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CBSA Officer Trainee Entrance Exam (OTEE)
The Canada Border Services Agency's Officer Trainee Entrance Exam (OTEE): an unsupervised online exam of 117 multiple-choice questions with a 135-minute time limit, completed within a one-week invitation window, assessing four competencies (reasoning skills, analytical thinking, client service orientation, writing skills). Candidates are invited to write it as an early step of the CBSA Officer Trainee Developmental Program selection process; results are reported pass/fail with no feedback, passing results are valid indefinitely, and a failed attempt can be rewritten only one full year later.
Official exam siteJump to prep options ↓
Questions117 multiple-choice questions
Testing time135 minutes of testing time, started within a one-week invitation window (once started, the test must be finished)
ScoringPass/fail with no published cut score: the CBSA informs all applicants whether they pass or fail and does not give feedback; unsuccessful results terminate the candidacy
Exam feeNot publicly disclosed — The current first-party exam pages and candidate materials cited for this record were reviewed; they do not publish this field.
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Exam overview
What to know before choosing your prep
- Who runs it
- CBSA
- Category
- Law Enforcement & Corrections
- Current version
- Current specification; no public version label (117-question online OTEE for the current Officer Trainee selection process; selection process 2024-EA-OIM-FB-02-009 noted as current on the CBSA steps page)
- Where it applies
- Canada — national
- Exam languages
- English, French
- Testing provider
- Canada Border Services Agency (National Recruitment Team) — the OTEE is delivered directly through the CBSA's online invitation process, not through a commercial testing vendor
- Format
- Online, unsupervised exam; candidates receive an invitation with a one-week window and must finish the test once started
- Availability
- By invitation only, when an Officer Trainee Developmental Program selection process is open; invited candidates have a one-week window (alternate dates granted only for specific reasons such as religious obligations, bereavement, or documented illness/vacation)
- Results
- Applicants are informed whether they pass or fail; no feedback or scores are provided
- Score validity
- Successful OTEE results are valid indefinitely
- Remote testing
- Available
Exam structure
One online exam of 117 multiple-choice questions assessing four competencies: reasoning skills, analytical thinking, client service orientation, and writing skills; questions are hypothetical workplace scenarios requiring no prior knowledge of the CBSA
Where rules vary
A Canada-wide federal hiring exam: part of the CBSA Officer Trainee Developmental Program selection process for border services officer positions at Canada's points of entry; applicants must be Canadian citizens or permanent residents.
Eligibility
By invitation only, after applying to the CBSA Officer Trainee Developmental Program; program prerequisites are Canadian citizenship or permanent residency, at least 18 years old, a Canadian secondary school (high school) diploma or equivalent, and a valid unrestricted Canadian driver's licence
Retake policy
A failed OTEE can be rewritten only one full year after the initial attempt; rewriting earlier invalidates the new results and restarts the one-year waiting period