Police Officer Exam For Dummies

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:

• Get the instruction you need to find your confidence and banish test anxiety for good
• Learn memory aids and tips so you can master the observation and recall test
• Get actionable and practicable test-taking strategies that actually improve your performance on the exam

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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