How the hell do you pass the AO Civil Service exams?

Stool Pigeon

Hey there,

I was wondering if anyone had any pointers on preparation for AO and Third Sec exams for the civil service. I've sat them twice and missed it both times. Just wondering what the knack is.

Mrs. MacGyver

I was in the same boat , i didn't even get to the interview stage and i did an awful amount of preparation. I have no idea where i went wrong.

Stargal

My boyfriend came 4th in the AO exams last year and then 3rd after the interview phase (out of a few thousand afaik) and is now working in the Dept. of Justice (I'm not just boasting, I swear, I do have a point!)

This was the second time he'd done them, and although he did well the first time, he did a lot better the second time. He explained it by saying that he found it a lot easier to answer the questions the second time round because he'd built up some experience in organising/managing/delegating etc, so rather than guessing what he thought the correctors would want the right answer would be, he went with what he would actually do in that situation.

Also there was some basic stuff which you prob know already, like doing the practice test on publicjobs and going for speed > accuracy (think I have that the right way round!) in the answers.

I'll ask him if there was anything else in particular that could help or even explain it better cos I know that some of that is a little vague.

the_syco

There's books you can get for numeric tests in Waterstones: gets you in the mindframe for the tests, I found.

Barlow07

the_syco wrote: »

There's books you can get for numeric tests in Waterstones: gets you in the mindframe for the tests, I found.

This off topic but maybe someone might know the answer. I did the aptitude test back in November and passed, got confirmation by post. Just wondering the next step was or if is it a case of sitting and waiting for the next few years?

Nolanger

I have an AO interview this week - will also have to give a presentation. Can't remember much about the test but I was surprised that some people I know failed. Just practice all the example questions on the Public Jobs website - especially the Verbal Reasoning and Job Simulation parts. There are books and websites available on answering these kinds of tests - for example try the Business/Management sections in the larger shops. Also, try and enjoy doing these tests as you'll do better.

Slydice

I've found that having done really well in the maths and verbal that the job simulation counts for a lot.

I've pass each AO because my Verbal and Math carried me but the best I've done in Job Sim is "Middle".

For the maths and verbal just train yourself to read fast and answer quick (and use a calculator fast for the maths).

For the job sim, I noticed an improvement in my scores when I choose the answers that involved less teamwork and more making decisions that lessened work for your boss.

Aglomerado

Slydice wrote: »

For the job sim, I noticed an improvement in my scores when I choose the answers that involved less teamwork and more making decisions that lessened work for your boss.

And that's the civil service in a nutshell. The higher up you go, the less you have to do.

dory

I never heard about this job sim thing. And I´ve red a good chunk of the website. What does that involve? The information sent to our college made it seem like someone going straight from a degree could become a third secretary. But I doubt someone with no exp would do much good in a job sim!