The Reading and Writing Questions on the School Safety Agent Exam
Both, and they are scored as two separate abilities. Written comprehension is understanding what a passage says. Written expression is choosing the sentence that says it clearly to someone else.
Two abilities, one half of the test
The notice defines written comprehension as understanding written sentences and paragraphs, with the example of reviewing an incident report. Written expression is using English words or sentences in writing so that others will understand, with the example of preparing incident reports.
Nothing here asks you to write. Written expression is tested by choosing among versions of a sentence — which is a reading task about writing, and the reason candidates who write well can still lose marks on it.
What comprehension questions want
What the passage says, not what would be sensible. The wrong options are usually true of the world, plausible for the situation, and simply not stated — or stated about a different person, at a different time, or as a possibility rather than a fact.
Reading a passage about a procedure and answering from what you know about procedures is the single most common way to lose these marks.
What expression questions want
RankHigh trains and reports the two separately, because losing marks on one says nothing about the other and the remedies are different.
- One meaning. If a sentence can be read two ways, it is wrong here even when it is grammatical.
- The right thing attached to the right thing — a misplaced clause that puts the description on the wrong person is the classic wrong answer.
- Plainness over formality. A longer, more official-sounding sentence is not the clearer one, and this test is not about sounding official.
Sources
- NYC DCAS — Notice of Examination, School Safety Agent (Exam No. 7323) · checked 2026-09-01