What is on
the NYC Probation Officer exam?

Six sections built on case material

Probation Officer is tested on six abilities, one of them Time Sharing. Our practice exam gives each eighteen questions: 108 in all, over 143 minutes.

The reading looks like a caseload

Probation officers supervise people serving a sentence in the community. They interview, check conditions, visit employers and family, and write the pre-sentence reports judges rely on. So the passages on this paper are intake summaries, conditions sheets, employer letters and curfew records rather than general prose. Deductive Reasoning asks whether a condition of release has been broken by a specific set of facts. Information Ordering follows the steps of a pre-sentence investigation. Problem Sensitivity is the detail in a file that does not match the account given at interview.

Time Sharing is an interview and a case file at once: what was said, against what is on record. Only a few titles in our line test it.

Who can apply

This title asks more of applicants than any other we cover. The notice lists four routes: completing a Probation Officer traineeship; a graduate degree in social work, social sciences, education, administration, law, criminal justice or a related field; a bachelor's degree with thirty credits in the social or behavioral sciences plus two years of qualifying experience gained after the degree; or an equivalent combination. It also requires a driver license by appointment, medical and psychological evaluation, and instruction in the use of firearms. Calculators are not permitted at the test.

None of the questions expect you to know sentencing guidelines or any court's practice. The rule is in the question.

The six abilities are the City's. The 108 questions and 143 minutes are ours, since DCAS publishes neither.

From the notice

The Probation Officer notice lists a minimum salary of $61,386, an application fee of $68.00, a passing mark of 70%.

Probation Officer pays the most of the titles here and asks the most to apply: this is the one on the list with a degree requirement rather than a high school diploma.