2023 Civil Service Exam
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You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.
If you don’t take the exam, don’t come here and bitch that you didn’t get hired.
If you don’t take the exam, don’t come here and bitch that you didn’t get hired.
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What was the highest score you received before?
I got an 82 in 2017 and 82 again in 2021. Not sure to what decimal only took state police I signed up for everything this time.
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375 Posts
If you score reasonably decently (high 80s or above) and are willing to be flexible about where you work (which you should be if looking to get on), your chances of getting a card are extremely high. Obviously getting a card and getting on are very different things, but getting a card gives you a shot at the job.
I got a 91 on the 2021 exam and have gotten easily 15+ cards from multiple cities and towns and MBTA.
I’d say take the test and make sure to update your civil service account to be on every list in the state. Sign every certification your name comes up on, give 100% on every hiring process and you’ll have a great chance.
At this point, I’d focus on getting on a CS job. Then you can lateral to another department if you want or test for MSP
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How many departments can get your score? I heard you picked 10 but I'm not sure that's right.
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Unlimited, you pick the towns that get your score on the CS website. You can list every CS department in the state
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34 Posts
You can pick but all the vets and town residents will still land above you regardless of your score. it's based off residency. You have to live in that particular city or town for a year prior to the exam date in order to get residency preference. Unless its state police then the only living requirement is that you have to live in the state i believe.
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True, resident and Vet preference still applies. That said, numerous departments are burning through the resident and Vet lists and going statewide. Thus, it makes sense to put your name on every list
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Yea that is very true. I have not thought of that. Every Towns list is different, some have no vets at all and very few residents even take the exam.
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Don’t even have to live in the state for MSP. You have to establish residency by the time you get into the academy though.. or once you graduate? One or the other, can’t quite remember.
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Interesting how things have changed since I was trying to get on the job there in Mass back in the 80s.
I scored 99 on both Civil Service tests I took but the closest I got was 17th on the list before it expired and never received a card. We were only able to put in for three Civil Service towns, plus our city/town of residency. Seems things have changed quite a bit since then.
Good luck to you guys who are trying to get on now.
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Thanks. Definitely a weird world we’re living in now. The ability to list unlimited towns was added maybe 5-6 years ago, but the lack of interest in the job has gotten much worse recently. With a 99 now, you’d be in the first round of cards for your hometown and getting cards from probably 30 other towns.
Is LAPD experiencing a shortage of recruits? I know your hiring process is quite a bit different but have you noticed considerably fewer applicants, or a much less competitive hiring process?
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Believe it or not a 95 will get you in a first round of cards now. Times are very different. MSP has been sending more cards than they used to due to lack of interest.
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In what way? Easier now or harder in terms of grading?
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From what I'm hearing, we still have lots of people applying, however, the quality of the applicants has changed in the last few years. As we all know, we'd prefer quality over quantity with the folks we work with but nowadays, who knows.
Yes, our hiring process is very different than the Mass Civil Service way of doing things. Having gone through both, I like ours better.
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No idea if the test is easier or harder, the grading is easier or harder, or if the people taking the test aren’t as bright, but the scores necessary to get hired have definitely gone down.
In the 80’s and early-mid 90’s, you needed a 98+ to even be considered. There also weren’t many Veterans or DAV’s, the Vietnam-eras were already hired, and the next big war (Gulf War) hadn’t happened yet.
Then again, back then the line to take the CS test went out the door and down the block. Now, no one wants to be a cop anymore.
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The grading is more distributed because of the way the test is constructed. Back in the day the test wasn’t distributed much on a sliding grading scale. The purpose of that is to differentiate people as much as possible versus sifting through a bunch of 99s and 98s
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