If you are looking forward to securing a United States Postal Service job, you have come to the right place, as this article will help you in learning about all the basics. This is one of the most popular exams used for most finding eligible candidates for most of the postal jobs. Some of the jobs that are filled from the postal exam 473 include:

• City Carrier Assistant 1 & 2
• Mail Handler Assistant
• PSE Data Conversion Operator
• PSE Mail Processing Clerk
• PSE Post Office Clerk
• PSE Sales, Service, and Distribution Associate
• Rural Carrier Associate

Thanks to innovation and new technology, the 473E has replaced the old way testing that made use of paper and pencil. The postal exam 473 is completed in two sittings. The following information will help you prepare for your exam.

Session 1

Session one of the Postal exam consists of the Personal Characteristics and Experience Inventory test, which is self administered by the candidate. The exam is to be completed within one and a half hours and consists of 150 questions. This exam is very important because the examiner filters through the most qualified candidates based on the score of this exam. They compare the answers to what they think an ideal employee would answer. The marking scheme of this session remains unknown.    

Session 2

Session two of the Postal exam takes place at the testing site and it consists of three parts. They are:

Part A

This part has 60 questions and is known as Address Checking. The questions are a little tricky and have two addresses with ZIP codes. The codes look very similar but there are differences and you are given roughly 11 minutes to choose the best option, which are the following:

• “A” if the options are alike
• “B” if there is a discrepancy is in the address
• “C” if there is a discrepancy in the ZIP code
• “D” if there are discrepancy in the address and the ZIP code

Part B

This part is known as ‘Forms Completion’ in which the candidate is shown postal forms and they are supposed to answer how the forms are to be completed. The section consists of 30 questions and the candidates have 15 minutes to answer the questions. This can be challenging for people who have no prior experience.

Part C

This part is known as memory and coding and has two sections.

Coding Section

This section has 36 questions and you have only 6 minutes to answer them. You will be given a chart that you have to use while giving answers.

Memory Section

This section has 36 questions and you have 7 minutes to answer the questions. You can’t use the chart in this one.

Going through the above information will help you in preparing well for the test and securing a United States postal service job.