what does the written exam consist of?

[xcom]

I searched but couldn't find anything specifically; Generally, what does that written exam consist of? Essay, multichoice, ect. And, besides going to college and studying criminal justice, specifically, is there anything else to be studied?

[dwf]

I can only speak for the ones I've taken in Washington (and that was only 3) it might be different elsewhere. The written exams were very similar to the english portions of the ACT and SAT exams, only no math. Page upon page of spelling, grammar, and reading comprehension. Test time was anywhere from 2-4 hours long.

[retdetsgt]

Ours has some memorization on it. You're given a series of pictures before the test and then they are taken away. The first ten or so questions are on what you can remember about them.

[NYSPhopeful]

I searched but couldn't find anything specifically; Generally, what does that written exam consist of? Essay, multichoice, ect. And, besides going to college and studying criminal justice, specifically, is there anything else to be studied?

Some departments have similar tests and others have tests that are very different from each other. In my experience studying criminal justice didn't help me. If you narrow it down to a specific department or a few departments I am sure someone can give you a better answer. When you do find out the type of test a department is giving then you can look for books that help in the types of areas they test in. The way tests are graded, administered, composed, etc. varies from department to department and from state to state.

Are you thinking about applying to departments in a specific state?

[spitfire]

If I remember correctly, the name of the test I took was a Nelson-Denny version & it seems like the most commonly used test down here. It had memorization questions like retdetsgt mentioned, some law questions, map reading skills (would give you a map & you had to find easiest way to get from point a to point b), scenarios, math, spelling, vocabulary, reading comprehension, etc.

Nothing too difficult, but not the type of test you can study for.

[TaylorMade18]

My written test was about 75 percent basic high school grammar(fill in the blank with the appropriate word, spelling, etc.) and 25 percent basic criminal justice knowledge. Stuff like they give you the basic guideline as to what is assault, agg. assault, battery and agg. battery, then give you a scenario and you tell which one is demonstrated. Pretty straight forward- relax and dont rush and you should be fine. Best of luck....