Postal Inspector Entrance Examination Practice Tests

What Is The Postal Inspection Service Exam?

As a federal law enforcement arm, the U.S. Postal Inspector investigates violations of postal laws, policies and procedures at state and federal levels on behalf of the postal service.

The USPIS has established a multi-faceted hiring process: Each step in this screening process must be passed in order to proceed to the next phase.

Following the submission of your qualified Application, you can expect to take a Postal Inspector Entrance Examination that assesses the reasoning ability and character traits necessary for postal inspectors. This is a Pass/Fail test: Pass and you move on to a verification test that is comprised of a more detailed and longer cognitive/personality exam.

With a Pass on the verification test, you will need to take the Business Writing Test. During the selection process, you will work on an Application Packet, Background Investigation Questionnaire and Information Exchange. When you pass all of those steps, you find yourself in the midst of a Language assessment, if applicable; Assessment Center testing; polygraph; management interview; drug testing; medical examination; and the ultimate conditional employment offer.

This is a difficult process, but it is definitely doable with the proper preparation. Preparing for your Postal Inspection Service test will give you a heads-up as to the types of questions and exam format that you will face on the actual USPIS test. The more you work on USPIS practice tests, the greater your accuracy, speed and comfort level while taking the exam, to become a member of federal law enforcement.

Format of the USPIS Exam

The Postal Inspector pre-employment test is a multiple choice, strictly timed computer-based exam used to find worthy postal employees.

There is no penalty for wrong responses- you will benefit from answering every question; guess if necessary. Be sure to carefully read and listen to all directions, and read each entire passage, question and alternative before marking your answer.

Content of the Postal Inspector Test

There are three sections in the USPIS test: Deductive & Inductive Reasoning, Life Experience, and Business Writing.

Deductive Reasoning – Deductive reasoning is the application of a given rule to a set of circumstances. Expect 10 questions to be completed in 22 minutes. Many items in this section present a set of rules or legal procedures. The task is to draw a logical conclusion through the application of the rules/procedures.

Inductive Reasoning – Generally, inductive reasoning involves finding the rule or link present in a set of objects, people or events. There are 2 questions with a time limit of 4 minutes. When taking the U.S. Postal Inspector Exam, you will find informational paragraphs, each followed by a question and five alternatives. Select the statement that is completely valid given the information presented in the paragraph.

Life Experience – You will have 30 minutes to complete the 60 questions on this part of the test. The items contained in the Life Experience section involve your own work preferences, opinions, interpersonal relations and personality traits. By practicing on sample questions, you will know what to expect when faced with the behavioral section of the USPIS exam.

If you pass these three exams you may be asked to take a writing exam as well.

Business Writing Test - Expect English usage, sentence and paragraph organization, spelling, punctuation, grammar and vocabulary on this Writing Test. The test is divided into three parts:

  • Multiple choice- This section will assess your level of English comprehension.
  • Writing section- In this section, you will have between 10-15 minutes to write several memos, letters or reports, to sample questions.
  • Audio section- In this section, you will be required to listen to several tape recording, take notes and then answer questions about the recordings.

Postal Inspection Service Sample Questions

Deductive Reasoning Sample Question

Read the following text, and answer the question. Try answering in 2 minutes!

For all reported violent crimes in a certain city for the year 2012, 50% were assault, 35% were murder, and 15% were neither assault nor murder. Suppose gun-related violent crimes in a certain city are on the rise. Some residents of this city want stricter gun control laws, including more comprehensive background checks, to keep illegally acquired guns out of the hands of criminals. To support their argument, they cite the following statistics: Of the assaults, 75% were committed using illegally acquired guns. Of the murders, 90% were committed using illegally acquired guns.

Other residents of this city think that stricter gun control laws will not meaningfully reduce the numbers of violent crimes perpetrated with illegally acquired guns. To support their argument, they cite the following statistics: Of the assaults perpetrated with an illegally acquired gun, 80% of those guns were acquired on the black market. Of the murders, 85% of those guns were acquired on the black market. Furthermore, almost all assaults and murders perpetrated with guns that were not sold on the black market were perpetrated with guns stolen from their original owners who had acquired their guns legally.

According to the passage, which of the following must be true about reported violent crimes in that certain city for the year 2012?

A. Illegally acquired guns were used to commit over 90% of all reported violent crimes in the city for the year 2012.
B. Illegally acquired guns were used to commit at least 50% of all reported violent crimes that were neither assault nor murder in the city for the year 2012.
C. Between 75%-90% of all reported violent crimes in the city for the year 2012 were committed using illegally acquired guns.
D. At least 69% of all reported violent crimes in the city for the year 2012 were committed using illegally acquired guns.
E. Exactly 69% of all reported violent crimes in the city for the year 2012 were committed using illegally acquired guns.
Correct Answer
Incorrect Answer

The correct answer is (D).

The passage mentions that 50% of reported violent crimes were assault and that 75% of those were committed using illegally acquired guns.
75% of 50% is 37.5%

Additionally, the passage states that 35% of reported violent crimes were murder and that 90% of those were committed using illegally acquired guns.
90% of 35% = 31.5% and 37.5% + 31.5% = 69%

Answers (A), (B), (C), and (E) may be true but the passage does not mention what percentage of the remaining 15% of reported violent crimes, that were neither assault nor murder, were committed using illegally acquired guns. Therefore, answer (D) is correct.

 

USPIS Exam Preparation

Across the board, test preparation is known to enhance exam results. The postal inspector entrance exam is no exception. Through JobTestPrep's USPIS practice tests, Q&A analysis, study guide and helpful exam strategies you will score higher. JobTestPrep has developed an affordable and comprehensive Postal Inspector preparation pack. Exam familiarity that comes with USPIS test preparation improves the potential for a successful exam experience.

Related Links

Postal Exam 955 & 642 Post Office Exam
United States Postal Service, USPIS and other trademarks are the property of their respective trademark holders. None of the trademark holders are affiliated with JobTestPrep or this website.