Gothamist: Fired Up Exam Protest

Kay

Tue, 27 Mar 2007 15:58:33 -0500

Still Not Amused: that's not how things work. They call groups of people, starting from the top of the list. Then they have to interview 3 people for each position and choose 1 of them. That's the 1-in-3 rule. To be technical about it (on DCAS's website): One in Three Rule: Under New York State Civil Service Law, this rule provides City agencies with the discretion when hiring to select one of the three eligibles scoring highest on the ranked eligible list of exam passers.

Still Not Amused

Mon, 26 Mar 2007 21:26:22 -0500

On a side note, If you want to complain about something the city does . Try complaining about what happens after you take the test, Get your results a few months later, Realize you've passed with a high mark, Then watch as those that scored way lower then you get the job while your still waiting for the call ! By the way it's called the "One in three rule" . Where the administrators making the decisions choosing who gets the jobs based on their ideals. Sometimes they start at the top of the list, Sometimes it's the middle, Other times it's the bottom .

Still Not Amused

Mon, 26 Mar 2007 21:18:37 -0500

Quit bitchin ! You all complained that the FDNY was discriminating against Women, Blacks, and Asians . You finally get the chance to take the test with a real chance to get the damn job and what happens ? You all cry about how stupid the questions are ! If the planners constructed the questions to be difficult those complaining would say "It's to hard, They purposely put questions that were to hard for us to answer correctly "! Just go to the store (Where they sell the study manuals for these exams ) buy your copy, Study it and prepare yourself for the test like I did . Hopefully then you'll past and get the job .

Kay

Mon, 26 Mar 2007 09:29:39 -0500

You know, it helps to read the entire article rather than Gothamist's summary. The article says the test was dumbed down, most questions had more than one correct answer, and only 490 of 23,000 test-takers are protesting. Sounds like sour grapes to me rather than any kind of legitimate problem. The real problem is the prep materials issue. I had the same problem with a different open competitive civil service test -- the materials that the union used had absolutely nothing to do with the test itself. DCAS needs to put together a legitimate study guide, especially if they've created a new test that is radically different from ones given in the past.

bobo

Mon, 26 Mar 2007 00:17:33 -0500

And you would rather have have an idiot come fight your fire or save your life? Firefighting is VERY technical. Questions like that should not have been on the test, and there many other completely irrellavant questions. No I am not on the FDNY. No I did not take, nor ever have taken the test. DCAS F'd this up big time, all the way down to administering the test.

Fred

Sun, 25 Mar 2007 20:36:09 -0500

No, many open competitive civil service tests are quite difficult. But these are in titles where the city hasn't been sued for discriminating against black applicants. As DCAS is surely aware, a challenging exam means an exam which few blacks pass.

open exam

Sun, 25 Mar 2007 11:54:58 -0500

This is surprising? Did any of them ever taken a civil service exam before? Those are the type of idiotic questions one should expect. The reason? It's an OPEN exam, meaning anyone can take it. It's very entry level. Or, maybe these guys didn't have a good ole boy network to help them.