ATTENTION TO DETAIL
01
Mathematical Ability
As a Correctional Officer, you will need to have a good basic level of mathematical comprehension for recording information such as time, number of inmates, and possibly logistical and monetary data such as how many supplies are left or what is left of the prison’s budget respectively. The questions here usually revolve around the core operations, namely addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.
However, it is not uncommon for the exam to also include statistical data-related questions with the use of graphs and tables.
02
Short-term Memorization
In this subject of the correction officer exam, the ability of the candidate to recall basic facts or information the moment they are provided to them is tested. This is because, as a Correctional Officer, you will be tasked with reading numerous reports and be required to retain as much information about it as accurately as possible.
This subject is also meant to test if you have the ability to memorize a string of numbers, letters, or a mixture of the two as those will correlate with locks, passwords, case numbers, prisoner/inmate numbers, or even special codes for prison alerts or announcements.
Other times, you may be presented with a photograph for a short period of time and then be asked a number of questions regarding the details contained with in.
03
Applying Written Material
In this subject, you will be presented with a passage that is in the form of a bulletin, guideline, information, instructions, or procedures relating to a correction or detention facility.
Questions will come after the passage and will require you to apply the procedure or rule that was given to you and selecting which of the choices applies the most to it.
It is not uncommon for the correction officer exam to include unrelated rules or guidelines, like that of how email should be handled or how a particular machine or vehicle should be inspected, because it also allows them to know if you are capable of applying the supplied information.
04
Preparing Written Material
You will be presented with a set of sentences that are put in a random or nonsensical order. To answer this correctly, you will have to pick from the choices which is the most correct restatement or which one shows the correct chronological or logical order to produce a coherent and understandable passage. This subject in the correctional officer test is meant to determine if the candidate can organize information logically and how accurate they can convey their thoughts or ideas to colleagues and inmates.
05
Reading and Understanding Written Material
This is also known as the Reading Comprehension Test. Here, the test-taker will be presented with a passage, ranging from a few sentences to a number of paragraphs long, and you will have to apply how the information applies to the question according to its intended purpose or message.
06
Situational Judgement Test
In this part of the correction officer exam, you will be presented with a situation that contains a conflict or problem of sorts that needs to be resolved.
Most of the questions here will relate to law enforcement roles in general, but some question banks of the correctional officer test focuses on detention facility or correctional facility-centric situations where you will be put in the shoes of a correctional officer.
From here, you will be presented with a number of choices of varying effectiveness, and you will be tasked to select which you think is the best course of action to take to resolve it.