Polygraph question.

[CO Church]

Hey you all. I recently failed my polygraph examination, its not that Im lying its that I get super nervous for the test! I am thinking of taking a Xanex pill for the next one because my heart is always beating out of my chest for that exam. Any suggestions?

Im sorry MOD can you move this to the hiring and recruitment process section?

[luis.FL07]

When I took my polygraph for the MDPD I was extremely nervous as well. But I still passed the examination. Its just that the machine noticed some deception in your answers. Good luck on your next examination, hope you pass it

[Lawseeker]

I am certainly no authority on the polygraph, but it is my understanding that taking any medication to relieve anxiety for the poly could be viewed as trying to "beat" the machine.

I am sure that someone with more experience can elaborate whether this is the case or not.

You are not the only one that gets nervous or extremely nervous for the poly. It is not a normal thing to go through. I know, I too get nervous.

You could have failed the poly for any reason. Did the examiner indicate you were showing deception to a certain question(s) (NOT saying you did, just asking if the examiner stated anything to that effect)? Perhaps it was nerves.

Also, did you ask the examiner if it would be ok to take medication to calm your nerves?

Maybe if you get the chance to go through some more poly's you will be a LITTLE more comfortable?

[MIA Hopeful]

Don't do it! Stay away from the pills! Relax and just breathe. Now that you know some of the questions they are going to ask you have some one at home sit with you and ask you these questions over and over again. Become familure with your answers and just relax. REMEMBER TO BREATHE and take your time before you answer each question. I can't stress enough how important it is to relax and just breathe.... You will do fine... search this forum on this subject... I have answer other questions concerning this issue.



GOOD LUCK!

[bigstakz]

And to think that I wasnt even nervous. I know they LIED on me saying that I failed. LOL!

[Tundra87]

your second polygraph should be much more relaxing (yet still not relaxing) however, DO NOT TAKE ANY MEDICATIONS. That can screw up your body responses even more and yes be seen as trying to counter measures. If your heart is beating hard for all the questions it would show up consistently and you should not worry. That is the reason they also listen to your breathing, blood pressure, and heart rate. They are looking for consistency and when on one question spikes above what is normal for the baseline questions, they throw the red flag and it usually means you are deceiving them or lying..did they tell you the questions that made you fail??

[USFbull]

This Makes Me Kind Of Nervous Seeing That I Have My Poly One Week From Monday

[bigstakz]

your second polygraph should be much more relaxing (yet still not relaxing) however, DO NOT TAKE ANY MEDICATIONS. That can screw up your body responses even more and yes be seen as trying to counter measures. If your heart is beating hard for all the questions it would show up consistently and you should not worry. That is the reason they also listen to your breathing, blood pressure, and heart rate. They are looking for consistency and when on one question spikes above what is normal for the baseline questions, they throw the red flag and it usually means you are deceiving them or lying..did they tell you the questions that made you fail??

Nope...the polygrapher that I had dont tell you crap and that really sucks. He didn't even give me a hint or nothing.

[BOSMIA]

Just another example of how these tests are crap. I know many people who have failed numerous test and passed numerous. They are a joke. It's a shame because there are alot of good people out there who want the job and get knocked out for "lying" when they are not.

[jhernandez]

this is very true i took a poly in late june i passed all my questions and i failed a drug question in which i was telling the truth. its funny one of the questions was " have you falsified any information on your application or report made today" i said no, then the question comes up if i had taken any drugs within the past year i said no and they called me in from the department to tell me i had to take a 2nd poly because i failed that one question. i opted to take it again. but just think of this for a moment. if i had not falsified anything on my application then if they asked me have i done any illegal drugs within the past year i clearly was telling them the truth why would it come up as a "spike" and it caused for me to fail my 1st poly. it just sucks man

Coral Gables Police
Oral Board-passed
Psych- passed
1st poly- inconclusive result
2nd poly- taken and pending results

[BigBo]

CO....my college professor used to be a polygrapher...surprisingly, the majority of times people get a 2nd polygraph is because the first time it comes inconclusive, meaning they cant tell the exact results, and the second is because they think you are using countermeasures and want to catch you in the act....i personally had 2 polygraphs for a federal agency and the 2nd one was about an hour, as the first one was 5 hours...the second one was all about me using countermeasures, which i never did the first time....so if that helps, if not, send me a message, i can tell ya some more information that will help you out big time

[BOSMIA]

Its only a matter of time before most depts do away with polys

[Monty Ealerman]

It's better to avoid the drugs if you can. If you contemplate taking an anxiolytic such as xanax (alprazolam) or another benzodiazepine prior to taking the test, make sure you have an appropriate prescription (bezodiazepines are Schedule IV drugs), and be sure to talk to the examiner and/or another approved contact in the department about it in advance. If you can truthfully say you take it acutely for anxiety, and not chronically, the examiner will likely tell you to not do so at any time approaching that of the test. If you say you need anxiolytic drugs on a regular basis, you might thereby fail the medical/psych test. Better to do some controlled breathing, as MIA Hopeful suggested. If you have normal or better respiratory health, try a timing-based method, e.g. 3-4 seconds inhale, 3-4 seconds exhale, keeping it steady. That helps to stabilize both the thoracic and cardiac measurements, but not as much the galvanic skin response measurement. If you eat a lot of very spicy food before the test, you could by the associated diaphoretic effect (i.e. if the spice is enough to make you sweat) influence the GSR measurement. There are ways to influence it deliberately that I won't discuss specifically on this forum. Whatever you do, it makes sense to me to talk about it to the examiner. If he understands that you're there to tell the truth and to co-operate with him in his attempt to get a clean measurement set, you're more likely to fare better.

[Hopefull101]

Hey everyone I have a quick question..I took my poly today and the examiner didn't say I pass or fail however after we were finish we went over the questions and he said I reacted to two questions (he didnt say deception he said I re-acted) so he ask if there's anything I wanted to tell him. I was telling the truth so I said 'no'. He said probably will have to re-schedule me for another exam so we could clear up those two questions. Is this a good thing or bad?

[mdpd#1]

Hey everyone I have a quick question..I took my poly today and the examiner didn't say I pass or fail however after we were finish we went over the questions and he said I reacted to two questions (he didnt say deception he said I re-acted) so he ask if there's anything I wanted to tell him. I was telling the truth so I said 'no'. He said probably will have to re-schedule me for another exam so we could clear up those two questions. Is this a good thing or bad?

that means that you will have to retake the poly. the 2nd poly will be based around the questions that you reacted to. just make sure you stay calm throughout the whole process.