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Open positions for police officers and detectives are expected to expand dramatically over the next decade. The time is right if you're looking to become a new police officer in your town or city. And whether you're hoping to become a local, county, state, or federal law enforcement official, the Police Officer Exam For Dummies has all the info you need to prepare for and pass the National Police Officer Selection Test or your local police officer exam with flying colors.
From the low-down on physical ability testing and the personal background interview, to targeted reviews of judgment skills, map reading, memory, observation, and recall, this guide will whip you into shape for the police officer test in no time at all.
In this book, you'll:
So, stop rubbing that rabbit's foot and start preparing like the pros do, with the Police Officer Exam For Dummies!
Tracey Vasil Biscontini is Founder and CEO of Northeast Editing, Inc., a full-service educational development firm specializing in test preparation.
Introduction 1
About This Book 1
Foolish Assumptions 3
Icons Used in This Book 3
Beyond the Book 3
Where to Go from Here 4
Part 1: The Road to Landing a Job as a Police Officer 5
Chapter 1: Signing Up, Getting Screened, and Other Prep Work 7
Starting with the Notice of Examination (NOE) 8
Completing a Job Application 9
Rounding up required info and paperwork 10
Understanding what will get you disqualified 11
Acting professionally 11
Taking the Written Test 14
National Police Officer Selection Test (POST) 14
New York City Police Officer’s Entrance Exam 15
Adding the Law Enforcement Essay Exam 17
Completing the Personal History Statement 17
Passing the Physical Ability Test (PAT) 18
Making a Dynamite Impression during the Oral Board Interview 19
Undergoing the Medical and Psychological Evaluations 19
Medical evaluation 20
Psychological evaluation 20
What if I Get Eliminated during the Screening Process? 20
Chapter 2: Taking a Closer Look at the Police Officer Tests 21
Knowing What You’re Up Against on the Written Test 22
The structure of the National Police Officer Selection Test (POST) 22
The structure of the New York City (NYC) Police Officer’s Entrance Exam 24
Getting the Lowdown on the Other Police Officer Tests 26
The physical ability test (PAT) 26
The oral interview 26
The medical exam 27
The psychological evaluation 27
Part 2: Breaking down the National Police Officer Selection Test (POST) and the NYC Test 29
Chapter 3: Solving Basic Math Questions on the POST 31
What Do Math Questions Look Like? 32
Ditching your calculator 32
Addition questions 32
Subtraction questions 34
Multiplication questions 35
Division questions 37
Determining Percentages 39
What is a percent? 39
How to find a percentage 39
Finding Averages 42
What is an average? 42
How to find an average 42
Picking an Answer if You Don’t Know It 44
Practice Math Questions 45
Chapter 4: Reading Between the Lines: Reading Comprehension 51
Comprehending the Reading Comprehension Section on the POST 51
Longer passages 53
Definition passages 54
Practice Questions for the POST Reading Comprehension Section 56
Examining the Reading Comprehension Questions on the New York City Test 59
Written comprehension passages 60
Information ordering passages 61
Inductive reasoning passages 62
Deductive reasoning passages 64
Problem sensitivity questions 66
Practice Questions for the NYC Reading Comprehension Section 67
Chapter 5: Expressing Yourself with Proper Grammar, Punctuation, and Spelling 75
Acing Grammar Questions 76
Choosing the correct verb tense 76
Watching out for subject-verb agreement 78
Picking the correct pronoun 79
Using the right adjective 82
Identifying complete sentences and fragments 83
Pluralizing nouns 84
Excelling at Spelling Questions 87
Practice Grammar and Spelling Questions 89
Chapter 6: Stretching Your Memory and Visualization Skills 95
Getting the Lowdown on Memory and Observation Questions on the NYC Test 95
Improving Your Memory 96
Digging deep for memorization questions 96
Using your mind’s eye for visualization questions 100
Straightening out information ordering questions 106
Determining the best course of action 109
Getting your bearings 110
Recalling and interpreting letters and numbers 111
Practice Observation and Memory Questions 113
Chapter 7: Reading and Writing Incident Reports 125
Tackling POST Questions about Incident Reports 125
Demonstrating comprehension of incident reports on the POST 126
Answering written questions about incident reports on the POST 130
Practice POST Incident Report Questions 133
Mastering Questions about Incident Reports on the NYC Test 137
Practice NYC Incident Report Questions 140
Chapter 8: Acing the Law Enforcement Essay Exam 143
Following the Proper Steps to Craft a Winning Essay 143
Prewriting 144
Writing 145
Proofreading 145
Understanding How Essays Are Scored 147
Warming Up to Sample Essay Prompts 149
Practice Law Enforcement Essay Exam Question and Answer 150
Chapter 9: Completing the Personal History Statement 151
Becoming Familiar with the Personal History Statement 152
Getting Ready to Complete the Personal History Statement 156
Gathering the necessary information 156
Collecting the necessary documents 157
Writing the Personal History Statement 157
Understanding that honesty is the best policy 158
Following directions and reading questions carefully 159
Checking your work 160
Part 3: After the Written Test: Meeting Other Requirements 161
Chapter 10: Putting Your Physical Ability to the Test 163
Let’s Get Physical: The Whys and Wherefores of the Physical Ability Test 164
Understanding why police officers need the physical ability test 164
Breaking down the skill areas of the typical test 164
Getting the lowdown on the local test 165
Getting in Shape before the Test 166
What You Should Know and Do the Day of Your Test 167
Showing Them What You Can Do: Test Events 168
One-minute sit-ups 168
One-minute push-ups 169
Vertical jump 170
1.5-mile run 170
440-yard mobility/agility run 171
Modified squat thrust 172
Vehicle exit 172
Stair climb 172
Fence obstacles 173
Trigger pull 173
Dummy drag 173
Chapter 11: Presenting Yourself Well in the Oral Board Interview 175
Comporting Yourself Well 175
Dressing professionally 176
Acting professionally 176
Speaking in front of others 177
Honing Your Question and Answer Skills 178
Expecting the right types of questions 178
Answering truthfully 179
Chapter 12: Preparing for Medical and Psychological Evaluations 181
Getting Tested, Poked, and Prodded in the Medical Evaluation 182
What can you see? Testing your vision 182
Can you hear me now? Testing your hearing 183
Not for the squeamish: Taking blood and urine tests 184
Breathe in, breathe out: Checking your heart and lungs 184
How low can you go? Monitoring muscular and skeletal disorders 185
Looking for other conditions 185
Understanding What Happens during the Psychological Evaluation 186
Taking the personality test 186
Interviewing with a psychologist 187
Part 4: Practice Police Officer Exams 191
Chapter 13: Practice Test 1: The National Police Officer Selection Test (POST) 193
Chapter 14: Answers and Explanations for Practice Test 1 213
Section I: Mathematics 213
Section II: Reading Comprehension 215
Section III: Grammar 217
Section IV: Incident Report Writing 218
Chapter 15: Practice Test 2: The National Police Officer Selection Test (POST) 221
Chapter 16: Answers and Explanations for Practice Test 2 241
Section I: Mathematics 241
Section II: Reading Comprehension 243
Section III: Grammar 244
Section IV: Incident Report Writing 245
Chapter 17: Practice Test 3: The National Police Officer Selection Test (POST) 247
Chapter 18: Answers and Explanations for Practice Test 3 269
Section I: Mathematics 269
Section II: Reading Comprehension 271
Section III: Grammar 272
Section IV: Incident Report Writing 273
Chapter 19: Practice Test 4: The New York City Police Officer’s Entrance Exam 275
Chapter 20: Answers and Explanations for Practice Test 4 317
Part 5: The Part of Tens 325
Chapter 21: Ten Tips to Help You Succeed on the Exam 327
Prepare Yourself 327
Get Plenty of ZZZs 328
Eat Healthfully 328
Arrive Early 328
Relax! 328
Carefully Read or Listen to Directions 329
Read the Questions First 329
Pace Yourself 329
Mark the Right Spot! 329
Take a Guess 330
Chapter 22: Ten Things to Expect at the Police Academy 331
Rigorous Rule Enforcement 331
Physical Challenges 332
Strength Training 332
Firearms Training 333
Emergency Vehicle Operations Training 333
Academic Integrity 333
Language Training 334
Ethics Training 334
Human Relations 335
Field Training Program 335
Part 6: Appendixes 337
Appendix A: Law Enforcement Terminology and Resources 339
Law Enforcement Terminology 339
Law Enforcement Codes 341
Additional Resources 343
Appendix B: Climbing the Law Enforcement Ladder 345
Starting on the Bottom Rung: Unranked 345
Officer 346
Detective/Investigator 346
Sergeant 346
Moving to Middle Management: Bars 346
Lieutenant 346
Captain 346
Major/Deputy inspector 347
Becoming the Top Dog: Stars 347
Inspector/Commander 347
Assistant chief 347
Deputy chief 347
Chief of police 347
Index 349
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