Invited to Police physical / written exam. Advice?

[guerrillakilla13]

I was invited to take my local depts police exam on December 5th. I'm not worried about the push ups, sit ups, or running, as i'm training everyday to make it seem more routine.

I am a little nervous about the written test however. Do any officers (or maybe non-officers?) on here have any pieces of advice? I took a few sample tests online and they seemed tough. I have a bachelors in Business and a high school diploma so I'm definitely smarter than I like to think I am. Some of the questions are just downright bizarre..

does every dept. ask different questions? Or are they all along the same tree of questioning?

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EDITED 12/5/15

Well... Finally took the test this morning. Woke up around 410am, got ready and pumped and got there nice and early. Long story short, I passed the physical part with flying colors, and for that I'm pretty proud of myself. But unfortunately I failed the written test with a 59 (needed a 70 to pass). I'm really bummed obviously, the written test was really hard. We had 25 minutes to basically memorize a 6 page book and learn a bunch of statistics, as well as memorize 4 different people, their information and a bunch of other stuff. Than the actual test came and the questions were about the littlest details possible. I took it, failed, and went home pretty unhappy. Sigh, guess I'll try again later. In 6 months.

[blake-b]

My department's written test is based on a 12th grade education level and no knowledge of police work is required for it.

It had basic math, spelling, and a couple other sections.

I would bet after taking it, you will feel it was a case of "the anticipation of death being worse than the death itself."

[Fred 6528]

Your best advice would be to use or better your education's to get a job at a forensics lab if you want to be involved in law enforcement. If that's not an option just keep in mind that with todays society of no respect for authority, liberals and their ideas, Chiefs and Sheriffs that bow down to them, Jesse and AL , Black Lives Movement, ACLU, Heroin epidemic, and the dumbing of America your career will be stressful. Also keep in mind that other stressors will come from command staff members including the officers you work with, this job comes with high rates of divorce, suicide, and after several years it takes it's toll on your body and attitude. The next time you see an officer that 20 plus years in this career ask him "How long before you retire?" you will find that he can quote down to the exact days. If this is your calling then go for it but keep in mind of the things I have said, for anyone that makes a career it they are a survivor. Good luck in your decisions

[guerrillakilla13]

Originally Posted by blake-b

My department's written test is based on a 12th grade education level and no knowledge of police work is required for it.

It had basic math, spelling, and a couple other sections.

I would bet after taking it, you will feel it was a case of "the anticipation of death being worse than the death itself."

That's good to know, thanks! I was taking a few sample exams online and they were asking a bunch of police work questions. I know they're only online, non official exams, but it still got me thinking.

I'm excellent at spelling and proper grammar; not so much with mathematics.

Originally Posted by Fred 6528

Your best advice would be to use or better your education's to get a job at a forensics lab if you want to be involved in law enforcement. If that's not an option just keep in mind that with todays society of no respect for authority, liberals and their ideas, Chiefs and Sheriffs that bow down to them, Jesse and AL , Black Lives Movement, ACLU, Heroin epidemic, and the dumbing of America your career will be stressful. Also keep in mind that other stressors will come from command staff members including the officers you work with, this job comes with high rates of divorce, suicide, and after several years it takes it's toll on your body and attitude. The next time you see an officer that 20 plus years in this career ask him "How long before you retire?" you will find that he can quote down to the exact days. If this is your calling then go for it but keep in mind of the things I have said, for anyone that makes a career it they are a survivor. Good luck in your decisions

My ultimate goal is to use my degree to my advantage; that is, move up in the department. I don't want to be a street cop all my life, but I would like to do it for awhile. I know about how bad America has gotten and how people don't respect authority anymore. But someones gotta do it. I live in a pretty red state, so the people here still have some respect.

[CRF8]

My written test in 1983 was to watch a video of an incident, and write about it. 32 years later, I assure you, forensics is not law enforcement.


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[ELIC1]

.... God help me.. I did a stupid
I'm writing this as I just now calm myself from my mini panic attack.

About 40 minutes ago I wanted to start a fire in my condo fireplace. I've never done this before, so I just went to the gas station and picked up some normal firewood. When I got home, I put two pieces of wood in the fireplace and used a lot of newspaper for kindling. I started the fire, and as it was starting up pretty good I noticed a behemoth ton of smoke pouring out of the place. I'm a brand new homeowner and of course I didn't know that the VALVE WAS SHUT, or that there was such a thing as a fireplace valve.

I started opening all of the doors but it was too late. Every single smoke alarm in my house went off and I started freaking out. I couldn't reach one of them because it was so high up, but the other smoke alarms i removed the batteries from and they still wouldn't shut up. For about 10 solid minutes I was running around my condo trying new things and freaking out.

Life lesson learned. I don't think I'm ever going to use that fireplace ever again. When I did open the valve (with an oven mitt, because it was directly on top of the fire), it still wasn't catching ALL of the smoke from the fire. So I decided to just kill it with water before I did something else stupid.

So far I haven't had the FD or PD come to my door. The alarms shut off about 15 minutes ago. I guess that's a good thing.......................... if this is a issue for you i hope you have better judgment if you pass the test good luck you

[FenwickHockey65]

The written exam here in Florida wasn't too bad, although apparently I got the second highest score the testing facility had ever seen or something. It was looking at pictures then remembering details, tracking the fastest routes on maps, reading paragraphs and answering questions about them, stuff like that.

I have my physical abilities test this Saturday.

[102SS]

My cousin is a LEO his brother is a Customs agent,my whole family has military or police in their blood.

Every job has stress its how you deal with it that matters.

Good Luck with the test I am sure you will do fine.

[guerrillakilla13]

Originally Posted by ELIC1

if this is a issue for you i hope you have better judgment if you pass the test good luck you

You can't tell me you've never made a dumb mistake in your lifetime. Thanks for reposting the whole story word for word.

I can only hope reading that makes people think twice.

Originally Posted by FenwickHockey65

The written exam here in Florida wasn't too bad, although apparently I got the second highest score the testing facility had ever seen or something. It was looking at pictures then remembering details, tracking the fastest routes on maps, reading paragraphs and answering questions about them, stuff like that.

I have my physical abilities test this Saturday.

Good luck on your physical abilities test! If the written test is anything like that, i think I should be good. It's not hard to remember features of a face.

Originally Posted by 102SS

My cousin is a LEO his brother is a Customs agent,my whole family has military or police in their blood.

Every job has stress its how you deal with it that matters.

Good Luck with the test I am sure you will do fine.

My dad was a paramedic supervisor back in California for like 6 years or something. My whole family has a medical background (grandma = nurse, dad = paramedic, mom = paramedic, grandpa = plastic surgeon). I think i'm breaking the trend by trying to become a cop lol.

I can deal with people stress and overload stress. I work as a server at basically a club, I run into idiots and rude people all day while multi tasking like a mother. I can manage it all thanks to the gym and my closest friends (all military).

Thanks alot man I'm sure i'll do alright.

[13FastBlkSS]

The biggest thing to remember is use common sense when answering the questions. Try not to view the questions as if you are already a LEO (if that makes any sense, it makes sense in my head lol), also do not overthink the questions.

As far as the type of questions being asked (at least here in California), it has basic spelling / grammar, math, synonyms, etc..

[TXsilvy]

Im not leo, but my suggestion is to stick to facts in the written exam. Try not to use words like think, may have, could have, possibly etc. remember that part of the purpose of a cops written report is to hold up in court. Any vague or unsure comments give the defence ammo.

[FenwickHockey65]

Ha. I did a practice run of FHP's physical abilities test yesterday. I almost died.

Starting to freak out now. Need to run and drag sand around the backyard more...

[Muscle Car Lover]

Originally Posted by Fred 6528

Your best advice would be to use or better your education's to get a job at a forensics lab if you want to be involved in law enforcement. If that's not an option just keep in mind that with todays society of no respect for authority, liberals and their ideas, Chiefs and Sheriffs that bow down to them, Jesse and AL , Black Lives Movement, ACLU, Heroin epidemic, and the dumbing of America your career will be stressful. Also keep in mind that other stressors will come from command staff members including the officers you work with, this job comes with high rates of divorce, suicide, and after several years it takes it's toll on your body and attitude. The next time you see an officer that 20 plus years in this career ask him "How long before you retire?" you will find that he can quote down to the exact days. If this is your calling then go for it but keep in mind of the things I have said, for anyone that makes a career it they are a survivor. Good luck in your decisions

I have been a molecular biologist for 17 years and have extensive experience and even invented a whole lot of things used in forensics labs (PCR screening) over the years. I was looking into something like this as a later career job, to work closer to home and try and "do some good" but all the feedback I got was that it's an insiders game, not really possible unless you know folks etc. Maybe just Massachusetts.

[Superman09]

My biggest piece of advice is don't over think it. Like others have said it's typically based on a highschool education (or whatever minimum education lvl the dept requires). And they typically expect no leo experience or knowledge.
For the physical part, just finish. Typically there are no points awarded for finishing first or doing extra. Don't kill yourself if there are more tasks to do. Good luck, as many of my FTOs and friends have said, it's a front seat to the greatest show on earth

Sent from my campfire using smoke signals