Police Analytical Thinking Inventory

For some this is too easy, for others they dread it and some that dread it, fail it. That kind of sounded like a syllogism! The Police Analytical Thinking Inventory (PATI) is the first test you’ll take for the first stage of the Constable Selection System. The PATI is an English language only test that is 90 minutes long consisting of 90 multiple choice questions and is the most skill varied of all the tests as the PATI is made up of three very different logical reasoning components. I find the first most appropriate, deductive reasoning, the ability to draw appropriate conclusions from information provided, this will be instrumental in you passing the second test, the written communication test (WCT). The second logical reasoning component is inductive reasoning, the ability to identify trends or common characteristics in a series of objects or information. Last, there is quantitative reasoning, the ability to apply basic arithmetic and formulas like addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and fractions to solve problems. You will need to remember BEDMAS from your high school or high school equivalent math days. The specific areas that the PATI tests you on are mathematics, problem solving (questions involving mathematics to come to a conclusion), matching, series (identifying which item comes next in a pattern), syllogisms (word problems), mapping. You get 90 minutes to complete the PATI, if you study and run the practice tests, 90 minutes will be enough time as most problems will take less than one minute to complete.

Getting ready for the PATI is not just writing practice exams but actually understanding the material. Test Ready Pro offers a substantial amount of preparation material and I highly recommend that you read through at least the math section, syllogisms, spatial orientation & pattern material before even writing a practice PATI. I know that seems like a lot of preliminary reading however, it's not an effective use of time to just log-on, write PATI's and not fully understand how to answer some of the questions. If you spend fifteen minutes per study material section I had previously mentioned you will be much better prepared to write the practice PATI's. Common problems? I think the most common problem is syllogisms, when I wrote the PATI I did not have a formula, just my comprehension skills to decipher the proper conclusion. In my experience from talking to people who have a hard time with syllogisms I find they either try to be politically correct or simply try and make common sense out of the syllogism. Whatever the syllogism is saying, it doesn’t matter, use the premise that is given as true and nothing else. For instance If all suspects are arrested and all people arrested are guilty then.. all suspects are guilty. This conclusion goes against our betterm judgement and we know legally that all suspects are not arrested without sufficient evidence and they especially aren't guilty until proven so in a court of law.

How about me? I remember writing the PATI just less than a year ago, I studied a lot. At least an hour every day the month before my exam, I remembered being very excited for it and the WCT but dreading the PREP. Although I didn't battle with learning syllogisms, I remember constantly hitting brick walls with the math questions. With a calculator, I was fine but to do the questions short-hand seemed impossible to someone who is already mathematically at a disposition.

Reading the preparation material before you write the practice PATI’s and referring back to the preparation material when you get stuck with a problem is the resource you need to effectively build your skills, Test Ready Pro is dedicated to giving you the tools to succeed, dedicate yourself to using those resources, to studying and you will succeed!