2026 Civil Service Exams in New Jersey
Updated: January 2025
Are you interested in a New Jersey Civil Service job? New Jersey has a variety of civil service exams with a centralized civil service examination system. This page will provide info about the main civil service tests in New Jersey, such as the Law Enforcement (LEE), Supervisory, Management, and LEAB Exams.
The New Jersey Civil Service Commission administers several different tests & evaluation methods for different jobs. Let's take a look at the most common two:
The Law Enforcement Examination (LEE) is the civil service exam for those seeking to become NJ Police Officers and New Jersey Correction Officers. It is the official pathway for NJ residents looking to qualify for entry-level law enforcement positions within Civil Service jurisdictions. The LEE exam comprises Logical Reasoning (Inductive, Deductive, Information Ordering, and Problem Sensitivity), Reading Comprehension, Written Expression and Communication, and personality profiling.
Excluding NJ State Trooper positions, which require a separate exam, most New Jersey correctional officer and police roles require passing the LEE Exam.
Our preparation material provides a precise simulation of the actual LEE, giving you an effective practice experience that will help you confidently tackle this highly challenging exam and achieve your career goal.
There are over 200 jobs in New Jersey (state and local governments) that require the STB Test (Supervisory Test Battery), a computer-administered work simulation.
During this test, Background information is given about a fictitious company or organization, along with several items (such as memos and phone calls), and 30 minutes of review time are given.
Then, test takers are faced with scenario-based questions, problems, and work-related decisions. Because there can be various correct ways of dealing with issues, answer options are weighted based on their effectiveness (ranging from 0.0 to 0.8) and for some questions, it is possible to choose more than one answer.
Candidates receive their test results instantly upon completion of the Supervisor Test Battery.
Our supervisor test preparation includes some additional materials that will not appear on your exam (for example, mathematical reasoning); therefore, we recommend that you focus on the personality and situational judgment sections.
This management assessment is a computer-administered work simulation similar to the Supervisor Test (see above) that is required for hundreds of New Jersey state and local managerial role titles.
Candidates are required to assume the role of a manager in a fictitious company or organization and are given background information and items (such as memos, phone calls) to review for 30 minutes. There is no one correct answer to scenario-based questions, but some answers are more effective than others; therefore, options are weighted (ranging from 0.2 to 1.0) with the more effective responses receiving a higher weight.
The highest possible score for the Management Test Battery is 80; candidates receive their score immediately upon completion of the assessment.
Many Civil Service tests use the same basic format with similar question types. Gaining familiarity with the common Civil Service Exam questions will give you a good headstart, no matter to which role you choose to apply.
Other exams in NJ often focus on job-specific knowledge & experience.
Click here for the full list of open competitive job announcements, or
click here for a full list of promotional announcements for current government employees.
New Jersey Firefighter Exam (NJFFE): The NJFFE is a cognitive-based, multiple-choice firefighter test with more than 200 questions.
LEAB Test: This test for New Jersey Correctional Officers is based on the EB Jacobs Law Enforcement Aptitude Battery, including a cognitive ability test, work style questionnaire, and life experience survey. Together, all three tests take about 3.5 hours to complete. However, according to the NJ CSC official site, NJ correction officers mostly take the LEE nowadays.
The NJ Civil Service tests are administered by the New Jersey Civil Service Commission (CSC) for a variety of state, local, and municipal positions in various departments of human services. As a result, exams for the same profession or job title are generally the same throughout New Jersey whether for a state or local job. All vacancy announcements within New Jersey, job descriptions and requirements, and online application instructions for the exams are featured on the NJ CSC’s official web page.
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The NJ civil service tests are generally computer-administered and formatted in multiple-choice questions. There are no penalties for wrong answers, so it is to the candidate's advantage to eliminate unlikely choices and make an educated guess. Every exam has a time limit, requiring candidates to choose as many correct answers as possible in the allotted time. To better understand what you are up against, check our Civil Service Exams Practice Test.
