Newport Navalog

OFFICER SELECTION TESTS FOR ENTRY INTO REGULAR NAVY NOW AVAILABLE

The first sample Officer Selection Tests, forwarded to this station by BuPers, indicate officer candidates applying for commissions in the regular Navy who have not had 2 years of college will be quizzed more on their general, factual knowledge than on detailed academic learning.

Although the tests will furnish selection board with a fair index of the candidate's accumulated academic knowledge," explained Commander H. E. Duryea, Director Officer Personnel. "they are obviously designed to determine the applicant's process of logical thinking and observation.

Emphasizing that the questions were not of the "quiz program type" species, which call for abstract, obscure and generally valueless bits of information within narrow limits, the Commander stressed the correlation between the answers and knowledge gained in everyday life.

Any officer who has kept abreast of current events through the medium of magazines and newspapers, he pointed out, should experience little difficulty with the history portion of the test. Likewise, he added, service experience with attendant navigation, gunnery and communications duties is adequate background for the mathematics and science interrogations, and everyday observations of conversation and literature should insure detection of very obvious errors in the English examination.

The tests are based on correct answers as given to multiple choice questions.

The general, informative nature of the tests should lend encouragement to officer candidates who lack the required college training, according to Commander Duryea.

"The fact that a man has already been selected and has served in a commissioned status," he said, "should insure the necessary background for coping with the examination."

Several copies of practice selection tests are available in the Executive Officer's office for study by interested officers.