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The five subject areas, and which ones you will actually sit

The Department of Civil Service publishes five subject areas for this series. It also says, in the guide itself, that your examination announcement specifies which of them appear on your particular test — and announcements genuinely differ. Three counties' announcements read in September 2026 carried two, three and four of the five between them. One area appears on all of them.

Published subject areas
Five
On every examination
Operations with Letters and Numbers
Who decides the rest
Your own examination announcement
Overall time allowance
3 hours

The five areas the guide publishes

The test guide names Spelling, Alphabetizing, Record Keeping, Operations with Letters and Numbers, and Using a Directory. For each it prints a description of the task, a worked sample question and the solution — so the format of every area is public and there is nothing to guess at.

Every one of them is multiple choice on paper or at a computer, depending on the jurisdiction. There is no video section, no personality inventory, no integrity questionnaire and no situational judgment — words that appear in the guide exactly zero times. That is unusual, and it is why this examination is preparable in full.

  • Spelling — is one of three business words misspelled, or is none of them?
  • Alphabetizing — file a short list of near-identical names and name the one in a given place
  • Record Keeping — read a table and work out totals, differences, averages and percentages
  • Operations with Letters and Numbers — compare, check and count groups of letters and digits
  • Using a Directory — apply a list of changes to a telephone directory, then answer a caller

Your announcement decides, and this is the part candidates miss

The guide states it directly: the Examination Announcement will specify the exact subject areas to be included on the particular examination you will be taking. That is not boilerplate. Livingston County's clerk announcement names two areas — record keeping, and clerical operations with letters and numbers. Sullivan County's names three — alphabetizing, clerical operations, and spelling. Lewis County's names four.

So a candidate who prepares from a general clerical book, or from another county's announcement, can spend weeks on an area their own exam will not contain, and skip one it will. Find your announcement first and read the subjects of examination section before you decide where to spend your time.

One area is guaranteed

The guide adds a sentence that is worth more than it looks: all examinations in this series will include Operations with Letters and Numbers. That held on all three announcements read — it was the only area on every one of them.

If you are preparing with limited time and have not yet found your announcement, that is where to start. It is also the area most people underestimate, because it looks like a clerical formality and is really a test of accuracy under repetition.

Sources

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