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Post by Reverend Geek on Jun 30, 2016 2:21:17 GMT -5
A word of thanks to the Board. Like several other members, I read elsewhere that the way to increase the odds of success on the writing sample was to compose the essay off the clock and then log back on to retype the answer. I was fully prepared to use this tactic until I read the discussions in this thread regarding the test's rules and expectations. These discussions saved me from the shock and consternation I surely would have felt upon encountering instructions that contradicted my test strategy.
And, while I did log off during the test, I did so because of a brief family emergency, not to work offline. Indeed, when I logged back on, my work was still there though no time had elapsed. Whew.
I started visiting the Board to gain an edge on the ALJ application process. What I have received is much more. Thank you.
Oh, and a pox on the place that advised me to log off draft my answer.
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misha
Full Member
Posts: 64
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Post by misha on Jun 30, 2016 6:41:43 GMT -5
What an novel post for a newbie. Will be interested to see what you have to say in the future. Welcome to the forum. Pixie Sobercharlie- What Pixie said. You and I are going to get along just fine. I deleted my Axis I-V diagnosis on Sealaw this morning because I thought that writing something like that close to midnight after drinking wine probably wasn't the best thing to do. Then I read your post. Yes, Judge Smith was rather glum, as were Attorneys Lee and Martin. Perhaps that was the most realistic part of the videos in question. Otherwise, I agree that they were totally flat and two dimensional.
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Post by oscardog on Jun 30, 2016 8:40:31 GMT -5
This morning I am having problems connecting to OPM via the link in my email. Is any one else so suffering?
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Post by Odor?noODAR on Jun 30, 2016 9:19:51 GMT -5
I read all the valid points about why it is the way it is, but I found myself asking "what would Amy Gray, how would Matlock handle this, or what did they do on Law & Order" ... yeah, so glad I went to law school
In other news, done. Consistent with others, I found section 1 plentiful in time and amusement, section 2 down to the last section (then freaked out when a word dialogue box came up after I hit submit but it was all good), section 3 wasn't quite what I expected and I probably would do things differently next time because I am not satisfied with how that went down.
See ya all at the next freak out, I mean stage of emails.
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Post by sophie22 on Jun 30, 2016 9:28:14 GMT -5
This morning I am having problems connecting to OPM via the link in my email. Is any one else so suffering? I had that problem the other day. After about 10 minutes of clicking and retrying, I finally got in. Hope you are in by now!!! Good luck!!!
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Post by firehouse9 on Jun 30, 2016 11:06:44 GMT -5
I finished the SJT. The answers to some questions I thought were obvious. Others were a bit more ambiguous as to what would be the "preferred" answer. I think I definitely missed one (or two if you could more and less). Anyone know how the SJT is typically scored? Do most people who go on to phase 3 have 30/30s?
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Post by sealaw90 on Jun 30, 2016 12:18:27 GMT -5
I finished the SJT. The answers to some questions I thought were obvious. Others were a bit more ambiguous as to what would be the "preferred" answer. I think I definitely missed one (or two if you could more and less). Anyone know how the SJT is typically scored? Do most people who go on to phase 3 have 30/30s? No one knows and OPM does not divulge on how the particular tests are exactly scored.
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Post by floridaladylaw on Jun 30, 2016 12:46:10 GMT -5
I finished the SJT. The answers to some questions I thought were obvious. Others were a bit more ambiguous as to what would be the "preferred" answer. I think I definitely missed one (or two if you could more and less). Anyone know how the SJT is typically scored? Do most people who go on to phase 3 have 30/30s? Wow 30/30 would be amazing. I thought the answer was not so clear on several, if not many, of the questions as to what the "preferred" answer was. Although I am sure there is, it seems like more than one choice, on many of the questions, would be an effective way to deal with the situation presented. If asked, I think I could articulate my choices but unfortunately that option is not available.
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Post by phoenixrisingALJ on Jun 30, 2016 12:55:34 GMT -5
Oh, and a pox on the place that advised me to log off draft my answer. Wait - are you referring to posts on here that mentioned this as a possible strategy (and rightly got hammered) or is there an outside advisor/company giving this advice? Cause if so - someone needs to tell them to stop. I am in the school of thought that perhaps a resume place type of organization can help you get your resume together - but to me anything more than that is wrong. Before anyone yells at me - no I did not do that - I just happen to think if you had - no big deal because people often do get help with a resume - it is still YOUR job history listed so I don't see why that matters that someone else helped you.
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Post by zebra51 on Jun 30, 2016 15:27:53 GMT -5
Posted a poll for June 2016 testers. Question - What is your GAL size.
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Post by foghorn on Jun 30, 2016 15:49:16 GMT -5
.....I just finished the SJT......does anyone know how it's scored (4 hrs ago)
No offense but your head needs to be on fishingthe mutha up--who knows how it's scored. Refocus, friend. Don't wait for Friday.
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Post by foghorn on Jun 30, 2016 16:32:03 GMT -5
Phoenixrisin' said: (regarding pause and exit, return):
" - someone needs to tell them to stop. I am in the school of thought that perhaps a resume place type of organization can help you get your resume together - but to me anything more than that is wrong."
I thought I had mentioned the source of the concept for me. It is:
ALJ Writing Guide: Application Writing and Test Preparation for Federal Administrative Law Judge Candidates , – April 1, 2016
by Nicole Schultheis & Kathryn Troutman
As I mentioned, Ms.Schultheis is an attorney of long experience and good reputation--so it may not be as black and white as you say. (having with others raised the issue, I did not take any break but ploughed on through)
I do think the above book is a decent guide to how to express in an OPM resume your experience in the OPM language and mode, especially for those that have not worked for Uncle in a while.
For the rest of the process I used plain English. Perhaps I should look for a course "OPM as a second language?"
Others had asked. Don't know if they came up with the concept of exiting to stop the clock on their own, from the instructions, or from some other source.
The instructions do suggest you can take a break. More than one even (I seem to recall something about "each time you leave")
It would not be unthinkable that a candidate would, during that break, consciously or unconsciously review the question in their mind, think of things they might put down etc. Even if they write none of their cogitations down, they then return to the stopped clock somewhat in a better position. So it is an issue that is capable of repetition yet evading review.
Suffice it to say it's out there, and those that feel hyper competitive with the rest of us (as one writer does) are likely to use every last edge. Not sure I'd want to work with them, but that's something I can't control.
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Post by floridaladylaw on Jun 30, 2016 16:41:15 GMT -5
ALJ Writing Guide: Application Writing and Test Preparation for Federal Administrative Law Judge Candidates , – April 1, 2016 by Nicole Schultheis & Kathryn Troutman So, Foghorn are you saying that she advised to do that; sign in, get the prompt, sign out, write it out, and then sign back in and copy what you wrote? That would be surprising. I saw her advertisement for the book and other product(s) but did not buy it.
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Post by floridaladylaw on Jun 30, 2016 16:42:17 GMT -5
Hey, I just got promoted to a "full member." Does that mean that I am out of dog house with Pixie?
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Post by foghorn on Jun 30, 2016 17:04:57 GMT -5
" I'm concerned. She needs some joy in her life. Work-life balance, people . . . can you work on her for me?"
She wasn't not looking forward to returning to the bench. (Had they ever, she wondered, been real wood? Oh well, if she cared enough she could see if there was some GSA warehouse where real benches from the 30's and 40's were stashed. Then she'd have to get a requisition and labor authorized......well, screw that she though). She was neutral. She liked her staff well enough. Her colleagues--well, they weren't exactly the Algonquain Round Table. Where were all the bright, insightful, supportive people that made up the ALJDiscussion ? Must have gotten their geographic preference in Hawaii or Denver. Sipping mai tais while Harvard trained attorney advisers pre-crafted their opinions for them. That was not her office. Instead she had to put up with the arrogance of the insufferable petitioner attorneys that seemed to think she wanted nothing better than to see them belittle the department's attorneys. She wondered sometimes if they were biding their time to apply for an ALJ position or did they shudder at the thought. At least most of them had windows. Where did claimant's counsel get his haircut? His mother? Hard to be detached and disinterested while he was being a snide little--couldn't go down that road. How do teachers do it when they get some right little s--t in their class and they have to be neutral to them for the whole year? Well if she didn't want to deal with hemorrhoids, being in the law wasn't the smart move. What'd that make her, legal proctologist? Reframe, she told herself, reframe. And get herself a new style while she was at it. Not the blocky 70's style that emotionally complemented her drab judge "uniform."
(to be continued) (unfortunately, she thought)
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Post by foghorn on Jun 30, 2016 17:25:32 GMT -5
Floridaladylaw asked:
"So, Foghorn are you saying that she advised to do that; sign in, get the prompt, sign out, write it out, and then sign back in?"
Yup, that's pretty much what they said (on page 35):
(speaking of the 2013 exam): "Applicants...were given 35 minutes to prepare a narrative response to the question. However, candidates could log out of the system to work on their answers and log back in to type it online. While logged out, the clock would stop,enabling applicants to prepare a response offline and then log back in to type their essay online. Pasting prewritten content was not possible, as the exact question(s) were a surprise."
shortly after that it says "Upon viewing the question, exit the system and prepare a response. Only after the response is completed, and spell checked, log back in and type the essay into the system."
good thing they mentioned "and completed" and the spell check! Otherwise people that use their advice might lose some of their 35 minutes spell checking and (gasp) writing part of their answers!
sic transit gloria justicia
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Post by foghorn on Jun 30, 2016 17:31:02 GMT -5
As a number of people are still likely to be doing the Experience Assessment let me repeat earlier advice. Frequently hit the save. It allows you to rework what is saved (after you've reworked, hit save again. Even if you are cutting and pasting, sometimes what you paste in just doesn't look right. Other than infintessimally small type, the system they have isn't bad.
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Post by weisstho on Jun 30, 2016 18:59:18 GMT -5
Now that the last cat has been killed and I actually got on-line on this, the penultimate day of on-line testing, I'm breathing a [small] sigh of relief. In case you haven't seen it, here is the auto-mail received from OPM after submission of the on-line:
Dear Administrative Law Judge Applicant,
You have completed the Situational Judgment Test, Writing Sample, and Experience Assessment of the Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) examination. No further action is required of you at this time.
As indicated in the current ALJ Job Opportunity Announcement, if the score for your performance on the Situational Judgment Test, Writing Sample, and Experience Assessment is within the range for the higher-scored sub-group of all the eligible applicants, you will be invited to participate in the Written Demonstration and the Logic-Based Measurement Test, which will be scheduled for the same day, and a Structured Interview, which will be scheduled for a separate day (usually the immediately following day). You will be notified via email regarding when and where to report for the Written Demonstration and Logic-Based Measurement Test and for the Structured Interview. Your official Notice of Results and a notice describing your appeal rights will be issued by the U.S. Office of Personnel Management after all stages of the examination have been completed by all applicants who were invited to the In-Person and Proctored assessments.
If the score for your performance in the Situational Judgment Test, Writing Sample, and Experience Assessment is not within the range for the higher-scored sub-group of all eligible applicants, you will be notified via email that you will no longer be considered for this announcement. You will not be invited to participate in the Written Demonstration and Logic-Based Measurement Test or the Structured Interview. Your official Notice of Results and a notice describing your appeal rights will be issued by the U.S. Office of Personnel Management after the preliminary qualification appeals have been adjudicated.
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neely
Full Member
Posts: 35
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Post by neely on Jun 30, 2016 19:29:45 GMT -5
So I just finished the writing sample. No way will they worry that I logged off, composed an outline/draft, then logged back in because.... I didn't finish. UGH!
I was REALLY happy with the overall structure, body and content. To close, I had a great "wrapping it up" conclusion paragraph, which I only got about half way through. Whoever reads it will certainly see where I was going with the closing paragraph, even from the first few sentences I did get out. I do not even consider writing to be one of my strengths, but I was really happy with what I had. I just did not finish.
I wonder if the OPM hatchet going to come down just because I didn't finish? I think anyone who objectively looks at it will see a very well-written, thoughtful statement from someone who can write well... just the person ran out of time.
Thoughts?
It would make my night if someone responded that in a prior application period he or she did not quite finish, but still made it through.
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Post by weisstho on Jun 30, 2016 19:37:34 GMT -5
In case there is anyone left not having written the sample. Best advice on this Board concerning the writing: BRING KITCHEN TIMER AND SET IT FOR 5-10 MINUTES BEFORE THE TIME ALLOTMENT WOULD EXPIRE.
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