Chapter 4

Test-Taking Strategies

Create a Study Plan

No matter what is on your police exam, in order to do well you'll need to:

• Familiarize yourself with the question types that are common to all police exams
• Answer sample questions to assess your strengths and weaknesses
• Review the strategies you'll need in order to answer questions confidently and correctly
• Assess your progress with more practice questions
• Take full-length practice exams so you get a sense of timing, structure, and how to pace yourself on Test Day

The good news is that this review book has everything you'll need in order to prep for Test Day—it's a complete, comprehensive guide to all the major components that you will see on the day of your exam.

• Chapters 5–11 contain a thorough review of the question types common to police exams.
• Practice Tests 1–4 are 100-question exams that look like the one you will take on Test Day.

Before you dive in, we suggest drawing up (and sticking to) a study schedule that will guide your preparation.

Three Levels of Study

Perhaps you are already pretty good at most of the topics featured on the test, but you need to brush up on specific skills or quickly review all of the skills before Test Day. Or perhaps you feel moderately confident about some topics, but you need some significant review on others. Or perhaps, like many people, you have forgotten much of what you learned in high school, are not familiar with police scenarios, and need a comprehensive review.

The chart below outlines the different approaches you might take depending on your needs. Of course, your individual situation may vary; these are simply broad guidelines.

If you need a quick brush up or a light overall review . . .	If you need a moderate review of some or all topics . . .	If you need to learn or relearn many of the skills from scratch . . .
Start by devoting two study sessions of review to each chapter covering a topic you'd like to review in more detail. During those study sessions, read the appropriate chapter and do the practice items at the beginning and end.	Take one practice exam and carefully review which questions you got right and which questions you got wrong. Use the results to identify your areas of greatest need. Start by devoting 2–3 study sessions to each chapter you need to review in more detail. During each of those study sessions, read the appropriate chapter and do the practice items at the beginning and end.	Give yourself plenty of time to work through this book, chapter by chapter. Periodically review the earlier chapters so that those skills do not rust.
After you’ve completed your comprehensive review, take one full-length test in the book. If you haven’t seen significant improvement, continue to work on the areas you find most challenging. Take another full-length test every week or two, depending on your test date.	After you’ve done so, take another full-length test to gauge your progress. Continue to study and take a full-length test every week or two, depending on your test date. In the last few weeks before your test date, give several days to each of the content areas in which you were already strong.	Don’t take many full-length tests until you’ve reviewed most of the subject tests. In the last few weeks before Test Day, take a full-length practice test once a week or once every two weeks, depending on your test date.

Most importantly, aim to complete all four practice exams in this book before your test date. The more practice tests you do (and review after you have finished), the more it will increase your chances to earn a high score.