Louisiana 8100 Professional Level Exam (PLE)  Preparation

The primary duty of civil service authorities is to ensure a functioning liaison between the public and the government. Whether they uphold this duty or not, depends on a variety of factors. One of these factors is how smooth government agencies and offices operate on a day-to-day basis.

In this regard, the efficiency of civil service heavily depends on the work ethic of each civil service professional. At the same time, a lot also depends on how well civil service supervisors and managers perform their duties. Due to these reasons, matters of personnel selection hold particular importance in civil service.

Many job seekers find careers in civil service attractive. Pursuing the career of a manager or a supervisor in civil service can be both materially and professionally rewarding. The benefits of civil service employment are generous and include:

• A competitive government salary.
• Government health insurance coverage.
• Paid vacations and holidays.
• Sick leave.
• A government pension plan.
• Diverse and transparent career growth and professional development opportunities.

Despite its allure, civil service employment is not for everyone. Relying on the merit system tenets, it strives to ensure only the most capable candidates are offered employment. Can you perform the duties of your chosen civil service profession diligently? This is exactly what civil service tests determine.

Why Civil Service Tests Are Often a Requirement

Over the years, testing has become a mainstay in the hiring process for many job positions in civil service. And for good reason. As a pre-employment screening procedure, civil service tests rely on the psychometrics of the merit system. As such, they are free from biases that may be present during a job interview, and they are able to assess candidates objectively.

What Is the Professional Level Exam (PLE) Exam?

The Louisiana Department of State Civil Service schedules and administers all civil service examinations across the state. In this official capacity, it also determines both the format and content of civil service tests statewide. As a result, you can expect the civil service exam parameters to remain uniform across all its assessment centers.

When you pursue civil service employment in Louisiana, especially for managerial and supervisory roles, a test is often mandatory. The civil service test you are likely to take in this case is the 8100 Professional Level Exam (PLE). Here are some tips on the kind of LA civil service jobs that may require this type of examination:

• Human Resources.
• Accounting and Auditing.
• Records Management.
• Administrative Supervisor.
• Management Analysis.
• Sales Supervisor.

What Is the format of the 8100-Professional Level Exam?

Like most other civil service examinations, the 8100 civil service test is a computerized, time-limited and multiple-choice assessment. It places your aptitude for a broad range of professional job positions under evaluation, especially those that require the performance of managerial and supervisory roles. In doing so, this civil service test requires close to no prerequisite knowledge from you.

The Louisiana Department of State Civil Service suggests the following scoring criteria for the PLE test. To make it to the state’s eligibility board you must achieve at least 70%. This will make you an eligible candidate for the civil service job positions that this test qualifies you for. To be more competitive, however, you will be wise to strive to achieve the maximum scores possible.

Most applicants underestimate the importance of civil service testing for their employment. Discarding it as a technicality, they believe being a graduate with a relevant degree is sufficient to succeed. Yet, higher scores on the PLE exam rank you higher on the board and give you higher employment priority. For those who take their employment seriously, learning more about the PLE test yields major benefits.

What Is the content of the 8100 PLE Test?

The 8100 professional level exam is uniform across the State of Louisiana. You will face the same sections of the test regardless of where in Louisiana you take it. Some of them include:

• English Language Proficiency – This part of the PLE exam evaluates your working knowledge of English. How well can you operate English grammar, vocabulary, punctuation, and spelling in written forms of communication? To assess this, this section of the test may invite you to correct grammatical errors in a text passage. Or, it may ask you to fill in the missing blanks with the most semantically appropriate words.
• Reading Competence – In this part of the PLE test, you will have to read carefully through a set of text passages. After acquainting yourself with the information, you will have to answer a set of questions. These questions will infer certain statements from the texts you just read. Using your logical reasoning skills, you will have to generate conclusions and select the most appropriate statements. As a result, you will showcase your ability to quickly and accurately proofread vital work documentation.
• Interpersonal Communication Skills – This section of the PLE exam will face you with hypothetical scenarios that simulate work-related situations. You will have to form your judgment of these situations and then select the answers that best describe what you would do in these circumstances. The answers you provide will demonstrate whether you can effectively resolve problem situations with people in a professional manner.
• Problem Solving – This section of the PLE test will have you analyze and manipulate various forms of data. First, you will have to examine chunks of data in various forms, such as charts or graphs. You will then have to take actions based on your analysis of the information. The range of possible actions may differ. For instance, you may have to share your interpretation of the information you have analyzed. Or, you may have to perform various arithmetic manipulations with it. Either way, your answers will help to assess how well you can use your logical reasoning and analytical thinking.

How to Pass the PLE Test?

Increasing your familiarity with the exam you are about to take is a sound exam preparation strategy. You can enact it by enlisting the help of the following study aids:

• The 8100 Professional Level Exam study guide with detailed explanations.
• Online practice with free example questions.
• Case studies with sample questions and answers.
• The 8100-Professional Level Exam practice test.

Applying these methods in combination will help you to increase your confidence with the exam and prepare effectively. As a result, no exam-associated anxiety will be able to stop you from reaching the test scores you want.