Spelling
What is tested
Spelling questions ask you to pick the correctly spelled form from four versions, or to spot the misspelled word in a sentence. Reports and courtroom documents demand precision, so the exam favors words common in law enforcement writing: evidence, vehicle, license, judgment, maintenance, occurrence, personnel, procedure, separate, definitely, accommodate, subpoena, seize, witness, hazardous.
Rules that pay off
- i before e except after c, or when it sounds like ay (receive, believe; weigh, neighbor). Exceptions to memorize: seize, either, weird.
- Doubling the final consonant before -ing/-ed when a one-syllable word ends consonant-vowel-consonant (stopped, beginning), but not when stress is not on the last syllable (offered, targeted).
- Silent final e: drop it before a vowel suffix (trace → tracing), keep it before a consonant suffix (trace → traceable).
- Plurals: add -s; add -es after s, x, z, ch, sh; consonant + y becomes -ies.
- -able/-ible and -ance/-ence are memory items - learn them as whole words, not by rule.
Traps
- Homophones: their/there/they're, its/it's, principal/principle, stationery/stationary, cite/site/sight.
- Doubled letters: accommodate (two c's, two m's), occurrence (two c's, two r's), recommend (one c, two m's).
- Letters that are not pronounced: judgment keeps the e out in U.S. usage; license uses s, not c.
Worked example
Which is correct: seperate, seperate, separate, or sepperate? The answer is separate - s-e-p-a-r-a-t-e. Mnemonic: there is a rat in sep-a-rat-e. Sound alone will not save you here; anchor the word to a picture or phrase.