2007-10-16 A helpful insight into the Part 2 process.

Having passed the Part 1 Exam in March I am about to sit the Part 2 assesment centre. Study for the Part 1 is straight forward, buy Blackstones or the Janes Crammer, or even a computer programme (I did and it helped a lot). Read and learn the legislation and then sit the exam.

But how do you prepare for the Part 2? It is a station based assesment, so there are no computer programmes or study books to help. Or so I thought. I purchased this book on the off chance it contained some insight into the process. Thankfully the book does, along with 14 stations to assist in your preparation, 7 designed for PC to Sergeant and 7 for Sergeant to Inpsector.

The book starts off with an introduction to the assesment centre and helpfully explains how the process is reviewed and set up. This is surprisingly useful, as you have an idea as to how the stations are created and what the assesment is looking for. This issue I had with study for the Part 2 is that I did not really know what the assesors are looking for within the station. This book explains what the assessors are marking and what a good candidate should be saying.

It breaks down the 14 stations and explains what the assessors are looking for in each scenario and how to score the marks needed to pass. This was extremely helpful, I finally realised what was expected of myself in the assesment.

Now this book isn't the magic to solving the Part 2 puzzle. With only 14 stations it doesn't give you lots of scenarios to work around, but my force provide plenty of practice ones so I assume most other forces will. The book is also a bit vague on explaining what a strong candidate should be saying to elicit the maximum scores in the scenarios.

However, overall, the book gives a candidate the background of the Part 2 assesment centre and a good breakdown of 14 stations that give you an opportunity to understand the assesment process, which is very helpful in preparation. I don't think it will suit every candidate but for the money it is a worthwhile revision/study tool for the assesment centres, considering there are no alternatives in the market.

A worthy purchase for anyone sitting the centre (mine is in a week!)