Civil Service Exam: Examinee's Experience

        “A pile-up of people queueing in front of the school wearing white shirts was ready to take the Civil Service Exam.”

    According to Business Mirror, 148,312 individuals are expected to take the Career Service Examination-Pen and Paper Test (CSE-PPT) on August 07, 2022. People in every region were preparing for the exam so that if they will pass it, they are eligible to apply to any Government Agencies. This article will narrate how I successfully accomplished in taking the Civil Service exam including the necessary steps I have experienced.   

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Also, this article was based from personal experience so any changes in the rules of the Comission should be followed first without prior notice of this article. Thank you.

Before the Day of Examination

    A day or a week before the exam date, an email will be sent to the applicant stating your school, its room number, GPS link location, and some reminders. You should read the instructions stated in the manual (provided in the email). In my email, it says that you would bring a black ballpen (ballpoint), alcohol (not more than 100ml), a vaccination card, or Negative RT PCR/Antigen Test Result, a Certificate of Consent, and a Health Declaration Form. The email also listed the following simple rules indicated below:

• Long hair tied in ponytail (Male & Female) 
• No ID, No Entry
• No face mask No Entry
• Wear a white top (white shirt or white polo)

A Day of Examination

    Before 6:30 am, I already arrived at my testing site (Location: High School), a pile-up of people queueing in front of the school wearing white shirts was ready to take the Civil Service Exam. It was a very long line. Before entering the school, the police inspected our bag. Request for valid ID to compare my face depicted in the ID. Then the nurse checked my temperature and get my Health Declaration Form to fill out the temperature section.

Reminders: 

1. Please check thoroughly your location because there are a lot of examinees who mistakenly go to the wrong venue since in our area there are two locations of testing sites, an elementary school, and a high school.
2. Check the weather forecast a day before the examination date so that you are prepared if the weather turns bad. Bring an umbrella if that's the case.
3. In our cases, the valid ID you bring on the day of the exam is the same valid ID you used in filing.
4. Bring also your application stub (usually it is pink in color) and an official receipt. You will get these after you filed and paid in the CSC Office.

Entering your Assigned Room

    Before entering my assigned room, the proctor required me to give my certificate of consent and present my valid ID. He/she gave me back my two photos and those photos would be presented to the examiner. Do the instructions of the examiner. The examinees should be in their assigned room before 07:45 am, otherwise, the proctor would not accept to enter the room.

Reminder:    

• Use an Ordinary Ballpoint Pen only. Do not use a Gel Ink pen and a sign pen because it can cause smudges in the form and in the answer sheets.

Distributing the Booklet

    The proctor distributed the booklet and answer sheet and was required to check and count the pages. After that, I closed the booklet and waited for the time of the exam to start. The exam duration was 3 hours and 10 minutes.

    The exam consists of the following

• From 1 to 20 includes Examinee Descriptive Questionnaire.
• From 21 to 105 includes Grammar and Correct Usage, Vocabulary, Paragraph Organization, Reading Comprehension, Word Association, Identifying Assumptions and Conclusions, Logic, and Data Interpretation. 
• From 106 to 170 includes Graphs, Number Series, Basic Operations, Word Problems, Philippine Constitution, Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees (RA 6713), Peace and Human Rights Issues and Concepts; and Environment Management and Protection.

Answering the Booklet

     For less than 10 minutes, I did items 1 to 20

   My strategy for attacking those questions was to answer a topic that I was able to answer quickly and surely. I responded to items from 106 to 170 (mostly they are numbers). Even though they were time-consuming, I was pretty sure that my answers were correct since I knew and followed some proper procedures to solve those problems fast and efficient manner. I consumed more or less one and a half hours doing those items though they were a few items (less than ten) that I could not solve so I skipped them and did educational guesses at the end. 

    Before doing the English subjects, I took a rest and relaxed my brain for 20 minutes by shading all the items that I already answered. I do not do usually the Answer-Shade method in an early stage because it actually wasted the time.

    English Subjects. With one hour and ten minutes left, I answered first the Grammar Usage and Identifying Errors since it was the easy one. Vocabulary, Word Analogy, Synonyms, and Antonyms took too much time. I made educational guesses in some items with deep words and used some contextual clues. I also used lucky guesses in some items. For that, I consumed 45 minutes including its shading.

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   Paragraph Organization. Reading Comprehension. Logic. With 25 minutes left, and almost 40 items remaining, I felt a little bit of panic but remained to be calm because there were lots of readings and 25 minutes was not enough to finish it. My strategy? Adrenaline Rush! Woah! No choice. Do the answer-shade method. 

    In Paragraph Organization, I went to the choices that had the same 1st sentence, and if that sentence sounded to be the main idea, a higher chance that it was the answer. Meaning, that I identified first its main idea as quickest as possible since time was tickling.

    In Reading Comprehension, I went to the question first, then to the choices. If the choices answered the question obviously or it sounded good, then a higher probability that was the correct answer so, I did not read the passage or story and did the next item.

    In Logic, less than ten minutes left. I read the questions or premises as fast as I can and did the illustration fast and whatever the result in the illustration, I based it on my answer.

   With less than three minutes left, I had already finished answering. I had no time to review my skipped answers. I consumed the remaining time to check if all items were shaded properly.

Take Note:

1. You have no time to eat snacks, but if you want to have snacks while answering, I recommended to buy a bite-sized snack like Snickers Fun Size
2. If you plan to use a pencil during the exam especially on the answer sheet to prevent errors, I may discourage you not to do so. Time is of the essence. There are some instructions that if you get an error, you shall cross out your wrong answer and shade your correct answer. 
3. Before the exam starts, you shall pee in the restroom so that there will no disturbance during the exam period.
4. Drink enough water if you feel dehydrated or dizzy but be careful, keep away your papers while you are drinking. People say that if you drink more water, your mind will be refreshed because the water gives oxygen to your brain.

After a Time Pressured Exam

After I passed the paper to the examiner, I went for a walk to release my tension. I felt neither confident nor anxious. Though I was certainly sure that I had wrong answers and skipped items, the Almighty knew that I did my part and did the exam on time. Let the Almighty take care of it.

 

People Discussing the Answers

While walking, I browsed my social media and saw some people discussing their answers. I felt disappointed because I had different answers to them. Hence, if you want to reduce your anxiety, do not browse your social media. 

Below are some questions that similarly appear in the exam and people still discuss their answers. Skip this part if you do not want to see it. 

Source: Civil Service Public Group

• Some comedians are not politicians. Some action stars are politicians
• 1  2  3  5  9  17  37   ______
• 30% of 4/5
• 2.01    -2.01      4.02      _______     148. 24
• 1/2     2/3      __________    32/27        96 /81
• 5   30    15      5     20     10      5     ____ , ____ 1000  100   10   1    ______
• Ano pong sagot nyu doon sa NINGAS-KUGON?
• If The ratio of teachers and students is 3:75.if there are 2,350 students how many teachers?
• A number is in Circle and Triangle but not in a rectangle. A number is in Circle and is not common to all shapes. A number is in any of the two shapes. What is the number?
• Ano po sagot ninyo dito?
• IYAK:TAWA::_____:______ . Choices- 1.  Bigay:balik     2. Tulog:gising    3. Urong:sulong    4. Labas:pasok
• Which of the following is not a contributor to air pollution? A. Geothermal Energy     B. Nuclear Energy    C. Solar Energy    D. Thermal Energy
• The best way to avoid pollution for Biodegradable–Composting
• Exempted in Tax
• Cannot be Impeached- Senators
• SALN- Simple living
• 87, 78, 34, 43, 48, 84, __, __

    You can also comment what is your answers and add some questions you remembered in the comment section.

How to Compute your Rating in Civil Service?

    According to Team Lyqa, she does not know what is the exact thing to do in solving its passing score. They are based on the score curve or normal curve which uses statistics concepts. If you think that the passing score is absolutely 80% passing rate, the exact passing rate may probably lesser than the one they actually declared. Do not stress about how many you have scored. You did your job. Just be relaxed and let Time and Destiny care for it.

Civil Service Results

     In October 2022, the waiting time is over. At last! I passed the exam. Usually, within forty-five (45) days, the results will be released. Maybe, my strategy is effective. That is why I share my experience and tips that might help you to pass the exam.

     If you did not make it, retake it again. Taking Civil Service is not limited. Do not lose hope. Just trust the process and believe in yourself.