Preparation Strategy

To achieve the best possible results, a number of strategies can be used to prepare for the Victoria Police Entrance Examination.

Literacy Skills

Literacy skills are improved through practicing a combination of reading, writing, listening, and speaking.  To improve these literacy skills, it is suggested you read and write daily, and practice listening and speaking with others.

Reading

  • Read something different than what you normally would, and read more!
  • Read the newspaper from front to back each day. Read each article all the way through, then re-read them and identify the main points.
  • Practice scanning an article before you read it in full, as this will give you an understanding of what it’s about before you read the details.

Writing

  • After reading a newspaper article, type out a summary of the main points and key supporting evidence.
  • Watch something on television or YouTube and then type out a description of what you saw, and a summary of the footage.
  • Re-read your pieces of writing the next day - be critical about your work and challenge yourself to find areas you can improve.
  • Ask another person to review your writing and provide feedback.

Oral Communication

  • Oral communication involves listening (including the ability to interpret information), and speaking (including the ability to convey the meaning of your message).
  • Speak as often as possible to as many people as possible - practising will help you improve.
  • Listen to a news bulletin or watch an article on television with another person then explain the details of what you saw to them.
  • Read out loud and listen for your mistakes.
  • Arrange social events where you can practice your speaking and listening skills with another person.

Digital Literacy

To prepare for the Digital Literacy Assessment you need to make sure you are confident and competent at using a computer, keyboard and mouse. You should make sure that you understand and can use the features of common software packages to undertake everyday computer-based tasks.

Numeracy

Numeracy skills are improved through using and practising your maths skills by solving everyday maths problems. To improve your numeracy skills, it is suggested that you practise doing a range of calculations with money, including: with percentages, rates and ratios; doing some measurement based calculations around area and volume; and reading and interpreting some data and statistics, including when represented in graphs and charts. An onscreen calculator is provided in the Numeracy assessment, so practise making calculations using a basic scientific calculator at home. Look at marketing brochures you may receive in the mail and perform calculations based on the offers they make.

Reasoning Tests

  • Verbal Reasoning is the ability to understand and reason using concepts framed in words. It aims at testing your ability to think logically, understand relationships, solve problems and think critically, rather than simply understanding vocabulary.
  • Abstract Reasoning is used to measure the ability to think clearly, solve problems and quickly identify patterns and logical rules based on abstract visual cues rather than numbers and words. It involves recognising the rule or rules that govern the progression of a pattern from one diagram to another in a series, or to identify the part which is missing from a diagram.