Reasoning and judgment
Information ordering
Placing steps or items in the sequence a rule or procedure requires.
Exams on RankHigh that test this
- BSCC/STC Corrections Entry California
- CDCR Correctional Officer California
- CDCR Correctional Sergeant California
- POST Dispatcher Battery California
- Firefighter Massachusetts
- Police Officer Massachusetts
- NY Local Police Captain New York
- NY Local Police Lieutenant New York
- NY Local Police Officer New York
- NY Local Police Sergeant New York
- NY Probation New York
- NYC Correction Officer New York
- NYC School Safety Agent New York
- NYPD Police Officer New York
What follows is our approach, not an official rule. What each question type measures is set by the body that runs the examination. How to work one is RankHigh’s method — it is what a good tutor would tell you, and there is more than one way to be right. Where an examination publishes its own instructions, those govern on the day.
Information Ordering
Tested as “Information Ordering” on Firefighter, Police Officer, NYPD Police Officer, NYC School Safety Agent, CDCR Correctional Officer, NYC Correction Officer.
Putting steps in the right order according to rules you are given, not according to what feels sensible.
Where people lose it
Reading the steps first. They are printed in an order designed to look reasonable, and once you have read them that way it is hard to unsee. The printed order is a decoy.
How to work itRankHigh method
- Read the RULES before you read the steps. Cover the numbered list with your hand if you have to.
- Find the hard dependencies — the pairs where one thing physically cannot happen before another.
- Anchor on those pairs. They fix most of the sequence on their own.
- Check each remaining step against every rule, not just the rule it seems related to.
- Read your chosen order back and ask which rule would be broken. If none, it is right.
The rules decide the order. Your sense of how a job normally runs does not.
Paragraph Organization — NY Local Police Captain, NY Local Police Sergeant
Tested as “Paragraph Organization” on NY Local Police Captain, NY Local Police Sergeant.
Putting a paragraph's sentences back into the order that reads as one connected, well-organized paragraph.
Where people lose it
Building the order from what feels natural. The order is fixed by cues in the sentences themselves, and where two arrangements both read acceptably one of them breaks a cue.
How to work itRankHigh method
- Find the topic sentence first. It introduces the subject and refers to nothing earlier, which is what makes it the only sentence that can open.
- Then follow the references. A sentence containing 'it', 'that', 'this difference', 'the second kind' or 'both' cannot come before the sentence its reference points at.
- Use the sequence words as ordering, not as decoration. 'Before', 'then', 'eventually', 'so' and 'therefore' each fix a position relative to another sentence.
- Check your answer by reading the whole paragraph through in the order you chose. A wrong arrangement almost always leaves one reference with nothing to attach to.
Work out the order from the sentences before you look at the four arrangements offered, then find yours among them.
Apply Rules – Appropriate Placement
Tested as “Apply Rules – Appropriate Placement” on BSCC/STC Corrections Entry.
Given a paragraph with four marked insertion points, choosing where a supplied sentence best belongs.
Where people lose it
Placing the sentence wherever it does not obviously break anything, rather than where it does the most work — introducing the scene, bridging a gap, or resolving a dangling reference.
How to work itRankHigh method
- Read the paragraph fully first, then read the sentence to be placed.
- Ask what the sentence establishes — a subject, a time, a location — and find where the paragraph currently lacks exactly that.
- Test each candidate placement by reading the paragraph through with the sentence inserted there.
- Reject a placement that creates a pronoun or reference problem, even if the sentence 'fits' at first glance.
The right placement makes something read more naturally, not just avoids reading strangely.
Apply Rules – Level of Priority
Tested as “Apply Rules – Level of Priority” on BSCC/STC Corrections Entry.
Applying a stated priority table to a list of events and ranking them from highest to lowest priority.
Where people lose it
Ranking by how serious an event sounds rather than by which stated tier it actually falls into. The table decides, not your own sense of urgency.
How to work itRankHigh method
- Read the priority table once, fully, before looking at any event.
- Classify every event into a tier before ranking any of them against each other.
- Where an event could plausibly fit two tiers, find the specific wording in the table that resolves it — a well-built table always has one.
- Rank only after every event is classified, then double-check the ranking matches your tier list exactly.
Classify everything first. Rank second. Do not rank as you read.
Apply Rules – Logical Sequences
Tested as “Apply Rules – Logical Sequences” on BSCC/STC Corrections Entry.
Arranging four unordered sentences into the order that forms the most logical paragraph.
Where people lose it
Anchoring on the sentence that sounds like a natural opener without checking whether the other three actually follow from it in order.
How to work itRankHigh method
- Look for a sentence that introduces a subject or scene with no pronoun needing an earlier antecedent — that is usually first.
- Track pronouns and definite references ('the incident', 'her supervisor') back to the sentence that first introduces what they refer to.
- Look for time and causal markers (furthermore, afterward, as a result) that fix one sentence immediately after another.
- Read your final order straight through as a paragraph before answering — a genuinely correct order reads naturally end to end.
Find the sentence nothing else depends on first — that is your anchor, usually the opener.
Information Ordering and Language Sequencing
Tested as “Information Ordering and Language Sequencing” on NY Local Police Officer.
Working out the order in which things happened from an account that does not always tell them in order.
Where people lose it
Reading the order of the SENTENCES as the order of the EVENTS.
How to work itRankHigh method
- Sketch a line of what happened before you look at the options.
- Anchor anything with a stated time first, then place the rest around it.
- Phrases like 'on their return', 'moving up the path' and 'inside' fix position without giving a clock time.
- For 'immediately after', find the named step on your line and take the very next one.
Build the sequence once, then answer from it — do not re-read for each option.
Paragraph Organization — CDCR Correctional Sergeant
Tested as “Paragraph Organization” on CDCR Correctional Sergeant.
Putting four sentences back into the order that reads as one connected paragraph.
Where people lose it
Building the order forwards from whichever sentence sounds like an opening. The first sentence is the hardest to identify, and a wrong start makes every later choice look defensible.
How to work itRankHigh method
- Find the sentence that names its subject in full without depending on anything before it. That one is first, and it is the only one that can be.
- Then work from CUES rather than from meaning. A sentence opening with "it", "they", "that reader", "those", "the two" or "therefore" cannot be first and usually names its own predecessor.
- Track indefinite to definite. "A post order" comes before "the order"; "a list" comes before "the list".
- Read your chosen sequence straight through before committing. If a pronoun has nothing to refer back to, the order is wrong however sensible it looked.
Anchor the first sentence and the concluding one, then the middle usually has only one arrangement left.
Paragraph Organization — NY Local Police Lieutenant
Tested as “Paragraph Organization” on NY Local Police Lieutenant.
Putting a paragraph's sentences back into the order that reads as one connected, well-organized paragraph.
Where people lose it
Building the order from what feels natural. The order is fixed by cues in the sentences themselves, and where two arrangements both read acceptably one of them has broken a cue you have not looked for yet.
How to work itRankHigh method
- Find the topic sentence first. It introduces the subject and refers to nothing earlier, which is what makes it the only sentence that can open.
- Then follow the references backwards. A sentence carrying 'it', 'that difference', 'the second', 'those scenes', 'neither' or 'both' cannot stand before the sentence its reference points at.
- Treat 'At one extreme' and 'At the other', or 'The first' and 'The second', as a pair that fixes two positions at once.
- Read your arrangement through before you look for it among the four. A wrong order almost always leaves one reference with nothing to attach to, and that is quicker to feel than to argue.
Work the order out from the sentences before you read the four arrangements offered, then find yours. Starting from the options invites you to justify one.
Paragraph Organization — NY Probation
Tested as “Paragraph Organization” on NY Probation.
Putting a paragraph's sentences back into the order that reads as one connected piece of writing.
Where people lose it
Assembling the order from the first sentence forwards. Identifying the opening is the hardest step, and a wrong start makes every later choice look reasonable.
How to work itRankHigh method
- 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".
- Work from the reference words rather than from the meaning: a sentence pointing back at something cannot come before the thing it points at.
- Find the closing sentence, which sums up or states a result. Fixing both ends usually leaves one arrangement of the middle.
- Read your chosen order straight through. If a reference in it has nothing to attach to, the order is wrong however sensible it sounded.
Anchor the first and last sentences before touching the middle, then read the whole thing back.
Setting Priorities
Tested as “Setting Priorities” on POST Dispatcher Battery.
Applying a published priority code to sets of three events and ranking each set first, second and third.
Where people lose it
Ranking by how dramatic an event sounds. The code decides, and it is written to make the dramatic-sounding event the second priority often enough to punish that habit.
How to work itRankHigh method
- Read the code once, carefully, and note what separates each level — injury, threat to life, property, everything else.
- Classify all three events before ranking any of them. Ranking as you read produces an order you then have to undo.
- Where two events fall in the same class, the code will contain the tie-breaker. Find it rather than deciding by feel.
- Ask of each event what has already happened, not what might. An event that MIGHT become serious is usually classed by what it is now.
- Check your three answers add up to a first, a second and a third before moving on.
There is under a minute a set. Classify all three, then rank.
Carry this into the room
- Information Ordering: The rules decide the order. Your sense of how a job normally runs does not.
- Paragraph Organization — NY Local Police Captain, NY Local Police Sergeant: Work out the order from the sentences before you look at the four arrangements offered, then find yours among them.
- Apply Rules – Appropriate Placement: The right placement makes something read more naturally, not just avoids reading strangely.
- Apply Rules – Level of Priority: Classify everything first. Rank second. Do not rank as you read.
- Apply Rules – Logical Sequences: Find the sentence nothing else depends on first — that is your anchor, usually the opener.
- Information Ordering and Language Sequencing: Build the sequence once, then answer from it — do not re-read for each option.
- Paragraph Organization — CDCR Correctional Sergeant: Anchor the first sentence and the concluding one, then the middle usually has only one arrangement left.
- Paragraph Organization — NY Local Police Lieutenant: Work the order out from the sentences before you read the four arrangements offered, then find yours. Starting from the options invites you to justify one.
- Paragraph Organization — NY Probation: Anchor the first and last sentences before touching the middle, then read the whole thing back.
- Setting Priorities: There is under a minute a set. Classify all three, then rank.
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