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Free NYC Correction Officer Exam Practice Questions

The Correction Officer notice names number facility and mathematical reasoning alongside the reading and reasoning abilities, so this sample includes both.

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Read this, then answer the questions about it.

A formal count is taken at the times fixed in the tour commander's schedule. During a formal count all movement stops and no person may enter or leave a housing area until the count is cleared.

An officer conducting a count shall count each person physically present and shall not count from a roster. Where the number counted differs from the number expected, the officer shall recount once before reporting. Where the second count agrees with the first, the officer shall report the discrepancy to the tour commander and shall not clear the count.

A person out of the housing area for a medical visit, a legal visit or a court appearance is carried on an out-count slip. The out-count slip is presented at the count and the person is included in the total. A person absent without an out-count slip is a discrepancy.

An informal count may be taken at any time and does not stop movement.

Question 1

According to the passage, an officer counting a housing area shall
  1. A. count each person physically present
  2. B. count from the housing roster held at the officers' station
  3. C. count the roster and the persons present and compare
  4. D. count only those without an out-count slip
Show the answer

The answer is A. The passage says the officer shall count each person physically present and shall not count from a roster.

  • B is wrong: The passage expressly forbids counting from a roster.
  • C is wrong: The roster plays no part in the count as the passage describes it.
  • D is wrong: A person on an out-count slip is included in the total, not excluded from it.

Question 2

A count comes out one short of the number expected. According to the passage, what happens next?
  1. A. The tour commander is notified immediately, before any recount is attempted
  2. B. The count is cleared and the discrepancy noted
  3. C. The officer recounts once
  4. D. An informal count is taken
Show the answer

The answer is C. The passage requires a single recount before anything is reported.

  • A is wrong: Notification follows only if the second count agrees with the first.
  • B is wrong: The passage forbids clearing a count where a discrepancy stands.
  • D is wrong: An informal count is a separate thing and does not resolve a formal one.

Question 3

A rule states: "An officer shall search a person returning from a court appearance before that person re-enters a housing area. Where the person returns directly to a medical unit rather than a housing area, the search shall be conducted by medical unit staff in the officer's presence." A person returns from court and is taken straight to the medical unit. Under the rule, the search is conducted by
  1. A. the escorting officer, before the medical unit
  2. B. medical unit staff, in the officer's presence
  3. C. the escorting officer, in the presence of medical staff
  4. D. nobody, because the person is not entering a housing area
Show the answer

The answer is B. The second sentence replaces the first for someone going to the medical unit: medical staff search, and the officer is present.

  • A is wrong: That is the general rule, which the second sentence sets aside for this route.
  • C is wrong: The roles are reversed. The staff conduct the search; the officer witnesses it.
  • D is wrong: The rule provides for a search on this route rather than dispensing with one.

Question 4

Commissary items have gone missing from a housing area on seven occasions. All seven were on days a particular work detail cleaned the area. On two of the seven, the detail's usual members were replaced by substitutes. Nothing was taken on days the area was not cleaned. Which conclusion is best supported?
  1. A. One of the detail's usual members is responsible for taking the items
  2. B. The losses are tied to the cleaning, not to any particular person
  3. C. The housing area needs a camera fitted so the detail can be watched
  4. D. Substitutes are more likely to take items than the usual members are
Show the answer

The answer is B. Every loss coincides with a cleaning, and two happened with different people present. The cleaning is the constant; the people are not.

  • A is wrong: Two losses happened when the usual members were not there.
  • C is wrong: This is a recommendation rather than a conclusion the facts establish.
  • D is wrong: Only two of the seven involved substitutes, which does not make them likelier.

Question 5

A directive lists the steps for receiving a person at intake, in this order: (1) confirm identity against the commitment paperwork; (2) conduct a search; (3) inventory property and issue a receipt; (4) assign a housing area. An officer has confirmed identity and conducted the search. Which step comes next?
  1. A. Inventory property and issue a receipt
  2. B. Confirm identity a second time
  3. C. Assign a housing area
  4. D. Take a photograph for the file
Show the answer

The answer is A. The search is step 2, so the next step in the stated order is step 3, the property inventory and receipt.

  • B is wrong: Identity was confirmed at step 1 and the directive does not repeat it.
  • C is wrong: Housing is step 4 and comes after the property inventory.
  • D is wrong: A photograph is not one of the four steps listed.

Question 6

An officer is closing out a logbook. The book shows a count cleared at 16:10. The movement log shows an escort leaving the housing area at 16:02, and the out-count slip for that escort was drawn at 16:20. Which is the most significant problem?
  1. A. Eight minutes is a short interval between a count and a movement
  2. B. The escort left before the count that included it was cleared
  3. C. The logbook does not record which officer cleared the count
  4. D. The out-count slip should have been drawn at the start of the tour
Show the answer

The answer is B. Movement stops until a count is cleared, and the slip that accounts for this person was drawn after both. The three records cannot all be right.

  • A is wrong: A short interval is unremarkable once a count has cleared.
  • C is wrong: A missing name is a gap to fill, not a contradiction between records.
  • D is wrong: When the slip should have been drawn does not explain the order of the times.

Question 7

A housing area count is taken in four sections: 46, 38, 57 and 29. What is the total?
  1. A. 160
  2. B. 150
  3. C. 180
  4. D. 170
Show the answer

The answer is D. 46 + 38 = 84; 84 + 57 = 141; 141 + 29 = 170.

  • A is wrong: This is ten short, which is a carry dropped in the tens column.
  • B is wrong: This is twenty short, which usually means one of the smaller figures was left out.
  • C is wrong: This is ten over, which is a carry counted twice.

Question 8

A housing area is rated for 48 people and currently holds 36. Over the next week 14 more are received and 5 are released. Where does the area stand against its rating?
  1. A. Over, by 2
  2. B. Over, by 7
  3. C. Under, by 3
  4. D. Exactly at its rating
Show the answer

The answer is C. Both movements have to be applied before anything is compared: 36 + 14 = 50, then 50 − 5 = 45. Against a rating of 48 that is 3 under.

  • A is wrong: This applies the arrivals and forgets the releases, then compares 50 with 48.
  • B is wrong: This compares the arrivals alone with the spare capacity and ignores the starting 36.
  • D is wrong: No combination of these figures reaches 48 exactly.

Question 9

A facility feeds 320 people three times a day. A delivery arrives with enough for 2,880 meals. How many full days will it cover?
  1. A. 3
  2. B. 9
  3. C. 6
  4. D. 2
Show the answer

The answer is A. Each day takes 320 × 3 = 960 meals. 2,880 covers 2,880 ÷ 960 = 3 full days. The step candidates miss is that a day is three meals, not one.

  • B is wrong: This treats the delivery as one meal per person per day and divides by 320 alone.
  • C is wrong: This uses two meals a day rather than three.
  • D is wrong: This divides by a figure larger than a day's requirement.

Question 10

Facts: At 14:20 Officer Nakamura escorted a person from Area 5 to the law library. They returned at 15:05. The pass was signed on leaving and on returning. Which sentence reports these facts most accurately?
  1. A. A person from Area 5 spent about forty-five minutes at the law library during the afternoon, escorted there and back again by an officer.
  2. B. Officer Nakamura escorted a person from Area 5 to the law library at 14:20; they returned at 15:05 and the pass was signed both ways.
  3. C. Officer Nakamura took a person to the law library and brought them back when they had finished.
  4. D. At 14:20 a person left Area 5 for the law library on their own, and the pass was signed by somebody at the desk when they came back again at 15:05 that afternoon.
Show the answer

The answer is B. Both times are kept, the officer is named, and the pass is recorded as signed on both legs.

  • A is wrong: "About forty-five minutes" is a calculation, and both exact times are lost.
  • C is wrong: Neither time survives, and "when they had finished" is not something the officer recorded.
  • D is wrong: The escort disappears, so the person appears to have walked there alone, and only one signature is reported.
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