Psychometric tests in the Portuguese civil service: what the law changed and how it should change your preparation
Posted at 03/08/2026
Summary: Key points
- The legal method is not called "psychometric tests". It is the psychological assessment (avaliação psicológica), governed by Portaria 233/2022, which repealed the Portaria 125-A/2019 still cited by almost everything available online.
- Since September 2022 the assessment is graded Pass or Fail (Apto / Não Apto) only. It no longer contributes points to the final ranking list: there is no high score to win, only exclusion to avoid.
- The result is valid for 24 months from the date the final ranking list is approved, and can be carried over to other competitions. Few candidates know this and needlessly sit the assessment again.
"Psychometric tests" or "psychological assessment"? What Portuguese law says
The phrase candidates type into Google is not the phrase that appears in the notice of competition. Anyone searching for psychometric tests in the Portuguese public sector will find, in the actual notice, the term avaliação psicológica. The distinction is not cosmetic: the grading rules, the exclusion rules and the reuse of the result all follow from it.
What Portaria 233/2022 changed
Competition procedures in the Portuguese public administration are governed by Portaria 233/2022 of 9 September, which repealed Portaria 125-A/2019 and its 2021 amendment. Most guides, forums and preparation manuals in circulation still cite the repealed instrument and with it, a grading regime that no longer exists.
Under article 17(1)(b), the psychological assessment measures aptitudes, personality characteristics and behavioural competencies against a competency profile defined in advance, and may run over one or more phases. It is applied preferentially by the specialised public body, or by the recruiting employer using suitably qualified staff, or by an external specialist where that is demonstrably unfeasible.
Which methods apply to your situation
Not every candidate sits the psychological assessment. The set of methods depends on your legal employment status at the date of application, under article 36 of the General Law on Employment in Public Functions read with article 17 of the Portaria.
Candidate's situation | Typical mandatory methods | Psychological assessment? |
No existing permanent public employment relationship | Knowledge test + psychological assessment | Yes |
Permanent public employee already performing duties identical to the post | Curricular assessment + competency-based interview | As a rule, no |
Centralised recruitment procedure | Knowledge test + psychological assessment, applied in phases | Yes |
An accounting technician applying for a senior technical post at a municipality without prior public employment will almost always sit the knowledge test and the psychological assessment. The same professional, already employed in the public sector in equivalent duties, may instead be assessed on their record. Always check the notice: that is where the panel fixes the methods, the assessment parameters and the weightings, which must be set before publication.
The 2022 change nobody updated: Pass or Fail
This is the point that undoes half the advice circulating on the subject. Article 21(2) of Portaria 233/2022 is unambiguous: the psychological assessment, the physical tests and the medical examination are graded by the classifications Apto (pass) and Não Apto (fail).
Regime | Until 2022 | Since September 2022 |
Grading of the psychological assessment | Five levels: 20, 16, 12, 8 and 4 points | Pass or Fail |
Contribution to the final ranking | Counted, at the weighting set in the notice | None: it generates no points |
Effect of a weak result | Lowered the final mark, or excluded below 9.5 | A Fail means immediate exclusion |
Why "training to score higher" no longer makes sense
Our position at Fed Finance is blunt: selling psychometric coaching as a way to climb the ranking list is selling something the law no longer allows. There is no high score on the psychological assessment. There is passing or not passing. The preparation effort should therefore be redistributed and that is where most candidates actually lose the competition, not on the abstract-reasoning figures.
Each method and each phase is eliminatory, in the order in which it is applied. A candidate scoring below 9.5 out of 20 on a method, or receiving a Fail, is excluded and never sits the following method at all. We saw two such cases this year, both in municipal competitions for accounting and financial management roles: strong candidates eliminated at the knowledge test, having spent three months training for a psychological assessment they never reached.
Where the points are actually won
The Portaria sets weighting floors that say everything about where the value sits. The knowledge test or the curricular assessment cannot weigh less than 30% of the final mark. The competency-based interview cannot weigh less than 25%. Where a single mandatory method is legally permitted, its weighting cannot fall below 55%. The psychological assessment enters none of this arithmetic. For a public accounting post, the ranking is decided by command of the public sector accounting standard, public procurement rules and budget execution knowledge-test material, not abstract reasoning.
What the psychological assessment actually measures
Panel minutes published by recruiting bodies make it possible to see, without speculation, what is being measured. The pattern is consistent across municipalities, public institutes and central administration: a block of cognitive aptitudes and a block of behavioural competencies aligned with the functional profile of the post.
Block | Dimensions usually assessed | Link to the job |
Cognitive aptitudes | Logical reasoning, critical verbal reasoning, critical numerical reasoning | Interpreting rules, analysing budget data, working through cases |
Behavioural competencies | Orientation towards collaboration and public service, organisation and method | Working in a technical team, public-facing duties, documentary rigour |
Fit to the role | Tolerance of pressure, responsibility, consistency of responses | Statutory closing and reporting deadlines, exposure to audit |
Note what is absent from that list: anything resembling a commercial personality quiz sold in preparation manuals. The instruments used are psychometric measures applied under a duty of confidentiality, with the privacy of the material and results guaranteed against anyone other than the candidate. The behavioural competencies at stake are the ones we discuss in our article on hard skills and soft skills.
The 24 months almost nobody uses
This is the most valuable operational point in the article and it appears in none of the guides currently dominating the search results. Article 20(2)(b)(ii) provides that the result of the psychological assessment is valid for 24 months from the date the final ranking list is approved, and may during that period be carried over to other competition procedures.
In practice: a candidate who passed in one competition can rely on that result in another within the two-year window, instead of repeating the assessment. For anyone applying in series and in the Portuguese public sector that is the norm this saves travel, days off work, and the strain of re-sitting an assessment already passed.
Keep the individual result sheet you were sent, together with the approval date of the final ranking list for the competition in which you sat the assessment.
Check the new notice of competition to see whether the panel allows earlier results to be carried over, and on what terms.
Apply to the panel in writing within the application window, attaching the evidence of your earlier result.
Check the arithmetic: the 24 months run from approval of the ranking list, not from the date you sat the assessment or the date of the notice.
If the window has closed, or the competency profile of the new post differs substantially, plan for a fresh assessment and arrange your diary accordingly.
Preparation: what pays and what wastes your time
Once the question is reframed not "how do I score well" but "how do I avoid exclusion and win points where points exist" the allocation of effort changes completely. This is the split we recommend to candidates for finance roles in the public administration.
Where time goes | Worth it | Not worth it |
Knowledge test | The legislation listed in the notice, public sector accounting, procurement, budget execution: this decides the ranking | Studying material the notice does not list |
Logical and numerical reasoning | A few hours to get used to the formats and the pace, enough not to be caught out | Months of drilling to maximise a score that no longer exists |
Personality questionnaires | Answering honestly and consistently; inconsistency is detected | Trying to guess the desired profile |
Competency-based interview | Preparing concrete examples: it carries at least 25 % where it is applied | Improvising on the assumption that it is a formality |
Logistics | Blocking out a full morning or afternoon and confirming venue and transport the day before | Allowing an hour and booking something straight afterwards |
The stage that genuinely separates candidates is the one that comes next, and we have a dedicated guide to it: the professional interview for the public service. And since half the mistakes made in these competitions come from not knowing the applicable employment rules, our guide to the Portuguese Labour Code is worth reading before signing anything.
Frequently asked questions
Can the psychological assessment fail me on its own?
Yes. A Fail results in exclusion from the procedure regardless of your mark on the knowledge test. It is a standalone eliminatory method, applied in the order fixed by law and by the notice.
Am I entitled to know my own result?
Yes. Privacy of the material and results is guaranteed against third parties, not against the candidate. The process ends with a report to the panel and an individual result sheet for each candidate, subject to a duty of confidentiality. You may also request access to the panel's minutes, which set out the assessment parameters and weightings.
Does a Fail go on a record that follows me to other competitions?
No. There is no national register of unfavourable results. The carry-over provision in the Portaria is a right in favour of candidates holding a valid result, not a file on those who did not. Each procedure stands alone.
Can I decline to sit the psychological assessment?
Not without consequences. Where it is a mandatory method for your situation, non-attendance amounts to withdrawal and results in exclusion. What you can do is justify the absence and request a new appointment under the rules on the hearing of interested parties.
Do the police and prison service competitions follow the same rules?
Not entirely. Those careers have their own recruitment regulations, adding physical tests and a medical examination, likewise graded Pass or Fail. The principle of exclusion on a Fail or on a mark below 9.5 remains, but the methods and weightings are set out in each force's own notice.
Official resources
- Portaria 233/2022 of 9 September public sector competition procedure
- Diário da República legislation and notices of competition
- Directorate-General for Public Administration and Employment
- Portuguese Psychologists' Association ethical framework for psychological assessment
- gov.pt Portuguese public administration services and information
- IEFP public employment service vacancies
