FBI Phase I Test cheat sheet

Priority hierarchy: officer/public safety first, then legal compliance, then procedural correctness, then interpersonal rapport.

Use the least force that resolves the situation; escalation must be justified by a specific change in threat.

When a rule conflicts with an emergency, act to prevent harm, then document and notify a supervisor.

Report misconduct up the chain of command; bypass only when the chain is implicated or unresponsive.

A judgment item is scored on the chosen action plus the reasoning; the 'best' answer is lawful, proportionate, and documented.

Integrity items: never choose an option that conceals an error, even if the error was minor.

De-escalation precedes coercion when time and safety permit; verbal commands and positioning come first.

Treat silence or ambiguity in a scenario as a cue to gather facts, not to assume the worst.

Valid forms: modus ponens (P→Q, P, therefore Q) and modus tollens (P→Q, not Q, therefore not P).

Invalid forms: affirming the consequent (P→Q, Q, therefore P) and denying the antecedent (P→Q, not P, therefore not Q).

'Some A are B' does not imply 'some A are not B'; only 'all' and 'no' support contraposition.

Contrapositive of P→Q is not Q→not P; the converse (Q→P) and inverse (not P→not Q) are not equivalent.

Necessary condition: Q is required for P (P→Q). Sufficient condition: P guarantees Q (P→Q). Same arrow, different reading.

Strengthen an argument by adding a premise that blocks an alternative cause; weaken it by supplying a plausible alternative explanation.

Correlation does not establish causation; look for confounds, reversed causation, and selection effects.

On ordering puzzles, draw a linear slot diagram and mark fixed positions before testing conditionals.

Percent change = (new − old) / old × 100; a 20% rise then 20% fall leaves 96% of the original, a net 4% loss.

Work rate: combined rate = 1/a + 1/b; time together = ab/(a+b) for two workers.

Distance = rate × time; for average speed over equal distances, use the harmonic mean, not the arithmetic mean.

Ratio scaling: keep units consistent and set up a proportion a/b = c/d, then cross-multiply.

Compound interest: A = P(1 + r/n)^(nt); simple interest: A = P(1 + rt).

Probability of independent events: P(A and B) = P(A) × P(B); P(A or B) = P(A) + P(B) − P(A and B).

Weighted average = Σ(value × weight) / Σ(weights); the result always lies between the smallest and largest values.

Estimate before computing: round to one significant figure to eliminate answer choices, then refine.

Behavioral items are typically forced-choice or Likert; consistency across repeated or reverse-keyed items is scored.

Social-desirability distortion is detected when self-reported virtue far exceeds plausible norms; balanced responding is favored.

Cognitive components may include working memory (hold and manipulate items), attention to detail, and processing speed under time limits.

Response consistency: contradictory answers to near-identical items lower integrity and reliability scores.

Divide time across sections by item count; unanswered items usually score the same as wrong answers, so never leave blanks.

Working-memory span is roughly 4–7 chunks; chunking (grouping digits or letters) extends effective capacity.

Vigilance tasks reward sustained attention; errors cluster in the final third, so pace effort evenly.

Read the stem's key qualifier (always, never, most, least) before answering; qualifiers flip the correct choice.