According to US Postal Service, 80-90% of candidates fail the exam!
The information and free test on this page focus on the newly introduced postal exam 477 which is used for evaluating candidates applying for customer service, sales, and distribution associate positions. Continue reading to find out more regarding this test and what you can do to ensure your score will surpass other applicants.
Note: Postal exam 473 and 473e have been retired by the USPS and been replaced by postal exams 474, 475, 476, and 477. The exam you are invited to complete will depend on the role you have applied for. You will find free practice questions and information regarding comprehensive preparation materials for exam 477 on this page.
Postal Exam 477 Test Sections
There are five (5) different sections included in CS 477. Each of these sections is broken down below:
1. Introduction: This section includes a brief history of the Postal Service, information regarding the jobs covered by this exam, test instructions, and a sample question for each section appearing on the test.
2. Work Situations: This section of the test (known as “Work Scenarios” on the 474, 475, and 476 exams) includes 10 questions describing situations you may encounter on the job. Answer by choosing two (2) out of the four (4) answer options for how you would most likely and least likely resolve each situation.
3. Work Your Register: This section of the test presents you with questions showing a transaction that’s been made. Each question also includes the amount of the purchase, the amount paid, and the change due. You are tasked with selecting the smallest number of bills and coins that can be used to give the customer their change. Your score in this section is based on how quickly and accurately you answered each question.
4. Tell Us Your Story: This section consists of 21 questions that review your work experience and background.
Note: If the information you provide in this section does not match the information you originally included at the beginning of the process, you run the risk of being disqualified from the recruitment process.
5. Describe Your Approach: This section includes 56 questions and usually takes 6 minutes to complete. This is a personality assessment with questions regarding your working style, how you relate to others, how you react to stress, and more.
The purpose of Virtual Entry Assessment (VEA) 477 is to learn more about you, how you interact with other people (especially customers), your working-style, and your previous work experience. By practicing for the personality, situational, and money-handling sections of this test
Score Higher on the 477 Postal Exam
You will need to receive at least 70 points out of a possible 100 to pass postal exam 477. According to the US Postal Service, 80-90% of all applicants fail their entrance exams. If you happen to fail your assessment, you will need to wait an entire year (12 months) before you can take it and other assessments like it (e.g. postal exam 474) again.
Note: While a passing score for this exam is 70 and above, the USPS does rank applicants based on their score. This means that someone who scores a 90 will be placed before someone who scored an 80. It is essential to practice extensively prior to taking exam 477 to ensure your ability to receive a high score.
USPS Employment Benefits
USPS employs nearly 500,000 workers and their customer service/distribution team members have salaries ranging from $45,000 - $65,000. In addition to the 10 holidays, sick days, and 13 paid vacation per year that increase to 20 days after 3 years of service and to 26 days after 15 years of service. Furthermore, you will receive health, dental, and vision insurance plans, along with a Thrifts Saving Plan (TSP) which is like a 401(K)-retirement savings plan offered by private sector employers.
Improve your chances by 73%
Practice the 477 USPS-style Personality & SJT questions. Get access to additional drills & study guides to land the job you want.
Why Preparation for Postal 477 Exam is Essential?
There are several reasons why preparation is crucial when applying for a job with the US Postal Service. Not only do many applicants find the questions on their tests strange and confusing, there is a time limit for starting, completing, and submitting the exam as well. Once you have received the invitation to take your exam, you are given just three (3) days to submit your answers.
On another note, questions found on the USPS exam 477 have been known to throw applicants more than a few curveballs. For one thing, the Work Situations and Describe Your Approach sections are filled with hypothetical questions. These questions can be difficult to answer due to many factors, including:
- Any or all the answer choices seem reasonable depending upon your personality and experience, or there is never one obvious answer that stands out as the best choice. In fact, different answers can be the correct choice for different people and/or different jobs.
- In one section of the exam you must select two answers, the action you would be most likely to take and the action you would be least likely to take in response to a given situation. You may find it difficult to choose between several of the answer choices given.
- In another section, each question consists of two descriptions that may be quite similar or radically different. You are to choose which description is more like you and then choose to what degree it is like you.
Preparation for this exam is critical so that you know exactly what to expect and you will not be blown away by the bizarre questions and the odd way they should be answered. Out of the 90 questions on this exam, 87 of them - 97% of all the questions - fit this bizarre description. Only the three (3) questions found in the Work Your Register section are purely objective and have definitive right and wrong answers.
Practicing for each of these sections will allow you to understand what the questions are evaluating. The closer your traits and characteristics are a match for the position you have applied for, the better your chances are of getting hired. Check out the free sample questions below to get a better idea of what you can expect during your USPS customer service/distribution exam.
Postal Exam 477 Personality & SJT Sample Questions
Below you will find several sample questions like those you will encounter in the Describe Your Approach and Work Situations sections of postal exam 477 with explanations. Good luck!
Personality Question:
a) Before beginning a task I plan exactly what I am going to do.
b) I don't enjoy planning things in advance.
Situational Judgement Question:
You are making a delivery when a customer asks you about zip codes. He explains that he wants to send a parcel to his friend, but only has his street address and is missing the zip code. He is not sure how to locate this information.
Please select the action you would be most likely to take and the action you would be least likely to take, in response to the described situation.
- Tell him he can find the information online.
- Explain where he may find this information and enquire the next day if he found it.
- Offer to search the zip code together on the USPS website.
- Explain where he can locate this information and ask if there is anything else you can help with.
Competency: Service Orientation
Most Likely: C
Least Likely: A
Response A: This response fails to demonstrate service orientation. You make no effort to assist the customer or answer his query. Instead, you “take the easy way out” by suggesting he look this up himself online.
Response B: This response demonstrates service orientation as you explain where the customer can find the information. You also enquire the next day to ensure that the customer succeeded in retrieving the information he needed based on the information you had provided.
Response C: You demonstrate great service orientation skills as you offer to help find the zip code, and by doing so together, you can show the customer how to locate this information in the future.
Response D: This is a good response that demonstrates service orientation as you explain where the customer can find the information and ask the customer if there is anything else you can assist with prior to ending the interaction. However, you fail to ensure that the customers' needs were met and that he actually retrieved the information he needed based on the information you provided.
Postal Exam 477 Work Your Register Sample Questions & Tips
In this section of the USPS Postal Exam 477 you are required to demonstrate your ability to work with money and give exact and efficient change. Despite its name, this is not a technical exam, so you do not have to actually operate a register.
This section contains three questions. There is no time limit to this section specifically, but you should work as quickly and efficiently as you can in order to finish the full exam within the given time limit of 45 minutes. This section usually takes candidates two minutes to complete. It is also possible that your score in this section will be calculated based on how quickly you completed it.
Each of the questions in this exam will present to you a "total amount" that should be paid, the "paid amount" the customer supplied, and the "change due". Your mission is to use the smallest number of bills and coins possible to make the exchange and give the customer back exact change.
Note: You can use a calculator when solving questions on this test.
Important: In our practice test you will have to enter how many of each bill/coin you return according to their order in the picture below – from left to right and top to bottom. For example, if you have to give $1.50 as change, you should write "0 0 0 1 2 0 0 0" to indicate that you give the customer one $1 bill and two $0.25 coins. The numbers represent the amount of each bill/coin you give as change, all according to the order in which they appear in the picture. The 0 fills the place of the bills and coins you do not use. The first 0 in this case fills the place of the $20 bill, the second of the $10 bill, and so on. The 1 indicates one $1 bill, and the 2 indicate two $0.25 coins. Don't forget to enter the commas and spaces as indicated, or the system will not recognize your answer as correct!
We suggest you copy this: 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 and paste in each answer, then change the values to the correct amount of each necessary coin and bill as you go.
Note: In the real exam you will be presented a screen with pictures of bills and coins, and you will be able to click on a box above each of the pictures and enter the number of bills/coins you wish to exchange.
Work Your Register Sample Questions:
Use the fewest number of bills and coins possible to make the exact change.
Total amount: $13.20
Amount paid: $20.00
Change due: $6.80
The correct answer is 0,0,1,1,3,0,1,0
The smallest number of bills and coins needed to reach the correct change of $6.80 is one $5 bill, one $1 bill (which amount to $6), three quarters ($0.25), which make $0.75, and one nickel ($0.05), which together with the $0.75 make $0.80. All of these together make the required $6.80.
$5 × 1 + $1 × 1 + $0.25 × 3 + $0.05 × 1 = $6.80
Find more tips in the Help/Tips button on the top right of the screen.
Work Your Register Tips
Tip #1: we suggest you copy this: 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 and paste in each answer. Change the values to the correct ones to reduce risk of technical difficulties.
Tip #2: To easily find the correct answer, begin looking at the amount of the change from left to right – from the biggest number onwards. Starting from the biggest number allows you to first pick the biggest bill/coin to use in the exchange. Using bigger bills/coins means using fewer, which will help you fulfill the mission of reaching the correct sum using as few bills/coins as possible. Once you find the largest bill/coin, subtract it from the total sum. Repeat this process until you are done.
For example, if you need to find the fewest number of bills to reach $7, begin with the largest bill closest to the needed sum that is not a higher denomination – in this case, $5. Then add lower denominations as needed – two $1 bills to reach $7, in this case. This way you use only three bills, as opposed to seven if you only use $1 bills. This method is more useful when you need to find the correct amount of bills and coins for more complex sums.
Tip #3: To help organize your thoughts, you can think about the bills and the coins separately. Since you can use 1$ bills, there is no need to calculate coins to a sum above $0.99.
Tip #4: Remember that any bill or coin can only be used up to just below the value of the bill or coin to its left. For example, you never need to use more than four $1 bills, since you have a $5 bill. Using a $5 bill will reduce the number of bills you use.
Tip #5: Adding the values of the bills and coins you use as you go can help you avoid mistakes. Since you are allowed to use a calculator, this will probably not add much to the time it takes you to solve the test.
Tip #6: The only information you need is the "change due" sum, so you do not need to waste time reading any of the other information given in the instructions (the "total amount" and the "amount paid").
Improve your chances by 73%
Practice the 477 USPS-style Personality & SJT questions. Get access to additional drills & study guides to land the job you want.
Additional USPS Postal Exam 477 Tips
- Practice test questions you are likely to encounter. In the case of exam 477, these include personality, situational judgement, and money-handling questions.
- Practice as much as possible before taking your assessment. Deciding whether to start practicing for exam 477 before or after your application has been accepted is up to you. Remember: if you decide to wait until you receive the assessment invitation email, you will have a limited amount of time to practice and take it in real-time.
- Reduce test-taking anxiety. Practicing allows you to become familiar with the exam content, thus reducing your test-taking anxiety. This is especially true with an exam of this type with its strange question and answering styles.
USPS Postal Exam 477 - FAQ
- You must be 18 years old at the time of the appointment or 16 years old with a high school diploma
- Hold US citizenship or a permanent residency
- Know English at a reasonable level
- Males born after December 31, 1959, must be registered with the Selective Service System
- Possession of a driving license
- Pass a drug test
- No criminal background
Prepare your resume. Go to the USPS official website and create an account then complete your application and employment history. Afterwards, you will be able to view all the available positions in your area.
According to the USPS, 80-90% of applicants fail their entrance exams. On top of that, the question and answering styles can get confusing. Practicing gives you the advantage of knowing what to expect, thus improving your answer speed and accuracy. Practicing can also lessen your susceptibility to test anxiety.
You have 72 hours (3 days) to complete the exam once you receive the email invitation. You can complete the exam from your smartphone, tablet, or computer anytime and anywhere you choose. It is recommended to complete this assessment in a quiet place free of distractions.
To pass the test, you must score between 70-100.Veterans and family members of veterans are sometimes granted between 5-10 additional points if they meet specific requirements. The USPS ranks applicants based on their score. This means someone who scores a 90 will be placed ahead of someone who scored 80!
If you fail exam 477, you will not be able to take it or other similar USPS tests (e.g. exam 474) for a full year (12 months).
Test scores are available directly from the USPS website once the exam has been completed. If you scored higher than 70, your score will be displayed on the page. Scores lower than the required 70 will not be displayed.
No. You will simply be offered to continue the hiring process.
If you pass the exam, your test scores will be valid for two (2) to six (6) years depending on the role you have applied for.
There are several challenges that will arise when taking postal exam 477. For starters, you will have a limited time to complete the test. If you are unable to do so in the allotted 72 hours from the time you receive your invitation email, you will need to reapply for the original role if it is still available.
Another challenge when taking exam 477 are its question structure and answering styles. Practicing before taking the actual test will help familiarize you with both the personality and situation questions, as well as the “Work Your Register” section of the test. Knowing what to expect will help eliminate the element of surprise and ensure your ability to be considered for the role.
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