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Constable Selection System

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Testing Tips and Practice Exercises

Practice Written Test

This exercise involves reading a short scenario and then summarizing the events in a logical manner to make a conclusion as to what happened.

Put yourself in the role of a police constable at the scene described below. Read the scenario very carefully. The information has not been organized. Based on your observations and comments from witnesses, prepare a report for your supervisor in the following manner:

List, in point form, all the facts you think are important under the following headings: time, location and evidence at the scene.
In essay form, reconstruct what you think happened, drawing on the information you have listed. Clearly demonstrate how the facts you have chosen support your view of the incident.

You should be careful with your spelling and grammar.

Scenario:

A blue Jeep was on the other side of the street from the Mazda. It is June 13. Ms. Helen Elogar parked her car facing west at 10:20 a.m. When she returned to her car, Ms. Elogar found the paint on her driver's door had been scratched. The owner of a grey Chevette had parked his car at 10:30 a.m. A blue Jeep was parked, facing east. Most of the parking spaces were blocked by craft displays. There was a shopping cart overturned in the street, beside a grey Chevette. There was a large community sale being conducted in front of the stores. A red Mazda was parked in front of the Coarville Pharmacy. The police were notified of the damage at 10:52 a.m. A Chevette was parked in front of the Mazda. Traffic was detouring around a shopping cart which was blocking the westbound lane. The pharmacy is at 342 Elm Street. It was a very windy day. There were a lot of people on the sidewalk. All of Ms. Elogar's purchases were in her car. There were only three vehicles parked along the street. There was red paint evident on the front right corner of the shopping cart. The owner of the grey Chevette said he had parked in front of the red Mazda, and that he had taken the last available parking spot. He stated that the shopping cart was not there when he pulled in.

Summarize the above information to describe what may have taken place. Draw any interpretations and conclusions you can about the incident.

Answer Key:

In order to complete the "report" regarding this occurrence, you will need to:

gather the information;
decide what information is important to the investigation of the occurrence;
organize the information in broad categories, such as time, location, evidence at the scene; and,
draw your conclusions as to what happened.

It may be helpful to go through the scenario and make a list on scrap paper of the facts which are important and then make your interpretations and conclusions based on this list. To make this practice scenario easier for you, very few non-relevant pieces of information have been included. Pay attention to each fact which has been presented in the scenario and try to link facts together to make it easy to make a judgement as to what happened. When you have come to a conclusion about what events happened and in what order they happened, check it against the facts presented, just to be sure you have not assumed anything.

Developing a point form outline before you write your final copy may save you time. Check the clock occasionally, to make sure you are not taking too long to complete this question. You will be given one hour to complete this test, so don't spend so long on the point form list that you run out of time, before you have completed the essay. Try to allow yourself time to check your work; correct any spelling or grammar mistakes you find.

The following is an example of the type of answer expected. Please remember that you may have a different writing style or that you may view the facts differently. The aim is to express your ideas clearly and to support your version of the events with the facts provided.