Moss Poss Study Guide
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And Check Out the Non-Reddit Sites of Note. Poss: Be careful with this. It's a speed/accuracy test. The practice tests give you way more time than the actual test does. You get like 50+ questions with Very little time.
I spent more time filling out bubbles on the scram tron for some sections. They measure speed and accuracy for this. So you need to answer a minimum number of questions but not all of them. But they care about how accurate you can be. I don't think there are any practice bmst tests. It's an old test.
Get ready to multiply and divide decimal points to 2-3 places. It was a lot of basic algebra. Also some basic science and physics questions. There was one question on a vacuum tube (it's an old test) and I know I missed that lol. It's like basic high school math and science, as of 30 years ago.
Poss Study Guide
It's nowhere near as fast as the poss, it's more concerned with do you have a basic high school level education and not with how fast and accurate you can be. Hello again fellow job seeker. I took both for Exelon back in January. And because I passed both, I did not have to retake them with you. I got a call from Exelon last week to test for the BMST/POSS, but because they had my previous results, the HR rep just mentioned I'll get a call for an interview after testing. My guess is you are taking the test for the same position I applied for lol. If you are interviewing with Exelon immediately after the test, I urge you to prepare for the interview more than the exam.
As for as study tips. The POSS is speed/accuracy as mentioned in other posts. Answer as many questions correctly as possible in the time frame. Do NOT guess. The test penalizes you for guessing if its wrong. A wrong answer is worse than a blank answer. There will be a time crunch.
So don't spend too much time on a question if you can't get it. Expect the questions to be much harder than the practice ones on the EEI website. The mechanical concepts will be harder, I guarantee it. (That simple pulley system on the practice test will have 3 or 4 pulleys on the actual administered test) The reading section was kind of similar to the SATs, but much simpler.
If you're not good at reading (I never was), do not fear, the passages will be technical in nature. For example, one passage I had was on heat transfer concepts. The tabular section is impossible to do in my opinion, 4 or 5 minutes to do 60 questions. Again, get as many as you can correct, and do NOT guess.
Overall, the POSS exam is well documented on here and the nukeworker forum. Exelon will then give a 30 minute 'lunch' break while they grade your exams. POSS grading takes 10 minutes.
They just run it through a machine and have a pass or fail system. Afterwards, either you pass and get the BMST, or fail and you get to go home. The BMST is less documented, simply because Exelon is the only utility who requires it for Operators. You will have close to 5 hours to answer 90 questions. Here, take as long as you need to, I took a little over 4 hours.
Take your time. Most questions will be geometry and math. Random science is added, which is a minor portion.
For some questions I had no idea what to answer as it was aimed at Navy nukes (something to do with knots and speed). I say it again, take your time. You will have to divide up to 3 or 4 decimal places. I didn't practice this at all, and just used engineering tactics to answer (I'll explain that down later). Sometimes you can remove the decimal, divide normally, and guess what the answer is; because unlike college the test doesn't try to trick you. My best advice on the BMST, take your time. If you don't remember an algebra/geometry concept, skip it and maybe you'll refresh yourself later.
The exam is high school math, and with so much time you shouldn't have any issues. The method I used was the following: for instance they asked to divide 124.12 by 12.
(This is made up just for simplicity) I took 124.12, and made it equal to 124 + 0.12 I divide 12 from each, and you get: 12 + 0.01 The answer is 12.01. This is way more simple than what you will get, but expect to divide into the third or fourth decimal with an exact answer having more than 6 decimal places. You will only have to provide an answer up to 3 or 4 decimals. Both exams are multiple choice. Thanks for the detailed response, I really appreciate all the info. I imagine that they wouldn't just spring an interview on me immediately after 5 hours of testing, but I should probably confirm that. Reading through your response sprung a few more questions, if you wouldn't mind answering.
1) Are both exams graded on the standard Pass/Fail system to your knowledge? In other words, if you score 70% on both exams are you guaranteed a passing grade? 2) If you pass both exams, are you guaranteed an in-person interview?
This is how the recruiter made it sound, but our conversation was very brief. My gut feeling would be no, and that it all depends on the scores of other candidates and how well you perform in comparison to the field; i.e. If 10/20 candidates pass, I assume they might only interview the top 5. No, they wouldn't interview you without prior notification. When I interviewed back in Illinois, there was a testing session Tuesday and an interview session Wednesday. The interview session was only offered to people that flew in from afar.
Applicants near the plant/testing area came for just the exam on Tuesday. Those applicants who did not have an interview the day after the exam were called for an interview the following week, of course pending they passed both the POSS/BMST. It seems that the way Exelon is doing their selection process for this EO class is to offer the exam, and do interviews after. Both exams are pass or fail; the way the grading system works is either you receive a 'Recommended' or 'Not Recommended'. You can only take the POSS twice in a 12 month period, just as a warning.
From Nukeworker forums, 'A job candidate's answers to the POSS tests are scored and converted to an Aptitude Index ranging in value from zero to 15'. This number from the exam has a cutoff, if you meet the cutoff you go on to take the BMST, otherwise they'll thank you and wish you good luck. There is no specific index value that gets you in; every utility has different requirements. Utility A might want their candidates to have a 9 rating, whereas Utility B may want candidates with a 12 rating.
Hence, being 'Recommended' by Utility A does not translate to a 'Recommended' with Utility B. You will never know your actual index or a utility's cutoff as far as I can tell. HR does this internally when they administer the exam or request the exam from another utility.
As you can see, there is no set cutoff like in college where a 70% is a 'C'; you really have to do your best and hope to get 'Recommended'. While I can imagine you're very stressful over the exams (I remember I was), the best advice is answer as many questions correctly as possible in each section. Do NOT overthink any questions either, operations isn't engineering. Source: As for the BMST, that is not graded internally, and Exelon actually mails it to a grading center. I remember during my testing session that the HR reps actually had a FedEx 2-day Express envelope ready to place the exams in. From what I remember, the BMST graders actually looks at your work within the test booklet, and sees your reasoning for an answer even if its wrong.
On the contrary, HR reps will request you leave the POSS booklets clean of any writing as they are reused. Both exams will be multiple choice, and a scantron will be used. Passing both the POSS/BMST does NOT guarantee an interview. I received a call from Exelon in mid-June for an Ops position in one of their upstate New York plants; HR mentioned they will contact their Illinois offices and request POSS/BMST results.
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I never received a call again, and two weeks later got a generic email stating I didn't get the job. Then when Exelon called me for this position, the HR rep mentioned that he'll contact the Illinois office and call me tomorrow with the results. An hour later, he called me again mentioning I passed both, and I would get a call for an interview after the exam.
Again, nothing is guaranteed. Equipment Operator positions are class based, as mentioned in our previous conversations. Depending on plant size, number of current EOs who are leaving for SRO/RO/other utilities and number of EOs remaining as EOs, they will either hire a class of 8 or 16 or even 20. For a 2 unit reactor, they may hire 16 people, but for a 1 unit reactor, expect around 8.
Because there is one testing session for this plant, I expect there to be about 30-40 candidates for a class of about 10. Of those 30-40, some have passed both the POSS/BMST, some only the POSS (either failed the BMST or tested with another utility), and some have never taken either. Of those who didn't take either, I expect a third will fail the POSS during the session (the third is from personal experience and is a number I've seen thrown around NukeWorker forums). From experience, utilities have around 3 people fighting for each position within the class. What it really comes down to is how many people have tested and are on standby for an interview (like me), and how many people pass the exams (like you hopefully). Passed the POSS test about 3 years ago, make sure you know how to take it more than anything.
Each section has way more questions than you can answer in the given time so if you don't know how to solve it right after reading the question, skip it and move on. You have to answer a certain number of questions per section and get a certain percentage of those answered correct, you may answer all the questions in one section. You definitely won't finish the math section so don't worry about that.
Practice tests should help you develop a strategy, also check out the. There's plenty of info under the operations and getting in sub-forums.
Study Guide Answers
Plant Operator Selection System Practice Test The POSS practice test will assist you in passing the Plant Operator Selection System Exam, or POSS, which is a test that assesses the test-taker’s knowledge and abilities to perform adequately in the plant operator profession. The Plant Operator Selection System Exam can range from 202 to 230 multiple-choice questions that cover five topics. These topics are as follows: Reading Comprehension; Mechanical Concepts; Mathematical Usage; Spatial Ability and Assembly; as well as Tables and Graphs.
The free POSS practice test will address the same content. The POSS should take around two hours to complete.