Prepare for the College of Policing Fast Track Aptitude Tests and Assessment Centre

What Is the Police Fast Track Test?

The Fast Track Test is an SHL Verify Test which covers verbal, numerical, and abstract (inductive) reasoning. You will need to take it to become a police officer through the Fast Track programme. In addition, you will need to participate in the National Assessment Centre, which includes exercises, tests, role plays, and interviews.

The Police Fast Track programme was designed to open up entry to the service to those who bring a new perspective and a diverse background, in hopes such people will contribute to the development of policing.

What Do Those Who Score High Receive?

Passing the test ensures your acceptance into the Fast Track programme, bringing you one step closer to becoming a police officer. Police officers enjoy a flexible working schedule, paid overtime, a minimum of 23 days annual leave, fully paid sick leave, excellent pension plans, a fair and inclusive promotion policy, and more.

What Are the Challenges to Passing?

The assessment consists of seven exercises: Oral Briefing, Performance Management Exercise, Written In-Tray Exercise, Partnership Meeting, Presentation, Interview, and Cognitive Ability Test. The Cognitive Ability Test is comprised of three subtests—verbal, numerical, and abstract (inductive) reasoning. Each exercise has its own time limit and amount of questions.

Candidates selected by their local force proceed to the National Assessment Centre. This is a two-day selection event run by the College of Policing. For most forces, this is the last stage in the process, so it is important to be fully prepared for the exercises, tests, role plays, and interviews you will encounter there.

There are seven exercises which occur at the assessment centre:

• Oral Briefing
• Performance Management Exercise
• Written In-Tray Exercise
• Partnership Meeting
• Presentation
• Interview
• Cognitive Ability Test

Oral Briefing

During the Oral Briefing, you are given information describing a fictional situation. You have 40 minutes to prepare. During the briefing, you are assessed on your managerial performance, professionalism, and decision-making skills. You need to prepare a 10-minute brief, which will then be presented to two assessors. In it, you must describe how you would handle the issues that arose in the situation. Following your brief, there is a 10-minute session in which the assessors ask questions regarding your briefing.

Performance Management Exercise

In this exercise, you are given information about a fictional situation and asked to hold a meeting with an individual to address the issue you were presented. You have 20 minutes to prepare and 15 minutes to conduct the meeting. During this exercise, you are assessed on your ability to serve the public, lead people, and manage others.

Written In-Tray Exercise

You have two hours to complete the written in-tray exercise. You are provided with a set of documents which you will be required to work though to complete a number of tasks. You are assessed on your ability to serve the public, lead people, and manage others. 

Partnership Meeting

The partnership meeting exercise is similar to the Performance Management Exercise. You are given a packet of information and have 25 minutes to prepare for a meeting. The meeting lasts up to 15 minutes and is conducted with a role actor playing a character from the scenario.

Presentation

In the presentation exercise, you are given a topic about a current policing issue to discuss. You have 30 minutes to prepare this topic and another 10 minutes to give a presentation to two assessors. Following your presentation is a 10-minute question and answer session with the assessors.

Interview

The interview assesses your ability to make decisions, work with others, and lead change. The interview contains six questions and lasts 30 minutes. These questions focus on both previous experience and situations you may face in the future.

Cognitive Ability Test

The national assessment centre uses SHL Verify, a wide-ranging cognitive ability test that includes verbal, numerical, and abstract (inductive) reasoning subtests.

The Verify Verbal Reasoning Test is a multiple-choice test that measures your ability to evaluate written statements. You have 19 minutes to answer 30 questions. You are presented with a passage and several subsequent statements. You must choose if the statement is True/False/Cannot Say based on the information contained in the passage. Understanding and interpreting verbal information correctly is required when aiding civilians, which occurs almost every day in the police force.

The Verify Numerical Reasoning Test is a multiple-choice test that measures your ability to make decisions or inferences from numerical or statistical data. You have 25 minutes to answer 18 questions. You must analyse data in the form of a chart or graph. Being able to analyse and interpret numerical data is important as a police officer for calculating crime figures, budgets, costs, and data trends.

The Verify Inductive Reasoning Test is a multiple-choice test that measures your ability to draw inferences from and understand relationships between various concepts. You have 25 minutes to answer 24 questions. Your task is to work out patterns in a set of images and to identify the correct image that should come next.