Often, police officers face difficult situations that require making quick and sound decisions. SIGMA Survey for Police Officers is a reliable, objective assessment that screens job applicants seeking to become police officers.
SIGMA utilizes job related as well as face valid questions to help in identifying those candidates who possess the necessary cognitive skills to use in making solid judgment in critical police situations. It also helps in picking candidates that display good understanding of legal documents and can prepare credible police incident reports.
What does SIGMA Involve?
The SIGMA (SSPO) Exam is made up of 74 questions that the candidate must respond to in 35 minutes. Essentially, SSPO is a test on your cognitive abilities that looks into the aptitude for good policing. Your prowess in critical areas like problem solving, vocabulary, spelling and mathematics get tested in the general knowledge component of the Exam.
You can undertake second exam rewrite after 60 days. In case you are still not successful during the second attempt, further rewrites can be done every 6 months. The Exam is the same no matter where you take it from across the country.
Why is SIGMA Important?
Research results have shown that the SIGMA (SSPO) Exam clearly distinguishes between those candidates who can and those who are unable to put together satisfactory reports on specific incident. In addition, the SSPO measures the candidate’s general cognitive ability, something that has been proven to be among the best job performance predictors for practically all types of jobs. Cognitive ability has been shown to be even more effective than interviews, education, resumes, education or references.
The Screening Interview
The screening interview process the prospective job seeker’s opportunity to display their preparedness in becoming part of the Police Service. It is among the most critical and challenging stages of the entire process of selection. It lasts between 1 and 2 hours and has been structured to ensure fairness to all those taking part. The screening interview is carried out in a real office setting and is typically conducted by the recruiting unit members.
It is the chance for the applicant to demonstrate that indeed they qualify for the police job post, plus that they offer an excellent “organizational fit”. It is critical that the job applicants must not underestimate the significance of being prepared for this vital interview. This is a very competitive selection process for the few slots available.
Therefore, when the opportunity is offered, it would be expected that the applicants:
- Are well prepared
- Are confident of their skills and abilities
- Able to persuade the interviewing panel of how suitable they are for the position.
To fail during this stage of the process could lead to elimination from the rest of the competition and in some cases being barred from all future competitions.
Very Convenient Exam
- The actual competitive SSPO takes approximately 35 minutes to finish.
- The test answer sheets get faxed to SIGMA directly and electronically scored.
- The Exam outcomes become available less than 15 minutes via the convenient fax-in service of SIGMA.
Tips on Passing the Test
Prior to taking the SIGMA Exam, it’s very important for you to appreciate what you are going to face. Lots of candidates make the grave mistake of assuming that taking the exam is easy or a simple “walk in the park”. The truth is different!
- Don’t put off preparations and studying.
- Brush up your skills ahead of the exam such as reading, grammar, mathematics, essay skills and judgment making.
- Learn from others who have succeeded before, from their mistakes, and how to tackle exams.
- Understand and master how to answer exam questions and how to give the exam setters what they want.
Conclusion
Passing the SIGMA Exam is imperative for anybody who aspires to secure one of the available and highly coveted police officer jobs. It is important to note that it’s not all those who pass the SIGMA Exam that actually get the job offer. Your prospects as a police officer will be largely be based on achieving the highest possible score in the Exam. Therefore you ought to utilize every advantage at your disposal to achieve that. Master the required strategies to solve the questions and logic puzzles you are likely to face.