L.A Police Multiple-Choise Exam - Practice & Study Guide (2024)

Since 06/01/2020, the Los Angeles Police Department began using a Multiple Choice test format (LAPD MC Test) for their junior's recruiting process, instead of the previous PQE (Personal Qualifications Essay).

The LAPD Multiple-Choice Test will assess your spelling, reading comprehension, vocabulary, and writing clarity skills. The test includes 80 questions and is scored on a pass/no pass basis.

Note that if you fit into one of the following specific circumstances, you can get an exemption from taking the test (according to the official LAPD information):

Are currently employed as an Associate Community Officer with LAPD
Have completed the California POST Regular Basic Course within the last three years
Possess a current Basic Course waiver
Have taken the California Pellet-B test and earned an overall t-score of 42 or higher

The writing ability section of the test assesses your basic writing skills and fluency. You will be presented with two almost identical sentences, and you'll be asked to identify which sentence is written most clearly and correctly.

Writing Clarity Skills Question

A. The thief was wearing a red shirt; he ran through the alley.
B. The thief was wearing a red shirt, and ran through the alley.

View Explanation

The correct answer is A.

The second half of answer B could grammatically refer to either the thief or the red shirt, which makes the sentence ambiguous and vague.

Tip💡: pay attention to common writing errors, like misspellings, vague references, and sentence fragments.

In this section, you will be presented with a sentence with a missing word, and you'll be asked to choose the correct spelling of the missing term out of four options.

Spelling Skills Questions

The deadly shooting of a suspect who ______ rocks at officers during a disturbance call in Washington has sparked calls for a federal ________ and weeks of protests.

through, investigasion

throw, investigation

threw, investigation

throu, investigasion

View Explanation

The correct answer is C.

When two words are missing, we need to go over the answer choices carefully and find the choice which offers correct answers for both of the missing words. Upon reading the sentence, it becomes clear that the first missing word is likely a verb and the second missing word is likely a noun. We can further deduce that all answer choices provide spelling variations of the same word, and we need to find the correct one.

Tip💡: many words can sound alike, even when spelled differently. Breaking the words into syllables will reveal their correct spelling.

Similarly to vocabulary sections in other police exams, you will be presented with a sentence that has an underlined or capitalized word. Your task will be to choose the correct synonym for the marked word.

Vocabulary Skills Questions

The notions of freedom and liberty were conceived during the revolutionary war.
Which of the following can replace the word conceived:

Delivered

Assumed

Established

Misunderstood

View Explanation

The correct answer is C.

The word conceived has two meanings:

To become pregnant with a child
To form a mental idea or plan

The word established also refers to the process of forming, much like the second definition. It is, therefore, the correct answer.

Tip💡: words included in this section are likely common words that can be encountered in law enforcement work. Practice and learn as many words within the low enforcement lexicon as possible beforehand.

Reading Comprehension Ability Questions

The reading ability section of the test assesses your reading comprehension and capability to understand and interpret written instructions. You will be presented with a passage of text; the lengths of the passage can vary from a single paragraph to one page. You need to read the text carefully and answer a multiple-choice question related to the information contained within the text.

Read the following passage, then answer the question below:

Wild species of bees are said by researchers to be responsible for pollinating around one-third of the world's crop production, performing an important role in preventing world starvation. Lately, there has been a great concern across the country about the demise of bee populations.

American Food Safety Association (AFSA) scientists have identified a number of risks posed to bees by the chemicals used in some pesticides. The AFSA has found that these pesticides have acute and chronic effects on bee colony survival and development.

Although the federal government is adamantly pushing toward restricting the use of toxic chemicals for crops not attractive to bees and other pollinators, many farmers and crop experts argue that there is insufficient data to make such drastic restrictions. They argue that the report published by the AFSA specifically stated that in some cases it was “unable to finalize the assessments due to shortcomings in the available data.

Which one of the following statements is correct in light of the text?

Only wild species are responsible for pollination.

Bees help prevent world starvation.

All pesticides are harmful to bees.

The farmers' protest is money-driven.

View Explanation

The correct answer is B.

Here's a quote from the text: "Wild species of bees are said by researchers to be responsible for pollinating around one-third of the world's crop production, performing an important role in preventing world starvation."

This quote tells us the same thing answer B says, in different words. No other answer option has a quote in the text that proves it is right.

Tip💡: This is the most time-consuming part of the test. To keep pace and not read the text more than once, you can divide the text by topics; thus it will be easier to identify the relevant sentence or paragraph to answer the question.

Start to Prepare Yourself for the LAPD MC Test Today!

Our Police PrepPack will prepare you for all different types of questions in the test, including detailed study guides, more than 900 different questions, sample tests, and more!

Based on the official information from the LAPD site, the application process includes 8 steps:

Stage 1 - Online Application and Multiple Choice (MC) Test

Stage 2 - Personal History Statement (PHS)

Stage 3 - Physical Fitness Qualifier (PFQ) and Candidate Advancement Programs

Stage 4 - Polygraph Examination and Department Interview

Stage 5 - Medical Evaluation

Stage 6 - Field Investigation

Stage 7 - Psychological Evaluation

L.A Police Department Multiple Choice Exam - Practice Test & Study Guide (2024)

What Is the LAPD Multiple Choice (MC) Test?

What Does the LAPD Multiple Choice (MC) Consist Of?

Writing Clarity Skills

Writing Clarity Skills Question

Spelling Skills

Spelling Skills Questions

Vocabulary Skills

Vocabulary Skills Questions

Reading Comprehension Ability Questions

Start to Prepare Yourself for the LAPD MC Test Today!

What’s Included in the Application Process for the LAPD?