Before you can even present your perfectly crafted Competency Examples, you usually have to pass the Civil Service Verbal Reasoning Test (VRT).
This test is designed to check your ability to extract information from complex text. It is not a test of your general knowledge. It is a test of your logic.
The Golden Rule: Ignore what you know
The single biggest mistake candidates make is using "Outside Knowledge."
If the text says "The sky is green," then for the purpose of the test, the sky is green. If a question asks "Is the sky blue?", the answer is False. Do not use your real-world knowledge to answer the questions. Only use the text provided in the paragraph.
Understanding the 3 Answers
- TRUE: The statement strictly follows from the information in the passage. It is explicitly stated or logically inevitable.
- FALSE: The statement contradicts the information in the passage.
- CANNOT SAY: This is the trap. The statement might be true, or it might be false, but the passage does not give enough information to be 100% sure.
Be very careful with words like "always," "never," "all," and "none." If the text says "Many cats like milk," and the statement says "All cats like milk," the answer is Cannot Say (or False), because "Many" does not equal "All."
Time Management
You are not timed per question, but the overall test is usually untimed or has a generous limit. Do not rush. Re-read the passage for every single question. Do not rely on your memory of the passage from the previous question.
Candidates read a passage, form a general impression of what it says, then answer based on that impression rather than the precise wording. Go back to the text for every single question, even if you think you remember what it says.
What happens after you pass?
Once you pass the Verbal Reasoning Test, the real work begins: The Behaviour Statements. This is where most candidates are sifted out.
While the VRT tests your logic, the Behaviours test your experience. You need to structure your answers using the STAR method.