Police Exam UK

UK police exams start with the Police Initial Recruitment Exam, called
the PIRT. The purpose of this exam is to determine if a person has
what it takes to be a police officer. The questions on the exam are
focused around skills used on the job and they are fair to all
applicants. The purpose of requiring all applicants to pass this test
before being accepted for training is to ensure that only those with
relevant skills can become police officers. Applicants have only a
certain amount of time for each section of the test to show that they
can make decisions quickly and under pressure.

There are two sections to the PIRT – numeracy and verbal reasoning.
Most applicants do not experience success when they take the PIRT.
Most of the time it is because they are nervous and are not familiar
with the types of questions on the test. Lack of preparation is also
one of the reasons people fail the test.

The PIRT is only one part of the testing procedure for becoming a
police officer in the UK. In the Carousel, you have 5 minutes to
prepare for a role play exam. In this exam, you look over pertinent
documents and then you enter a room where there is an actor and an
assessor. The actor will set up the situation, to which you have to
react and the assessor will determine how well you did. There have to
complete four such role play exercises.

Another part of the assessment is writing letters and memos. You will
have to write two written reports, such as responding to a letter of
complaint. This type of test is to see how well you can read documents
and determine what information is relevant and what information can be
disregarded.

The structured interview is a part of the examination process as well.
There are core competencies on which the interviewer will ask you
questions. These competencies are:

• Respect for diversity

• Team working

• Community and customer focus

• Problem solving

• Effective communication

• Resilience

The interviewer will use your answers to the questions to determine
how much you know of the work of a police officer, how well prepared
you are for such a job and how your past experiences have prepared you
for this work.