How to Pass the Police Selection System: Practice for the Psychometric Tests and Succeed at the Assessment Centres

177 Pages·2010·3.14 MB·English

by  Harry Tolley, Billy Hodge, Catherine Tolley

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HOW TO PASS
THE POLICE
SELECTION
SYSTEM
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HOW TO PASS
THE POLICE
SELECTION
SYSTEM
Practise for the psychometric tests
and succeed at the assessment centres
3rd edition
HARRY TOLLEY,
BILLY HODGE &
CATHERINE TOLLEY
iv
Publisher’s note
Every possible effort has been made to ensure that the information contained in
this book is accurate at the time of going to press, and the publishers and authors
cannot accept responsibility for any errors or omissions, however caused. No
responsibility for loss or damage occasioned to any person acting, or refraining
from action, as a result of the material in this publication can be accepted by the
editor, the publisher or any of the authors.
First published in Great Britain in 1997 entitled How to Pass the Police Initial
Recruitment Test
Second edition published in 2004 entitled How to Pass the New Police Selection
System
Revised second edition 2007
Third edition published in 2010 entitled How to Pass the Police Selection System
Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study, or crit-
icism or review, as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988,
this publication may only be reproduced, stored or transmitted, in any form or by
any means, with the prior permission in writing of the publishers, or in the case of
reprographic reproduction in accordance with the terms and licences issued by the
CLA. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside these terms should be sent to the
publishers at the undermentioned address:
Kogan Page Limited
120 Pentonville Road
London N1 9JN
United Kingdom
www.koganpage.com
© Harry Tolley, Billy Hodge and Catherine Tolley, 1997, 2004, 2007, 2010
The right of Harry Tolley, Billy Hodge and Catherine Tolley to be identified as the
authors of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988.
ISBN 978 0 7494 5712 9
E-ISBN 978 0 7494 5905 5
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library.
Typeset by Saxon Graphics Ltd, Derby
Printed and bound in India by Replika Press Pvt Ltd
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Contents
1 Becoming a police officer 1
Introduction 1
The national selection system 2
2 Entry requirements and competencies 9
Entry requirements 9
Competencies relevant to the role of a police officer 10
3 The assessment centre 24
What is an assessment centre? 24
Timetable 25
Assessment exercises 26
Psychometric tests 26
Written exercises 27
Role-play exercises 28
Interview 29
Conduct of the assessments 30
Final thoughts 31
4 How to prepare for the psychometric tests 32
How practice can make a difference 32
How to perform to the best of your ability 33
How to use the practice tests 34
vi Contents
Interpreting your practice test scores 36
Making use of feedback from practice tests 37
Other ways of preparing for the psychometric tests 38
5 Numerical reasoning test 39
Introduction 39
Examples 39
Test 1 46
Test 2 52
Test 3 58
Test 4 64
Test 5 69
Answers to numerical reasoning tests 76
6 Verbal logical reasoning test 77
Introduction 77
Test 1 81
Test 2 87
Test 3 94
Test 4 100
Test 5 106
Answers to verbal logical reasoning tests 113
7 Writing tasks and exercises 114
The writing tasks 114
Completing Section 4 of the application form 116
Assessment centre written test 122
Final thoughts 128
8 Role-play exercises 129
Revisiting the core competencies 129
Role-play exercises – a worked example 130
Practice exercises 136
Final thoughts 137
Contents vii
9 The interview 139
Selection interviews 139
Types of selection interview 140
Assessment centre interview 142
Interview practice exercises 146
Final thoughts 150
10 Job-related fitness test 151
The tests 151
How to improve your test scores 154
11 Some final thoughts 155
Developing your reading skills 155
Developing your listening skills 158
Emotional intelligence 161
Final advice 162
Further reading from Kogan Page 165
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1
1
Becoming a police
officer
Introduction
The aim of this chapter is to give you an overview of the
national selection system by which police officers are now
recruited to forces in England and Wales. Precise details of the
procedures used at different stages in the process, and guidance
on how you can prepare for them, are given in later chapters.
At present, although there is a national selection system for
appointment as a police constable, there is no national police
service. Instead, in addition to the British Transport Police and
the Civil Nuclear Constabulary, there are 43 separate police
forces covering England and Wales, 8 in Scotland and 1 in
Northern Ireland – each force being run under the command of
a Chief Officer. Although each force recruits independently, it
does so within the framework provided by a national selection
system. As a consequence, there is now a common set of entry
requirements, at the heart of which are seven core compe-
tencies, which are judged to be relevant to the role of all police
officers. A national assessment system has been established to