IPsyO Sample Questions
Get familiar with the competition format and question types through sample questions covering major areas of psychology.
Download Sample PaperOfficial Preparation Materials
Starting this year, all official IPsyO preparatory materials have moved to LearningFirst (www.learningfirst.io), a new online learning platform built to deliver a significantly better learning experience.
All IPsyO preparatory materials on LearningFirst are provided free of charge — we no longer price content individually or charge per-participant fees. This is a significant change from previous years.
To access these materials, students simply need an active LearningFirst platform subscription, which also unlocks all other content curated and hosted on the platform — not just IPsyO materials.
What's on LearningFirst
Structured Learning Materials
Content organized by topic, covering all areas tested in the competition.
AI Tutoring
Get personalized guidance as you study with AI-powered tutoring support.
Progress Tracking
Monitor your preparation with atomized content displays and learning analytics.
Continuous Updates
New materials added regularly to broaden your knowledge and align with competition content.
Study resources
Core IPsyO Resources
Use these resources alongside the LearningFirst preparation collections to understand the competition format, topic coverage, and recommended preparation approach.
IPsyO Official Syllabus
Review the official topic areas and use the syllabus as the main guide for planning your preparation.
Download SyllabusRecommended preparation approach
- Start with the syllabus: Use it to map the psychology areas you need to cover.
- Practise with sample and official questions: Pay attention to wording, similar concepts, and answer-choice reasoning.
- Read beyond definitions: Build understanding of mechanisms, evidence, research methods, and applied judgment.
- Use multiple resources: Textbooks, research-method readings, LearningFirst materials, and practice questions support different parts of preparation.
Materials update
New IPsyO Materials on LearningFirst
Two additional preparation collections are now available for students who want more practice with real contest questions and primary research.
What this update is useful for
IPsyO preparation is not only about memorising psychology terms. Strong students need to read questions carefully, recognise research-method limits, compare similar concepts, and apply psychological ideas to unfamiliar examples. These two collections support that work from two angles: authentic exam practice and research-based reasoning.
Official question practice
IPsyO 2025 Grand Test - Official Questions
This collection contains all 300 real multiple-choice questions from the IPsyO 2025 Grand Test, organised into thematic practice sections.
It covers the full IPsyO syllabus, including biological bases of behaviour, sensation and perception, memory, learning, cognition, development, personality, social psychology, disorders, therapy, and research methods.
Best use: practise with original contest wording, identify weaker topic areas, and calibrate speed and accuracy before the next Grand Test.
Research reading and analysis
Academic Paper Frontier Digest
This collection is built around five psychology and cognitive science papers. For each paper, the guide walks through the research question, study design, key evidence, main interpretation, limitations, and possible application.
Topics include trust in humans versus AI, divided attention and memory, visual perception and time, social suggestion in perception, and differences between children's and adults' memory.
Best use: develop the ability to read real studies, understand evidence, notice limitations, and apply research findings in Olympiad-style reasoning.
New for 2026
Psychology Digest 2026
Psychology Digest 2026 is the official extended-reading set for this year's IPsyO preparation cycle. Issues 01-03 are now available on LearningFirst together with the core IPsyO study-material collections.
Issue 01
How Psychologists Think
Scientific thinking, research claims, classic studies, everyday application, and clinical boundaries.
Key links: levels of analysis, hypothesis testing, correlation versus causation, validity, and reconstructive memory.
Issue 02
Brain, Body, and Behavior
Biological psychology through neurons, neurotransmitters, brain systems, stress, sleep, habit, and clinical application.
Key links: synaptic transmission, reverse inference, physiological arousal, outcome devaluation, and the biopsychosocial model.
Issue 03
Cognition, Memory, and Decision
Cognitive psychology through attention, working memory, memory reconstruction, judgment, intelligence, and decision-making.
Key links: working memory bottlenecks, misinformation effect, framing, loss aversion, anchoring, and cognitive load.
What students should prepare for
- Distinguish similar concepts, such as correlation and causation, encoding and retrieval, or stress response and stress appraisal.
- Identify what a study design can legitimately conclude.
- Recognize misleading interpretations of famous experiments or brain evidence.
- Apply psychological mechanisms to school, digital, social, clinical, or decision-making cases.
- Choose the best explanation when several answer choices sound psychologically plausible.
Preparation logic
How these materials support IPsyO preparation
The LearningFirst materials support different parts of IPsyO preparation: building the topic base, reading psychology more deeply, practising authentic Grand Test questions, and analysing research evidence.
Core IPsyO study collections
Build the topic structure and essential concepts tested across the competition.
Psychology Digest 2026
Adds the extended reading layer: mechanisms, evidence, classic studies, research-method judgment, and applied cases.
2025 Grand Test questions
Provides authentic 300-MCQ practice with original contest wording, topic coverage, timing, and answer-choice reasoning.
Academic Paper Frontier Digest
Develops research reading: study design, evidence, interpretation, limitations, and applications.
Important access note
Access notes for all IPsyO materials
IPsyO materials can be accessed through the EAE system or directly through the IPsyO page on LearningFirst.
IPsyO does not charge a separate fee for these preparation materials. Access is provided through LearningFirst, and students need an active LearningFirst platform subscription to use the full platform library and study experience. These materials are optional preparation support, and subscribing is each student's own choice based on preparation needs.
How to Access
1
Navigate to LearningFirst
Click the resource link on your IPsyO dashboard in the EAE system to go directly to the official IPsyO preparatory bundle. Or visit LearningFirst (www.learningfirst.io) and search for IPsyO content in Plaza.
2
Create Your Account
Sign up using your email address (this is a separate account from the EAE system). Sign in easily with a one-time password sent to your email.
3
Subscribe & Start Learning
Subscribe to the platform and begin your preparation. All IPsyO materials are free — the subscription gives you access to the LearningFirst platform and all its content.
Platform Information
- Platform: LearningFirst (www.learningfirst.io)
- Login: Email + one-time password
- IPsyO Materials: Available free of charge on LearningFirst
- Platform Subscription: ~$10/month or $1 for 7-day trial
- Support: contact@ipsyo.org
Ready to Begin Your Preparation?
Access official IPsyO preparatory materials on LearningFirst today.