Met Police Exam key terms

A test format presenting workplace scenarios where you choose the most and least effective response from several options, assessing practical decision-making rather than memorised knowledge.

A defined pattern of observable workplace behaviour, such as teamwork or resilience, against which candidates are judged using evidence from past actions or scenario responses.

A structured way of answering competency questions by describing the Situation, Task, Action and Result, keeping the answer focused on your own contribution and its outcome.

A response grounded in specific, verifiable examples from your own experience rather than general opinions, giving concrete detail about what you did and what happened.

The judgement of how well a proposed action would resolve a scenario, ranking options from most to least effective according to stated priorities and constraints.

Multiple demands that cannot all be met at once, requiring a candidate to weigh urgency, risk and organisational policy before choosing an order of action.

Referring a matter to a more senior person or specialist unit when it exceeds your authority, risk threshold or competence, usually after taking appropriate immediate action.

The obligation to act reasonably to protect the safety and wellbeing of the public, colleagues and detainees, including recognising when a situation needs immediate intervention.

Action taken to protect children and vulnerable adults from harm, including recognising indicators of abuse and referring concerns through correct channels promptly.

The quality of being honest, trustworthy and free from improper influence, including declaring conflicts of interest and refusing inappropriate gifts or favours.

A situation where a personal connection, financial interest or outside loyalty could improperly influence your professional judgement, which must be declared and managed.

Treating people and cases on their merits without bias, favouritism or prejudice, a core principle of policing conduct and decision-making.

The difference between two values expressed as a percentage of the original value, calculated as the change divided by the original, then multiplied by 100.

The arithmetic difference between two percentages, distinct from percentage change; a rise from 20% to 25% is five percentage points but a 25% increase.

A comparison of two or more quantities showing their relative sizes, often written with a colon and simplified by dividing all parts by a common factor.

A part expressed as a fraction of a whole, useful for comparing subgroups of different sizes and often converted to a percentage for presentation.

A measure of how often something occurs relative to a base, such as crimes per 1,000 residents, allowing fair comparison between areas of different population sizes.

An average where each value contributes in proportion to its importance or size, needed when combining groups of unequal size such as crime counts across boroughs.

The arithmetic average found by adding all values and dividing by the number of values; sensitive to extreme outliers in a data set.

The middle value when data are arranged in order, or the average of the two middle values; less affected by extreme outliers than the mean.

A value far removed from the rest of a data set, which can distort averages and should be identified before drawing conclusions from summary figures.

The general direction in which data move over time, distinguished from short-term fluctuation by looking at several consecutive periods rather than a single change.

Estimating future values by continuing an observed pattern beyond the available data, a method that assumes past trends persist and carries uncertainty.

Producing an approximate answer by rounding numbers to convenient values, useful for quickly checking whether a precise calculation is plausible.

Changing a quantity from one measurement unit to another, such as minutes to hours or metres to kilometres, using a known multiplication factor.

A conclusion drawn from stated evidence rather than stated directly, which must be supported by the passage and not by outside assumptions.

An unstated idea that a passage or argument relies on for its conclusion to hold; identifying it is central to evaluating reasoning.

The central point a passage is written to convey, distinguishable from supporting details and from the author's tone or attitude.

The claim an argument is trying to establish, supported by premises; it may appear at the start or end of a passage rather than being signposted.

A stated reason or piece of evidence offered in support of an argument's conclusion, which may be strong, weak or irrelevant to the claim.

A brief restatement of a text's key points in your own words, omitting examples and detail while preserving the original meaning and emphasis.

Expressing the meaning of a passage in different words without changing its sense, used to demonstrate comprehension and to avoid copying source wording.

The conventional order of a formal report: purpose, background, findings, analysis and recommendations, each in a clearly headed section.

A short opening section summarising the purpose, key findings and recommendations of a longer report so a busy reader can grasp the essentials quickly.

The arrangement of events in the order they occurred, a standard requirement in incident reports so that sequence and timing are unambiguous.

Writing that reports facts without personal bias, emotion or speculation, using neutral language and attributing opinions to their source.

Clear, direct writing that avoids jargon, long sentences and ambiguity, making a document easy for any reader to understand on a first reading.

A sentence construction where the subject performs the action, such as 'the officer cautioned the suspect', giving clearer attribution than passive wording.

A form of deductive reasoning with two premises leading to a conclusion, valid when the conclusion necessarily follows from the premises as stated.

Reasoning from general rules to a specific conclusion, where a valid argument guarantees the conclusion if the premises are true.

The property of an argument whose conclusion follows necessarily from its premises, regardless of whether those premises are actually true.

An ordered series of figures, letters or symbols following a consistent rule, where the task is to identify the rule and supply the next element.

Spotting a recurring rule or relationship within data or symbols so that a missing element or next step can be predicted reliably.

The ability to notice small differences in wording, numbers or formatting, such as mismatched names, dates or figures between two documents.

Carefully reading text to find errors in spelling, grammar, punctuation and consistency, ideally comparing against the source rather than reading for meaning.

Comparing figures across tables, forms or systems to confirm they match, catching transposed digits, duplicated entries and inconsistent totals.