Complaints against officers

[non pc pc 0]

ok now everyone should have the results....can i ask what study aids people would reccomend?. im thinking of starting early (like now) and doing little but often type study for next year.

 

so what books/discs etc did people use and find helpfull?

 

cheers

[Bronty 0]

I started in October using Blackstones (one complete read through), the Tom Barron Crammer (with notes from my reading of Blackstones) and the Police Pass discs.

The discs were excellent, and I had them in the car, on my ipod - I listened to them over and over.

For MCQ's I used Blackstones Online. ICAL is too repetitive with too many errors.

The system I used worked, and whilst I accept that early study works for some, I think beginning 11 months before the exam is too early. Police Pass comes with a 14 week timetable which I extended to about 18 weeks, and it was more than long enough to cover the topics which come up regularly - it also targets areas based on the previous frequency of questions.

[non pc pc 0]

cheers bronty,

i have got hold of tom barron crammer disc things and thought i would try listening to them. appreciate im starting way too early, but to be honest ive just moved from 4 years non operational back to front line policing so need all the help i can get ( im also thinking it cant hurt to brush up on my law anyway)

will look at blackstones MCQ online nearer the time. although got to say i fine blackstones manuals so very very hard to read

[fernandonick 0]

I agree with bronty. I used the Police pass book rather than the blackstones though as it was the smae subject matter but simplified but I also used the timetable and extended it slightly. I started studying in October and read and made notes from the Police pass book and then signed up to the blackstones online questions and answers which was very good and the closest mock exams to the actually exam you will actually get.

[Bronty 0]

cheers bronty' date='

i have got hold of tom barron crammer disc things and thought i would try listening to them. appreciate im starting way too early, but to be honest ive just moved from 4 years non operational back to front line policing so need all the help i can get ( im also thinking it cant hurt to brush up on my law anyway)

will look at blackstones MCQ online nearer the time. although got to say i fine blackstones manuals so very very hard to read

[/quote']

 

I have been away from divisional/area policing for 8 years, so I can see where you're coming from! Where area bobbies are fairly clued up on a lot of stuff I had to start again.

 

I agree with you on Blackstones - tough to read but the key points (in grey) are the bits I really concentrated on. Lots of case law which you can apply to a variety of scenarios, which I found really useful in the exam.

 

Once I'd done Blackstones I relied solely on the CD's and the crammer - the meat was already on the bones, it was just a case of going over and over stuff until it made my ears bleed.

 

I have to say I think it's the sort of exam where, if you do the work then, despite the level of difficulty, it is do-able.

 

There are times when you will be sick and tired of studying, but what drove me on was the thought that I did not want to have to go through it all again! 

[scottiedog 0]

I used advanced training Q's over and over again since November.

Also, done the checkmate 3 days crammer who provided a list of 'hot topics' used in previous exams.  This list was really useful when focusing on area's of Blackstones to concentrate on towards the exam date.

 

[UChris 0]

This was my second attempt at the exam, and so as before I went out and bought the set of Blackstones in September and started to read through. I then bought the Police Pass crammer and took to this better than the blackstones. I went on a 3 day police pass course in January, whilst by now started to use the Blackstones Online Q & A's, though admittedly only highlighted the question areas that were in the police pass list of study area's.

The 3 day course was great and I would recommend it to anyone. There is also no substitute for learning some of the items 'parrot fashion', such as firearms and Sexual Offences.

I have to say that on exam day I saw the questions and felt that police pass sylabus was a little off the mark, but I did pass. It just appeared that this year NPIA decided to change their tact when it came to the questions.

UChris2009-04-30 07:33:56

[JonB 0]

I would strongly recommend the following materials (worked for me!):

- Blackstones Manuals - yes they are incredibly boring to read, but do contain some siginficant little details that the question writers seem to pick up on.

- Tom Barrons 'Made simple' books - excellent for getting the basics right and for laying things out much more clearly than Blackstones Manuals, however not enough detail to be the only resource you use. They are also nice and small, so you can take them to work and read while on scene preservation or constant watch etc.

- Blackstones Online Q&A - recommended for the last 2 to 3 months revision as only 2000 questions, but by far the most similar questions to the actual exam. If you use this for any longer, most questions start to repeat over and over. Also, at only £45 for 3 months, one of the cheaper resources and it can be accessed anywhere.

- Checkmate Crammer Course - very much worthwhile and easily worth the money. Consolidates and explains much of the important topics from the manuals. However it isn't a one-stop solution, still requires lots of work at home before and after the course.

 

 

Hope this helps,

 

Jon

JonB2009-04-30 11:22:18