Louisiana OSE 8500 Test Prep

The Clerical, Office and Administrative Support Test (COAST) for administrative positions, was updated to the 8500 Office Support Exam (OSE) by the Louisiana Civil Service Staffing Division. Passing the OSE 8500 test will allow you to apply for various administrative positions such as: Executive/Administrative assistant, Office/Facilities Manager, Project Coordinator, Receptionist and other similar job titles. The test measures your abilities to prioritize, communicate effectively, schedule appointments & meetings, and manage data.

If you're taking the Louisiana 8500 OSE you will need to practice for the following subjects:

• Alphabetizing/Filing - Assesses your ability to file documents in correct alphabetical order.
• Coding - These questions assess your ability to properly understand coding guidelines in order to determine the correct code for given information, or understand what information can be inferred from a given code.
• Written Expression - Questions that require you to properly structure sentences and paragraphs in order to clearly express yourself in writing.
• Following Directions - To solve these questions you will need to properly understand general rules and apply them correctly to given situations.

The OSE 8500 test measures your basic abilities and skills to perform clerical and administrative support jobs.

The specific test components are as follows:

1. Processing Information and Data

Questions in this part are based on important qualifications performed by office and administrative support positions and specifically assesses your attention to detail. The tasks in this part are based on sorting and filing. In addition, there will be a coding task in which you will use specific sets of circumstances to find the correct description code.

2. Knowledge of Basic Writing Concepts

This part will assess your written communication knowledge and skills. You are required to determine the best choice for completing a sentence and to identify common writing errors, such as mistakes in grammar and incomplete sentences.

3. Reading and Following Written Instructions

Here, you are required to show your abilities to read, understand and interpret written materials and to follow written instructions. The questions will be based on reading passages and obtaining information you’ll need in order to perform important clerical and administrative support job tasks.