In-tray and e-tray study guide
Make sense of a busy inbox, preserve the important constraints and explain what should happen next.
Choose a practice drillStart with your role and deliverables
Before acting on the first email, identify who you are, what you can decide and what you must produce. A convincing response must fit the role and the supplied information.
- Read the brief. Note the current time, your responsibilities, authority limits and the required outputs.
- Scan the documents. Find hard deadlines, policies, missing information and messages that update earlier instructions.
- Map the dependencies. Identify approvals, preparation or evidence needed before another action can happen.
- Plan across the case. Keep staffing, calendar, budget and written commitments consistent with each other.
- Leave time to review. Recheck the final actions and draft against the documents before submitting.
Use flags and bookmarks to help navigation. Reading or flagging a message does not, by itself, demonstrate a good decision.
Methods and worked examples
These original examples isolate one skill. The practice cases require you to combine facts from several documents.
Prioritization
Identify what must happen, what depends on another action and what becomes impossible if delayed. Separate a firm deadline from a sender calling something urgent. Items can share a priority when the evidence does not require an order.
Watch for: Ranking by message order or seniority alone, or spending the whole exercise on the first urgent-looking email.
Practice prioritizationExample
It is 09:00. A report must be dispatched by 10:00. The manager needs 30 minutes to approve it and can begin as soon as you request approval. Dispatch then takes 10 minutes. A newsletter is due at 16:00 and is independent. What dependency must your plan preserve?
Worked response: Approval must finish before dispatch. Requesting approval no later than 09:20 leaves 30 minutes for review and 10 minutes for dispatch by 10:00. The newsletter does not belong ahead of that deadline merely because its message arrived first. More than one detailed plan may satisfy these constraints.
Delegation
Check the role description and capacity before assigning work. Keep approvals with someone authorized to make them, and include a clear deliverable or follow-up rather than simply passing on a message.
Watch for: Giving everything to the most experienced person, even when their available time or authority does not fit.
Practice delegationExample
Anu has 20 minutes available and is the only person authorized to approve a request. Ben has 30 minutes and can perform a routine check. Approval needs 15 minutes; the check needs 20. Anu could also perform the check. How can both tasks be completed?
Worked response: Assign the 15-minute approval to Anu and the 20-minute check to Ben. Both stay within capacity, and the approval remains with the authorized person. Assigning both to Anu would require 35 minutes, more than available.
Scheduling
Place fixed events first. Check required participants, duration and any work that must finish before a meeting. Test the whole plan for overlaps and deadline conflicts; a meeting being free in your calendar is not enough.
Watch for: Ignoring preparation time or assuming there is only one valid schedule.
Practice schedulingExample
You and your colleague are available 13:00–14:30, except for a fixed call 13:30–14:00. You need 15 minutes of solo preparation before a 30-minute meeting with the colleague. Give one feasible plan.
Worked response: Prepare 13:00–13:15 and meet 14:00–14:30. Preparation 13:15–13:30 would also work. A 13:15–13:45 meeting conflicts with the fixed call. The valid plans preserve preparation before the meeting without overlapping the call.
Analysis
Find the controlling rule, its effective date and any exception. Distinguish verified facts from assertions in an email. When essential information is missing, identify exactly what must be clarified rather than inventing it.
Watch for: Applying an older policy because it appeared in the first message you read.
Practice analysisExample
A fictional policy effective from Monday says team leads may approve requests below £500; requests of £500 or more need manager approval. An older email says the team-lead limit was £1,000. A £700 request arrives Tuesday. Who must approve it?
Worked response: The manager. The current policy controls, and £700 is at or above its £500 threshold. The older email does not override the newer effective rule.
Data checking
Match the same quantity, unit price and period across documents. Recalculate the total from the agreed source, then explain the difference in a form someone can act on.
Watch for: Accepting an internally consistent invoice when its underlying price differs from the agreed order.
Practice data checkingExample
An approved order is 20 units at £12 each, plus £18 delivery. The invoice uses 20 units at £14 each, plus the same delivery charge, and totals £298. What should the total be, and what is the discrepancy?
Worked response: The agreed total is £258: 20 × £12 + £18. The invoice total of £298 is arithmetically consistent with its price, but the price is £2 too high per unit. The discrepancy is 20 × £2 = £40.
Written response
Identify the reader’s question and the facts needed to answer it. State what is confirmed, what remains uncertain, who will act and when the reader will hear next. Keep the tone professional and the evidence accurate.
Watch for: Writing polished reassurance that promises an outcome the documents do not support.
Practice written responseExample
A client asks whether Thursday delivery is guaranteed. Your notes say Thursday is only a target. The supplier will confirm the schedule by 16:00 Wednesday, and you have committed to updating the client by 17:00 Wednesday. Draft a short reply.
Worked response: “Thanks for checking. Thursday is our current delivery target, but it is not yet confirmed. The supplier expects to confirm the schedule by 16:00 Wednesday. I will update you by 17:00 Wednesday, including if confirmation is still outstanding.” Other wording can be equally good if it preserves the uncertainty and the promised update.
Connect the messages before choosing an action
The right plan depends on information spread across the brief, emails and release rules. Try this free example before reading its explanation.
Workshop inbox
Today, 09:00
Your brief
Workshop coordinator
You coordinate a 10:00 workshop. The room must be ready by 09:30. Room setup takes 20 minutes.
Sam is trained to set up the room and is free from 09:00 to 09:30. You can also do the setup.
You are responsible for sending the approved print file. Sending it takes two minutes. A routine team check-in is at 09:30.
Original practice example. Open any document to read it.
Understand the practice format
Our full exercise is a 45-minute original case with eight tasks. There are six full cases and three untimed mini-cases for each of the six drill types. In either format, you can move between the documents and tasks before submitting the whole case.
| Skill | Response | Review |
|---|---|---|
| Prioritization | Arrange work into priority bands | Required dependencies and reasoned priorities |
| Delegation | Assign tasks to people | Authority, capacity and editorial fit |
| Scheduling | Place appointments in a calendar | Availability, overlaps and prerequisites |
| Analysis | Choose actions and conclusions from the evidence | Source-based checks and explained judgments |
| Data checking | Identify discrepancies and calculate a value | Exact source facts and numerical checks |
| Written response | Write a real draft | Saved text, example response and self-review rubric |
Each prioritization, delegation, scheduling or writing drill contains one task. Analysis and data-checking drills contain two. All tasks use their case’s supplied information; you do not need specialist knowledge about a real employer or industry.
There are no intermediate grades during the exercise. Finish the case to see its review. In timed practice, the deadline survives a hidden tab or reload. Drafting a reply does not send an email; it remains part of your practice work.
Review a written reply against the evidence
There is no automatic writing grade here. After submission, compare your actual draft with the case’s example and rubric. Different wording and reasonable recommendations can work; copying the model is not the objective.
- Answer the reader’s question. Put the relevant decision or status near the beginning.
- Preserve the facts. Check names, dates, amounts, deadlines and the policy version you used.
- Respect authority. Do not approve something your role can only refer or recommend.
- State uncertainty honestly. Distinguish a target, a requested outcome and a confirmed commitment.
- Make next steps usable. Explain who will act, what they will do and when a follow-up is due.
- Keep the tone appropriate. Be clear and professional without adding promises or excessive detail.
A word count helps you follow the suggested length. It does not establish whether the reply is accurate, tactful or complete. The checklist supports your own review; it does not produce an assessed writing score.
Read the three kinds of feedback separately
Objective checks
These follow explicit case facts: a valid calculation, a permitted owner, a feasible schedule or a required dependency. Unfinished work can leave checks unmet.
Editorial judgment
These explain the stronger choices for the authored scenario. They are practice judgments with visible reasons, not an employer’s proprietary leadership score.
Written self-review
Your draft appears with a model and criteria for reflection. Its length or submission status is not converted into writing accuracy.
Review why a check was missed before trying another case. A different schedule can be valid if it satisfies every stated condition, and a priority order need not be unique. The example plan helps explain the requirements; it does not make all alternatives wrong.
Practice results do not predict an employer score, pass mark or hiring outcome. Reusing a familiar case measures rehearsal. Compare different cases with similar tasks and constraints when looking for consistent improvement.
Match the format in your invitation
In-tray is a family of workplace exercises. The number of messages, response types, role level and time limit vary. Some employers ask for a recommendation or presentation; others emphasize a written customer reply.
SHL’s virtual assessment-centre guidance describes an inbox and document hub. Talogy’s inbox catalog spans different roles and levels. Skillsarena’s management example uses 45 minutes and administrator-marked responses. That is one provider format, not a universal exam definition.
Some HMRC Compliance roles
A 2026 HMRC employee explanation describes an in-tray for some Compliance roles, using supplied guidance and a customer or workplace scenario, sometimes a simple calculation, and usually a short written reply. It does not define one fixed process for every HMRC applicant.
Management selection
Cheshire Fire and Rescue’s 2026 Station Manager promotion guidance includes a written in-tray of approximately one hour. That is a role-specific promotion exercise, alongside separate operational assessment. Our practice does not cover incident command or professional fire-service training.
What about older Deloitte and Fast Stream e-tray advice?
Do not assume an older e-tray description is still the current process. Deloitte’s current UK early-careers guidance describes an Immersive Online Assessment and relevant Job Simulation stages. The current Fast Stream assessment centre names Written Advice, Stakeholder Communication and Personal Development Conversation. Information-handling and writing practice can develop related skills, but this product does not reproduce those complete processes.
Build a preparation routine
- Practice one skill first. Use a focused mini-case to identify whether a miss came from reading, planning, a calculation or a role constraint.
- Explain the evidence. Point to the document that supports each important decision. If you cannot find it, check whether you added an assumption.
- Review a complete draft. Compare its claims and commitments with the sources before polishing its style.
- Try a fresh full case. Use the 45-minute clock to practice covering every task, without checking answers along the way.
- Compare patterns across cases. Look for recurring problems such as missed authority limits or unrealistic schedules, then target that skill again.
Our demanding practice goals are at least 90% of objective checks and, separately, 90% of editorial judgments where each applies. Complete every task and provide the requested draft; fractional check targets round up. Use the full exercise’s 45-minute clock and look for consistency across three different comparable cases.
These are editorial learning goals, not employer cutoffs. A completed draft does not establish writing quality, and a different case is not guaranteed to be equally difficult.
Use a laptop or desktop when possible so you can read documents and write comfortably. Check the employer’s instructions for tools, timing, submission and adjustments. Our supplied workplace facts are fictional; no real tax, legal or specialist knowledge is required.
Choose your next practice
One In-Tray / E-Tray pass covers full cases and all drill replays. Start with a skill you want to improve or practice managing the whole inbox.
Original independent preparation. Not affiliated with or endorsed by the employers or assessment providers named. Source guidance checked September 2026; follow your current invitation.