To be eligible for US postal jobs, a candidate is required to sit in for a competitive postal exam. While it is well known that the postal exam is a part of the US policy; people still wonder about the need for such a test. If you are wondering about it too, then the following paragraphs are sure to enlighten you.

What is the Purpose of conducting a Postal Exam?

The job of the US postal service—USPS—is to sort and deliver a lot of mail and that too, on a daily basis. As this is a complex task that requires you to be extremely careful, therefore, only those individuals are fit for the job who can properly collect, classify, and deliver the mail quickly.

As these tasks require a certain degree of skill and capability, the test is conducted to identify individuals who have the required qualification and abilities. This makes the US postal exam very important. While the other requirements to be eligible of the job are rather simple and include being 18 years old, having an American nationality, a clear criminal record, and no addiction to drugs, the test is the only requirement that ensures that only the best candidates get the job.

Here are some important details of the test that you need to know if you are planning to appear for the test:

Postal Exam 473

The postal exam 473 has the following four major parts:

1.      Address Checking

In this section, the applicant is asked to identify the correct address. They are provided with two addresses from which they have to choose from. This section contains 60 questions and your task is to match the ZIP code with the address. You get 11 minutes to complete this section though. While it sounds like an easy task but you need to be careful while attempting this section because there will be negative marking in case of wrong answers.

2.      Information about USPS Forms

The second section contains 30 questions, which are to be completed in 15 minutes. This section deals with completing postal service forms. You should know how to check for postage due forms and mailing receipts. The questions asked in this section include queries about filling a particular field on the postal form.

3.      Coding and Memory

The third part of the test for the postal jobs contains a total of 72 questions that are to be done in around 13 minutes. This section deals with checking the mail sorting abilities of the applicants. It has two portions—one about coding and the other checks your memory.

4.      Personality and Experience

This section has 236 questions and the applicant is required to finish it in 90 minutes. This part deals with the personality and experiences of the applicant, revealing more information about them.