10.1 Section II Explained: 120 Agreement-Scale Statements, Scoring & Honest Responding

What Section II Is

The NCJOSI² has two parts. Section I tests ten cognitive abilities with 80 multiple-choice questions. Section II is what IOS calls the Non-Cognitive (Integrity) Measure: 120 statements about your attitudes, behavior and preferences. The IOS study guide explains that during the job analysis behind the exam, "various attitudes and behavioral characteristics were determined to be essential for the successful performance of a criminal justice officer," and that these are clustered together to form the second section.

IOS lists four measurement domains for Section II:

IOS publishes only these names, not definitions, item counts or weights. The later sections explain what each label most plausibly covers and why it matters in police work.

The original NCJOSI uses the same format with 42 statements.

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The Response Scale

You answer each statement by marking a number on IOS's five-point agreement scale. Note the direction: 1 is the strongest agreement.

IOS's instruction is to mark the number that best reflects your attitudes, actions, preferences and opinions. Because 1 means agree, candidates who are used to scales where 5 is highest can easily reverse their intended answers. Glance at the scale key every so often to make sure your marks mean what you intend.

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How Section II Is Scored

The IOS study guide is explicit on three points:

1. There are no correct or incorrect answers. The statements "are not scored in terms of correct or incorrect answers," unlike the cognitive questions.
2. Your profile is compared with successful officers. The goal is "to compare your attitudes and behavioral characteristics to those of successful criminal justice officers. The closer your responses match those of successful officers, the more likely it is that you will be successful on the job."
3. Gaming lowers your score. The section "has been developed so that responding in a manner to 'look good' or to 'game' the test will result in lower scores."

IOS does not publish the scoring key, and you cannot know which pattern matches successful officers on any particular statement. How an agency then uses the Section II result (as a pass/fail screen, part of a composite, or something else) is the agency's decision.

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IOS's Advice on Answering

IOS gives clear guidance, and it is the best strategy available:

• Respond honestly to each statement. Your answer should indicate how you actually feel about it.
• Put down the first response that feels right. IOS calls this a good guideline.
• Do not overanalyze or look for hidden meaning. IOS warns that doing so "can often cause you to misunderstand the statement and respond in a manner that does not reflect your true behavioral attributes."
• Use the full five-point scale. IOS says honest responses and use of the full scale are the best strategy.

IOS's Sample Statements

The IOS study guide prints five sample statements for candidates to rate:

1. "I am sometimes nervous around friends whom I have not seen for a long time."
2. "I enjoy trying to make others feel comfortable in new situations."
3. "When I am uncertain of how to do a task, I will usually ask for clarity."
4. "I am more assertive than most of my friends."
5. "Most people feel stressed when they get home from work or school."

Notice that none has an obvious "police" answer. Several describe ordinary human experiences, and the honest answer will differ from person to person. That is by design.

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Why Trying to Look Perfect Backfires

Many candidates are tempted to answer as an imaginary ideal officer instead of as themselves: strongly agreeing with every positive statement and strongly disagreeing with every negative one. This fails for three reasons:

1. IOS says so directly. Responses aimed at looking good result in lower scores.
2. You do not know the key. Successful officers do not all answer at the extremes. Statement 1 above, for example, describes a common feeling; there is no reason to assume the "ideal" answer is Strongly Disagree.
3. Honesty is checked again later. Agencies verify your history in the background investigation and often in polygraph and psychological screening (Section 1.3). A consistent, truthful picture across every stage is the safest position.

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Practical Habits for 120 Statements

Common Mistakes

• Reversing the scale: marking 5 when you meant Strongly Agree.
• Extreme responding: using only 1 and 5 to appear decisive.
• Fence-sitting: marking 3 on everything to avoid revealing anything.
• Hunting for the trick: rereading a statement for hidden meaning, which IOS specifically warns against.
• Answering for the job instead of yourself: describing who you think the agency wants rather than who you are.