By Fatskills Exam Guides Team — the exam nerds behind 28,500+ quizzes and 2.1M practice questions across 500+ global exams.
One type of question that you will see on virtually every version of the Police Officer Exam is the reading comprehension question. Each of these questions will ask you to:
These questions are relatively straightforward, as most of the reading comprehension questions on the Police Officer Exam are similar to the types of reading comprehension questions that you may have seen on other exams. However, there are some differences between these questions and the questions that you will see on other exams. You may see some special reading comprehension questions included on the Police Officer Exam that you may have not seen anywhere else. There are some techniques to approaching these questions that you may want to keep in mind. Read the questions first Before you begin reading a particular passage, read over the reading comprehension questions that follow that passage. This allows you to identify the information that you need to look for once you actually begin reading the passage. The length of the written passages can vary greatly from department to department. However, one thing will always be the same regardless of the version of the Police Officer Exam that you are taking: time is always a concern. Most versions of the Police Officer Exam will allow you to have somewhere between 15 and 25 minutes to read each passage and answer the 8 – 15 questions associated with that passage. This gives you only have about a minute and a half to 2 minutes to answer each reading comprehension question so you need to have a basic idea of what you are looking for before you begin reading. Skim the passage quickly Before reading the passage in-depth, skim over the passage quickly. Each passage is different, so the information that each passage covers and the way that it covers that information will be different as well. Since your primary goal for any of the reading comprehension passages is to read and comprehend the information, it can be very helpful to have a basic understanding of what the passage is talking about and how that information is covered before you begin to read the passage carefully. You will only have a limited amount of time to read each passage, so skimming will help you understand the information more quickly, and will save you time. Don't assume The reading comprehension questions are not designed to test your knowledge of any specific police procedure, police protocol, or your knowledge of any other specific topic. The written passages may include information related to a number of different topics that may or may not be related to law enforcement. You may be familiar with some of the topics that you will come across in the passages on the exam, and you may think that you can answer some of the questions based on what you know about the topic. However, this is always a bad idea because most of the reading comprehension questions on the Police Officer Exam are designed to try to trick you into choosing an answer that seems correct, but is actually incorrect because the passage didn't state the information. In order to answer each reading comprehension question correctly, you will have to base your answer on the information that is stated in the passage instead of basing your answer on anything that you knew beforehand. Opinions and hypotheses Choosing an answer based on the information in the passage is especially important when a question asks you to identify a piece of information that may be related to an argument, an opinion, or a hypothesis. The information in these passages may actually be incorrect, but you are being asked to base your answer off of the information provided. For example, you may have to choose an answer that seems ridiculous, or that you know to be false, because it's what the passage stated. Example A passage that states:'In Simon's Big, Fat Book of Ridiculous Police Facts, Dr. Simon Miller states that most of the police officers he polled consider the act of apprehending criminals as their number 1 priority. In fact, according to Dr. Miller's poll, most police departments expect their officers to apprehend criminals before they offer aid to any individual in any situation. As a result, Dr. Miller's book holds that a police officer will try to apprehend a suspect before offering assistance to an injured individual.' This information is of course false because any good police officer should know that there are situations in which an officer has to offer aid to an injured individual before the officer tries to apprehend a criminal. However, you will be asked to answer questions related to what Dr. Miller believes to be true, and not what you know to be true, so you have to focus on what the passage says and not on what you know. Special words Remember the earlier tip about words that negate, quantity words, and conditional words. Words that negate: no not nowhere
prefixes such as 'un' Quantity words: all always any every generally few many most much never none occasionally several sometimes typically usually Conditional words: could may might should probably
This advice applies not only to the questions and options on the exam, but also to all of the passages on the exam. Each of these words can easily change the meaning of an entire sentence, which can lead you to believe that a sentence is saying one thing when it is actually saying something completely different. Example'In Simon's Big, Fat Book of Ridiculous Police Facts, Dr. Simon Miller states that most of the police officers he polled consider the act of apprehending criminals as their number 1 priority. In fact, according to Dr. Miller's poll, most police departments expect their officers to apprehend criminals before they offer aid to an injured individual in most situations. As a result, Dr. Miller holds that a police officer will typically try to apprehend a suspect before offering assistance to an injured individual.' This passage is almost identical to the passage, but there are two key differences in the wording. These differences alter the meaning of the entire passage. The first difference is in the second sentence: the word 'most' is used in the place of the word 'any.' This makes it clear that there are some situations in which an officer may offer assistance before he or she apprehends a criminal. The second difference is in the final sentence: the word 'typically' is used in front of the word 'try.' This makes it clear that Dr. Miller realizes that there may be situations in which an officer has to offer assistance first. These two words change the meaning of the passage from 'officers always apprehend criminals first' to 'officers usually apprehend criminals first'. Notate important words While you are reading each passage, underline, circle, or place an asterisk next to any word, sentence, or phrase that appears to be important. This will allow you to glance back at the passage quickly in order to identify the most important information without reading the entire passage again. Since there is a limited amount of time to read the passage and answer the corresponding questions, you can't afford to waste time by reading the passage over and over again. Since most versions of the Police Officer Exam will allow you to mark the exam booklet, you should mark any important details that you see as you read the material. While you are reading each passage, certain things are important enough to be underlined, circled, or marked. The first thing that you should look for while the main topic of the passage, or any piece of information that is directly related to the main topic of the passage, such as an example, a subtopic, or anything else that appears to describe or clarify the topic that the passage is discussing. The second thing that you should look for is any phrase or sentence that defines a term that appears in the passage. (In fact, underlining or marking the definitions is a very good idea because you will typically be asked to define some of the terms that you come across while you are reading the passage.) Other things you should look for while you are reading each passage include:
Transitional words include:
as a result conversely finally however in conclusion in the end nevertheless on the other hand therefore thus ultimately yet
All these types of words signify that the information included in the sentence is important. One additional thing that you should look for in certain passages may be a real-life situation instead of a specific topic, specifically the events that occurred in the situation, the time that each event occurred in the situation, the names of the people involved in the situation, and anything that the people involved in the situation said. Read the entire passage Read through the entire passage even though you only have a limited amount of time. It is not wise to read only the first and last paragraph of each passage to get a basic idea of what the passage says, and ignore the rest of the passage in an attempt to save time. The questions on the exam are designed to determine whether you read and understood the passage or not. These questions will include options that will trick you into choosing the wrong answer by providing information that is related to what was discussed in the passage, but the information is not actually stated in the passage or not stated in the same way within the passage. In order for you to choose the correct answer you must know what the entire passage actually said. Read each question Once you have finished reading the passage, read each of the questions again very carefully before you try to choose an answer. This will help you to determine whether you actually understand what each question is asking or not. Many of the questions on the exam sound similar. Make sure that you are answering the question that you are actually being asked. Also be sure to read all of the options that are associated with a particular question before choosing an answer. You may see an option that appears to be correct, but it doesn't actually answer the question. You may also see an option that appears to answer the question, but there may be another option further down the list that is more appropriate. Each of the reading comprehension questions on the exam are looking for the best answer so you need to make sure that you are not only choosing the correct answer, but that you are also choosing the best answer. Reread the passage
As time allows, if you believe that you have found the correct answer to one of the reading comprehension questions on the exam, reread the section of the passage that is related to that answer before you mark your answer on the answer sheet. This allows you to make sure that you read the information in the passage correctly and that you chose the correct answer. This can be helpful specifically for any question that you are having difficulty answering. This does not mean that you should reread the entire passage, but rather that you should focus your attention on the sections that are specifically related to the question that you are attempting to answer. Types of reading comprehension questions There are five main types of reading comprehension questions that are typically included on the Police Officer Exam's written examination. These five question types include
All five of these types of questions are designed to assess your ability to read, understand, and analyze information. Each type of question tests your reading skills in a different way so you may need to approach each question differently. As a result, there are some tips and techniques that you may want to keep in mind for each of the different question types. Main idea questions This type of question will ask you to identify the topic that the passage appears to be discussing, the argument that the author of the passage is attempting to make, or the best title for the passage based on the information covered in the passage. These questions can be very easy to answer, but there are some main idea questions that are more difficult than others. As a result, there are a few things that you may want to keep in mind. First sentence The main idea of the passage may be stated in the first sentence, but it doesn't have to be stated in the first sentence. Many people believe that the topic sentence will always be the first sentence in the paragraph or passage. This is not always the case. Some passages will present the topic that they are discussing another sentence in the passage. In order for you to find the main idea, you will usually have to read through the entire passage very carefully. Obvious vs. implied Remember that the main idea of a passage may be obvious or it may be implied. You may encounter a passage that doesn't have a single sentence that states the topic of the passage clearly. If you are looking for a topic sentence, you may be looking for a sentence that simply isn't there. If you are unable to find a sentence that seems to identify the topic of the passage, you should take a minute to look at what each sentence has in common. This will help you to find the main idea because the main idea of a passage is simply what the passage as a whole is trying to discuss so any opinion, topic, or hypothesis that is common throughout the passage is the main idea of the passage. Read each option Finally, if you are trying to identify the main idea of a passage or the appropriate title for the passage, but you are having difficulty choosing an answer, you should read each option very carefully. While you are reading each option, think about the passage and try to ask yourself 'Is this what the passage is discussing?' If you determine that the entire passage appears to be discussing the topic that the option has identified, the option is most likely the correct answer. On the other hand, if the passage does not appear to discuss the topic that the option has identified, or only part of the passage appears to discuss the topic that the option has identified, the option is most likely incorrect.
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