82 L
AW
E
NFORCEMENT
E
XAMS
8. Run 5 yards to a maze of 6 cones set 3 feet apart and follow a prescribed course through the maze.
Penalty time is 5 seconds for missing a turn in the maze.
9. Run 5 yards and lift or drag a 70-pound dummy 25 feet. Maximum time 30 seconds.
10. Run 90 yards to the end of the course.
Although continuous running through all events is not mandatory, candidates must remember that they
have only 2 minutes and 15 seconds to complete the entire course. The maximum time permitted for an
individual event, where a maximum time is given, will begin when a candidate touches the apparatus used
for the event.
As a condition of continued employment, persons appointed from the list resulting from this
examination will be required to maintain physical fitness standards prescribed by the police department
and will be subject to periodic reexamination.
There is also a great deal of variation among the written exams that are designed to measure the
applicant's ability to learn and perform the duties of the job. Some written exams seem to dwell on the
applicant's judgment, some on memory, and others on general scholastic ability and aptitude. Still others
combine elements from all types of exams.
The exam samples that follow are meant to introduce you to the varieties of questions utilized on law
enforcement exams. The federal sample questions are the official questions distributed by the Treasury
Department, the Office of Personnel Management, the Immigration and Naturalization Service, and the
Postal Service. The city police and state trooper questions have been culled from old exams or have been
written expressly for this book based on actual recent exams.
Federal testing is in a state of flux at this time. Many changes have recently been made both in format
and in types of questions asked on a number of federal law enforcement application exams. The sample
questions for the named federal exams in this book reflect the latest versions available at the time of
publication. If you are taking one of the named federal exams, your exam will probably conform closely
to the official sample questions. However, it is possible that a still newer version will have appeared by
the time you apply for a federal law enforcement position. Give careful attention to any sample questions
you receive with application materials. Any other exam--federal, state, or local--will probably draw on
a number of question types from many different exams. Practice with all sample questions we have
provided almost guarantees you familiarity with the types of test questions you will have to answer. One
fact is certain: Your exam will not presuppose any familiarity with law enforcement rules, practices, or
procedures. Applicants for entry-level jobs are not expected to know anything about the work itself or
about agency rules. A well-rounded scholastic background, a clear head, common sense, and the
confidence created by previous introduction to the question styles are all you need.
