Word: exam
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...talked about such behavior in my Latin American history class freshman year, and I guess I could just never accept such things as true. I had written essay question after essay question on my final exam on that very subject, the PRI's manipulation of the public, but the facts had never sunk in until then...
...odds against passing the exams are daunting. In New York, more than 15,600 cops are vying for an anticipated 2,500 sergeant vacancies, and 2,600 sergeants for 600 lieutenant slots. "Either you pass the test and get promoted, or you stay a cop for history," says Officer Michael Corr, 33. Corr took the sergeant's exam when it was last given in 1983. He failed by 3 points, losing the promotion with its $44,000 sergeant's pay -- $10,000 above a patrolman's maximum. If he misses again, the next round will probably not come...
Across the country, other police officers face the same ordeal. In San Francisco only twelve of the 80 officers who sweated through the ten-hour captain's exam in December made it. In Phoenix 37 crammed for up to two years for last April's lieutenant's test. Among them was Sergeant Lee Bennington, 46, who has taken the exam six times since 1972. This time he put in some 700 hours over twelve months, drilling with 3,000 homemade flashcards -- and passed. In Washington 1,187 who took May 21 officers' exams still await results...
They have been waiting for three years in Chicago. There a sergeant's exam, taken in 1985 by 6,000 officers, is under review by a federal judge after discrimination charges by minority candidates. The court has scolded the department for testing in a way that "had a substantial adverse impact on blacks, Hispanics and women." In New York minority candidates who failed in 1983 brought suit, and 200 won higher rank. Little Rock and San Francisco have faced similar challenges...
Some cities have added oral exams and simulation exercises. In Corpus Christi, Texas, contenders for the job of police chief had to face interrogation by real reporters at a mock news conference. For many of those cramming for such challenges, major life choices are at stake. Jeanette Dice, 26, and her husband Brian, 31, both took the New York sergeant's exam last week. If she passes, says Dice, "I could take off for a year, have a baby, then go back to work and have enough money to hire a sitter." Otherwise? "I might look somewhere else...