PSNI Recruitment - Stage 1 - The Initial Selection Test

DC Dibble

Has anyone any idea of the kind of maths we'll be expected to do in the IST. I've aquired a few books on psychometric tests but the range of mathmatics contained in them is frightening, and im sure not all of it could be covered in the tests. Although I could be wrong, its been known to happen:)

RoscoPColtrane

I thought it would be like the 11 plus. Its not the complexity of the maths nor the verbal reasoning. Its about the time. Bring a stopwatch. I didnt. My friend doing it for the second time did. Regrets...... I have a few.....:(

PapaYankeeGirl

RoscoPColtrane wrote: »

I thought it would be like the 11 plus. Its not the complexity of the maths nor the verbal reasoning. Its about the time. Bring a stopwatch. I didnt. My friend doing it for the second time did. Regrets...... I have a few.....:(

........but then again, too few to mention...

DC Dibble

RoscoPColtrane wrote: »

I thought it would be like the 11 plus. Its not the complexity of the maths nor the verbal reasoning. Its about the time. Bring a stopwatch. I didnt. My friend doing it for the second time did. Regrets...... I have a few.....:(

I was hoping I could pull a Hiro Nakamura manouver (Heroes BBC 2 for those who aren't hooked) and freeze time till I was happy with how i'd done the test.:D On a serious note I was planning on bringing a stopwatch, its just me and maths aren't the best of buddies and if had a reasonable idea what to expect then Im sure I could prepare more effeciently as opposed to filling my head up with stuff I will not need.

RoscoPColtrane

Look. After last time I'm totally armed to the teeth with books. Do they Help? Who knows. Its been a long long time since the 11 plus. I depend on a calculator at work so much that I cant add 2 and 2. Ballpark 3 til 7. That much I know. The rest is all guesswork. Its nerves. Once you settle petal youll be a ok. I was in total awe of the whole process but the funny thing is I really enjoyed the AC cos Im all LIGHTS.. CAMERA..ACTION. (Out of the gutter you lot). All Im saying is an actress to be sure to be sure. Loved it. Nothing to be nervous about at all. I just didnt know what to expect. Ill be deserving of a BAFTA next time though...

Does anyone have any tips or know of any usefull sites or books for the verbal reasoning bit?? I'm shunning the maths for a bit and trying out some reasoning practice tests and I'm really quite stunned that I'm not great at them...not in big headed way or anything I just always figured it would be easy, just take whats in the text as given, make no assumptions of your own and there you go, but no...I'm blessed with a really quite over imaginative mind and I can't stop myself reading between the lines and making up my own little scenarios out of them, even looking back at the right answer to see where it came from i can still somehow argue that my answer is correct Anyone any help on how to turn that little man inside my head making up stories off?!?

Jill77

cliffy33 wrote: »

Heya all got my date for my IST. Wat a balls tho had to be the day of my first college exam. Does anybody know the best way to try and change the date??

Emmm it tells you on your letter....

manaka

I know that the venue subject is a security sensitive issue so you can pm me about this.
I got the letter for the IST and was quite surprised at the distance I have to travel this year. It was more or less just around the corner last year but this year it is 5 times the distance away or more! Dont give me the lecture of 'if its what you want its worth the distance etc' Can venue be changed? Are there several venues? PM me please folks.
MAabe its a security issue or maybe its a deloitte issue or both!???

nickni

manaka wrote: »

I know that the venue subject is a security sensitive issue so you can pm me about this.
I got the letter for the IST and was quite surprised at the distance I have to travel this year. It was more or less just around the corner last year but this year it is 5 times the distance away or more! Dont give me the lecture of 'if its what you want its worth the distance etc' Can venue be changed? Are there several venues? PM me please folks.
MAabe its a security issue or maybe its a deloitte issue or both!???

I know personally mate any of my ISTs where always a long distance away 40-80 mins by car. I never had an issue with this but i can understand how some people might find it difficult, i would ask deloitte, worst they can say is no

Bifbert

This is my first time doing the IST and my venue is about 45 minutes away. coming up pretty shortly so I have been studying lots of maths and comprehension so hopefully it helps!!!! good luck everyone and wish me luck

Bifbert

Can someone please clarify that you do not get marks deducted for incorrect answers? Is this true? Should you then answer EVERY question to give yourself the best chance? thank you

Shield

No marks deducted for incorrect answers. The questions get progressively harder so you won't have time to read them all. About 30 seconds from the end, tick random boxes in the ones you didn't get to. You have a chance of getting a few right, whereas leaving them blank guarantees you no mark.

MrsGeneHunt

Bifbert wrote: »

Can someone please clarify that you do not get marks deducted for incorrect answers? Is this true? Should you then answer EVERY question to give yourself the best chance? thank you

As far as we know, theres not negative marking.
If you find a question is taking too much time, guess the answer and move on, there are more questions than there is time to complete them all.

MrsGeneHunt

The big lad beat me to it!

Bifbert

Thats great thanks for your help!!!

manaka

Thanks Nickni, Ill give them a buzz on friday to see.

manaka

Ha i posted on the wrong thread, dont know how that happened! Id better make sure i answer the right questions on the ist!! Ha. I think there should be grammar tests in the ist too. Any support?

potatopeeler

I found an interesting document online with comprehensive stats regarding c1-c7, including pass rates for all aspects of recruitment , a breakdown of the medical failure reasons etc. Its a bit out of date but it might be helpfull ?


http://www.psni.police.uk/eqia_recruitment_full_report.pdf

manaka

potatopeeler wrote: »

I found an interesting document online with comprehensive stats regarding c1-c7, including pass rates for all aspects of recruitment , a breakdown of the medical failure reasons etc. Its a bit out of date but it might be helpfull ?


http://www.psni.police.uk/eqia_recruitment_full_report.pdf

Anyone know how it was possible to be exempted from the IST according to the above document, probably not applicable now. And did they actually do firearm 'stuff' with candidates!?

tu justicia

whats the best training method for the ist? it looks like I got my scheduled for late august...

thank you for your answers!

MustBeCrazy

tu justicia wrote: »

whats the best training method for the ist? it looks like I got my scheduled for late august...

thank you for your answers!

Late August :eek::eek::eek: - Why so long? Last campaign the assesment centres were all over by late August.

As for training methods - brain training is good and 11 plus papers. There is also a book available from Amazon called How to Pass the Police Selection System, and although more relevant to England, it does have some practice questions in it. It's all about speed so getting your brain into a fast gear for the few days before your test will help.

RoscoPColtrane

tu justicia wrote: »

whats the best training method for the ist? it looks like I got my scheduled for late august...

thank you for your answers!

Maybe its because there are so many applicants this year that your IST is so late. MBC is right. Its all about getting the old grey matter going. There are loads of books on verbal and numerical reasoning on the internet. Theres only so much you can do in preparation for the IST. Timing is the issue on the day though.

tickle_monster

with all this talk of 11+ papers i saw this on the bbc its only 15questions in 10minutes, i really need to brush up on the ole maths got 12/15 so its not hard lol
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7773974.stm

RoscoPColtrane

tickle_monster wrote: »

with all this talk of 11+ papers i saw this on the bbc its only 15questions in 10minutes, i really need to brush up on the ole maths got 12/15 so its not hard lol
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7773974.stm

Very good TM. Based on that Im your intellectual equal.

MustBeCrazy

RoscoPColtrane wrote: »

Very good TM. Based on that Im your intellectual equal.

Not one to gloat but I just did it and got 15/15 with over 5 minutes remaining! :eek:

Must point out that my eldest daughter just did the 11 plus last year so I have had a lot of practice

Haven't done any other practice for IST yet and it's next week so better get started...

tickle_monster

RoscoPColtrane wrote: »

Very good TM. Based on that Im your intellectual equal.

lol hey my intellectual twin, we should now plot world domination

MustBeCrazy wrote: »

Not one to gloat but I just did it and got 15/15 with over 5 minutes remaining! :eek:

Must point out that my eldest daughter just did the 11 plus last year so I have had a lot of practice

Haven't done any other practice for IST yet and it's next week so better get started...

well done!! but you did have an unfair advantage :P i havent seen an 11+paper in 10/11 years (if im 21 now how long ago does that make it) lol can still remember them being colour coded yellow was easiest
you'll sail through the IST then good luck for next week mine isnt until may so ive plently of time should really get to work on the maths

MustBeCrazy

tickle_monster wrote: »

lol hey my intellectual twin, we should now plot world domination



well done!! but you did have an unfair advantage :P i havent seen an 11+paper in 10/11 years (if im 21 now how long ago does that make it) lol can still remember them being colour coded yellow was easiest
you'll sail through the IST then good luck for next week mine isnt until may so ive plently of time should really get to work on the maths

Well, I came out of last year's IST in a state of shock - was not expecting the maths part to be sooooo difficult at all. Will at least be a little more prepared for that this year! It took me at least a minute at the start to figure out what I was supposed to do.

Thanks for the good luck wishes, same to you

tu justicia

RoscoPColtrane wrote: »

Very good TM. Based on that Im your intellectual equal.

this one was really hard, I got some of them wright at least...but the real problem was the time...yikes... as for the time schedule for my ist, I think its mainly because im not from the uk...

RoscoPColtrane

tickle_monster wrote: »

lol hey my intellectual twin, we should now plot world domination



Ive started ........;). Phase 1. Join PSNI.... Its all going tickety boo.

RoscoPColtrane

tu justicia wrote: »

this one was really hard, I got some of them wright at least...but the real problem was the time...yikes... as for the time schedule for my ist, I think its mainly because im not from the uk...

TIME TIME TIME ..... It will become ingrained...

RoscoPColtrane

RoscoPColtrane wrote: »

TIME TIME TIME ..... It will become ingrained...

Is that a word??????

MrsGeneHunt

Well everyone, this week sees the real kick off of C15 with the start of the ISTs.

Good luck everyone!

PapaYankeeGirl

Yeah good luck everyone!:D

Che75

When I go for my IST this week I'm gonna yell out five or six nicknames off this Boards just to see who turns around!

Bifbert

Che75 wrote: »

When I go for my IST this week I'm gonna yell out five or six nicknames off this Boards just to see who turns around!

That would be so funny!!!! But seriously good luck to everyone I'm quite looking forward to it in a strange way!

valetudo

psni wrote: »

No marks deducted for incorrect answers. The questions get progressively harder so you won't have time to read them all. About 30 seconds from the end, tick random boxes in the ones you didn't get to. You have a chance of getting a few right, whereas leaving them blank guarantees you no mark.

Is this for definite? I don't want to say for example pick like 20 (A's) in a row and whoever is marking it thinks that I have clearly just ticked boxes to score marks and marks negatively for it or not at all.....?

PapaYankeeGirl

Che75 wrote: »

When I go for my IST this week I'm gonna yell out five or six nicknames off this Boards just to see who turns around!

Problem is everyone will look around, they'll theink you're crazy, then you'll be escorted off the premises!

smyff

haha theyll just look at you n not think twice about doing that to you PYG! good luck to everyone. im nervous as for mine! pressure to do well

manaka

PapaYankeeGirl wrote: »

Problem is everyone will look around, they'll theink you're crazy, then you'll be escorted off the premises!

Actually, if someone did that, they'd know who the person was shouting it....they MustBeCrazy! :P lol

Anyways, I had to check up what an 11 plus is as I hadnt a clue what they are. I dont see much comparison between them and the IST. Being able to assimilate lots of data in things such as timetables/schedules etc is needed. It is a good idea to understand what you are looking at first before you attempt any of the questions!

But here's a link to 11 plus stuff for the fans of it

http://www.11plusonline.net/

For the verbal reasoning (for the maths, add, subtract, dividle, multiply practice needed) part of the IST I personally favour:

http://www.kent.ac.uk/careers/tests/verbaltest.htm

Lots of other tests on this site which are quite good and a more difficult than the 11 plus which is what it needed!! and one more for luck...

http://www.psychometric-success.com/downloads/download-practice-tests.htm

Good luck peeps

valetudo

Nice one Manaka, my IST is tomorrow and those are just what I need.

Based on the practice test available on the jobpsni website, are those exactly the 2 types of questions to expect ie the true/false/can't tell and the maths question, or will there be other types of questions other than the ones given in the practice test? For example will there be anything like this http://www.psychometric-success.com/practice-papers/Psychometric%20Success%20Numerical%20Ability%20-%20Reasoning%20Practice%20Test%201.pdf

or this http://www.psychometric-success.com/practice-papers/Psychometric%20Success%20Verbal%20Ability%20-%20Word%20Relationship%20Practice%20Test%201.pdf

Thanks.

Going by what I remember from last year, the questions are basically exactly what they have on the website, except much harder than the examples. The T/F/CT questions were VERY ambiguous and hard to decide upon.

The second section has a lot of information to absorb, and the time constraints are very tight. There's loads of calculations to be done, and one of the hardest things to deal with is the fact that your head starts melting from trying to work out so many things at once.

manaka

valetudo wrote: »

Nice one Manaka, my IST is tomorrow and those are just what I need.

Based on the practice test available on the jobpsni website, are those exactly the 2 types of questions to expect ie the true/false/can't tell and the maths question, or will there be other types of questions other than the ones given in the practice test? For example will there be anything like this http://www.psychometric-success.com/practice-papers/Psychometric%20Success%20Numerical%20Ability%20-%20Reasoning%20Practice%20Test%201.pdf

or this http://www.psychometric-success.com/practice-papers/Psychometric%20Success%20Verbal%20Ability%20-%20Word%20Relationship%20Practice%20Test%201.pdf

Thanks.

Hi valetudo, as testarossa said they WILL be harder and are quite ambiguous. There is no test like the link you gave, just verbal reasoning and the data one. Dont dwell on any one question for too long. Take a watch but dont watch it all the time!! Stay calm and focused. Good luck!
Mine aint til near end o May!

valetudo

Does the maths part of the test have long multiplication, division or calculating percentages of decimal points? Is it as hard as that? I'm trying to brush up on those tests you put a link for and there is alot of the above in them and am wondering how much I should dwell it.

valetudo

valetudo wrote: »

Does the maths part of the test have long multiplication, division or calculating percentages of decimal points? Is it as hard as that? I'm trying to brush up on those tests you put a link for and there is alot of the above in them and am wondering how much I should dwell it.

Nah, nothing like that. The thing that makes it complicated is that you will have about 6 tables of information, and for any given question you will have to check at least three of them for figures. The actual maths itself is very straightforward, the trick is in getting obtaining the info you need to make the right calculation as quickly as possible.

Darren90

I have my IST tomorrow and I have to say I am fairly nervous about it. i did the practise test from the JoinPSNI website which was ok, part B was abit melty.

Ive started to play sudoku to try and improve my concentration and thinking times.

Any other hints or tips on how to improve to get through the IST?

MrsGeneHunt

Prepare for the real thing to be MUCH harder. In my humble opinion, all the practice questions provided by Deloitte do is lull you into a false sense of security, they are a doddle.

Mine is soon too and I'm very nervous, even tho I did it last year for the first time. (I failed by 2 but got through when they lowered the pass mark)

Get a good nights sleep tonight, leave yourself plenty of time to get there so you arent panicking and bring your letter and ID.

Best of luck!

Darren90

I agree that the Delottie practise paper is fairly basic. Although I worry quite a bit before big exams, I was like this coming up to my GCSE's and I'm doing it again for the IST and my A-Levels :P

Even though I'm nervous I am looking forward to it.

Good luck to you too!

smyff

MrsGeneHunt wrote: »

Prepare for the real thing to be MUCH harder. In my humble opinion, all the practice questions provided by Deloitte do is lull you into a false sense of security, they are a doddle.

Mine is soon too and I'm very nervous, even tho I did it last year for the first time. (I failed by 2 but got through when they lowered the pass mark)

Get a good nights sleep tonight, leave yourself plenty of time to get there so you arent panicking and bring your letter and ID.

Best of luck!

HA! i beat you by 1 last time lol. i really really didnt expect it to be like that. my maths geek of a sister has been testing my sorry ass though. brain training age of 20something, which is great cause a month ago i was 73 or something. ive become far quicker with my maths, so hopefully it helps me in the IST.

im gonna have a practice run tomorrow morning just to make sure im there on time on my date :P

Slave_To_Sound

Darren90 wrote: »

I agree that the Delottie practise paper is fairly basic. Although I worry quite a bit before big exams, I was like this coming up to my GCSE's and I'm doing it again for the IST and my A-Levels :P

Even though I'm nervous I am looking forward to it.

Good luck to you too!

Hey Darren mine is really soon too I think the main thing is to turn up in plenty of time and make sure you have your letter and ID as MGH says. If your running late or tired its only going to make you panic more there is only so much prep you can do main thing is being fully alert in my oppinion.
Oh and I would prob remover your D.O.B from profile its best to keep no info on there at all.

Darren90

Yeah I will be there in plently of time even if im there an hour early :P
Well noticed about my D.O.B I have just registered and didn't even check, cheers

Well good luck for your IST, hope you do well.