PSNI Recruitment - Stage 1 - The Initial Selection Test

manaka · 22-04-2009 09:59AM

RoscoPColtrane wrote: »

Bubbasboo.. yeah a bit random..but as bob holmes said...its good to 'talk'??

Was it wrong to giggle when the contestants said ill have a p please bob? Juvenile i know. Its ok to be juvenile once a week.[/quote]

Sorry it was bob hoskins! see here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIuDEjON_zw (that and the calcium ad sticks in my head!)
bob holness was the blockbuster one. Yeah think everyone giggled, especially when someone said Orgasm!:eek: Now back to the IST topic!

Vix09 · 22-04-2009 10:49AM

Hello all! Im new to the forum. I was at the IST lastnight and also noticed that there were a lot more males than females there. I've done the IST a few times before so im not new to this game. Same boat as quite a few of you I guess.
Didn't enjoy the 2nd part of the IST at all, came down to the old just choose an answer scenario a few times! Now the waiting game begins, oh the joy!! Good luck to all that are doing the IST soon.

bubbasboo · 22-04-2009 11:01AM

hi vix09

yeh the 2nd part it was the same for me tbh i found it very hard.

have u got past the ist stage before?

Slave_To_Sound · 22-04-2009 11:08AM

Hey just finished mine about an hour ago It was difficult enough IMO the first part was ok but the second there was too much information to scan ha ha.
Also if you haven't done it yet TAKE A WATCH! I was told to and didn't as i planned to just go to front of the room and use the clock but the evil man wouldn't let us pick our seats I was about tenth in the room and ended up at the back . Luckily I finished both parts just as they said pencils down.
Anyway good luck for the rest of you still to do it hope it goes well

Vix09 · 22-04-2009 11:09AM

Yeah I did find it hard, im more of an english person than maths. I gave up trying to work out the answers and went for the pot luck method haha. Don't think my chances are very good but sure, if you're not in you can't win!!
This is my 3rd time of doing the IST, i've got right through to the merit pool 2 times before but both times were a few years ago. Didnt score high enough. Left it for a while and decided go for it again seeing as they are cutting intake numbers drastically in the not so distant future! All in all this is my 5th time going for PSNI.

Bifbert · 22-04-2009 11:33AM

just finished mine there too. First time applying and found it pretty tricky but hopefully will have done enough. There was a lot of girls at the one today. The girl sitting in front of me was REALLY good looking as well, which didn't help me concentrate!!!! If you are here girl with peach coloured top in the first row to the left let me know!!! But seriously the time limits are the killer, there is no way you can answer all the questions without guessing some. Good luck to everyone involved in this campaign.

bubbasboo · 22-04-2009 01:14PM

vix09 good luck this time so basically you got through everything but they said no at the merit pool, typical after all the hard work, best of luck for this time anyway.

yes slave to sound defo 2nd that advice take a watch i knew exactly when they were goina say pencils down, thankfully i had got finished before they said it.

time is a killer and it makes u guess the hard ones in the maths section, i skipped a few went to the shorter ? and then went back to the long ones at the end.

good luck everyone.

Slave_To_Sound · 22-04-2009 01:37PM

Heres a tip, what i did on the second one was once i had reached the last row on answer sheet of questions i quickly filled them in randomly as i wasn't sure how long was left and then i just worked through them answering them properly and rubbing out guesses if needed. It worked for me and i ended up with about five of my guesses being right ( well what i think was right anyway)

.
Of course i did this because i didn't have watch and couldn't see clock properly, if you have a watch you wont need to guess until theres 10 seconds left.

Vix09 · 22-04-2009 02:27PM

I would agree with the whole bring a watch thing, I was one of the lucky ones lastnight and was on the front row woohoo lucky me! But yeah it was clear when the time was ticking away with the clock infront of me.

I actually got the furthest in my 1st attempt with PSNI, so here's hoping the luck of the newbie is with you! You never know. It's definitely going to take the full month to hear back this time judging by the amount of candidates in this campaign.

Bubba1981 · 22-04-2009 04:35PM

I just did mine yesterday, pretty much as expected but the second part of it was difficult. This is my second time applying, I didn't get past the IST last timedue to lack of preparation and my maths being very poor.
Does anyone know what the pass mark is for the IST this time round and what the examiners meant by negative marking is NOT in effect?

MrsGeneHunt · 22-04-2009 05:27PM

Bubba1981 wrote: »

I just did mine yesterday, pretty much as expected but the second part of it was difficult. This is my second time applying, I didn't get past the IST last timedue to lack of preparation and my maths being very poor.
Does anyone know what the pass mark is for the IST this time round and what the examiners meant by negative marking is NOT in effect?

Negative marking is sometimes used in Psychometric testing, basically, if you got questions no 1 -6 correct and got question 7 wrong then they would deduct a mark thus, even though you had six right answers you would only have 5 marks.
There's very little to be gained by negative marking and I'm glad its not used, as then there is zero reward for at least attempting to answer a question.

As for pass mark, thats a grey area. Last year it was 52/78 which was then lowered to 50 (meaning I got through to AC woohoo!)
I have no idea what it is for this year.

Also, if you want to sit at the front of the room, then sit at the front of the room, I was about to be placed near the middle of the second row and I wanted to be at the front so I just asked if I could sit at the front. It wasnt a problem.
For some reason loads of people hate the front, believe me its the best seat in the house. Zero distractions from everyone around you and a clear view of the clock on the wall and easier to hear all the waffle instructions as they are being read out.
Good luck everyone.

bubbasboo · 22-04-2009 08:22PM

bubba1981 hi good luck,

your nickname is freaky it would be my hubbys nickname and the year i was born freaky!

I got the front row as well far better cus u knew when the consenia people were getting up to say pens down lol.

smyff · 22-04-2009 10:06PM

bubbasboo wrote: »

bubba1981 hi good luck,

your nickname is freaky it would be my hubbys nickname and the year i was born freaky!

I got the front row as well far better cus u knew when the consenia people were getting up to say pens down lol.

last year i was at the back, but im so lanky in the primary 1 sized chairs, i still towered above everyone and i saw them get up :P ive got a stop watch so i can time it out tomorrow

bubbasboo · 22-04-2009 10:14PM

smyff

gud luck tomorrow!

nickni · 22-04-2009 11:07PM

Good luck for tomorrow smyff and anyone else doing their IST tomorrow

gigity gigity · 22-04-2009 11:27PM

Evenin all, just thought id say hello. got my ist in next two weeks, the most work ive done is the practice test, managed that ok tho time will catch me out! anybody know if brain trainer is actually any use for preparing for test?

bubbasboo · 22-04-2009 11:31PM

gigity i found the practice test easy in comparison.

not sure about brain trainer cant do no harm anyway

good luck

PEGGYSUE'S MAMA · 22-04-2009 11:43PM

braintrainer, x-words, sudoku, tetris, anything that gets your brain ticking over is good practice, i didn't use practice tests last year as they are a bit too easy.... i have however done more than my fair share of aptitude tests for jobs in the last while, is all downto speed and accuracy, they are not expecting us to get full marks in the time allocated, just do what you can and hope for the best!:D

gigity gigity · 22-04-2009 11:44PM

bubbasboo wrote: »

gigity i found the practice test easy in comparison.

not sure about brain trainer cant do no harm anyway

good luck

Cheers, was just reading back a few pages, noticed you have yours done already, take it the maths is first? dont suppose there are the actual past exams from previous years anywhere?

gigity gigity · 22-04-2009 11:50PM

PEGGYSUE'S MAMA wrote: »

braintrainer, x-words, sudoku, tetris, anything that gets your brain ticking over is good practice, i didn't use practice tests last year as they are a bit too easy.... i have however done more than my fair share of aptitude tests for jobs in the last while, is all downto speed and accuracy, they are not expecting us to get full marks in the time allocated, just do what you can and hope for the best!:D

Cheers peggysues mama.So do you reckon then that the negative marking thing is nonsense and you should just get more right than guess and get some wrong? Thats what I had thought originally tho reading other posts made me think it would be ok to guess if time got tight (which in my case it will lol) time to get the brain trainer!

bubbasboo · 22-04-2009 11:58PM

g g , maths came 2nd in my test yesterday

i would say get as many right as you can, my theory was i looked for short questions first ones that were easiest to answer , and not the ones that were getting you to remember to peices of info to answer the ?

take a watch and keep an eye on the time, if ur near the end then yes guess the rest it is worth it even if u only get 2/3 right out of them.

i doubt there is past exam papers to be honest , you be fine get a good nights kip the night b4 and good brekkie in you, make sure u use the loo b4 u go in as u cant go back out or u forfeit the test at whatever point u r at.

and take a drink with u, non alco of course lol:D

PEGGYSUE'S MAMA · 23-04-2009 12:05AM

complete as many qs as u can and don't dwell too long on one question, and if you are running out of time just make random choices, you never know you may get em all right!

you do get rough paper for workings etc, be aware that they gather this in as well...... they made me take my handy andys out of the wrapper last year, caused a bit of a panic, was in full on hay fever mode!

just relax, try not to be too nervous, this is just the start of a lllooooonnnnngggg process!!!!

manaka · 23-04-2009 12:05AM

...and take some hubba bubba bubble gum, blow some bubbles...should distract the others a bit...oh maybe thats bad...dont forget your ID!! Heres a rhyme...'IST and ID go with me! PC and CID is what ill be'

Geee Rosco was right, I do have too much time... (there is no spoon!) why isnt there a big yawn smiley? YAWN!!

Bubba1981 · 23-04-2009 08:33AM

MrsGeneHunt wrote: »

Negative marking is sometimes used in Psychometric testing, basically, if you got questions no 1 -6 correct and got question 7 wrong then they would deduct a mark thus, even though you had six right answers you would only have 5 marks.
There's very little to be gained by negative marking and I'm glad its not used, as then there is zero reward for at least attempting to answer a question.

As for pass mark, thats a grey area. Last year it was 52/78 which was then lowered to 50 (meaning I got through to AC woohoo!)
I have no idea what it is for this year.

Also, if you want to sit at the front of the room, then sit at the front of the room, I was about to be placed near the middle of the second row and I wanted to be at the front so I just asked if I could sit at the front. It wasnt a problem.
For some reason loads of people hate the front, believe me its the best seat in the house. Zero distractions from everyone around you and a clear view of the clock on the wall and easier to hear all the waffle instructions as they are being read out.
Good luck everyone.

Thanks for the explanation MrsGeneHunt! It makes sense now. Soooo glad negative marking isn't in place!! Now that it's over I think I'm more nervous about finding out my results. It's sad but I think I might have to get my other half to open the envelope when it comes!!

I totally agree with bringing a watch and sitting at the front, although the deloitte people seemed very fussy about people sitting where they told them to sit.

Bubbasboo - I was wanting to have my name as bubbahotep (simply because I like the film) but that was already taken so I thought i'd shorten it to Bubba and the year I was born. On any other boards I'm in I always just use my name but didn't think that would be the smartest thing for this forum!

smyff · 23-04-2009 10:58AM

bubbasboo wrote: »

smyff

gud luck tomorrow!

nickni wrote: »

Good luck for tomorrow smyff and anyone else doing their IST tomorrow

thanks and thanks!!! i got everything answered so i am happy enough. i defos was better prepared compared to last yaer.

anyone else sit their test today in belfast? there was loadsssssss at it but i didnt know anyone. i chatted to an older woman and a baldy guy. he failed his AC and the woman was an IST virgin. i told them id passed my med n all n they didnt understand why i reapplied lol. they were nice people like. and there was some skyirt there so i had a duke when i could haha

Slave_To_Sound · 23-04-2009 11:30AM

PEGGYSUE'S MAMA wrote: »

complete as many qs as u can and don't dwell too long on one question, and if you are running out of time just make random choices, you never know you may get em all right!

you do get rough paper for workings etc, be aware that they gather this in as well...... they made me take my handy andys out of the wrapper last year, caused a bit of a panic, was in full on hay fever mode!

just relax, try not to be too nervous, this is just the start of a lllooooonnnnngggg process!!!!

Why do they take you rough paper in do they use it at all or just bin it? Why would they want to look and your hankies lol???

Bubba1981 · 23-04-2009 12:07PM

I think they take your rough paper so as you can't leave with any of the questions/answers. It would be fairly easy for someone to copy down all the answers as it's multiple choice if you were that way inclined

Aussiebec · 23-04-2009 02:54PM

Hi All!
Well I'm applying from Australia, I have both my initial selection & assessment test in August (living abroad we get a bit of time to get there!). I got into the PSNI 7 years ago on first attempt, to then discover I was pregnant! I've since returned home to Oz with my son & am now re-applying. So it's great to hear everyone's advice & stories.. even though I passed the first time I'm terrible at maths so it can't be all that bad?

Is there anyone else from abroad applying?

Good luck guys!

Bifbert · 23-04-2009 04:14PM

Aussiebec wrote: »

Hi All!
Well I'm applying from Australia, I have both my initial selection & assessment test in August (living abroad we get a bit of time to get there!). I got into the PSNI 7 years ago on first attempt, to then discover I was pregnant! I've since returned home to Oz with my son & am now re-applying. So it's great to hear everyone's advice & stories.. even though I passed the first time I'm terrible at maths so it can't be all that bad?

Is there anyone else from abroad applying?

Good luck guys!

Lucky you getting in first time! Hope I can do that! Good luck for this time

Papa Charlie · 23-04-2009 07:43PM

Howdy people,just a quick one for those who have done their ist this year,was there any questions on percentages or pie charts?hate them :eek:

PSNI Recruitment - Stage 1 - The Initial Selection Test

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