Studying for promotion

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I don’t advertise, but often receive telephone calls from police officers (of various ranks) asking to me to tutor them for promotion. If the request isn’t from a city where I anticipate being hired to administer a promotional examination (and therefore not a conflict of interest) it’s difficult for me to say no to a brother or sister officer. So, we set up a date for them to come to my house and I put them through the paces of test taking, creating a study schedule, and motivating them to put the time and effort into the process needed to beat out their competition.

They seek me out because they realize that civil service testing (and getting promoted) has nothing to do with how good a cop they are but everything to do with test taking skills. I wish it weren’t so, but it is. Even with the advent of assessment centers, the process used to select candidates for promotion hasn’t changed very much in the past several decades. We are still using some type of written exam (multiple choice, essay, in-basket); role play situations (supervisor/subordinate, leaderless discussion, media exercise); oral process (traditional oral, situational oral) and a variations of the above.

Add seniority points, or points for some type of personal evaluation, and the Chief gets a certified list. However, cops don’t think this way or use this knowledge to their advantage. We are socialized almost from the very beginning of our careers into thinking that our ability to catch crooks will translate into making Sergeant, Lieutenant, Captain, and so on. It will not! The testing process (with the possible exception of the oral board) is not designed to take the years of hard work learning the craft into consideration.

So, when these fine men and women – great cops all – end up at my house, it takes a while for me to convince them what to do to achieve their goals and then motivate them to do it. They tell me they’ve been doing nothing else but studying. To get their attention, I begin with a 100 questions multiple choice test for whatever rank they are seeking. They usually pass, but with a grade that is not competitive. They’re rightly disappointed, but now we can begin the process.

1. Motivation
How do you plan to go about motivating yourself? First, are you serious about putting in the time and effort you know it's going to take to come out number one on the list? All of us are busy people—we’re constantly being pulled in different directions. You're going to face countless hours of studying, taking time away from your family and friends. You will be prone to rationalization, thinking “I’m getting pretty close to retirement anyway, so why bother going through the process?” You might think that getting promoted will mean more responsibility, longer hours, and perhaps even going back to shift work. You might think, “The system is so political, and since the Chief can choose any of the top three candidates on the eligible list, I won't be chosen even if I do score well.” You may be thinking that the testing system is unfair, biased against you, and bears no relationship to the “street.”

This type of negative thinking is just what your competition is hoping for. Recognize the fact that you have your future, and the future of your family, in your hands. You can come out number one in the testing process, and if you're sharp enough, you will get promoted. Negative thinking, rationalization, and procrastination are not the traits of a leader, so promise yourself to do everything in your power to succeed. If you don’t develop techniques to increase your ability to stay focused on getting promoted, chances are you won’t. The competition is too great at this level. Every morning from now to test day ask yourself: “What have I done to prepare to excel in the promotional process?”

2. Study materials
In preparing to study you will need the following:

1. A dictionary. Not a little handheld copy, but a big, thick edition of Webster's finest.
2. A large notebook, the kind that divides into several sections.
3. Two or three highlighters and some thick rubber bands.
4. About three hundred, three-by-five, white index cards.
5. A copy of the "test announcement" for the examinations you'll be taking.
6. Any books or other materials which the test announcement states will be used as reference guides for the examination.
7. A copy of your department’s procedural manual, rules and regulations, and/or general orders.

3. The test announcement
Your city or town is usually required “post” a promotional test announcement to notify those eligible to fill vacancies for promotion. This notification must include the method by which a selection for promotion will be made. The “test announcement" contains a wealth of information important to you in planning your study program. The test announcement will outline the duties and responsibilities those giving the examination have determined are necessary to successfully perform the job. Using one of the highlighters you bought, mark the major topic areas. You'll see general headings such as “Patrol Commander,” “Management of a Police Division,” and “Ability to prepare Budget Documents.” Write each of these major headings across the top of an index card for future reference. You'll have to use several to complete this process.

Also included is a section on what knowledge, skills, abilities and personal traits for which you will be tested. This section of the test announcement is of particular importance because in many ways it tells you what’s going to be on the test. This part of the test announcement outlines the basic knowledge a sergeant/lieutenant/captain/etc. should have and be able to demonstrate. The KSAP’s area on the test announcement may be quite specific, and give further insight to what the test will cover. Highlight these topics and place them on your index cards next to the appropriate “Example of Duties” section. Your index cards now should look like this:

Written communication consists of two types of words, ordinary words and important words. Tests are no different. The ordinary words are the prepositions, conjunctions, articles, adverbs, and most of the adjectives and verbs forming the skeleton on which the key concepts (the important words) hang. The very fact that you don’t immediately understand a word (or a series of words) in a sentence should alert you of the need for spending the time to look the word up in the dictionary and analyze its meaning. Most of us have developed the bad habit of skipping over words we’re not familiar with, figuring we’ll understand what the writer means by continuing to read, assembling our understanding from the context of the sentence. This often works while reading newspapers, magazines, and fictional material, but it’s really only scanning, not reading for understanding. Writers of instructional textbooks write in a style which gives clues to what they think is important by using bold type, italics, quotation marks, underlining, or by discussing a term's definition. Pay attention to periods, exclamation points, and commas as well.

So get out your dictionary, notebook, pencil/pen, and highlighter. As you’re slowly reading the material, sentence by sentence, develop the habit of highlighting key words and concepts. Every time you read a word in a sentence which you don’t immediately know the meaning, look it up in the dictionary, cross the word out, and write the definition above it or in the margin. Write the heading “KEY WORDS AND CONCEPTS” in your notebook and list each of the words (and their meanings) in that section. Return and read the sentence again with the definition of the important word (it’s important to you if you don’t understand it's meaning) in mind. Our understanding of words directly affects how we communicate with ourselves and others.

Emphasis can change the meaning of a word or an entire sentence. For example, here is essentially the same sentence with different emphasis on key words. Read the following out loud:

The Captain asked the Sergeant if he saw Officer Jenkins fire at the suspect, and he replied, "I didn't see Officer Jenkins fire at the suspect."

Pretty clear, right? What if I were to write it this way?

The Captain asked the Sergeant if he saw Officer Jenkins fire at the suspect. The Sergeant looked surprised, pointed to himself, and shook his head, saying, "I didn't see Officer Jenkins fire at the suspect!"

Notice how a brief description of the sergeant’s body language adds to your understanding. The word “I” is underlined (suggesting emphasis) and there's an exclamation mark at the end. The inference is that the “Sergeant” didn't see Officer Jenkins fire at the suspect, but someone else did see it. What if I were to write it this way?

"I didn't see Officer Jenkins fire at the suspect!"

Because the word suspect has been emphasized in bold print and underlined, and is followed by an exclamation point, the meaning of the sentence is that Officer Jenkins fired his weapon, but it wasn't necessarily at the suspect.

Although this may seem pretty basic, it’s not. Many police examinations at the management level contain sections which require you to read a short essay and then answer four or five multiple-choice questions, or construct an essay about your response to a hypothetical question. So, sharpen your ability to read with understanding in order to avoid choosing the wrong answer simply because you didn’t grasp the subtle changes that little things like punctuation, and key words can mean in the essay.

5. Types of test questions
There are two types of test questions commonly used in written and oral police examinations - generic and procedural. Generic questions are not specific to the duties performed by a Lieutenant, Captain, or Assistant Chief in your department. They are broad in scope and generally deal with what all managers should do in any police department. Procedural questions are specific to what a manager would be required to do based on department orders, guidelines, procedures, rules, and regulations. For example, if an exam question dealt with establishing a command post in an emergency situation there are general things all police managers should do (whether in Detroit, Atlanta, or New York) and specific responsibilities in your department. The former are generic and the later procedural.

It'’s critical to determine whether your promotional examination will have generic questions, procedural questions, or a combination of both. Many cities use “canned” tests which are developed by companies specializing in creating promotional examinations. If your test wasn’t created by your city, town, or state, the “canned” exam will consist of only generic questions. On the written test, it often comes down to choosing the most correct answer between two very similar alternatives. Knowing whether your answer selection should be based on the requirements of your department, as opposed to a generic response, will add points to your final score.

6. Take tests
The best method I know to get good at taking tests is to take them. Find a store or an online source that sells police guides to promotion which include practice examinations. Take as many tests as you can paying attention to the areas you got wrong. Don’t continue studying what you do know, find out areas in which you are weak and concentrate on the test reference material in those areas.

If you follow the suggestions in this article, my bet is that you will be wearing sergeant strips or captain’s bars before long!

Be safe out there!
Larry the Jet