The NYC Environmental Police Officer
exam: a complete guide

What the job is

Environmental police officers are sworn officers of the Department of Environmental Protection, guarding the reservoirs and watershed that supply the city's drinking water.

The setting is a reservoir, a watershed and the roads around them. If you have practiced the School Safety Agent exam, the abilities match and not one of the worked examples will.

What is on the exam

The same nine abilities as School Safety Agent — and every worked example is different, because the setting is a reservoir and not a school.

Section	Questions	Time	Per question
Written Comprehension	14	18 min	77 sec
Deductive Reasoning	12	16 min	80 sec
Inductive Reasoning	12	16 min	80 sec
Information Ordering	12	16 min	80 sec
Problem Sensitivity	12	15 min	75 sec
Written Expression	12	14 min	70 sec
Memorization	12	15 min	75 sec
Spatial Orientation	12	16 min	80 sec
Visualization	12	16 min	80 sec
Total	110	142 min

Spatial Orientation here is a facility map, and Visualization is an altered object.

The pacing

Every section here runs between seventy and eighty seconds a question. There is no section that will run away from you.

Passing does not get you the job

This is the part almost nobody explains, and for a Environmental Police Officer candidate it matters more than anything else on this page. Answering enough of these 110 questions correctly does not hire you. It places you on an eligible list with a number on it, and that number is your position in the queue for every Environmental Police Officer vacancy the City fills.

Hiring runs down that list under the Rule of Three: for any Environmental Police Officer vacancy, the agency must select one of the three highest-ranking candidates who are willing to take it. The difference between a list number of 300 and one of 3,000 is not a difference of degree. It is usually the difference between being called and never being called.

Environmental Police Officer is a small title with a small list, which cuts both ways: fewer competitors, and fewer vacancies. A good number on a small list is worth more than a good number on a large one, and a poor number is worth considerably less.

The list expires

A Environmental Police Officer eligible list typically runs four years from the date it is established, and it can be extended. If your number has not been reached when it expires, the list is gone and your place on it goes with it. You start again with the next Environmental Police Officer exam, which may be years away.

Environmental Police Officer is a small title offered infrequently. If the list expires before your number is reached, the wait for the next one is measured in years rather than months.

The points you have to ask for

The Environmental Police Officer exam is an open competitive exam, so veterans are entitled to 5 additional points on it, or 10 if disabled, and New York City residents are entitled to 5 additional points on some exams. On a small list, five points can be the difference between being reachable and never being called. Claim at filing.

Here is the part that costs people the job. Those credits are not applied automatically. You claim them when you file for the Environmental Police Officer exam and produce documentation later. Nobody looks up your service record and adds the points for you. A candidate entitled to ten points who does not claim them sits ten points lower on the Environmental Police Officer list, permanently, and will never be told that is why the call did not come.

Filing is a deadline, not a date

You file for a specific exam number during a specific filing period -- for Environmental Police Officer that is exam 6304, 6305, and missing it means waiting for the next administration. Filing periods are published in advance and they are not long. Check the number on the Notice of Examination against the annual schedule before you pay the fee: candidates file for the wrong exam every year, and a Notice of Examination never says it is the wrong one.

What happens after you pass

Sworn officer screening: medical, psychological, background, and firearms training. The posting is the watershed and the reservoirs, much of it outside the five boroughs, which is worth knowing before you file.

How to prepare

The abilities match the School Safety Agent exam exactly, so that material is usable. Not one worked example will match, because the setting is a reservoir and a watershed rather than a school, and the unfamiliar setting is itself part of the difficulty.

One thing worth being clear about: you do not need to know environmental conservation law or the geography of the watershed. These exams test abilities, not job knowledge, and candidates who spend their preparation memorizing procedures are preparing for a different test.

What we found when we tested our own exam

Environmental Police Officer has almost no dedicated practice material anywhere, so candidates use School Safety Agent material instead, which shares the abilities and none of the setting.

So we measure it. Across the 38 sections of our NYC civil service exams long enough to measure (760 questions, in sections of 20 or more), the best score any length-based strategy reaches is 40%, against the 25% that guessing alone should give. Four strategies are scored: pick the longest option, pick the shortest, cross off the longest and guess, cross off the shortest and guess. Every section on this title runs between seventy and eighty seconds a question, so no section is under enough pressure to make a guesser reach for a pattern.

The abilities match the School Safety Agent exam exactly, so that material is usable.

Generated from the live bank, with the build failing over 40%. The figure covers all eleven civil service titles together, which for a small title like this one is a feature: eleven titles give a sample large enough to trust, where this exam alone would not.

Where to practice

We publish two full Environmental Police Officer practice exams with no questions shared between them, and you can sit a single section on its own when that is all the evening allows. Every wrong answer carries its own explanation saying what a student who picked it was probably thinking, which is the part that turns a score into something you can act on. There is a free sample on the samples page if you want to see the format before paying for anything.

Common questions

How many questions are on the NYC Environmental Police Officer exam?

110 questions across 9 sections. The same nine abilities as School Safety Agent — and every worked example is different, because the setting is a reservoir and not a school.

Does passing the civil service exam mean you get the job?

No. Passing puts you on an eligible list with a list number, and hiring runs down that list. For a Environmental Police Officer vacancy the agency must select one of the three highest-ranking candidates on the list who will accept it, which is the Rule of Three.

How long does the Environmental Police Officer eligible list last?

Typically four years from establishment, and it can be extended. If your number is never reached before it expires, you sit the Environmental Police Officer exam again whenever DCAS next offers it.

How do I get veterans' or residency credits on the Environmental Police Officer exam?

You claim them yourself. Veterans get 5 additional points on an open competitive exam, or 10 if disabled, and New York City residents get 5 on some exams. Nothing is applied automatically: claim at the point you file for Environmental Police Officer and document it later.

What does the Environmental Police Officer job involve?

Environmental police officers are sworn officers of the Department of Environmental Protection, guarding the reservoirs and watershed that supply the city's drinking water.