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Whatever your feelings are regarding this test as "fair" or "unfair," it is irrelevant. DCAS could have written a fair test on American History, but it has little to do with what we actually prepared for, which is a Lieutenant's Exam. We were never advised of the materials to peruse or be familiar with, and our own Department released practice questions to prepare us for an exam we were never going to take.
The in-basket was misleading, unclear and never defined who you were or what you were doing, which fair or not, was time consuming causing many intelligent men and women to not have sufficient time to complete a 100 question test.
At least half the patrol guide questions were poorly written, not referring to a specific section (which as we all know is problematic due to the discrepancies found within many different sections and procedures) or having many probable double answers.
Approximately half the exam was subjective, capricious and arbitrary; judgment calls in which there was no clear answer or authority. A separate argument can be made for multiple choices within the same answer and each person could potentially defend their position reasonably.
The math, reading comprehension and grammar although tough, was all fair game, but also time consuming.
Overall, I'd say 55% of the exam is debatable and I urge everyone to protest what they think is worth debating. I will hopefully be attending the protest session and dissecting each and every question, and hope the rest of you will join.
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Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results - Albert Einstein
Some of the math was unfair. The "most productive" squad? 3 questions based on what? Most summons written? Most written per cop per tour? No guidance, completely opinion.
The % changes in accidents and summons though the months, none gave you an exact answer they were off by a bit on all. I picked the one that was only off by a couple of decimal points. But none were 100% mathematically correct.
I had to fill in 20 questions at the end because I didnt have enough time to finish. This exam needs to be thrown out, it is a joke. If one person gets promoted off this list and others dont it will be a disgrace. I hate the fact of thinking about having to go thru the bullcrap of studying again for six months but that is the only fair way to go about things. Throw the damn thing out, give everybody a heads up of what will be asked, raise the time limited to complete the exam to 8 hours and let those who study the most and who are the brightest get promoted like has always been the case before.
It's the hypocrisy of the test that kills me. The very people who wrote it were never subjected to these standards and now in an attempt to find "the perfect boss" they've conjured this character/judgement based test.
I hope they know that serial killers and people with bad intentions are just as capable, if not more than capable of correctly answering these type of judgment/personality exams because they know exactly what the tester or interviewer wants to hear just through the ability to manipulate. Answering all of those questions "correctly" doesn't prove or show anything.
The patrol guide questions were also a poor attempt in creating a new style of a hybrid patrol guide question that is composed of two or more procedures which I firmly belive was another ludicrous measure these test developers felt was going to reveal THE PERFECT BOSS.
This is all because someone has a pet project and wants to re-invent the wheel.
It's disturbing how so many hard working people can get screwed because of this. It totally alters the lives and careers of those impacted. This test should have never happened, what a shame.
-- Edited by Cathetel on Monday 31st of October 2011 11:25:42 PM
-- Edited by Cathetel on Monday 31st of October 2011 11:27:16 PM
I agree Cathedal, once you start mixing up multiple patrol guide questions together you can come up with numerous correct answers. That's why a large majority of former patrol guide questions for past exams specifically lock you into only one proceedure. To look at it more generally, a PG guide proceedure that locks you into one specific question is like taking a math test, or a science test which is based on proven scientific/mathematical theory. There can be only one correct answer. However when you get into the subjects fields of psychology/sociology/history which is what these logic based questions are on, these are all liberal art studies. This means that idea/answers are all subject to debate, and interpretation. That is why the grades for a college level History/psychology class are based a lot more on a student being able to write a well persuasive detailed thesis compared to the taking of exams. You can have students in these classes take up a opinion on just about any type of subject you think of, and both of them can write well persuasive contradictory papers of what they believe is "correct"
DCAS gives marching orders, four LT's and a Captain do what their told. Either way, nobody was advised what materials should be consulted. I could have taken a math, reading comrehension, and psych class for $100.00 and saved the $2,000 I pissed away at the Key...Nobody knew what was going to be tested, so nobody knew how to prepare. If DCAS wanted to test me in Orthodox Greek Religion, thats what I would have studied. The patrol guide was irrealevant.
__________________
Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results - Albert Einstein
I can't think of anything I could have done to prepare for what happened after question 70...WTF that was also my reaction when I saw a whole days worth of roll calls
