My experience

[tex13579]

Welp took my first civil service exam last Friday. It was very different than what I was expecting, I think it was a Nelson test..? Don't know if that means anything but it had 2 timed parts. The first part was 15 minutes to do 80 vocabulary questions and the second part was 20 minutes to answer 38 questions based off of 7 passages.

Whenever I first arrived I was grossly intimidated by the number of people that were there, 179 to be exact. After they posted the results from the exam (pass/fail) I was shocked that 80 people failed the test. It makes me disappointed that they aren't doing a PAT, I could only imagine that the applicant pool would drop down to the 40s or 50s.

I was also surprised at the makeup of the crowd. There was everything from 3-piece suits to torn jeans, skater shoes and a baggy shirt. There were muscle heads and total lardos. There were big, big men and tiny, tiny women (I would be certain 5' 90 lbs was the smallest one there). The most interesting applicant I saw was a 5' 2"-4" very fat lady with a broken leg on crutches.

I passed the test, and am now waiting to get my rank which will hopefully be posted today.

[mcsap]

What you saw is proof that there are a LOT of WANNABE'S out there. They watch COPS on TV and want to be one , even if they dont have enough brains to pass the basic aptitude test.

On average , 50% of the people that take our tests.....FAIL.

Another 50% of them fail the physical agility.

ANother 50% of them fail the background.

[retdetsgt]

I don't know what and where the failure rate is in my old department, but we literally have hundreds show up for the initial written test. It can be intimidating, but as you said, if you look around you see that a good many have room temperature IQ's or are generally losers.

I used to sit on oral boards and I honestly wondered why some of those people even show up?

[tex13579]

Room temperature IQs indeed.

I finished both portions of the test with time to spare (I was able to review the first half of each portion before time was up) and my final impression was "stupid easy." I think the time limit killed most people, I really hope it wasn't the test itself. The vocabulary was SO easy, 1) evidence is A) apple B) guilt C) scared D) proof E) candy. Thats not a verbatim example by any means but 95% of the questions had very obviously wrong answers and one obviously right answer.

The reading was equally stupid easy. From each passage there were 5 questions that were based verbatim off of sentences in the passage. "When did the main character's mother die" "Which of the following was explicitly stated in the passage?" But there were some literary interpretation questions that I have always hated though, "The main character could be described as" "The intent of the first paragraph was to." But there were only 1 or 2 of those per passage.

[Switchback]

...I used to sit on oral boards and I honestly wondered why some of those people even show up?

Hell! I have said the same about some co-workers! LOL

I don't really know the numbers these days, but I can tell you it is competitive as hell! I know when I put in for the job, they said something like 15000 took the exam and then they hired about 150-200 the first year and maybe the same the next year (before the decided the test was no longer valid).

With that said, I would not make too much of a judgement call on people showing up in jeans for the exam. Rarely does that really matter at that stage of the process. I have to admit that I have more concern for the guys showing up to the exam in military dress uniforms... like the uniform wilol get them any more points than the VA points that they already have.

[Adrenolize]

As long as there are lax requirements out there, it will be hard to get - much less maintain - a professional force. I had to chuckle when reading your initial post though. It reminded me of that 80's movie with John Candy where he was kicked off of the police force and went to apply at a rental cop/ security agency.

I was impressed when TX DPS upped their test from a 9th grade level to a 12th/ GED level test. That literally washed out 2/3 of the applicants there. Most of them there looked pretty squared away too!

Good luck with your application!

[tex13579]

With that said, I would not make too much of a judgement call on people showing up in jeans for the exam. Rarely does that really matter at that stage of the process. I have to admit that I have more concern for the guys showing up to the exam in military dress uniforms... like the uniform wilol get them any more points than the VA points that they already have.

No military dress, but there were some security guards taking the test in their full uniforms (badge, flashlights, nameplates etc.) which was pretty funny

EDIT: here is what one looked like:

[Switchback]

No military dress, but there were some security guards taking the test in their full uniforms (badge, flashlights, nameplates etc.) which was pretty funny

I can only hope they were coming straight from (or going straight to) work.

[retdetsgt]

With that said, I would not make too much of a judgement call on people showing up in jeans for the exam.

I agree, that's what I wore when I took the written. But we had people routinely show up to the oral board looking like they were on their way to the beach or something.

One sad case that stands out in my memory was a young guy who showed up in a suit that was way too big for him. I could tell by his home address that he lived in a poor section of town and no doubt borrowed it from someone. But the fact that he went to the trouble of borrowing one when he couldn't afford to get his own impressed all of us. Especially when we had sons and daughters of professionals coming in wearing jeans, sweatshirts and hiking boots.

We had to flunk the kid because he gave an honest answer to one required question instead of the politically correct response. It was regarding racial matters and even the Black cop on the board with me tried to steer him to the "proper" answer, but he kept his ground. Since it was all recorded and we had a drone from city civil service there, we had to pass him by. It was a shame, we all thought he would have been an excellent cop, but we couldn't ignore that one thing.

Another we flunked was a woman who had just gotten out of the Army as an MP. She gave all the correct answers, but she came in wearing dirty running shoes, faded jeans that I would wear working on my car and a wrinkled flannel shirt. And she slumped in the chair like a 12 year old who had been called into the principal's office. Even though her verbal answers were fine, we unanimously gave her the thumbs down. I saw her a few years later working for a neighboring S.O. and she looked and acted like a slob in uniform.

[mcsap]

At our last hiring test , I took the time to ( out loud ) comment to those who were well dressed that they looked like they actually WANT the job.

There were about 10 Chiefs at that test and they were watching.

[greg72982]

The vocabulary was SO easy, 1) evidence is A) apple B) guilt C) scared D) proof E) candy.

The correct answer is apple right?

Hell! I have said the same about some co-workers! LOL

Amen buddy, amen.

[tex13579]

UPDATE

Well alright. Slightly mixed emotions. On the YAY side I'm ranked #4

On the slightly meh side I'm in a 7 way tie for #4. I'm still very excited because at least I know that I will be one of the first 10 people processed. I'm not too confident that I will get the job but I'm gonna give it my best shot for sure.

[tex13579]

PHS turned in!

Now the waiting game begins

[tex13579]

Huzzah!

Scheduled for an Oral at department 1 in about a week and a half and I have a written test and PAT tomorrow for department 2.

I'm actually looking forward to the PAT. I've never had to do one so I'm curious about the experience. I'm sure its not going to be fun but who knows?

[Adrenolize]

Huzzah!

Scheduled for an Oral at department 1 in about a week and a half and I have a written test and PAT tomorrow for department 2.

I'm actually looking forward to the PAT. I've never had to do one so I'm curious about the experience. I'm sure its not going to be fun but who knows?

Any forward movement in this economy is good news. Good luck and keep us posted!