Reading the EU AI Act teaches you what the law says. The AIGP tests whether you can apply it, together with other laws, frameworks and lifecycle governance, to short workplace scenarios. You need three skills the text alone won't give you: classifying situations (role, risk tier, lifecycle stage), sequencing governance actions (what comes first), and connecting the Act to the rest of the blueprint. AI-specific law is only about 6–8 of the 85 scored questions.
Lawyers and policy specialists sometimes prepare for the AIGP by reading the AI Act cover to cover. It feels thorough. Then they meet questions like "a retailer licenses a chatbot and fine-tunes it on customer data. What should it do first?" and realise that reading the text didn't prepare them to answer.
The gap between reading and passing
| What reading the Act gives you | What the AIGP also tests |
|---|---|
| Definitions and article content | Spotting which definition applies to a messy real-world situation |
| Lists of obligations | Which obligation belongs to whom (provider vs deployer), and when |
| The risk tiers | Classifying a described system, including the Article 6(3) exception |
| EU-only perspective | Other AI laws (BoK v2.1), privacy law, NIST AI RMF, ISO/IEC standards |
| Legal requirements | Operational governance: impact assessments, testing, vendor management, monitoring |
Three skills to build instead
1. Classification
For any scenario, quickly identify: the role (provider, deployer, importer, distributor), the tier (prohibited, high-risk, transparency, minimal, or GPAI), and the lifecycle stage (design, development, deployment, operation). Practise on real products you use. See EU AI Act risk tiers with examples.
2. Sequencing
Many questions ask what to do first or next. Governance logic usually runs: understand and assess, then decide and assign ownership, then implement controls, then monitor and improve. Options that implement before assessing are often traps.
3. Integration
Real scenarios mix laws and frameworks. A hiring tool raises EU AI Act high-risk duties, GDPR Article 22 and DPIA questions, anti-discrimination law, possibly NYC Local Law 144, and NIST-style testing. The exam rewards seeing the whole picture.
A study method that works
- Read one cluster of articles, for example deployer duties.
- Immediately do 10–15 scenario questions on that cluster.
- For each wrong answer, write down which skill failed: classification, sequencing or integration.
- Every week, do a mixed set that combines AI Act questions with Domains III and IV.
See how much of the AIGP is the EU AI Act and how lawyers should study for the AIGP.
Worked example: same knowledge, different question
Knowledge (from reading the Act): Article 26 says deployers of high-risk AI must use systems in accordance with the instructions for use, assign human oversight to competent people, monitor operation, keep logs and inform affected workers.
Exam-style question (original Archuz item): A logistics company buys an AI tool that allocates shifts and monitors warehouse staff performance. It plans to roll it out across EU sites next month. Which action is most important for the company to take before rollout?
- Ask the vendor for its CE marking only
- Confirm the system's high-risk status, assign competent human oversight, plan monitoring and log retention, and inform workers and their representatives
- Carry out a FRIA
- Register the system in the EU database as provider
Answer: B. Work allocation and performance monitoring is an Annex III employment use, so the company has deployer duties. A FRIA (C) isn't required for a private employer outside the Article 27 categories, and registration as provider (D) is the provider's job. Reading Article 26 helps, but answering correctly also takes classification, role identification and knowing who the FRIA applies to.
What to read instead of the full text
| Resource | Why it helps |
|---|---|
| The AIGP Body of Knowledge v2.1 | Tells you exactly what the exam covers, and at what depth |
| Article 5, Article 6 and Annex III | The classification logic behind many questions |
| Articles 16, 25, 26 and 27 | Who must do what: providers, value-chain changes, deployers, FRIAs |
| Article 50 and the GPAI chapter | Transparency and general-purpose AI, both heavily discussed |
| Commission guidelines on prohibited practices and the AI system definition (2025) | Official interpretation with practical examples |
| A reliable timeline of application dates after the Digital Omnibus | Dates are easy marks if you know the current ones |
Turn articles into decisions
For each key article, write a short decision rule you could apply to a scenario:
- Article 6(3): "Annex III system? Check if it only does a narrow procedural or preparatory task, or improves a completed human activity. If it profiles people, it's high-risk regardless."
- Article 25: "Did we put our name on it, substantially modify it, or change its purpose to a high-risk one? Then we're the provider."
- Article 26: "As deployer: follow instructions, assign competent oversight, monitor, keep logs, inform workers and affected people where required."
- Article 50: "Chatbot? Tell people it's AI. Generative output? Mark it. Deepfake? Disclose it."
These rules are what the exam tests. The article text is just the source.
Practise with "what next?" questions
Much of the AIGP is about sequence: what should the organisation do next at this stage of the lifecycle? After learning an obligation, ask yourself when it applies (design, before market, during use, after an incident) and who triggers it. That habit turns legal knowledge into exam points.
Signs you're over-reading
- You've spent more than 15 hours on the AI Act text and fewer than 100 practice questions.
- You can quote recitals but score below 70% on Domain III and IV sets.
- You can't explain the NIST AI RMF functions or ISO/IEC 42005's purpose.
Turn AI Act knowledge into exam points
The AIGP Complete Pack's 300 scenario questions train classification, sequencing and integration across all four BoK v2.1 domains.
Get the Complete PackFrequently asked questions
Do I need to read the whole EU AI Act for the AIGP?
No. Focus on the key articles listed above and spend the time saved on scenario practice.
Why do lawyers sometimes struggle with the AIGP?
The exam rewards operational governance judgment and lifecycle thinking, not just legal analysis.
How many AIGP questions are about AI-specific law?
About 6–8 of the 85 scored questions under BoK v2.1 (competency II.C), although AI Act concepts also appear in other domains.
What should I read for the EU AI Act part of the AIGP?
The AIGP Body of Knowledge, the key articles on prohibitions, classification, provider and deployer duties, transparency and general-purpose AI, the Commission's guidelines on prohibited practices and the AI system definition, and a current timeline of application dates.
Sources
Last reviewed: October 2026.