Taking my test for border patrol

[BigBlock]

Ok so I decided to give border patrol a shot and Im taking my test 18Dec. Any tips? (other than study) And the recruiter I talked to said it takes any where from 9 months to a year! Looooong time.

[DSG]

Just wanted to wish you the best of luck and would love to hear how it all goes

[Foo Man]

Use the newest Learning Express Border Patrol Exam study guide to study if you haven't already. This guide is very close to the real thing. IMO, the test was tough and I hear there is only about a 25% passing rate. Do the practice tests provided until you are consistently scoring in the 90's and time yourself. For the actual test you will be given about 2 minutes per question. The main thing you need to grasp for the ALT is the grammatical rules. I studied a few hours a day for 2 weeks with the LE book and scored a 92. I'm in the final hiring stages, so if you have any more questions about the process, let me know.

[BigBlock]

Use the newest Learning Express Border Patrol Exam study guide to study if you haven't already. This guide is very close to the real thing. IMO, the test was tough and I hear there is only about a 25% passing rate. Do the practice tests provided until you are consistently scoring in the 90's and time yourself. For the actual test you will be given about 2 minutes per question. The main thing you need to grasp for the ALT is the grammatical rules. I studied a few hours a day for 2 weeks with the LE book and scored a 92. I'm in the final hiring stages, so if you have any more questions about the process, let me know.

Is the study guide youre talking about the one they are sending me? If not where could I purchase this guide? I had no idea there was such a small passing rate. Guess I really better start studying! And for grammatical rules, do they refer to the english language, Ive taken spanish but the recruiter I spoke with told me that would only help me if I pass the test and get accepted to go to the Academy in NM.

[Foo Man]

Is the study guide youre talking about the one they are sending me? If not where could I purchase this guide? I had no idea there was such a small passing rate. Guess I really better start studying! And for grammatical rules, do they refer to the english language, Ive taken spanish but the recruiter I spoke with told me that would only help me if I pass the test and get accepted to go to the Academy in NM.

No, the study guide they send you is straight from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM). The study guide will help, but the book gives you alot more study material and practice tests. It even offers a refresher course on English grammatical rules and gives you tips on other ways to improve your test performance. I purchased the book from Amazon. It was the second edition, but I believe there is a 3rd edition which is sure to be even closer to the actual test.

Are you taking the Spanish test or the ALT (alternative language)? From what I hear, the Spanish test will be hard unless you are very familiar with Spanish grammatical rules, spelling, punctuation, etc. Many fluent Spanish speakers have failed it. The ALT test is kind of like a fake language where they give you a vocabulary list of fake words and a list of rules as to how to create proper sentences using the proper form of the words. The fake language rules are very similar to the rules of the actual Spanish language, such as masculine/feminine/singular/plural/possessive forms of words and combinations of these to form a sentence. The exam is designed to test your abilility to learn a new language, which I'm sure you already have.

Again, make sure you TIME yourself when you are doing the practice tests according to the book's directions.

I think many people assume that the BP test will be easy because all of the other civil service-type exams they've taken in the past were easy. As long as you put in some study time, you should do well. Good luck!