Passing the Police Officer Exam: Mapping the shortest route

Some of the questions on the Police Officer Exam will ask you to use a map in order to find the shortest route or the shortest legal route to a particular destination.  These questions are usually pretty straightforward as answering each question is usually just a matter of being able to read a map.  In fact, the map questions that appear on the exam are usually easier to answer than most of the other questions that you may come across as you should be able to answer each of the map questions simply by following the directions presented within the question.  However, even though these questions are relatively easy to answer, there are some things that you may want to keep in mind, as well as some techniques that you can use, to make these questions even easier.
 
First, remember that each question will present you with a map, and each map will have certain characteristics that you should look for when you are attempting to answer a map question.  These characteristics include a compass or a direction, a map key, and a series of traffic patterns.  The first characteristic that will appear on each map is the compass, which is simply a diagram that identifies each direction or a diagram that provides you with enough information that you can determine how the map displays each direction.  The compass that appears on each map is extremely important because you won't be able to understand any of the answers to the map questions on the exam if you don't know which direction you are facing on each map.  Most of the maps that you will see on the exam will provide you with the cardinal directions of North, South, East, and West, but some maps may provide you with the intermediate directions of Northeast, Northwest, Southeast, and Southwest as well.  However, some maps may provide you with a single direction such as North or South and you will have to determine the other directions based on the direction that the map identifies.
 
The second characteristic that will appear on each map is the map key, which may also be referred to as the legend.  The map key is a diagram that describes what each of the symbols on the map represents.  These symbols are usually used to represent public locations of significant importance such as city halls, police departments, fire stations, parks, or any other similar public location or place of interest.  The map key is important because you may need to use it in order to identify the police station or public building that you are supposed to begin your route from or end your route at.
 
The third characteristic that will appear on each map is a series of traffic patterns.  These traffic patterns are usually symbolized by a series of arrows that face different directions.  Each of the streets that are identified on the map with a name will be marked with a single arrow or a set of arrows and each arrow will indicate the direction or directions that traffic is supposed to follow.  If a street has a single arrow, the street is a one-way street on which you may travel in the direction that the arrow is pointing.  If a street has two arrows, on the other hand, the street is a two-way street in which you may travel in either direction.  Pay attention to the traffic patterns in order to answer any question in which you are required to plan the shortest route that you can legally take.
 
Secondly, once you have located all of the basic information that you need in order to read each map, read the directions for each question very carefully.  This is a good strategy regardless of the type of question that you are attempting to answer, but is especially important for the map questions that appear on the exam because each map question may tell you to find the shortest legal route to a particular destination, which means that all traffic regulations must be obeyed, or a question may tell you to find the most direct route to a destination.  Some of the map questions on the exam will allow you to ignore one-way streets or other traffic regulations while other questions will require you to adhere to every traffic regulation while you are attempting to determine the shortest route.  Reading each map question carefully will ensure that you know exactly what the question is asking you to do.
 
Third, trace the route described by each option as if you were driving a police cruiser along that route.  Some of the options may describe routes in terms of left or right turns in addition to, describing routes in terms of cardinal or intermediate directions.  Many of the map questions on the exam will also include options that describe routes that take you up one road and down another.  This means that if you're not approaching the map from a driver's perspective you may accidently take the wrong road while plotting your route because the left and right side of the map will be different from what your left and right would be if you were driving the car.  In order to answer each question correctly, you will need to look at each turn as if you were driving the car in the direction that you are tracing the line. 
 
Fourth, if you are attempting to find the most direct route without considering traffic regulations (for example, finding the shortest route that you can take during an emergency), you can determine the answer simply by tracing a line along the route that each option describes in order to determine which route makes the shortest line to the destination.  Each of the maps on the exam will have a series of traffic patterns and each question may present you with a series of traffic regulations in addition to these patterns that may be related to the situation.  However, these patterns and regulations do not apply to every map question on the exam so you may see a question that doesn't require you to worry about whether or not you are going the wrong way on a one-way street or breaking a particular traffic law.
 
Fifth, if you are attempting to find the shortest legal route or to find the most direct route assuming that all traffic regulations must be obeyed, you can determine the answer by tracing a line along the route in order to determine which route is the shortest route and whether each route is legal or not.  If the line you trace takes you the wrong way down a one-way street, or if the route breaks another regulation established by the directions, the route should be considered illegal.  This makes the option describing that route is incorrect for any question that is looking for a legal route.  Most of the map questions that ask you to find a legal route will include some options that are shorter than the correct option, but are incorrect because they do not describe a legal route, and some of the map questions may include two options that describe legal routes.  If this is the case, you must determine which legal route is the shortest in order to find the correct answer.
 
Sixth, you may see a pair of options on a single map question or a pair of options on two different map questions that tell you to take the same turn onto the same road.  If this is the case, you may be able to use the information that you have learned about that specific turn from any other question that is related to the same map.  In other words, if you see two options that describe the same turn and you have already determined that the turn was illegal for another question, that turn will be illegal for every question related to that map.  If, on the other hand, you see two options that describe the same turn and you have already determined that the turn was legal for another question, that turn will be legal for every question related to that map.
 
Example
A question is followed by two options that each tell you to 'proceed east on May Street.'  
 
In order to answer the question, you would need to look at the map and trace the route that each option describes.  Once you begin tracing the route on the map, you may see that May Street is a one-way street that only allows traffic to travel west.  If this is the case, it is safe to assume that proceeding east on May Street will always be illegal for any question related to that map.  As a result, you will be able to eliminate that option as a potential answer for that question because it includes an illegal instruction, and you will be able to eliminate any other option in that question or any future question that uses that same instruction.
 
Finally, there is a very simple technique that you can use to practice your map reading skills for the map reading questions that may appear on the exam.  This technique requires the use of a small local map, a local phone book, and a pencil.  
Find the position of a local police department or another similar public building, and mark that location on the map.  
Using the phone book, choose several addresses that are within the area that your map covers, and mark each address on the map with an 'X.'  
Draw either a single arrow or two arrows pointing opposite directions on each street on the map making sure that it is possible to get to any location on the map without going the wrong way on a street.  (It doesn't matter if the streets are actually one-way streets in real-life or not as you will be able to use the map to practice as long as you can get anywhere on the map without going the opposite direction of one of the arrows you have drawn.)
Use the map to find the shortest route to each of the X's that you drew on the map or try to find the shortest legal route to each of the X's using the arrows that you drew on the map to determine whether you can turn down a street or not.