The short answer
OSPRE Part 1 and the NPPF Step 2 legal exam are essentially the same thing: the national multiple choice exam on law and procedure that you must pass to be promoted to Sergeant or Inspector. NPPF Step 2 is the current name. Many officers, and even some official documents, still call it OSPRE Part 1.
What was OSPRE?
OSPRE (the Objective Structured Performance Related Examination) was the old promotion process. Part 1 was the legal knowledge exam. Part 2 was a separate assessment of practical supervisory skills.
When the National Police Promotion Framework (NPPF) was introduced, the legal exam was kept as Step 2, and the old Part 2 assessment was replaced by in-force selection and a work-based assessment in the new rank.
What is the same
- A national multiple choice exam on law and procedure.
- Separate exams for Sergeants and Inspectors.
- A syllabus based on the Blackstone's Police Manuals.
- Scenario based questions where several options look plausible.
What has changed
- The rest of the process. The exam is now one of four NPPF steps, followed by in-force selection and at least 12 months of work-based assessment.
- The manuals. Blackstone's moved from four volumes to three, and Road Policing is now part of General Police Duties.
- The law itself. The syllabus is updated every year. The 2027 exams use the 2027 edition of the manuals, which include recent changes such as the revised PACE Code C, the Public Order Act 2023 and the reforms to pre-charge bail.
- How you sit it. The exam is now taken online within a set window rather than in an exam hall.
- Two Sergeants' sittings. From 2027 there are Sergeants' exams in both March and October. See the 2027 dates.
Can I use old OSPRE revision material?
Be careful. The structure of the questions has not changed much, but the law has. Material based on older manuals may give answers that are now wrong, for example on pre-charge bail periods, places of safety under the Mental Health Act, or offences created by recent legislation. Make sure anything you use reflects the current syllabus.
Every Stripes & Pips question shows the current statutory wording, so you can check the law behind the answer. Try the free sample or browse questions by topic.