What Section II Measures
Key Takeaways
- Section II is the CJBAT memorization section and contains 10 multiple-choice items.
- You study one or more images for 1 minute, then have 1.5 minutes per question after the image is hidden.
- The ability measured is short-term visual recall: noticing, organizing, and retrieving details that were actually present.
- Answers come only from the image; outside knowledge of law enforcement or corrections is neither required nor rewarded.
- Section II combines with Section III for the 'at least 30 correct in the last two sections' passing requirement.
What The Memorization Section Tests
Section II of the CJBAT (Criminal Justice Basic Abilities Test) is the memorization section, and it measures one specific cognitive ability: short-term visual recall. The official structure is fixed. You are shown one or more images and given 1 minute to study them. The image is then removed, and you have 1.5 minutes to answer each question about what you saw. The section contains 10 items, which makes its working time roughly 25 minutes of the exam.
This is not a knowledge test. The CJBAT as a whole is a basic-abilities entrance test required before you enter a Florida law-enforcement or corrections academy, and it is delivered by IOS (Industrial-Organizational Solutions). It deliberately avoids job-specific law content because candidates have not yet completed academy training. Section II therefore does not ask you to interpret a statute or apply a procedure. It asks a simpler but harder question: can you observe a scene quickly and report it accurately a minute or two later?
Where Section II Sits In The Exam
The full CJBAT has 97 multiple-choice questions and a total testing time of about 90 minutes (1.5 hours). Some items are unscored field-test questions that are mixed in and not identified, so you cannot tell which ones count. The exam is organized into separately timed sections:
| Section | Content | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Section I | Behavioral attributes / personal characteristics | Self-report style; no right/wrong recall |
| Section II | Memorization (visual recall) | 10 items; 1-min image review, 1.5 min/question |
| Section III | Written comprehension, written expression, deductive reasoning, inductive reasoning | The reasoning core |
The scoring rule explains why Section II matters. To pass, you generally must answer at least 70 questions correctly overall, and at least 30 of your correct answers must fall in the last two sections (II and III) combined. A weak memorization section drains the same pool that the reasoning section feeds, so the 10 picture items are not a throwaway.
What Good Recall Looks Like
The images you will see are everyday scenes: people in a setting, a few objects, vehicles, signs, doorways, counters, or a poster-style layout of a person with identifying details. The questions then ask you to retrieve a fact from that scene — how many people were present, what color was the vehicle, which direction was the person facing, what was on the table, what did the sign say. Because the questions are multiple choice, the wrong options are usually plausible: they describe details that could have been there but were not.
This is the heart of the section. The exam is not really testing whether you can stare at a picture. It is testing whether you can resist completing the scene from expectation when your memory is incomplete. A scene that looks like a traffic stop invites you to assume a citation; a scene that looks like a booking area invites you to assume a handcuffed inmate. The CJBAT rewards the candidate who answers "only what was visible."
Three Habits That Define A Strong Performer
- Scan, do not stare. One minute is enough to inventory a scene if you move deliberately and do not get stuck on one interesting object.
- Label plainly. "Person near door," "red car facing left," and "two signs on wall" are durable. "Suspect about to flee" is an invented conclusion.
- Separate certainty levels. Keep seen, unsure, and not seen as distinct buckets so you do not promote a guess to a fact under time pressure.
A clean practice routine matches the official rhythm without copying protected exam content: choose any neutral image, study it for exactly 1 minute, hide it, and answer self-written questions about visible details. Then look back and grade each answer as supported, contradicted, or invented. That feedback loop builds the discipline the section measures.
| Official mechanic | Study implication |
|---|---|
| 1-minute image review | Use a fixed scan path; cover the whole scene before any single detail. |
| 1.5 minutes per question | Move steadily; do not burn the period on one uncertain item. |
| Questions tied to the image | Answer from the picture, not from realistic-sounding assumptions. |
| No experience required | Outside criminal-justice knowledge is not an advantage here. |
The correct mindset for Section II is disciplined uncertainty: answer confidently when a detail was clearly seen, choose the best-supported option when memory is partial, and refuse a choice that depends on something you never observed.
How The Section Is Scored And Retaken
Understanding the stakes keeps the 10 items in proportion. The CJBAT is delivered by IOS and, depending on the test center, candidates can typically retake the exam up to three times per calendar year, paying the full exam fee (about $39) each attempt. The controlling result is an electronic record, and the exam reports pass/fail rather than a granular sub-score. Because you do not get an itemized breakdown of which Section II questions you missed, you cannot diagnose recall weaknesses after the fact — all diagnosis must happen during practice, before test day.
That is exactly why timed recall drills (covered later in this chapter) are the only reliable feedback loop for this section.
There is also a subtle interaction with the field-test items. Since unscored questions are mixed in and unmarked, you must treat every memorization item as if it counts. A candidate who decides a particular picture question "feels like a throwaway" and answers carelessly may have just thrown away a scored item. The safe rule is uniform effort: read every option, match it against your memory of the image, and pick the best-supported choice every single time.
How long do you have to review the image(s) before the Section II questions appear?
A memorization item shows a scene that looks like a traffic stop. One answer choice states the driver was issued a citation, but no citation was visible in the image. How should you treat that choice?
Why does the memorization section still matter even though it has only 10 items?