This FBI Phase 1 cheat sheet strips the Special Agent Phase I battery down to the reasoning rules and formats examiners actually reward. It's a premium cheat sheet built by Capital Prep — the one premium prep we trust — and it's yours free. Reinforce it with the rest of your free Phase 1 toolkit: the practice test, study guide, and flashcards.
FBI Phase 1 exam at a glance
- Assessments: 5 sections: Logic-Based Reasoning, Figural Reasoning, Personality Assessment, Preferences & Interests, Situational Judgment
- Approximate items: ~176 total (about 11 logic, 9 figural, 100 personality, 37 preferences, 19 situational)
- Time: About 3 hours in one proctored, computer-administered sitting
- Result: Pass/fail and competitive — a pass/fail letter, no published cutoff; notified within about an hour
- Retakes: Retest 90 days after a fail (not guaranteed); failing twice means deactivation
- Administered by: Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI); no fee to take the test
What’s on the FBI Phase 1 cheat sheet
- Logic-Based Reasoning (~6% of items) — deductive validity, quantifiers (all/some/no/if-then), modus ponens and modus tollens, and the traps — affirming the consequent and reversing a one-way 'all.'
- Figural Reasoning (~5% of items) — the transformation checklist — rotation, reflection, counting, sides, shading — plus how to solve series, analogies, and 3-by-3 matrices in both directions.
- Situational Judgment (~11% of items) — the most-effective-response method and the eight FBI Core Competencies used as the yardstick for a professional, accountable answer.
- Personality Assessment (~57% of items) — the adaptive forced-choice slider with no neutral option, and why honest, consistent self-report is the only winning strategy.
- Preferences & Interests (~21% of items) — the five-point Strongly Disagree to Strongly Agree scale, when to use the neutral midpoint, and how to answer without over-analyzing.
How to use it in your final week
- Burn the two reasoning sections into muscle memory — modus ponens forces the conclusion, don't reverse a one-way 'all,' and 'some' means 'at least one.' These are the only Phase I sections you can truly 'get better at.'
- Run the figural transformation checklist on sight: rotation, reflection, count of elements, number of sides, and shading. Name the rule in words first, then pick the figure that satisfies both the row and the column.
- Rehearse the SJT method against the eight FBI Core Competencies — eliminate any response that breaks a rule, escalates needlessly, or is purely passive, then choose the professional, accountable option.
- Do a full timed dry run so the roughly three-hour, five-section sitting feels routine, and read the sheet one last time the morning of your session for the memory hooks.
The cheat sheet is your review layer — your FBI Phase 1 practice test drives the exam-readiness ring at the top of this page. Download it, review, then take a full practice exam (or drill with the study guide and flashcards) to see where you stand.
FBI Phase 1 cheat sheet FAQ
Yes — the FBI Phase 1 cheat sheet downloads as a PDF with no sign-up and no account. It's one of Career Employer's free Phase I resources, alongside the practice test, study guide, and flashcards, so you can grab it and start cramming in seconds.
It condenses all five Phase I assessments onto a quick-reference sheet: the deductive rules for Logic-Based Reasoning, the transformation checklist for Figural Reasoning, the most-effective-response method and the eight FBI Core Competencies for Situational Judgment, and the honest-and-consistent approach for the Personality and Preferences & Interests inventories.
It can't give you 'right' answers — those sections have no answer key — but it locks in what actually matters: the forced-choice slider format has no neutral option and is adaptive, the preferences section uses a five-point agreement scale, and the FBI warns against trying to beat the test. Knowing the format and committing to honest, consistent answers is the whole strategy.
Yes, Phase I is scored pass/fail and competitive — you get a pass/fail letter, not a numeric score, and the FBI does not publish the cutoff. You're typically notified within about an hour of finishing, and you must pass to be invited to Phase II.
Click the download button or the preview card at the top of this page to open the PDF instantly. Bookmark the page so you can pull the sheet up again for a final review the morning of your Phase I test session.
References
- 1.Federal Bureau of Investigation. “Testing Overview: Special Agent Selection System.” FBIJobs.gov, 2026. ↑
- 2.Federal Bureau of Investigation. “Special Agent — Application and Evaluation Process.” FBIJobs.gov, 2026. ↑
- 3.Federal Bureau of Investigation. “FBI Core Competencies.” FBIJobs.gov, 2026. ↑
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