What is on
the NYC Probation Officer exam?

The short answer

Six sections, and one of them is Time Sharing — attending to two streams of information at once, which only two titles in the line test.

Our practice exam runs 108 questions in 143 minutes, in the order below.

What makes this title different

The reading is case material: intake summaries, conditions sheets, employer letters and curfew records.

The reading is case material: intake summaries, conditions sheets, employer letters. It looks like paperwork because the job is.

What each section is asking for

Written Comprehension is reading a rule or an order and saying what it does and does not cover. Deductive Reasoning is taking a rule you were handed a moment ago and applying it to one case. Problem Sensitivity is noticing something is wrong before anybody tells you it is. Information Ordering is the sequence a pre-sentence investigation actually follows. Time Sharing is an interview and a case file at the same time, without losing either. Written Expression is writing it down so the next person reads it the way you meant it.

None of it is a knowledge test. You do not need to arrive knowing the conditions of release, the sentencing guidelines or any court's practice. Everything the question needs is on the page. What is being measured is whether you can use it with the clock running.

What the City publishes, and what is ours

DCAS names 6 abilities for this title. What the notice does not give is a question count or a time limit, for this title or any other. Nobody outside the City has those two numbers, so a site quoting them is quoting a guess.

The 6 sections above are the City's. The 108 questions and the 143 minutes are ours. We picked them so the practice sitting feels like the real thing, and we would rather tell you that than let you assume the City set them.