How to pass a Psychological Exam

This day and age many different career fields are resorting to additional screening test to get the most qualified candidate who applied. Applicants applying for a position as a Firefighters, Public Safety Officers, and Police Officers should expect to take a Psychological Exam. Most applicants who fail during the hiring process is during this exam. Most exams are two parts, a written and an interview with a psychologist. There are a few good books to help you prepare, one is Master the Firefighter Exam pictured below. Use the following steps to give you a greater chance to pass the exam.

Do not try to study for the exam by researching commonly used test like the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI). The test is set up to catch people who answer "appearing excessively good" or "faking bad".

The written exam is usually over 500 true or false questions that ask the same questions over and over in different ways. There are question to determine if you are lying, faking, and what your personality is. The sample thing to do on this part of the exam is do not lie! If a question asks you “I never feel like swearing” than you should answer false. Even if you never swear, everyone feels like it at some point in their life. Another

example question, “I read every editorial in the paper”. No one reads every editorial in the paper. Lastly, answer with the first thing that pops into your head. Don’t second guess yourself or think that you’re superhuman.

The interview with a psychologist is the strange part of the exam. You will be in a room with a psychologist who will ask you questions and then take notes while you answer. The psychologist will leave long periods of silence in between your answer and their next question. This is to try to get you to add more information to you answer that could open yourself up to more questions. Only answer the question that was asked and they wait for the next one. Just remember the psychologist is testing you, you may feel very comfortable during the interview which is a trick to open you up. Once again, don’t lie, they know when you do!

Walk out with your head held high knowing you took the exam truthfully and to the best of your ability!