HMRC Tax Specialist Programme (TSP) 2018

That was very difficult. More difficult than the other two exams. Not happy with a potential video interview either. I got 73% I don't think I've made it through if the cut off put is near 80%. I rarely felt confident in my answers. It was more guess work than anything. Just try to judge each action on it's own merit than comparatively with all the actions.

Do you mean the Trainee Accountant jobs? If so, then yes. Got interviewed last week for the O grade role. A colleague of mine got interviewed for the HO role yesterday.

I wouldn’t base it on last year (80%) to be honest. Last year your SJT results got you to the assessment centre but this year there is an extra stage so potentially a lower cut off. Good luck

For anyone who has used practice aptitude tests for numerical how does it compare to the real test in terms of difficulty? I’ve been practicing and the earlier tests are ok but getting to tests 11 onwards and they are ridic hard (I find and even their avg scores aren’t great) 😩 so I was just going to leave it and do the test, but if the numerical test is actually as hard as those ones I’d better persevere.

Just reading through all the bumpf.....need to take the SJT today or tomorrow really.

They mention 6 specific competencies for the AC stage - are these the same 6 we need for the SJT? Or all 10?

(I think I'm overthinking a little now......!)

Hey! I've used practice aptitude tests and found their numerical tests were very good practice, especially ones with more than 60% average score.

The later tests may be harder but with HMRC tests, there's no time limit, so I just did the practice tests for the harder tests and noted the methodology if I got it wrong.

I'm practicing the free numerical test on practice aplitude tests :/ will that be enough or do the questions get really tough on the HMRC test?

I got 90% on numerical and would say the last 2 questions were the hardest in comparison to some sample/free tests. The rest were ok and quite simiar to tests available online. As the questions progressed the working out calculations became heavier and my head was just battered on the last question so I know I got it wrong.

Thanks for the reply! I'll practice some more free ones online and take the test. Well done on the 90% ☺️ Hopefully I can get a decent score to do the SJT which sounds like a nightmare!

It briefly crossed my mind to complete the SJT when the link came up but I've decided to clear my head of numbers and do it another day. It's had very mixed scores on here which makes it more worrying!

I applied, there's 5 role in total across both grades If I recall correctly.
How did you find it?

I'm a bit gutted because I totally butchered the 15 minute paper by overthinking it, everything else went brilliantly.

Do you mean the Trainee Accountant jobs? If so, then yes. Got interviewed last week for the O grade role. A colleague of mine got interviewed for the HO role yesterday.

Hey thank you so much for the reply that’s really useful to know 😊 are you able to go back to questions? Thanks

How did you get on? Do you already work for HMRC?

I found the process when I got there a little erratic. I will be really gutted not to get the job but they did offer some hope as they said if there are more good candidates than 5 then they may extend the number of positions to 10.

I only got 52% on numerical. I thought that would be me done but I got put straight forward to SJT (which I then got 95% for). As someone put on here a few pages ago the SJT score is then what gets you to the next stage (video interview) so try not to worry too much about the numerical.

Once you've answered a question and pressed submit you can't go back

You've put me at ease so thank you! Great score on the SJT so well done. Have you got any tips?

I think people should stop asking for tips on these tests, it’s not fair really is it.