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PSNI Recruitment - Stage 1 - The Initial Selection Test

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This is Stage 1 of the application process to join the Police Service of Northern Ireland. Post your questions, answers, comments, information, advice or experiences here.

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wannabe2010

Tommy-Kerry wrote: »

Hey wannabe21010, I did mine yesterday, I traveled up north from Co. Kerry! Yeah I found it really hard, especially the second part like everyone is saying... But anyway I hope we both get the result we want

Tommy-Kerry:cool:

Jeeze, that's a long way to travel! Wonder did you spot me, I was the one with the bandaged left hand lol

Well here's hopin.. maybe we'll be in the same AC group eh!

(*fingers crossed*)

scullersky

wannabe2010 wrote: »

Jeeze, that's a long way to travel! Wonder did you spot me, I was the one with the bandaged left hand lol Well here's hopin.. maybe we'll be in the same AC group eh! *fingers crossed*

Yeah I did actually!! I was the young guy and had a bag on my back!! Yeah it was a long way to travel alrite but I hope its worth it;)

Tommy-Kerry:cool:
If you have MSN pm me your msn address:D

crazylegs28

I just completed my IST last tuesday morning.
Really think i failed it. Never got all of the questions answered, however I'm told this isn't important?!
Does anyone know if there are pass rates for this stage if any?
Also, is there a certain percentage of people that the psni need to go through to the next stage?

wannabe2010

crazylegs28 wrote: »

I just completed my IST last tuesday morning.
Really think i failed it. Never got all of the questions answered, however I'm told this isn't important?!
Does anyone know if there are pass rates for this stage if any?
Also, is there a certain percentage of people that the psni need to go through to the next stage?

Even if you don't get time to answer the questions consciously, it's probably best if you guess them cuz then you'll at least have a 25% chance of getting it right..

Last year's pass rate was something like 55/78 I hear - it all depends on how well everyone else does..

As far as I know, the PSNI don't 'need' any number to go through.. I'm guessing as long as they can cover retirement etc and it's 50% RC and 50% NRC, they'll be happy with that... (correct me if I'm wrong - I'm probably talking out of my ass lol)

I found my IST really hard like.. esp the maths part

don't worry!

forestgrump

have my ist very soon......is it exactley the same as the smple paper we are given??? same but different if you understand me!
how many maths q's? and how much time to answer that section?
how many q's in the comprehension section? and how much time to answer that??

wannabe2010

forestgrump wrote: »

have my ist very soon......is it exactley the same as the smple paper we are given??? same but different if you understand me!
how many maths q's? and how much time to answer that section?
how many q's in the comprehension section? and how much time to answer that??

No, I cannot stress enough how much harder the real maths qs are than that crappy practice one on the site... there are loads of tables that you have to cross-reference and cross-reference again just to get one answer!

48 English qs in 20 mins = 24 secs per q
30 maths qs in 25 mins = 50 secs per q

Good luck to you, let us know how you find it! I'm not lookin forward to my results

wannabe2010

What you realise after you've done it... or what I realised anyway... is that it's not there to test your maths at all - it is simple addition/subtraction/division/multiplication - it is to see how your brain reacts to being under a lot of pressure with feck all time to do it in.

There is very little chance that ANYONE finishes that maths section with even 1 second to spare - they expect you to have answered ALL the questions either consciously or random guessing! So my advise (as is many other's on this board) is as soon as you get your answer sheet, fill in the last 10 answers RANDOMLY having not even looked at/considered the qs - trust me, you will not get it finished.

[Deleted User]

wannabe2010 wrote: »

There is very little chance that ANYONE finishes that maths section with even 1 second to spare -

A guy sitting beside me last year somehow finished it all with a good few minutes left, he just put the pencil down and sat there with his arms folded, didnt even look back over anything! And me sitting only about half way through the maths bit...now that made me panick! Would loved to have known if he passed.

grad10

Deleted User wrote: »

A guy sitting beside me last year somehow finished it all with a good few minutes left, he just put the pencil down and sat there with his arms folded, didnt even look back over anything! And me sitting only about half way through the maths bit...now that made me panick! Would loved to have known if he passed.

I don't know how but there are a small minority who do find it easy peasy! When I did the IST for the first time last year my other half told me it was a piece of cake and I had absolutely nothing to worry about. He had done it a couple of times in previous years and said he always had minutes to spare. So I went in thinking it would be a gift, not how I found it at all, was raging at him when I got home, and he couldn't understand how I couldn't get all the questions finished in time! Lol. But just goes to show it must just come naturally to some people!

wannabe2010

Deleted User wrote: »

A guy sitting beside me last year somehow finished it all with a good few minutes left, he just put the pencil down and sat there with his arms folded, didnt even look back over anything! And me sitting only about half way through the maths bit...now that made me panick! Would loved to have known if he passed.

:eek: Either he is a complete genius, or he totally freaked out and thought 'screw this', or he missed a page lol... Ok well... 1/1000 people will finish it with time to spare lol that's my guess anyway

B182

finishing with minutes or sec's means jack all imo

i finished as it was pencils down and people around me were all done doesnt mean i passed or didnt as i said before my appoarch to the statements was pick a random one and check it hoping that i pick it the first time and if it adds up it should be right a big IF i read it correctly and added it all up ok instead of going right its not statement a then b then c wasting time

hope i passed then can speak of experience that it worked for me lol but atm who knows

:S lol

princess deity

Cashflow wrote: »

If you think its hard then you're probably better off just forgetting about it altogether. Its there to separate the wheat from the chaff right off the bat. Unfortunately there isn't really anything you can do if you find maths hard, or are unable to answer questions based on English comprehension. Thems the breaks.

Injured Party: Oh Mr. Police officer my little son has gone missing.....

Cashflow: Ah that's terrible, you're probably better off just forgetting about him altogether, no point in looking for him, there isn't really anything you can do. Thems the breaks lady.........

Spectacular example of efficient people skills, empathetic understanding and effective communication!!!

You have the exam done, you cant change it now, just BE PATIENT.Keep the chin up, try be positive and you could be pleasantly surprised. its the type of exam that you cannot gauge, you stressing out and getting your knickers in a twist isn't going to benefit you. I agree its not easy and that it can be frustrating but hang on in there, don't go writing yourself off yet,
the race is most certainly not over.....

Cashflow

I meant forget about it in the sense of not fretting, not abandoning any hope of passing.

BUT, I stand by my original point that if you're finding it overly hard, then there really isn't much you can do to make it any easier. Its not the sort of test you can study for and is there to ferret out people who don't have the necessary skill sets to progress.

wannabe2010

chunkerz wrote: »

pick a random one and check it hoping that i pick it the first time and if it adds up it should be right

Yeah, that's how I did those ones too - it was so daunting seeing big statements in the questions when you only have like 10 secs to go though lol

princess deity wrote: »

You have the exam done, you cant change it now, just BE PATIENT.Keep the chin up, try be positive and you could be pleasantly surprised. its the type of exam that you cannot gauge, you stressing out and getting your knickers in a twist isn't going to benefit you. I agree its not easy and that it can be frustrating but hang on in there, don't go writing yourself off yet, the race is most certainly not over.....

Thanks

Awk, yous must be all sick of hearing us newbies whinge! Sorry, I was just ragin at how hard the exam was and how much I want this

I just hope I didn't let myself down in that test

I really do appreciate all you folk keeping people's spirits up though when someone's feeling crappy about their test - gives you a little pickmeup for a couple days lol

BoutYe

wannabe2010 wrote: »

What you realise after you've done it... or what I realised anyway... is that it's not there to test your maths at all - it is simple addition/subtraction/division/multiplication - it is to see how your brain reacts to being under a lot of pressure with feck all time to do it in.

There is very little chance that ANYONE finishes that maths section with even 1 second to spare - they expect you to have answered ALL the questions either consciously or random guessing! So my advise (as is many other's on this board) is as soon as you get your answer sheet, fill in the last 10 answers RANDOMLY having not even looked at/considered the qs - trust me, you will not get it finished.

On your first point you've hit the nail absolutely spot on!

On your second point, I'm afraid I'm one of those that finished both parts of the test with time to look over my answers in both sections. Its not that I found it easy, and i certainly did guess some answers, but as I've said before - its taxing but do-able.

I'd argue against guessing the last 10 questions, rather go through the test as quick as you can first time through answering the questions you can easily first, then go back over the ones you have left out. If you are getting bogged down then guess and move on.

life_of_west

I done the IST today. Gosh, trickier than I thought it would be. Only thing it came down to was the timing. I had to guess the last 8 because of it. Hopefully I have done enough to get through to the next stage.

crazylegs28

wannabe2010 wrote: »

What you realise after you've done it... or what I realised anyway... is that it's not there to test your maths at all - it is simple addition/subtraction/division/multiplication - it is to see how your brain reacts to being under a lot of pressure with feck all time to do it in.

Aye I know wat ur saying, but surely they have to be testing how intelligent u are as well. Its all very well answering every single question but what if the person who answers them all, gets only half of them correct and little old me here only manages to answer half the paper and gets them all correct (hypothetically speaking here lol)

Is there a certain amount of questions they expect you to answer in the given time.

I'm going to drive myself mad wondering if I passed, hurry up Deloitte!

B182

crazylegs28 wrote: »

Aye I know wat ur saying, but surely they have to be testing how intelligent u are as well. Its all very well answering every single question but what if the person who answers them all, gets only half of them correct and little old me here only manages to answer half the paper and gets them all correct (hypothetically speaking here lol)

Is there a certain amount of questions they expect you to answer in the given time.

I'm going to drive myself mad wondering if I passed, hurry up Deloitte!

I believe that if you get to the next stage and there is alot of people scoring same they use the initial test score to rank you so its pretty important

finishing the test doesnt make ya pass but can increase your chances as if you left the last 10 questions out thats 10 marks instantly down but guessing them theres a 25% chance for each question that you can guess correctly which might make the difference passing or failing if you fall just short of pass mark

gd luck thou

i should really stop reading and posting here for a month as everyday im checking here and i just wanna forget about this until my letter arrives lololol

forestgrump

wannabe2010 wrote: »

No, I cannot stress enough how much harder the real maths qs are than that crappy practice one on the site... there are loads of tables that you have to cross-reference and cross-reference again just to get one answer!

48 English qs in 20 mins = 24 secs per q
30 maths qs in 25 mins = 50 secs per q

Good luck to you, let us know how you find it! I'm not lookin forward to my results

thanks wannabe,yeah i understand what your saying! all any of us can do now is do our best and give it a go....ist is a matter of hours away now and i worry about the time issue because as a rule i can be quite slow at stuff....oooops ha! and guessing at the end if time gets tight will kill me but thats what il have to do:(
il let everyone know how i find it when i have it done:)

[Deleted User]

Just make sure you don't do what I did last year at the end...I had guessed the last few at the start, got time to do a few, rubbed one out to mark the answer I had worked out, and just as I got it rubbed out...PENCILS DOWN!! Didn't get time to colour it in again I was raging! That could have been my one mark I needed to pass

So just watch your time carefully!

forestgrump

Deleted User wrote: »

Just make sure you don't do what I did last year at the end...I had guessed the last few at the start, got time to do a few, rubbed one out to mark the answer I had worked out, and just as I got it rubbed out...PENCILS DOWN!! Didn't get time to colour it in again I was raging! That could have been my one mark I needed to pass So just watch your time carefully!

thanks for the advice pluginbaby...i dont think i will randomly fill in any guesses until the end...in the off chance i might have time to attempt the last few i dont want to be wasting time rubbing out my guesses!

triple-M

just sat the ist this morning second time doing it,feeling very cautiously optimistic at the moment,finished part 1 without any difficulties and only had to guess 5 random questions on part 2 that i skipped and came back to 10 secs before the end,so waiting on that letter now

jumperman

yeh a bit tricky but happy overall! - roll on the results! the loooong wait begins - good luck to everyone with them coming up!

odin_ie

Didn't get them all finished....I am not too hopeful....maybe next year

rio2009

Well Ist done found it ok had time to spare at end of both exams unlike girl beside me who must have being going for a record of most questions answered in 30 seconds. Now time to sit and wait for results I was near last ones to do ist last year and results were out in a few days so here's hoping same will apply this year.

beca

chunkerz wrote: »

i should really stop reading and posting here for a month as everyday im checking here and i just wanna forget about this until my letter arrives lololol

I tried but i have an addiction to boards! well... logging in and reading them all anyway! suffering from post-IST depression

ClareDonkey

Hey guys

We're all in the same boat it seems so we're just gonna have to ride through it till the results come... whenever that may be!!! I did my IST on Monday and an announcement was made that results would not be out until late April so don't have any hopes that it'll be before then, as great as that would be!

Personally I was not happy with the IST...got 38 answered out of 48 in section A and I'm, guessing 20 out of 30 in section B... Didn't bring a stopwatch so was my own worst enemy!! Nonetheless who knows there still may be hope as people who got every question answered may have rushed it a wee bit too so it's all to play for.

Would be great to know if any of you guys were at my IST...so faces could be put to the names HA.... Seemed to be an awful lot of tension in the lobby before going in

[Deleted User]

ClareDonkey wrote: »

Would be great to know if any of you guys were at my IST...so faces could be put to the names HA.... Seemed to be an awful lot of tension in the lobby before going in

We should've set something up before the IST's began like everyone on here wears a red hat or something to theirs...well maybe not a red hat, might look a bit daft! but something so we could identify any of us boardies at it because it would be great to meet some fellow lunatics on here along for the ride

Is anyone else here still waiting to do theirs? I can't believe mines so late, still not till next week and this waiting around to get it over and done with is driving me crazy! And being on here isn't helping

coco27

Hi,
I am doing my IST soon and am really grateful for everyones posts, i now know what to expect!! I really had'nt a clue what i was going into!!
Thanks again

Delancey

Had my IST yesterday , I did it last year and passed - it was the same paper as then but that amounts to exactly nothing , the thing I noticed there were very , very few women taking the test - last year there seemed to be loads

Unlike last year I got both sections finished with time to spare - now whether that is a good or bad sign

Best wishes to those who still have to take it