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| When it comes to
Ospre Part I you will not find it difficult to obtain a mass of opinion
and advice about the examination and the study/revision process. Some
of this guidance will be provided by reputable sources and will no
doubt be accurate and reliable; I do not doubt the quality of this
information. However, I am increasingly concerned by the rising number
of candidates I speak with who have been given some of the most appalling
advice one could ever hear of in respect of the Ospre examinations.
The fact that much of this so called 'advice' is proffered by ill-informed
barrack-room examiners who have little or no real knowledge on the
subject does not prevent it from seriously damaging a candidates prospects
of success, sometimes irreparably.
This section will debunk such advice and
dispel some common examination myth and rumour.
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Myth
"The first few questions
are always fairly simple…just to ease you in to the exam".
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| The first point to make is that a
question is only easy if you know the answer. Whilst it is true that
some questions are easier to answer than others (examiners know which
questions fall into this category from the statistical data obtained
in test situations), it is also true that these questions will be
randomly interspersed amongst other mid-range and harder questions
to answer within the examination. Candidates will definitely not find
five or six 'easy rides' presented to them at the outset of an examination
as Ospre Part I is a rigorous test of candidates' law knowledge and
the process is anything but friendly. A candidate who believes this
myth is going to have their morale severely damaged within the first
10 minutes of the examination - an experience they may not be able
to recover from. |
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Rumour -
"The pass mark is going up".
Myth -
"The pass mark changes every year".
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| No it is not and no it
does not! There are no plans, at present, to raise or lower the pass
mark. The pass mark for the Sergeants' examination is set at 55%;
the pass mark for the Inspectors' examination is set at 65% and that
has been the case for several years. |
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Barrack-room
advice - "You can spot
a verification question a mile away…they are always on 'new'
law". |
This dire advice
is, unfortunately, very common. It is important for candidates to
note that verification questions can be asked on any area of law within
the syllabus. As an NPIA trained question writer I could, today, write
a brand new question for an Ospre Part I examination relating to an
offence of s. 47 assault contrary to the Offences Against the Person
Act 1861 - not exactly 'new' law is it?
Do not think that specific examinations have their own particular
verification process - a question of law is a question of law no matter
what rank or position you hold. |
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Myth -
"You can only pass the examination by scoring 55% / 65% in each
of the four syllabus areas (Crime, Evidence & Procedure, Road
Policing and General Police Duties)." |
In the Sergeants' or Inspectors' examination
a candidate obtains a mark based on their overall performance when
answering the 140 counting questions (remember there are 10 verification
questions to discount). This mark is converted into a % and provides
a 'pass' or 'fail'. It does not matter how a candidate scores in respect
of a particular syllabus area although it is likely that a particularly
poor performance in a major area will have a detrimental effect on
the prospects for overall success.
However, the fact remains that it is possible to get every question
wrong in some areas and still pass. For example, a 2007 Inspectors'
candidate could have answered every Evidence & Procedure question
incorrectly (there were only 25 Evidence & Procedure questions)
and still have passed. |
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Barrack-room advice -
"Practical experience is the key to success". |
Practical experiences can support
a candidate but only to a minor degree. Part I is a law theory examination
and not a test of an individuals applied ability as a police officer.
To begin with, the Ospre syllabus and examination questions are so
widely based as to make it utterly impossible for any police officer
to have practical experiences of all the subject matter covered -
so the reality of the situation is that real life familiarity will
only assist candidates to attempt to answer a small to medium proportion
of questions at best.
What is more, questions based on even the more common offences e.g.
theft, will tend not to focus on the routine day-to-day circumstances
that practical experience has taught the candidate how to deal with.
Instead, a candidate is much more likely to face a question asking
them to consider the intricacies of the principles laid down in R
v Ghosh in relation to dishonesty. It is doubtful whether practical
experience would provide the answer to such a question. This is why
candidates who trust in real life experiences to get them through
the examinations invariably find success a difficult if not impossible
task to achieve. |
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Myth -
"The examination is split into four specific sections in the
order of the Manuals: a 'Crime' section, an 'Evidence & Procedure'
section, a 'Road Policing' section and a 'General Police Duties' section". |
Questions in the examinations are
placed in a particular order but that order is one that ensures a
candidate will not answer 6 or 7 General Police Duties questions in
a row much less 35 to 45 in a row. Candidates may find that 3 or 4
questions on a particular manual area are asked in succession but
this will not be the norm for the whole examination paper. A mix of
subject questions throughout the course of an examination provides
all candidates with an equal chance to illustrate their knowledge
across the broad spectrum of the syllabus.
If the exam were constructed so that all 'Crime' questions were asked
at the beginning of the examination and all 'General Police Duties'
questions at the end, this would provide an advantage to candidates
whose knowledge of 'Crime' was of a good standard and a disadvantage
to those whose knowledge of 'General Police Duties' was of a good
standard. |
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Barrack-Room Advice -
"The best way to approach the examination is to read through
all the questions before you begin answering them". |
| This has to be the most ludicrous
advice I have ever heard - the problem is that somebody took it. Reading
an examination paper is appropriate to essay style questions but should
never be carried out when sitting a multiple-choice examination. NPIA
research shows that it takes the average person ninety minutes just
to read a 150 question paper - and what good would it accomplish?
Ninety minutes down the line a candidate would be lucky if they could
remember the facts of question 149 let alone question 1. Begin answering
questions immediately. |
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Myth -
"Two of the options in a multiple-choice question are always
a joke". |
Then what is the
point of including them if they are so obviously wrong and nobody
is going to pick them? If this were actually correct then every question
would effectively present a candidate with a 50:50 chance of guessing
the right answer. As a consequence even the worst prepared candidate
should, statistically, get half of the examination questions correct
and obtain a mark of 50%. This would mean that although a candidate
would have to work to obtain the extra 5% for the Sergeants' pass
mark or 15% for Inspectors' pass mark, a pass should nevertheless
be within the relatively easy reach of all. Why then, do so many people
fail the examinations?
One reason, amongst many, is that the options in a multiple-choice
question are not 'a joke'. This is because NPIA questions genuinely
present candidates with a true and difficult choice. In addition,
there is the verification process to consider. Apart from testing
the validity of questions, verification questions ensure that the
options presented to candidates, whilst false, provide a realistic
alternative to the correct answer. The life-force of this myth has
much to do with the fact that some candidates practice on substandard
multiple-choice questions whose authors have little regard for the
quality of the questions as long as they are selling a product. |
Should you have any queries about the article or wish
me to advise on something you have heard about the Ospre Part I examinations,
please contact me on checkmatetrain@aol.com
