Correctional Officer Tests

What is a correctional officer test?

A correctional officer is a difficult and demanding job. The correctional officer test is a psychometric assessment used by criminal justice departments to determine your suitability for a correctional officer position.

Your score on this test will decide whether you are advanced to the next stage of the recruitment process or not.

The test you take will depend on which state you are applying to be a correctional officer in. Each test will have different content, but generally, you can expect a multiple-choice test that can be completed by computer or pen and paper.

The exams are scored on a 100 point scale, with most States requiring applicants to score 70 or higher to pass. The higher you score, the more desirable you will be to both private and State corrections agencies.

Only 3 to 4 percent of all applications make it through the entire selection process, with the correction officer test the most common stage for people to fail. It is, therefore, essential that you prepare effectively for the test to maximize your chances of being successful.

What is the format of the correctional officer test?

The specific test that you take will depend on the State you are in. Common topics include:

• Career-specific aptitude
• Situational judgment
• Reading comprehension
• Preparing written material
• Written comprehension
• Basic mathematics
• Inductive reasoning
• Deductive reasoning
• Memorization and recall
• Spatial orientation

Each of these is covered in the sections that follow.

Career-specific aptitude

Career-specific aptitude questions will test you on your knowledge of the duties and responsibilities of a correctional officer. For example, knowledge on inmates’ rights, understanding of professional standards, and the correct responses to take in certain situations.

These questions are used to assess your understanding of your role within the correctional facility and what is expected of you.

A potential question you could expect in this section:

What are the inmate rights that corrections officials must always respect and uphold?

a) the right to remain silent and the right to be heard

b) the right to equal protection and the right to fair treatment

c) the right to due process and the right to privacy

d) all of the above

The answer is d).

Situational judgment

Situational judgment (sometimes called situational reasoning) presents you with a series of work-related scenarios you might encounter on a day-to-day basis as a correctional officer.

The test is typically multiple choice, where you need to select the most effective response out of a list of several potential responses.

This is used to evaluate your awareness of different scenarios and your ability to choose the most effective response. You will be assessed on how well you ensure the safety of yourself and others, as well as your understanding of the rules and regulations of correctional facilities.

No prior knowledge is needed for these questions. We recommend reading the questions carefully to ensure you fully understand the scenario, and taking some time to consider each of the options.

Reading comprehension

Reading comprehension questions will assess your ability to comprehend written material. You will usually be presented with a passage of text and face questions relating to it.

The questions relate to the text, and are followed by a set of multiple-choice answers, from which you must determine the correct answer. You could also be presented with a statement and asked to determine if it is true, false, or you cannot say, based on the passage you have just read. Or you may also be asked to fill in the blanks within a sentence based on the information in the passage.

These questions are assessing your ability to read and comprehend dense passages of text quickly and pull out key facts and details.

The questions do not require any specialized knowledge relating to the subject area, as all the information you need is provided in the text.

Preparing written material

Correctional officers are required to write incident reports and communicate information through logs, reports, and memos. Therefore, candidates must have good written communication skills.

These questions assess your ability to present written information clearly and accurately, as well as your ability to organize paragraphs logically and comprehensively. This requires an understanding of vocabulary, grammatical structure, punctuation, and syntax.

You may be asked to fill in the blanks within a sentence with the most appropriate word. Alternatively, you may be given information in two or three sentences, followed by several restatements of that information. You must then identify the best version.

Other questions may present you with a paragraph with sentences out of order. You must choose the best order for the sentences.

Written comprehension

Written comprehension questions are designed to assess your ability to read the English language and understand the information that is being communicated.

You will usually be required to read a paragraph of text, which could be on an incident in a correctional institution, for example. You will then need to answer multiple-choice questions about a piece of information in the text.

A helpful tip is to read the questions before you read the passage. This will tell you what information you need to look out for.

Basic mathematics

Designed to assess your mathematical ability, these questions will present you with basic arithmetic functions such as addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.

The questions are commonly presented as word problems that are in the context of a correctional officer’s duties.

To prepare for these questions we recommend brushing up on your basic math knowledge and practicing sample math questions.

Inductive reasoning

Inductive reasoning is the ability to combine several pieces of information to determine what the causal relationship is between the information and the resulting outcome, such as giving a logical explanation for a series of events that seem unrelated.

Officers use this ability when they take in multiple pieces of information about an incident and then decide how to react to the scenario based on that information.

You will typically be presented with scenarios and will have to determine general rules or conclusions based on them.

Deductive reasoning

While working as a correctional officer you will be issued rules and regulations. Deductive reasoning is the ability to apply rules and principles to make sense of a given situation and reach a logical conclusion. You will need to know which rule applies to different scenarios you encounter.

Typically you will be asked to read a passage that contains information on correctional rules or policies. This will be followed by a situation related to the rules or policies, from which you will need to determine the best course of action based on the information you have just read.

Memorization and recall

The ability to recall specific information upon request is very important as a correctional officer.

In these questions, you will usually be presented with some photographs to be studied for a few minutes. The photographs will then be removed and you will need to answer questions about what you observed.

Spatial orientation

Spatial orientation tests evaluate your ability to navigate around spaces and move from one point to another. Correctional officers need this ability to respond to a call or incident.

You will typically be provided with a map and compass, and must determine the shortest route from one location on the map to another.

You could also face questions where you need to determine where one object is in relation to another.