Top tips for acing a written exam in the Canadian public service

This article was compiled with contributions from across the Canadian public service, including Shared Service Canada’s Agora Innovation Network, the Young Professionals Network from the Department of Women and Gender Equality Canada, and the Federal Youth Network.

The written exam: these little words can strike fear into the hearts of even the most experienced public servants. If you’re applying for a job in the Canadian public service, you might be asked to take a written exam as part of the application process.

But don’t worry–with the right planning and preparation, you can tackle your test with confidence.

To help you get exam-ready, we asked public servants across Canada to share their top three tips for passing written exams in the public service. Here’s what they said.

How to plan and prepare:

Don’t be afraid to seek accommodations when needed.
Brainstorm your thoughts out and revise after.
Review the department’s website and learn the high level information (eg: names and roles of key leadership, mandate).
Talk to someone already in the position and ask them where they would look to find info related to the SOMC (statement of merit criteria).
Never screen yourself out prior to an exam (or at ANY stage). Sometimes we can get to the exam stage and worry that we aren’t qualified–some even cancel the exam. Go, write the exam and worst case scenario you’ve learned more about how the process works for next time.
Prepare in advance. Make sure your workstation has all you need so you don’t have to get up. Ensure you have done some research on the department and role. Ensure you have prepared yourself with examples and ideas that may be relevant from past interviews and work experience.
If there are practice exams available (for example, for SLE testing), do as many as you can! They are very representative of the questions you will get on the actual exam and it will help you gauge your learning progression as you prepare. Sample public service test questions can be found online for practice at several websites, including publicserviceprep.com and canada.ca.
Study/practice, but know when to stop and trust yourself. If you are an over-preparer, it can have the result of getting too in your own head.
Research the definitions of the SOMC qualifications that are to be tested and prepare some situational examples ahead of time that hit on all of the relevant points.
Before the written exam, guidelines on what will be included are circulated. Do some research and feel comfortable speaking on one or two major points per topic.
If it’s open laptop, bookmark everything so you know how to find info quickly.
In preparation for future exams, keep a list of all the tasks you do handy and consistently update as you take on new tasks.

What to do during the exam:

Be sure to scan the written exam before starting. I usually start exams back to front, since the majority of detailed essay style questions are at the end.
Don’t second guess your first instinct… but do check your work over to ensure you didn’t miss any questions.
If you run into any technical issues whatsoever with the test, such as it doesn’t arrive in your inbox at the time expected and it throws you off, report this immediately and if necessary repeatedly to the person organising the exams until it is working properly. If you have a post board, remind them of such issues and how this may have affected the quality of your responses.
Use simple, clear language.
Relax and trust your gut.
Answer exactly what is being asked. Look for keywords in the question that are clear about what direction to take so you do not get side tracked.
Speak to the competency being assessed and use the competency as key words in your answer to ensure you show you have demonstrated it and to guide you back to the goal of your answer if you have strayed away.
Plan out your answers in draft form and return to fill them in more thoroughly. That way if you run out of time, you at least have some bullet points and the assessors can see your thought process and give you more points than an introductory sentence or no answer at all.
Read all the questions before you start responding, and consider the relative weight of each. Break up your time into chunks for each task/question that corresponds to its relative importance in terms of scoring (i.e. don't spend 30 minutes of a 1 hour test on a question worth 5 points out of 100). Written testings/assignments are often designed to not give you enough time, and you are partly being evaluated on how you prioritise items and utilise the time you do have most efficiently.
Make sure you read and fully understand the question. Some questions can be tricky with “select all” or “select the one that doesn’t” statements.
Make sure you allocate some time reading over your questions at the end of the exam, you may be able to catch some mistakes made. Spell check and grammar check, as you’ll be marked on your written communication skills.
Answers do not need to be 2 pages long if you are clear, concise and get straight to the point in demonstrating your abilities.
Clearly outline, when, where and how you demonstrated your experience, knowledge and abilities in the written exam. Also include what the outcome was. (STAR Method: situation, thinking, action, result/s)
Any time you write an exam, save your answers very often. Even email them to yourself once you complete each question.
When writing, use active voice/verbs (refrain from saying “I was tasked with” and never use the word “we”, use “I”) and explain what your role within your team was if you worked collaboratively.
Indicate where you completed tasks without being prompted, and mention any areas in which you went above and beyond completing a task.
You can use experience that you've attained in your private life for questions where they do not indicate “government experience”. Examiners are looking for thinking behind your decisions and actions and to understand your way of thinking.
If it is a multiday exam, read the questions and jot them down and think about them for a day before you start. Ensure that you read questions thoroughly. Proofread the exam on a separate day, to assess any errors and areas for improvement.