This is a sample test for the New York State Court Officer - Trainee Examination. This test illustrates the types and formats of questions you will encounter on the exam but may not reflect their difficulty level. The actual Examination will consist of 70 multiple-choice questions and applicants will have three (3) hours and fifteen (15) minutes to complete the examination. The examination will assess applicants in the following five (5) areas:
Remembering Facts and Information
These questions assess applicants’ ability to remember the details from an incident. Applicants will be provided with a written description of an incident (story) and will be given five (5) minutes to read and study the story. At the end of the 5-minute period, the story will be removed, and applicants will not have another opportunity to refer back to it. Applicants will not be permitted to make any written notes about the story. There will be a 10-minute delay before applicants are presented with a series of questions about the facts concerning the story.
Reading, Understanding and Interpreting Written Material
These questions assess applicants’ ability to understand and interpret written material. The written examination will include two types of questions:
Format A - Applicants will be provided with brief reading passages followed by questions regarding the passages. All information required to answer the questions will be provided in the passages. Applicants will not be required to have any special knowledge relating to the content area covered in the passages; and,
Format B - Applicants will be provided with short written passages from which words or phrases have been removed. Applicants will be required to select from four alternatives the word or phrase that logically completes the sentence within the passage when inserted for the missing word or phrase.
Applying Facts and Information to Given Situations
These questions assess applicants’ ability to use the information provided and apply it to a specific situation defined by a given set of facts. Applicants are presented with a regulation, policy or procedure that a NYS Court Officer may encounter on the job. Applicants must use this information to answer questions about specific situations. All information required to answer the questions is contained in the passages and in the description of the situation.
Clerical Checking
These questions assess applicants’ ability to distinguish between sets of names, numbers, letters and/or codes which are almost exactly alike. There are three sets of information which may appear in different fonts. Applicants will be asked to compare the information in the three sets and identify whether the sets differ. Applicants must use the directions provided to determine the correct answer.
Court Record Keeping
These questions assess applicants’ ability to read, combine, and manipulate written information organized from several sources. Applicants will be presented with different types of tables which contain names, numbers, codes and other information, and must combine and reorganize the information to answer specific questions.