Test Scores

[Bearsfan281]

Hey, everyone. Here's my question. As we all know, when when someone tests there is the physical test, the written exam, and the interview. All are calculated and a test score is taken from all three. My question is, is it possible to score over a hundred, or is a hundred the highest score someone can receive. Any help would be great!

[Chiguy27]

Depends. Some tests have preference points such as residency points, education points, military veterans points, etc. It would be department specific (not everyone has preference points) and the points get added on to your final score if they apply to you. I have seen scores over 100 so yeah, it's possible.

[Bearsfan281]

So is it possible for a police/fire board to bump up someone's interview score to put someone they want at the top of the eligibility list?

[Chiguy27]

No. Yes. Maybe. I don't understand your question. Just be patient with the process.

[L-1]

So is it possible for a police/fire board to bump up someone's interview score to put someone they want at the top of the eligibility list?

In true civil service testing is hard to do that.

Your written exam is scored in the number of correct answers you give to test questions. Its usually scored by a machine. If you program the machine to score 2+2 = anything but 4, it will change everyone's score.

Orals are usually scored on a specific set of questions that are asked of all candidates. Points are given for giving answers that meet elements of a question. Board members are normally requited to make notes and show how your answers did or did not meet those elements, to demonstrate how points were awarded.

All of this is done to protect against claims of bias, discrimination and violation of civil service rules, which could result in costly civil suits, loss of the board member's jobs. and possible criminal prosecution.

If you are aware of oral panel members conspiring together to violate civil service rules and falsify public documents (usually a felony in most states) to give bogus test scores, you should report it to the appropriate authorities.

[ChiTownDet]

"Orals are usually scored on a specific set of questions that are asked of all candidates. Points are given for giving answers that meet elements of a question. Board members are normally requited to make notes and show how your answers did or did not meet those elements, to demonstrate how points were awarded"
L-1, you forgot this is Cook County. Yes, people do get "greased" in the orals. And some towns are "Home Rule," so they can go down a list a grab any certified they want. Some do a mixture of off the list and lateral hiring. If a town wants someone, they will get them on.

And there's Chicago...Ahh, Chicago, where all you do is take the written, makes no difference on your score, as long as it's above 70, then you receive a "randomly generated" lottery number, which determines your hiring order. You can score 100 and get a lotto number of 15000, or score 70 and get a lotto of 1. Oh, and preference if you graduated from a Chicago Public School. Not Catholic School in Chicago, or Hebrew School in Chicago. And let's not talk about how they were arbitrarily saying that people flunked the psych, especially ex-Military and kids of coppers. Got caught on that one. Guy didn't get hired. Found out from the shrink that he passed him, but the Director of HR said he flunked the psych and DQ'ed him.

And promotionals are a whole other can of worms.

[Raiden341]

Hey, everyone. Here's my question. As we all know, when when someone tests there is the physical test, the written exam, and the interview. All are calculated and a test score is taken from all three. My question is, is it possible to score over a hundred, or is a hundred the highest score someone can receive. Any help would be great!

The physical isn't included. The physical is only a pass/fail test with no score. Typically towns will say the written is worth 70% and the interview is worth 30% and the two are combined for the final score. Preference points like military, certified, education, some towns have previous service as a CSO, residency, etc all typically get included on the written test score. It IS possible to get over 100% on the written by getting high 90's and then preference comes in which will boost it over 100, but once the interview gets factored in, scores will not be over 100. I remember taking Palos Height's test back in the day and they used the POST test which is the most mind-numbing, easy and completely pointless written exam ever. The top 10 were literally at 105 with preference and the next group of like 15 were at 100. If you got low 90's or mid 90's, you were in the 40/50's on the list which was absurd.