NYPD Police Officer cheat sheet

Main idea = the claim the whole passage supports; details only support it.

A valid inference must be forced by the text, not merely plausible in real life.

Words like 'all', 'never', 'must', and 'only' usually signal an overreach answer.

'However', 'but', 'although', and 'yet' flag contrast; the author's point often follows them.

'Therefore', 'thus', 'consequently', and 'as a result' flag the conclusion.

Tone words (e.g., 'criticized', 'praised') reveal attitude; neutral reporting uses plain verbs.

Sequence words ('first', 'then', 'finally') and cause words ('because', 'since') map passage structure.

An answer choice that is true but not stated in the passage is wrong for comprehension questions.

A sentence needs a subject and a finite verb; a fragment lacks one of them.

Two independent clauses joined only by a comma form a comma splice; use a conjunction, semicolon, or period.

'Its' is possessive; 'it's' means 'it is'.

'Their' is possessive, 'there' is place, 'they're' means 'they are'.

Collective nouns (team, squad, jury) take a singular verb when acting as one unit.

Pronouns must agree with their antecedent in number and gender.

Modifiers should sit next to the word they describe; misplaced modifiers change meaning.

Prefer the shortest option that is grammatically complete and preserves the original meaning.

Chunking groups items (e.g., 10-digit phone numbers as 3-3-4) to expand effective capacity.

Working memory holds roughly 4-7 chunks briefly; rehearsal moves material toward long-term storage.

Spaced repetition beats massed practice: review at expanding intervals (1 day, 3 days, 1 week).

Recency and primacy effects: first and last items in a list are recalled best.

Mnemonic acronyms and vivid imagery attach new material to existing memory.

Retrieval practice (self-testing) produces stronger retention than rereading.

Interference: similar material learned close together (two similar codes) causes confusion.

Sleep and rest after learning consolidate memory; fatigue degrades encoding.

Problem sensitivity = recognizing that something is wrong or could go wrong before it is obvious.

Escalate when a situation involves risk of injury, a weapon, a crime in progress, or a vulnerable person.

Note deviations from the baseline: a person or scene that does not match its expected pattern.

Weigh severity, immediacy, and likelihood: imminent danger outranks inconvenience.

Multiple small anomalies together can indicate one larger problem.

Distinguish a real problem from an explainable one (e.g., a uniformed worker with ID at a site).

Prioritize life safety over property, and property over paperwork or procedure.

When information is incomplete, act on the safest reasonable interpretation and gather more.

A quarter turn = 90 degrees; a half turn = 180 degrees; a full turn = 360 degrees.

Clockwise turns go right; counterclockwise turns go left.

Facing north: right = east, left = west, back = south.

Facing east: right = south, left = north, back = west.

Facing south: right = west, left = east, back = north.

Facing west: right = north, left = south, back = east.

Two quarter turns in the same direction equal a half turn (reverse direction).

Opposite directions sum to 180 degrees: north/south, east/west, northeast/southwest.

Deduction moves from general rules to a guaranteed conclusion; if premises are true, the conclusion must be.

'All A are B' means every A is in B; it does NOT mean every B is an A.

'No A are B' means the sets A and B do not overlap at all.

'Some A are B' means at least one A is a B; it does not say how many.

Contrapositive is valid: from 'if P then Q' infer 'if not Q then not P'.

Converse is invalid: 'if Q then P' does not follow from 'if P then Q'.

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

A single counterexample disproves a universal claim; it cannot prove one.

Induction moves from specific observations to a general rule; conclusions are probable, not certain.

Pattern completion: identify the operation between terms (add, multiply, alternate, square).

Check differences first; if constant, it is arithmetic; if the differences change, check ratios (geometric).

Alternating sequences may use two interleaved rules (odd positions, even positions).

Letter sequences follow alphabet position; skipping letters signals a step size.

A conclusion from a small or biased sample is weak; more varied evidence strengthens it.

Correlation does not establish causation; a third factor may explain both.

One exception weakens a general rule but does not automatically destroy it.

Transitive order: if A is before B and B is before C, then A is before C.

Place fixed items first, then fill relative positions around them.

Convert 'immediately before' into adjacent slots; 'sometime before' leaves gaps.

Count total positions and note any that are fixed by being neither first nor last.

Use elimination: cross out any arrangement that violates a stated rule.

Watch for 'not' constraints (X is not last) that restrict otherwise valid orders.

If two orderings both satisfy all rules, the question lacks enough information.

Number the steps of a procedure so each prerequisite precedes its dependent step.