Was anyone ever able to get the breakdown on score

[nylawyer]

haven't posted here in a long time (after I got my results I knew, correctly, that I wouldn't be getting contacted for any interview), but I did e-mail several times trying to get the breakdown of my score to see if it is even worth trying to interview/test again in the future.

Also, any word on if they will be offering the test again, and can people like me take the test again? Will I be contacted, or do I have to chase them?

[pm]

OPM will be opening the exam again. We don't know exactly when but rumors are circling around sometime this fall.

Anyone can apply to take the test who has the basic qualifications.

I don't know if anyone will be contacted but I would be prepared to track down the information myself.

Most rumors place the value of the initial application anywhere from 50-70% of the score. If that is true, then a poor showing on either the WD or the SI probably did not give you an overall poor score. In that case, look to your overall level of relevant experience as set forth on the application.

[nylawyer]

pm, thanks for the reply. If the initial application was really worth that much, wish they would have told me that in the first place, I could have saved myself some money and time, I have less than 10 years experience. Good to know, won't bother re-taking the test then.

[govtattorney]

nylawyer - i have less than 10 years experience too, but i do have experience filling KSAs for gov't jobs. it's not the quantity, but quality that they are looking for in the app. run your app. by a current ALJ or someone you know in the Fed gov't. you get credit or higher score similar to a law school exam or bar exam - the more that's in there (and specific) the better.

[nothingventured]

Good advice to get help now and not while completing the appplication. I went back and looked at the inital application. There's a section called Certfication of Information Accuracy that includes this line: "I certify that I have worked independently and did not get any form of assistance while completing the Accomplishment Record."

[counsel]

The Oct. 30 email from OPM regarding understanding your final numerical rating says, regarding the three competencies (AR,WD, SI): "The competencies were made equal in importance, so that each competency carried equal weight."

[jagghagg]

Or, instead of a "per capita" ranking (AR=6, SI=1, WD=1 for a total of 8) it could have been a "per stirpes" kind of division with the application being 1/3 of the total and each of the six areas of competency making up 1/6th of the 1/3 ....and the SI and WD being 1/3rd in their own right.

For what it is worth - and after this blast from the past of law school Trusts and Estates, it is probably not worth much - the simple language seems, to me at least, to indicate 3 areas of competency: AR, WD and SI. I suspect that the WD and SI had, just like the AR, separate internal categories for rating as well (WD - spelling, composition, clarity, language use, etc.; SI: poise, confidence, comprehension, etc.) so having each being weighed in at 1/3rd seems the most plausible to me.

[oldjag]

The "competencies" are the seven areas that they looked at, "writing" "decision making" "playing well with others ", and etc. The AR WD and SI are designed to evaluate those competencies--so you are no closer to a breakdown of scores than before--sorry

[nylawyer]

so, basically, I am no closer to knowing what I should be doing now than when I started... I understand to some degree that the government never does things the easiest way, but shouldn't someone at OPM realize that letting us know exactly which way we came up lacking may save them from some grading in the future- if my score is low because my interview was terrible or I mucked up the written portion, well, that's worth trying again- if it's because I lack experience and my application came up short, really, there is only so much that I can do, it is what it is.

[morgullord]

The score breakdown and analysis is similar to the explanation of the Infinite Improbability Drive contained in "The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy".

[globalpanda]

Mar 27, 2008 12:10:00 GMT -5 morgullord said:

The score breakdown and analysis is similar to the explanation of the Infinite Improbability Drive contained in "The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy".

Dude- that was like, the best, 5 book trilogy ever written. But I think a better analogy would be like when Arthur Dent learned to fly- IE, throw yourself at the floor, and miss!

/s/ Dirk Gentry, Holistic Dectective.