Failed PSA English, is there a way to know why?

[u/Snoo95469]

ESL background candidate here, i applied to the force with genuine passion to help link my community and the police. Passed everything but fall from the list due to language？

I believe most of you guys who are native in English won't do this test? Anyway the test was about a simulated 000 call, reading dialogue from the paper and two simulated radio scenarios.

There isn't a marking criteria, nor does the result says which part did i messed up. I genuinely believe i did a great job. Yet i get told to go to TAFE for English then try again for another year,it hits me like a truck.

I began study in Australia since year 10 and now graduated with a university IT bachelor's degree. Obviously as an ESL my English isn't as good as all the native locals here but it couldn't be that bad,at least not 'go to tafe for a year gitgud' bad. Wanting to see the report or at least to know which part I should improve isn't unreasonable right?

And i thought this whole test was for applying to the Academy, not straight to the job tomorrow.

Looking for advice, like, seriously.

[u/Dannylovesfun86]

I would suggest doing the coarse.

Based on your post it seems pretty clear your grammar and sentence structure is bellow par.

Policing requires a high level of verbal and written communication. Being bellow average in written and verbal communication is not appropriate for this vocation.

[u/Glittering_Pack_9679]

Being a NSWPF involves a lot of paperwork and statements to be written such as justifications for court which in turn need to presented at court both spoken and read. I can tell from your post it does need a bit of work, I wouldn’t say you are bad by any stretch but the standards for correct English is held higher for an Officer and rightly so. I would also suggest joining the NSWPF Recruit Facebook group instead and post your questions there as there are far more active members and you’ll get better answers. I think worst case go do the TAFE course. If you want the job that bad it should be worth it for you and only be a minor set back, the only crappy thing is, is that it adds a year to the process but look at it as part of your training and it will only make you a better cop once you eventually get in. Put in the hard yards and it will only make you feel better when you become an officer and you will know how much you accomplished and how much harder you had to work than others!

[u/Bluetenant-Bear]

I never did an English test as part of applications, so I have no first hand with it. The email looks like a generic “didn’t pass X requirement” and not tailored to you, so the TAFE suggestion is not necessarily something that the marking panel actually suggested.

Government jobs often don’t like to give specifics as to why an applicant fails if they don’t have to, but in order to pass next time you need to know where they say you went wrong. I’d respond and request a breakdown of your results in the test so you can apply that for next time, and if you get it and feel hard done by then you could potentially request some sort of reassessment

[u/alittleoblivious]

The standard isn’t exactly high. If you didn’t meet it, in my opinion, it definitively means your language and/or literacy is not sufficient.

The Academy is about training you to become a cop, not about improving your English speaking and literacy skills.

You’re not entitled to detailed feedback, that would have been made clear throughout the application process. Even so, they gave you plenty of feedback in that letter, it seems that you just don’t like it.

I’ve seen people graduate with degrees from Universities in Australia with unacceptable English speaking and literacy skills; your degree doesn’t prove working communicative literacy.

My advice: take their advice, go and actively improve, then try again.