I recently took the Staff Services Analyst Transfer Exam for the state of California.This isn’t the regular online version of the test but a 75 question,three hour version. The reason I was subjected to this torture has something to do with there being surplus state employees, a State Restriction of Appointments list and some other human resources mumbo jumbo.

I passed, but I must admit this test was not easy. There were three other test takers besides myself and we all used just about all of the three hours allotted to us. Approximately 65 percent of the test is math based, including a bit of geometry, algebra and a lot of statistics. Specifically, the exam has three sections with 25 questions each, all multiple choice….but don’t let that fool you.

I wasn’t sure what to expect going in but I was provided with a hyperlink to the official study guide put out by the State Personnel Board. This study guide includes nine questions and is a complete joke when measured against the real test. If you’re forced into taking this test, do not use the study guide to determine whether you’re ready or not. If the study guide was the only thing I looked over I would have failed.

Luckily, my new boss connected me with two people who had recently taken the test and they filled me in on what’s really going on. Here’s what they told me and what I discovered to be true:

• The test will take 3 hours.
• Know how to do pretty much everything that involves a percentage, i.e. find a percentage, turn a percentage into a fraction, turn a fraction into a percentage and so on.
• Restudy mean, median, mode and variance.
• Restudy basic geometry, especially how to find area and perimeter.
• Brush up on basic algebra.

I was actually told I needed to take the test two days before it was being offered. Having been out of basic math classes for a long time and accustomed to using a computer program to do most math, I knew I would need to study. I hit the books for a good two evenings, using the Web site www.mathisfun.com and downloading a few percentage worksheets from the site http://www.mathgoodies.com . I ran over these several times each and was pretty confident going in.

The last part of the test is composed of project planning questions. Each set of questions will begin with a hypothetical situation, for example: “Your manager has asked you to head a project involving three other employees.” Then the question might be something like: “What’s the first thing you do?”

I already have a kind of project planning background so I didn’t study for these. The only thing I can suggest is that when planning a project don’t be afraid to ask your manager questions, don’t restart the whole process if something goes wrong and always make sure to meet yourdeadlines.

Good luck!