Preparing written material: the subject area that holds two different tasks
The Department's guide says this subject area contains two separate test tasks. A candidate who practices only one of them has practiced half the area, and the two need completely different preparation.
Task one — information presentation
You are given information and asked which version presents it most clearly. Both versions are grammatical and both sound reasonable; only one of them can be read a single way.
The thing to look for is a reference a reader cannot settle. A pronoun with two possible owners already named. A possessive with the same problem. A clause beginning "who" sitting after two candidates. A limiting word like "only" placed where it could restrict either half of the sentence.
- Try to read each version a SECOND way. The one you cannot misread is the answer.
- Do not choose on fluency — the wrong version is usually the smoother one.
- Naming the person is not always the longer sentence, so length tells you nothing.
Task two — paragraph organization
You are given a paragraph's sentences out of order and four possible arrangements. The work is in the reference words rather than in the meaning.
Find the sentence that introduces the subject and depends on nothing before it — it names its subject in full rather than by "this", "they" or "that". Then find the closing sentence, which sums up or states a result. Fixing both ends usually leaves one arrangement of the middle.
- A sentence pointing back at something cannot come before the thing it points at.
- Read your chosen order straight through — if a reference has nothing to attach to, it is wrong.
- Do not build the order forwards from the first sentence; identifying the opening is the hardest step and a wrong start makes every later choice look reasonable.
Sources
- New York State Department of Civil Service — Test Guide for the Probation Series · checked 2026-09-07