Border Patrol Agent

[PeeOwed]

I was wondering how they score? It was posted earlier that you need to score 70 or higher each of the three test. Yet you receive a single score of 91. Am I missing something? If you receive a single score, wouldn't this be the average of the 3 test scores?

You get one score, like every other federal or civil service exam. It's not like the SATs where you get your math and verbal breakdown before your combined score.

Really, does it really matter if that score is an average of 3 sections, if answers between section I II and III are weighed differently, or if each answer in every section has the exact same point weight? Ultimately, if you do well on every section you're going to do well on the test. If you blow a section, you're not going to do well on the test. If you're preparing for the test, you should be preparing to do well on the whole thing (and really you're simply preparing for two tasks: 1.) logical reasoning and 2.) grammar analysis). If you're trying to figure out the scoring rubric, you're better off just practicing the logic and studying the grammar.

[sandwichman]

Anyone working in Texas see this in person?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_border_bridges

What's the verdict guys, is it a bridge, is it a catwalk, is it a horizontal pedestrian access point? Read article and discuss.

[Jarhead_FBI_SA]

Just got my results (Exam on the 16th), 97. Yay me.

[sandwichman]

wow, congrats, I rescheduled mine for next month to study more and shoot for 100%

[Lamp Lighter]

Took the test on Monday and got my score today. Very pleased with the quick NOR. 92% without veterans points. I'm pretty happy with that considering I took the artificial language test and did very little studying before hand. Haha.

[Jarhead_FBI_SA]

To be brutally honest...I didn't study (not enough hours in the day). Verbal is always verbal, and I learned a foreign language or two (Russian and German) over my lifetime so the ALT was fairly standard stuff. What would probably help you the most on the ALT is to study ENGLISH. If you aren't familiar with English grammar, then the ALT is going to be tough. If you can get rocking and rolling on the grammatical rules on the ALT, you'll breeze through it. I got done a little early, and I noticed some fellow test takers flipping the glossary of grammatical terms quite often. That eats away at your time. If you can learn the grammar terms by heart, you'll never have to flip off the ALT translation page and you'll knock it out of the park.

The pertinent study point on the ALT when you get to the exam: learn the gender and plural suffix rules by heart if nothing else. If you master that quickly, then nail down the past tense/past participle pre and suffix stuff. You'll be golden.

[sandwichman]

I dunno, I want to be as prepared as possible. The first time I took it, my score was so low that they didn't even print my score on the NOR, and they just said something along the lines of "better luck next time". The sad part is I spoke Spanish fluently as a kid (went to elementary school in Venezuela in the early 80s) and speak German as well as Hungarian. The part that gave me difficulty the first time was the English section that I didn't prepare for enough and some of which I couldn't get my head around, but have that sorted out now (took a little thought to get the negative an positive lead-in sentences). As far as the ALT, I went through the rules and grasp the concepts, how to make nouns from verbs, how to make nouns plural and feminine, etc and found the only thing giving me trouble still are adverbs and some of the singular and plural possessive noun and pronouns forms. I'm still debating whether I should take the Spanish or ALT on the test, so I'm practicing both (did the Spanish test the first time, but again overall score was sucky so I have no clue how I did).

[CZ_Kid]

You get one score, like every other federal or civil service exam. It's not like the SATs where you get your math and verbal breakdown before your combined score.

Really, does it really matter if that score is an average of 3 sections, if answers between section I II and III are weighed differently, or i each answer in every section has the exact same point weight? Ultimately, if you do well on every section you're going to do well on the test. If you blow a section, you're not going to do well on the test. If you're preparing for the test, you should be preparing to do well on the whole thing (and really you're simply preparing for two tasks: 1.) logical reasoning and 2.) grammar analysis). If you're trying to figure out the scoring rubric, you're better off just practicing the logic and studying the grammar.

You are correct but unfortunately it does matter in my case. *As I
stated earlier, I put way too much thought and reading into the logical
reasoning. *I feel that I rushed the last 10 or 12 questions. *As you
mention, I did prepare but I feel these question were a bit longer and
more confusing then the ones in the study guide. *On the other hand, I
speak fluent Spanish (grew up in Central America) and I am of good
character and have a solid work ethic so I'm confident I did well on the
other 2 test. *

Thank you guys for all the help though. I can't stress anymore. What's done is done.

[CZ_Kid]

Just got my NOR!!!! Passed!!!!

[Jarhead_FBI_SA]

You speak Hungarian? That is impressive. Very hard language to learn as a native English speaker because it doesn't translate well and the grammar is strange. At least Russian is phonetically correct and German uses a recognizable alphabet. Hungarian is something else.

Like I said above, make sure you know English first. If you don't understand English grammar, then you will have difficulty translating the ALT to English correctly. This is true of learning any language though. I had to relearn proper English (We don't speak that in Alabama ) when I took Russian in college.

You'll do fine.

[sandwichman]

You speak Hungarian? That is impressive. Very hard language to learn as a native English speaker because it doesn't translate well and the grammar is strange. At least Russian is phonetically correct and German uses a recognizable alphabet. Hungarian is something else. ..

Yes, Hungarian was my first language, then German, then Spanish, then English. I forgot German after learning Spanish, but learned it again as a teenager, then forgot Spanish after learning English, but am picking up Spanish again watching Telemundo, Univision, the novelas, listening to the Spanish radio stations down here and bs-ing with buddies at work.

To any people who haven't taken the BP test yet, bring a watch with you to the test and be sure to keep an eye on it to avoid running out of time during the different sections. Keeping an eye on a clock greatly helps you budget your time and reminds you not to spend to much time on one question. If you get stuck on a question, come back to it later like the study guide says.

[avalon42]

Took the test on Monday and got my score today. Very pleased with the quick NOR. 92% without veterans points. I'm pretty happy with that considering I took the artificial language test and did very little studying before hand. Haha.

I got my NOR too. Same score as you. Studied the day before for about 4 hours in the library.

[avalon42]

BTW, I noticed my NOR came with a specialty code for each GL level, I qualify for GL-5 and GL-7. Is there any way to lookup their meaning?

[OchoTres]

Did you get your NOR in the mail? I took mine on the 16th as well and got nothing.

[GeauxForthTiger]

BTW, I noticed my NOR came with a specialty code for each GS level, I qualify for GS-5 and GS-7. Is there any way to lookup their meaning?

That isn't any sort of specialty. That is just the pay scale level you will get paid. Google "government GS pay scale"