Passing the Police Officer Exam: Spelling questions

The fourth type of uncommon question that sometimes appears on the Police Officer Exam is the spelling question.  Each of these questions will ask you to identify a word that is misspelled or identify the correct spelling of a word.  You probably will not see these questions on the exam, but since these questions may still be included on some versions of the exam, it may be helpful for you to know how to answer these questions if they do appear.
 
Common errors
The spelling questions on the exam will typically ask you to identify the errors that people commonly make, so you should be able to answer most of the spelling questions on the exam simply by remembering basic spelling rules.  All of the misspelled words may not violate these rules; many spelling errors may appear on the exam.  However, most of the spelling errors in these questions will be related to some of the specific types of mistakes that people typically make so you should be familiar with some of the basic spelling rules. 
 
The three most comment spelling errors include:
The incorrect ordering of the letters 'i' and 'e': If a word has the letters 'i' and 'e' side by side, the letter 'i' will usually come before the letter 'e.'  The major exception to this rule is if the 'ie' follows the letter 'c' or if the 'ie' sounds like an 'a' as in the word 'weight' because the 'e' will come before the 'i' in these cases.  
 
Forgetting to double the consonant in certain words when an ending is added: If a word normally ends with a vowel that is followed by a single stressed consonant, you must double the consonant when you are adding an ending that begins with a vowel such as '-ed' or '-ing'.  For example, the word 'mop' ends with the vowel 'o' followed by the single consonant 'p' so the word 'mop' would become 'mopped' or 'mopping' instead of moped or moping.  
 
Forgetting to drop the 'e' at the end of a word when an ending that begins with a vowel is added: If a word normally ends with an 'e,' you will usually drop the 'e' when you add an ending that begins with a vowel.