Press start to see the brief: your 4 minutes cover reading and writing. Write the opening of your recommendation to the Minister (Task 1 of the pack), then get short written feedback that quotes your words where it can. No score, and what you write here is not kept. Up to 3 tasters a day on this device.
The mock day: all three exercises, one report, and all three simulators
- 3 mock days, each on different invented packs, on the official timings
- Written Exercise: 55 minutes, 4 tasks in an on-screen template, feedback on each task and 2 rewrites a run
- Oral Briefing: 45 minutes to prepare, a 10-minute briefing out loud, 15 minutes of questions, with one emerging issue in each of our runs
- Personal Development Conversation: a 30-minute simulated practice conversation with follow-up questions
- One report: a practice score out of 12 on our own rubric, what held your score back, quoted from your own words where a quote fits, your weakest exercise and what to do next
- A plan to your assessment-centre date, up to 120 days ahead
How the mock day works
- Open a mock day. Each one sets you a different Written Exercise pack and a different Oral Briefing pack, all invented.
- Take the three exercises. Each opens on its own simulator page with the official clock, and the run you start there joins your mock day by itself. You can take all three in one sitting, as a half day, or across a few sittings.
- Get one report. Each exercise is marked twice, separately and automatically (not by a person): once on the exercise's own practice rubric and once on the dimensions the official guide names for that exercise. Your practice score for the exercise is the average of the two; when they are a point or more apart, the report says the two marks differ and shows both. If the second marking gives no numeric score, the score is from the first alone and the report says so.
- Make a plan. Enter the date of your assessment centre, up to 120 days ahead, and get a plan to it with your weakest exercise first: day by day for the last 14 days, in weekly blocks before that. If your assessment centre is tomorrow, the plan is today's set-up checklist alone. If you ask, we email it to you and send one reminder shortly before the date.
Before you start
Is this the real assessment centre?
No. The three exercises and their timings follow the official Fast Stream Assessment Centre guide, but our packs are invented practice scenarios, not official assessment materials. On the day, the official guide says the Written Exercise and the Oral Briefing Exercise share one overarching theme. In our mock day the Written Exercise and the Oral Briefing Exercise use separate invented packs, and each of your mock days uses different ones.
Is the score out of 12 an official score?
No. The official guide says your feedback report will give feedback on your scores on each exercise, but the official pages cited here do not publish a marking scale. Ours is a practice score on our own rubric: 1 to 4 for each exercise, 12 in all. It does not tell you whether you would pass or be offered a place.
How is it marked?
Automatically, not by a person, and twice for each exercise, separately: the exercise's own report on our practice rubric, and a second marking against the dimensions the official guide names for that exercise (Think, Relate, Adapt and Strive for the Written and Oral Briefing exercises; Relate, Adapt and Strive for the Personal Development Conversation). If the second marking gives no numeric score, your report uses the first alone and says so. Every quote in your report is matched against your submitted answers and transcripts, ignoring case and punctuation, and a quote that does not match is left out, so some points may come without one.
What do I need?
A computer with a microphone is best: you brief the director and answer questions out loud, and your words are transcribed. You can type instead if you have no microphone. The official guide advises having paper, pens and a calculator within reach on the day; have them for the mock day too.
What do I get?
3 mock days, and the three simulators themselves: the Written Exercise (9 runs in total, on any of its 3 packs), the Oral Briefing (9 runs in total, on any of its 3 packs) and the FSAC interview practice for the Personal Development Conversation (4 practice conversations). A mock day uses one run of each, so if you use no runs on their own, after 3 mock days you have 6 Written Exercise runs, 6 Oral Briefing runs and 1 practice conversation left to use on their own.
Is practising with a simulator allowed?
The Fast Stream's guidance on Generative AI says you can use Gen AI tools to prepare, including for practice and simulation, but must not use them during the actual tests and assessments.
Is what I write and say kept?
Your paid simulator and mock-day answers, transcripts and reports are kept so you can re-read them (the free taster's text is not kept), and they are deleted if you delete your account. Recordings of your voice are not kept: each minute is transcribed and the audio is dropped.
How do I pay?
One card payment, no subscription. Prices are charged in your own currency where we support it. Access opens on this device once your payment is confirmed; sign in afterwards to keep it on your account. Purchase policy.
Sources
Civil Service Careers, Fast Stream Assessment Centre guide, read on 25 October 2026:
- About the Fast Stream Assessment Centre (a half-day online event; 3 exercises, each marked independently by a different assessor)
- The assessments
- Written Exercise (55 minutes, 4 written tasks, what is assessed, tips)
- Oral Briefing Exercise (45 minutes of preparation, a 25-minute meeting: 10 minutes to brief, 15 of questions)
- Personal Development Conversation (30 minutes, one to one; Relate, Adapt and Strive)
- Attending the virtual Fast Stream Assessment Centre (tips for the day)
- After the Fast Stream Assessment Centre (your feedback report)
Guidance on the use of Generative AI: Civil Service Careers, Fast Stream.