Quick tips for postal exam successful preparation

If your dream is to work with the postal service, you must prepare to pass exams first. Because, that’s a requirement for anybody who wishes to land a job with the post office.

In your plans to take the exams, you may be surprised how challenging the exams can be: most people don't pass the postal exams. What’s even worst is, the USPS statistics indicate more than 80% failure rate. That's a lower pass rate.

The big question is, why would such a massive number fail to pass? The answer is simple, inadequate preparation. Fortunately, this article outlines some of the best tips for postal exam success you should consider while studying for and taking postal exams.

Firstly, let's find out what you must attain to be considered eligible for the postal job.

What must you attain to be considered successful in the postal exam?

Every institution has its ways of onboarding employees so is the United States Postal Service. For the USPS, their majorly hiring technique is based on the performance of the candidate.

But of course, they consider other factors like age, citizenship, physical and health requirements, and driving license depending on the applicant's applied position.

Also, communications skills, time management, professionalism, problem-solving, and teamwork are essential for landing a job with the USPS. However, academic and exam scores take the majority of the positions.

That said, the USPS has a pass mark that every aspiring candidate must meet to be considered eligible for the positions of their dreams. And their pass mark is 70%. Anybody who gets below that is regarded as a failure on a particular test or exam. Some good news is, they are given a chance to retake the exam after 12 months.

But, you may ask why most candidates fail to score 70% in the postal exam or even why the postal service records such a tremendous failure rate.

Let’s find out!

Why most candidates fail to score higher marks in postal exams

In most cases, the vast failure rate is attributed to students' mistakes or lack of focus before and during the examination period.

Here are some of the mistakes most candidates make while studying for the postal exam:

a) Not using exam study guide

It can be challenging to prepare for an exam if you don't know what to expect. So, candidates who don't use exam study guides while preparing for the examination would not see the concept or content of what is set. So how do you expect to pass if you haven’t familiarized yourself with the exam layout and content and question format? Quite impossible.

Therefore your only way to improve your score is by using a study guide. Otherwise, you're bound to fail.

b) Using outdated and unreliable study guides

Most candidates fail in postal exams not because they can't pass but because they use outdated study guides. Studying using an obsolete study guide would be a waste of time and resources since it may not contain the current exam format, layout, content, or address present questions. Instead of helping you, such guides would completely confuse you increasing your failure chances.

Therefore, it’s advisable to checked and use the latest study guide. Keep in mind that the postal service updates study guides each time depending on the postal service's issues.

c) Failure to create and follow a study routine

Having a study routine comes in handy. If you don't have one to follow, you waste much of your time studying content that may not relate to your regular exam. Besides, most candidates fail to secure the pass marks because they have a study routine, but they can't follow or stick to what it dictates.

So, if you don’t allocate time for your various studies, the chances are high that you won't know what to handle at a specific time. Meaning you'll be doing little preparation for your exam. And that's failure knocking.

Some candidates would also fail to pass the postal exam due to their mistakes when taking the exams. Mistakes like:

d) Not paying attention to details

To improve your test performance, you must be able to pay attention to details and questions asked. Most candidates fail because they don't focus on the exam and the requirement they are needed to achieve. And if you're not keen on details while taking the exam, your failure chances are high than you can imagine.

e) Rushing through the questions

It's actual people have different speeds when it comes to writing or answering questions. But, it would be very unwise to have high speed without accuracy. And this is why most candidates fail on the postal exam.

They rush into providing answers, thus forgetting the accuracy part of the examination. You will often make mistakes when you answer questions in a hurry. Therefore, you’ll end providing wrong responses to questions resulting in low scores.

f) Taking too much time on specific question

Rushing while taking exams is calling for failure, but at the same time, spending too much time on one question has been the reason why some candidates fail to score high in postal exams.

The postal exams are divided into several parts- four sections. Each section has specified or allocated time that one needs to spend doing them. So, when you spend too much time, more than the given time, handling one question, you reduce your chances of completing the rest of the sections in time. And failure to answer all the questions is calling for lower grades.

g) Failure to deal with anxiety

It is common for most candidates to experience some feelings of anxiety or nervousness. Besides, exam-taking is one of the challenging experiences most learners or candidates have. But, when you allow fear to control you, you limit your chances of scoring high in the examination.

Whether it is for a job or school, taking an exam is undoubtedly one of the most nerve-cracking experiences. Therefore, you must find ways to deal with anxiety during the examination and never allow fear to take control of your exam situation.

h)Guesstimating answers

Some candidates are fond of guessing answers when they don’t know the correct responses to provide. However, it would be better to leave a blank space than to give a wrong answer in a postal examination. How’s that? Incorrect responses would lead to negative marking.

With negative marking, any incorrect answer you provide is deducted from your correct scores. So if you guesstimate answers, you increase your chances of getting lower scores.

Knowing what causes low scores, you'll be in a better position if you know follow exam success preparation tips. Here are some of the tips to follow for improved performances.

Quick tips for postal exam successful preparation

a) Develop a study plan

One most crucial path to success has a plan to guide you in achieving your goals. Your objectives here are to get maximum scores in the exams. So, like any other exam and project, you must ensure you develop an approach or study plan.

Developing a study plan is all about timing, organization, and goals. Therefore, in designing your plan, you have to determine your goals. You can do this by setting the scores you want to achieve. Then, you have to decide on your pace of doing things. You can identify your pace by deciding on the amount of time you plan to study and prepare for the examination.

Still, on developing your plan, decide on the quantity of the exam materials you want to cover within a specified time. You don't have to handle a large volume of material at a time, as that can be dangerous to your memory or absorption.

When designing your study plan, ensure you allocate more of your time to research to have a more comprehensive view of what the exams may require you to do. This enhances your chances of acing the examination and landing your dream job.

b)Use study guides

Using a postal exam study guide while preparing for your examination would help in many ways. You'll be able to familiarize yourself with the content, structure, and layout of the exam. This gives you an upper hand when it comes to learning and absorbing the postal setting styles.

Guides also facilitate self-assessment. Through self-assessment, you can be able to understand your knowledge levels. Most importantly, you’ll be in a position to identify your weakness and gaps in your learning curve, thus putting more effort into them. At the same time, you avoid wasting time on what you already know.

c) Study in advance

Studying in advance has numerous advantages attached to it. Like, it prevents you from having a last-minute rush and cramming of content. It can be challenging to cover large volumes of materials within a day or two of your exams. But, you stand a chance to cover most topics and areas in time if you start your studies and preparation months before the exam day.

Studying in advance gives you time to reflect on the areas you might not have covered, mainly using sample practice questions.

d) Effective time management

Time management is a crucial skill  in exam preparation and even during the actual examination process. Before the exam, you must ensure you make room for revision. Therefore, make good use of the practice questions, and then find time to revise on the areas you might have failed to score desirable marks.

Continuous practice of test-taking and revision would guarantee you some confidence in every section of the exam. It will make you more familiar with the exam layout and content. This, in turn, would positively impact your performance.

e) Practice using mock tests

Many candidates would get nervous when they are nearing examination periods or when taking the postal exam. But when you study and revise using practice tests and questions, you stand a chance of overcoming the anxiety brought about by the exam.

Here are some of the benefits that await any candidate studying or revising using practice tests:

It helps identify your knowledge gap- you can never know your strengths and weakness if you don’t take tests. So, by using practice tests, you get to identify those areas that you did dismally and give them more attention for improvement. In other words, it helps track your progress.

Boost your exam layout and structure understanding- through continuous online testing; you get familiar with the structure and content of the postal exam. They are great ways to keep your pre-exam anxiety and confusion in check.

Practice testing facilitates self-understanding- when taking these tests, you get to know how much time, energy, and effort you need to give to complete the examination. Therefore, you’ll be able to identify your concentration span level and either boost or maintain it when it comes to the actual examination. Through practice, you also get to know your pace or speed. You'll how much time you need to handle specific tests.

f) Attend workshops

There are communities where workshops are held to shed light on how to handle postal exams. During such workshops, you can learn more about the layout, structure, type of questions, and sometimes general regulations.

In most cases, these forums have that individual who has worked within the USPS and knows what an individual must do.

g) Pay attention to details

Among the section, there is a place for error checking. This section requires you to be extra keen to identify an error in the data provided. You may have minimal time to discover the error. So that demands that you pay attention to the instructions and procedures involved.

Paying attention also cuts across the general answering techniques of answering questions. The more attention you're to details, the higher your chances of exam success.

Here are some additional tips for exam success:

• Avoid guesstimating answers
• Manage your anxiety during examination
• Aim at a higher pass score

Conclusion

To get your dream job at the post office, you must uphold practical tips for postal exam success. These tips include developing a study plan, using good study guides, and practicing tests. Also, ensure you pay attention to details while taking exams. Still, make effective use of your time as you study in advance. All these would help you score eligible marks and boost your chances of getting your dream job at the post office.