Information Ordering
Information Ordering tests your ability to put steps, events, or priorities into the correct sequence. Corrections procedures depend on order: a missed notification or a search before securing a scene can invalidate the response and create danger.
How to order
- Identify the starting condition and the required end state.
- Look for dependencies: aid cannot be rendered safely until the area is secure; documentation comes after action and notification.
- Use policy order over personal preference. Emergency response generally moves from assess and notify to secure, protect life, preserve evidence, and report.
- Use transition words in the prompt: before, after, first, then, finally.
- In reports, use chronological order with times.
Worked example
Put these in order: write the incident report; notify control; secure the area; assess the inmate's condition. Best sequence: notify control, secure the area, assess the condition, write the report. Reasoning: control must know an emergency exists; the area must be safe before aid; assessment follows safety; documentation follows action. If the inmate is not breathing, immediate aid and emergency medical notification may precede area security only when the area is already safe.
Traps
- Starting with documentation because it is the last thing you remember to do.
- Confusing alphabetical or numeric order with procedural order.
- Omitting the notification step.
- Putting 'investigate' before 'secure' or 'render aid.'