CBSA OTEE

Overview

The Officer Trainee Entrance Exam (OTEE) is an online test used by the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) in its recruitment of officer trainees. It is one of the first steps to becoming a CBSA officer trainee (developmental). You need no prior knowledge of the CBSA to take it.

Exam pattern

Syllabus

The exam assesses four competencies:

• Reasoning skills: drawing conclusions to solve problems.

• Analytical thinking: working through situations with logical steps.

• Client service orientation: giving good service to internal and external clients.

• Writing skills: producing clear, correct documents in plain language.

Marking and results

A successful result keeps you in the selection process. An unsuccessful result removes you from it.

How to apply

The CBSA sends an invitation to take the test. If you have a functional limitation, disability or condition that could affect your performance, tell the CBSA's National Officer Recruitment Program before you begin, and do not start until the team contacts you. If you start without arranging accommodations, you must accept the results. An alternate test date is considered only for set reasons, such as religious obligations, a death in the immediate family, illness with a doctor's certificate, a planned vacation with costs already incurred, or paid military leave or federal government training. Use the web form on your invitation to ask.

After the exam

An unsuccessful candidate can retake the exam one year after the first attempt and keep their application in the GC Jobs inventory. Testing earlier than one year voids the new results and restarts the waiting period.

Preparation tips

• Start only when you can sit for the full 135 minutes without interruption, as the exam must be finished in one sitting.

• Practise plain-language writing and logical reasoning, since two of the four competencies test these directly.