Repost: What to Prepare the Day Before the Exam

The day before the exam.. 

Prepare the following:

1. Notice of assignment / Examination permit. Once you got it, photocopy it in case it gets lost.

2. Pencil, sharpened, No. 2. bring at least two so that you will always have a spare every time one gets too short to use or gets broken.You need the pencil to mark the answer sheet. Be aware: Do NOT use ballpen for marking the answer sheets. Focus and minimize mistakes during the marking.

3. Sharpener. Bring one, you don't know when bad luck will strike, maybe all pencil leads get broken during travel.

4. A Staedtler Eraser. Bring a very good eraser. Don't be afraid to erase mistakes while marking the answer sheets, one sure correct answer is very important in passing the exam. If you have mistakes at marking up your answer sheet, it is important to erase all the marks at the wrong answer. A Staedtler eraser is a good eraser. Don't use those cheap ones, you'll get your answer sheet smudgy. The answer sheet is your only lifeline in passing the exam.

5. Ballpens. Bring two, in case one won't write. Sign pens are recommended, since it is known not to fail. I brought my techpen at the exam. Beware: You only need the pens for filling up your personal information at the beginning of the exam. Make sure you switch from pen to pencil on answering your answer sheets.

6. The same ID you used to apply for the exam. The proctor will check this before the exam along with the examination permit. They have a master list, with your pictures on it, just like in the election.

7. Snacks and Water. During the exam, it is important to feed your brains. Vitamin Water or Energy Drinks, Chocolates and Biscuits. You must buy chocolate bars, as it is the most refreshing and easier to eat. It stimulates your brain.

8. Clothes to wear. Prepare your most comfortable clothes and shoes. You'll be sitting there for almost five hours. It is important that you are comfortable with what you wear.

9. Money.

Then have a good night sleep to prepare yourself for a stressful day of the exam.

Answer Sheet and How to Answer

For those who are wondering what a Answer Sheet for Civil Service Exam Professional and SubProfessional looks like, it is similar to these pictures.

Just fill the whole space with pencil. The machine will just scan the marks, if you have other marks on the other choices, make sure to erase them completely as it will be considered wrong if the computer find other mark on the number. It is really okay to erase, don't be afraid to erase, I've done like almost 20 erasures during the exam because I have shaded a problem on a different number, instead of shading 92, I shaded 

the answer on 91 (which I skipped because I was not sure of the answer, I was going to go back to it when I have time), and I was already answering 100 when I realized that I was putting it on 99 and I have to adjust all the my answers and find where the problem started, so I have to read the questions again if all the answers was right. This could also take away your valued time during the exam, so make sure to avoid mistakes like this.

Answers to Philippine Civil Service Reviewer Problem Solving in Part III

I have taken time in answering and encoding the problems in Part III of the reviewers. You can get it at:
http://philcivilserviceexam.blogspot.com/2011/08/new-easy-way-to-download-reviewers.html

I have answered them personally, so, if you see any errors, just ask so I can clear it out. Thank you.

Answers to Part III Philippines Civil Service Professional Reviewer

NO CLOCKS?? Why oh why??

During the exam, cellphones and watches with all your personal belongings will be placed below your chair or in front of the classroom. And CLOCKS will also be removed from the classroom.

So, how will you tell the time and how much time is left before the exam ends? The proctor will only announce the time hourly, and 30, 20, 10 and 5 minutes before the exam ends. You can ask the proctor about the time if it makes you uncomfortable. Don't be afraid to ask. Time is very important in taking the exam.

Why were the clocks removed? The clocks were removed due to past cheating scheme in PRC exams where the exams are mostly 50 items, not applicable in Civil Service though. Using the minute hand of the clock, on last hour, examinees will use sign/body languages to share the answers of the number where the minute hand is on. For example, at 04:01, one examinee would point his right foot forward, meaning the answer is A for item 1, at 04:20, he would put his left foot backward, meaning the answer for item 20 is D. The one copying the answer don't have to ask what number the answer D was, he just have to look at the clock in front of the classroom to tell that the D was for item 20 (04:20).

By the way, all questionnaires will be distributed at the start of the exam, it is up to you where you would like to start. As for me, I started at the beginning but got tired of answering about 100 english/grammar questions and skipped right through the Math part at the middle of the exam. You can do that and return to what you have skipped later.

Preparation on the Day of Civil Service Examination

Are you ready for May 22? There is still too much time to study!!

After all that studying, will you be ready for the day of examination?

On the day of examination:

1. You should have enough sleep.
2. You should have eaten your early breakfast. Just light breakfast guys!! Don't let your tummy so full because all the blood circulation will focus on digesting your food and not to the brains.
3. Drink vitamins, this will help nourish your brains.
4. Pray. Pray. Pray.
5. Ask for good luck from your family.
6. Stay calm.
7. Be on time.
8. Drink 2 glasses of water 30 minutes before the exam and make sure you pee before the exam starts. Don't drink too much water though right before the exam started. Have a bottle of water with you so you can sip on it when your mouth starts to dry from answering. Before the exam, the proctor will ask the examiners to takeoff the labels from the bottles of your mineral water or drinks, you can remove them earlier before the exam. This will make you feel that you are ready for the exam when/if the proctor asks to remove the labels. You can strut your unlabeled bottles. LOL.
9. Don't forget those things you prepared before the exam. The list is HERE.
10. Smile. Keep a happy mood.Don't get distracted from other takers. There will be coughs, murmurs while solving difficult questions, crisscrossing, pencils falling.
11. Always listen to the proctor.
12. Keep a sharp mind.

enjoy.

Items 21 to 40 of Math Word Problems Answers and Tips Inside..

Please take note of the tips I included while answering the problems. Please don't hesitate to ask questions and maybe some corrections. I have answered them personally, maybe I got some questions wrong.

Answers to Items 21 to 40 of the Word Problems for the Part II of the Civil Service Professional Examinatio...

This is a bonus document that is only distributed on Dropbox, please read blog entry: http://philcivilserviceexam.blogspot.com/2011/04/dropbox-file-sharing.html

Answers to the Number Analogy Problems

Here are the answers to the Number Analogy Part from the Part II of the Civil Service Examination Reviewer. I have explained number 1 and 2 as reference. I am taking my time to answer the word problems too. Do come back for it.

The answer to item 17 is 3) 0.0375

Make sure to review your arithmetics. Numerical analogy requires a lot of division and multiplication and percentage, decimal conversion to fractions, multiplication and division of fractions, cross multiplication, etc. Review simplification of fractions. Don't use calculator while answering the questions. CALCULATORS ARE NOT ALLOWED. Make sure you practice and practice and be very good at it.

Answers to the Number Analogy Questions in Part II Civil Service Professional Exam Reviewer


This is a bonus document that is only distributed on Dropbox, please read blog entry: http://philcivilserviceexam.blogspot.com/2012/08/how-to-download-materials-through.html

How to Pass the Civil Service Examination in the Philippines

 I need someone to back-up what I'm saying here in the blog and I found this cool blog from someone called GeneralHowitzer. It pretty sums up everything. Here is the link.

How to Pass the Civil Service Examination in the Philippines

 I hope you found his advices useful.

Tip: Self-study..Evaluate yourself.. know your strengths and weaknesses..

SELF-STUDY 
 At age of 20, I already knew my mental strengths. Everybody should know this once they graduated college. I knew I'm naturally good at math and logic, specifically algebra and word problems. I also know I'm good at sentence construction. So after looking at the reviewer, I evaluated myself. There was a big chance I could pass the exam based on my strengths. I also knew I have a weakness with memorization of laws and difficult word analogies.
 What I did was I didn't bother with my weaknesses first but focused on my strength because I know this is the only way I could slightly enjoy a very difficult exam and would be my only ALAS in passing it. I practiced word problems so I could solve it faster and accurately. I did some word constructions problems. And lastly, practiced word analogies to prepare for the whole exam because I also know that this would be the reason I could fail the exam.

Tips:
1. You need to know more than half of the exam coverage to have a chance on passing the exam. If you know your weaknesses are about half of the coverage, then you have to study-harder and faster.. Double-time..
2. Focus first on what is easy for you.
3. I would recommend prioritizing on practicing the MATH problems as this would take time.
4. The exam will be very difficult, even those who came on top would say that.

The Rating System of the Civil Service Career Examinations - Paper and Pencil Test

The important thing you should know is that you don't need to get 80% of all the questions right. Yes, it does not work that way!! CSC has a quota!! ..which is 8 to 12% of the takers would only pass the exam!! Believe it or not, you will be ranked based on your score. Ranking the real scores from highest to lowest, the top 8 to 12% (or whatever their quota is) will get the passing scores (80+ ratings). In our time, the top one got an 89 rating.

Here is a photocopy of my certificate as an example.

The exam is divided into 4 categories, Verbal, Analytical, Numerical and General Information.

I was quite sure I failed the exam because of the verbal usage part, I got 83.72%, which is quite shocking for me at first (since I did not know the score system then) because I'm sure I only got less than 50% correct of the verbal usage exam. It was that difficult! But because the system ranked my score  highest to lowest, I got the 83.72% score. I was pretty confident with the analytic and numerical exams though (since this is my thing), I got very good scores while I was practicing on the reviewers. If you noticed I failed in general info, the questions was about laws and constitution and I sucked at it. I barely survived my Political Science and History in college. hehe.

I know this fact and I'm sure about it because it is the same with PRC board exams. They use the same system in Electrical Engineering Board exam, they use the quota system.

When you get your own certificate of eligibility, you have the option to change your picture with the same format, which will be permanently attached to your certificate because the Civil Service dry seal will be pressed on your picture..

Civil Service Professional and Sub-professional - Paper and pencil Examinations Schedule

For the days to pass, we will be talking about the Civil Service Examinations process
For those who haven't been to the Civil Service Professional and Sub-professional - Paper and pencil test Web Page, CLICK here: http://www.csc.gov.ph/cscweb/anncsexam_ppt.html



The Schedule


 Let us focus on the 1st exam. The first scheduled exam for 2011 is May 22, Sunday, about 2.5 months from today. Let us evaluate ourselves:
  
Am I ready to take the May 22 exam?

 "Hmmm.. Where is that reviewer? Let me look at it first." You should scan the reviewer first (It is posted on this blog). Read some random questions. If you think you can do it. Then file for the exam.

 "Ahhhmm.. I'm not sure. Let me answer them first." If you are having second thoughts, then answer the reviewer, I would recommend the Math part, answer them slowly. And evaluate yourself base on the score. if you think you can do it, Go for It!!

 "Ohh no.. This looks very difficult." or "What the!! I got a really really low score.  Maybe I should take it slowly. I'll file for the next exam (which is October 16). At least I have7 months to prepare. I'll study this reviewer and be good at it."

 Date of Filing for the May 22, 2011 Exam is from February 21, 2011 to April 7, 2011. (Acceptance of applications shall be on a FIRST-COME, FIRST-SERVED basis. Applications may no longer be accepted before the deadline if the target number of applicants has already been reached by the CSC Regional/Field Offices.)

I'll find other reviewers for you to answer, 4 hours straight, one week before the exam.