Free Practice Questions for SPC Conocimientos Generales APF

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Sample SPC Conocimientos Generales APF Practice Questions

Try these sample questions to review concepts for the SPC Conocimientos Generales APF exam. Each question includes a detailed explanation. Start the interactive quiz above for the full 100+ question experience with AI tutoring.

1Under Articles 40 and 49 of the Mexican Constitution (CPEUM), what is the form of government of Mexico and how is the supreme power of the Federation divided?

A.A representative, democratic, secular and federal republic of free and sovereign states, with the supreme power divided into Legislative, Executive and Judicial branches

B.A parliamentary republic in which the head of government is chosen by the Chamber of Deputies

C.A centralized unitary republic in which state governors are appointed by the President

D.A representative federal republic in which the Executive may legislate freely whenever Congress is in recess

Explanation: Article 40 of the CPEUM makes Mexico a representative, democratic, secular (laica) and federal republic of free and sovereign states united in a federation. Article 49 divides the supreme power of the Federation into Legislative, Executive and Judicial branches and forbids joining two or more of them in one person or body, except for the extraordinary powers of Articles 29 and 131.

2Under Article 89, Section I of the CPEUM, what fundamental regulatory power is granted to the President of the United Mexican States regarding federal statutes?

A.The power to issue federal laws by decree during congressional recesses

B.The power to issue regulations (reglamentos) that provide, in the administrative sphere, for the exact observance of the laws Congress enacts (facultad reglamentaria)

C.The power to approve the annual Presupuesto de Egresos de la Federación

D.The power to modify customs tariffs on his or her own initiative, without any authorization from Congress

Explanation: CPEUM Article 89, Section I empowers the President to promulgate and execute the laws enacted by Congress, providing in the administrative sphere for their exact observance through the exercise of the regulatory power (facultad reglamentaria).

3According to Article 1 of the Ley Orgánica de la Administración Pública Federal (LOAPF), what are the two main organizational divisions of the Federal Public Administration?

A.Administración Pública Judicial and Administración Pública Legislativa

B.Administración Pública Militar and Administración Pública Diplomática

C.Administración Pública Centralizada and Administración Pública Paraestatal

D.Administración Pública Municipal and Administración Pública Comunal

Explanation: LOAPF Article 1 divides the Federal Public Administration into centralizada and paraestatal. Since the March 2025 reform, the centralized administration is made up of the Oficina de la Presidencia, the Secretarías de Estado and the Consejería Jurídica del Ejecutivo Federal; the paraestatal administration includes decentralized organisms, state-owned companies, national credit and insurance institutions, and public trusts.

4Which of the following entities is part of the Administración Pública Centralizada under Article 2 of the LOAPF?

A.Organismos descentralizados such as the IMSS

B.Autonomous public universities with their own statutory status

C.Empresas de participación estatal mayoritaria, such as national credit institutions

D.The Secretarías de Estado and the Consejería Jurídica del Ejecutivo Federal

Explanation: LOAPF Article 2, as amended in March 2025, lists the dependencias of the centralized administration: the Secretarías de Estado and the Consejería Jurídica. Article 1 also places the Oficina de la Presidencia in the centralized administration. The former Órganos Reguladores Coordinados en Materia Energética are no longer part of this list.

5What legal characteristics define a decentralized organism (organismo descentralizado) within the Administración Pública Paraestatal under the Ley Federal de las Entidades Paraestatales?

A.An entity created by law or decree of Congress or by decree of the Executive, with its own legal personality and assets

B.An administrative unit of a Secretaría with technical autonomy but no legal personality, such as the SAT

C.A company in which the federal government holds more than half of the capital

D.A trust set up with public funds through a fiduciary institution

Explanation: LOAPF Article 45 defines organismos descentralizados as entities created by law or decree of Congress or by decree of the Executive, with their own legal personality and assets, whatever legal structure they adopt. The Ley Federal de las Entidades Paraestatales adds that their purpose is strategic or priority activities, a public or social service, or obtaining or applying resources for social assistance or security.

6What is the structural distinction between a deconcentrated organ (órgano desconcentrado) and a decentralized organism (organismo descentralizado) in Mexican administrative law?

A.A deconcentrated organ has its own legal personality and assets, while a decentralized organism depends hierarchically on a Secretaría

B.A deconcentrated organ is hierarchically subordinate to a Secretaría and has no legal personality of its own, whereas a decentralized organism has its own legal personality and assets

C.A deconcentrated organ can be created only by law, and a decentralized organism only by presidential decree

D.There is no legal or structural distinction between the two concepts

Explanation: Under LOAPF Article 17, órganos desconcentrados (for example the SAT) remain hierarchically subordinate to a Secretaría and have no separate legal personality, though they have specific technical powers. Under Article 45, organismos descentralizados (for example the IMSS or ISSSTE) have their own legal personality and assets and belong to the paraestatal administration.

7Following administrative reorganizations of the federal executive, which federal ministry assumed the core internal audit, anti-corruption, public integrity, and civil service policy functions previously held by the Secretaría de la Función Pública (SFP)?

A.Secretaría de Gobernación

B.Secretaría de Hacienda y Crédito Público

C.Secretaría Anticorrupción y Buen Gobierno

D.Secretaría de Bienestar

Explanation: Under the reforms to the LOAPF that took effect in 2024-2025, the former Secretaría de la Función Pública became the Secretaría Anticorrupción y Buen Gobierno (LOAPF Art. 37). It oversees internal control and audit, public integrity, the OICs and federal human resources policy, and it now also administers the Plataforma Nacional de Transparencia.

8In the temario reading from Max Weber's 'Economía y sociedad', what are the three pure types of legitimate domination (dominación legítima)?

A.Bureaucratic, technocratic and corporatist

B.Democratic, aristocratic and monarchic

C.Economic, political and religious

D.Rational or legal, traditional, and charismatic

Explanation: Weber distinguishes three pure types of legitimate domination by the basis of their legitimacy: rational (legal) authority, resting on belief in the legality of enacted rules; traditional authority, resting on belief in the sanctity of long-standing traditions; and charismatic authority, resting on devotion to the exceptional holiness, heroism or exemplary character of a person.

9In the temario excerpt from Rousseau's 'El contrato social' (Book I, chapter VI), what is the 'fundamental problem' that the social contract solves?

A.Finding a form of association that defends and protects each member's person and goods with the common force, and in which each, uniting with all, still obeys only himself and remains as free as before

B.Creating a sovereign with unlimited power so that individuals may surrender their liberty in exchange for security

C.Dividing power among separate branches so that each branch checks the others

D.Guaranteeing private property as a natural right that exists before any political society

Explanation: Rousseau states the problem as 'encontrar una forma de asociación que defienda y proteja con toda la fuerza común la persona y los bienes de cada asociado, y por virtud de la cual cada uno, uniéndose a todos, no obedezca sino a sí mismo y quede tan libre como antes'. The social contract is his answer.

10According to the temario reading on the origin and evolution of the study of public administration, what are the formal antecedents of the discipline?

A.Taylor's scientific management in the early-20th-century United States

B.The cameralist studies of 18th-century Central Europe (mainly Prussia) and the 'Ciencia de la Policía' in France

C.Weber's theory of bureaucracy in 1920s Germany

D.The New Public Management reforms of the 1980s in the United Kingdom and New Zealand

Explanation: The reading traces the formal antecedents of public administration to the 18th-century cameralist studies of Central Europe, mainly Prussia (with authors such as von Justi), and the 'Ciencia de la Policía' in France (Nicolas de La Mare, later Bonnin). The United States' pragmatic contributions, starting with Woodrow Wilson in 1887, came more than a century later.

About the SPC Conocimientos Generales APF Exam

Common knowledge exam on the Federal Public Administration that Servicio Profesional de Carrera concursos apply through TrabajaEn after the post's technical exam. The official exam is in Spanish; this bank is an independent English-language MCQ study adaptation, not an official translation or format simulation.

Exam sponsor: Secretaría Anticorrupción y Buen Gobierno / UPSP. The requirements and fees below concern the certification or admission exam, separate from our free practice resources.

Assessment

Question count not published by the exam provider

Time Limit

Not published

Passing Score

70 / 100 (averaged with the technical exam in each concurso)

Exam / Certification Fees

No fee published in DOF concurso notices.

Exam sponsor website

Fees, eligibility, and exam policies can change. Confirm them with the exam sponsor before applying or paying.

Official sources

Our practice resources: topics covered

We aim to reflect publicly available exam outlines and topic information in our study resources. Coverage, format, and difficulty may differ from the actual exam, and we cannot guarantee that every detail is accurate or current. Confirm exam requirements, fees, and policies with the official exam sponsor.

Not published

Estado, Constitución y Estructura de la APF

Form of government and separation of powers, the Executive's powers, centralized and parastatal administration under the 2025 LOAPF, and temario readings by Weber, Rousseau and on the origin of public administration.

Not published

Planeación Nacional, Economía y Evaluación

The Ley de Planeación and PND, basic economics, results-based management (OECD and World Bank), the SED, MIR and PbR, poverty measurement (now by INEGI) and the public policy cycle.

Not published

Responsabilidades, Transparencia y Rendición de Cuentas

Serious and non-serious faults under the LGRA, asset declarations, the 2025 transparency law (reserved and confidential information, Transparencia para el Pueblo), types of accountability and the national anti-corruption system.

Not published

Presupuesto, Fiscalización, Austeridad y Anticorrupción

The federal budget cycle and calendar under the LFPRH, budget classifications, the ASF and the LFRCF, the Ley Federal de Austeridad Republicana, and Articles 73, 79, 127 and 134 of the Constitution.

Preparing for the SPC Conocimientos Generales APF Exam

What You Need to Know

Passing score: 70 / 100 (averaged with the technical exam in each concurso)
Assessment: Question count not published by the exam provider
Time limit: Not published
Exam / certification fees: No fee published in DOF concurso notices. Official sources

Using Our Practice Resources

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SPC Conocimientos Generales APF: Suggested Study Strategy

1Use the official 29-reading temario on the UPSP site as your syllabus, and check each law against its current DOF text.

2Update the older readings: the SFP is now the Secretaría Anticorrupción y Buen Gobierno, INAI was replaced under the 2025 transparency law, and INEGI now measures poverty instead of CONEVAL.

3Learn the LGRA's split between serious faults (resolved by the TFJA) and non-serious faults (sanctioned by the OIC), with its deadlines and sanctions.

4Review the LFPRH budget calendar, the ASF's audit actions and Article 134's principles for public resources.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Examen de Conocimientos Generales de la APF?

It is the common knowledge exam that Servicio Profesional de Carrera concursos apply after the post's technical exam. Its score is averaged with the technical exam's, and the combined sub-stage needs 70 out of 100.

Does a passing score on the APF general exam carry over between vacancies?

Yes. DOF concurso notices state that a result of 70 or more counts as passing, appears automatically in TrabajaEn and can be used in other concursos, even at other dependencias, for one year; it cannot be renounced in order to retake the exam.

Is this practice question bank an official government test?

No. It is an independent English-language MCQ study adaptation created by OpenExamPrep for concept review. The official exam is in Spanish, and its item format and length are not published.

Are there fees to take the TrabajaEn SPC exam?

DOF concurso notices do not list any fee for the exams.