Customer Reviews

Court Assistant (Career Examination Series) (Passbooks)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Exellent Book. Covers everything that will be on the test with practice tests, so you get the idea what to expect on the exam

I'm having trouble deciding where to begin because of all of the awful things I have to say about this piece of garbage.

Oddly enough, I'm going to start off with something positive that I was able to take from the book: A lesson in self sufficiency. Before anything, you'll need to go through the book and number the pages and create a table of contents for yourself, because the National Learning Corporation didn't bother to do that for you.

The book comes with a cheap spiral spine which looks like something you would have used to hand in a book report in 7th grade. If you go through the pages, you'll notice that many of them are different colors ranging for white to offwhite. However, these issues are not nearly the biggest problems with this borderline scam.

There are no answer explanations. On some types of questions this does not matter, but on many others, the whole purpose of having a study guide is defeated. For example, they'll give you a sentence and you have to state if there is either 1,2,3 or zero errors; you might think that there are two errors but if the correct answer is 3 errors the only thing you can do is go back to the question and double check. If you still think that there are only two errors, you can do a nice shoulder shrug and move on to the next question.

I've typed 3 paragraphs and I haven't even gotten to the good stuff yet. ERRORS IN THE BOOK. My goodness the errors in the book! This book not only contains many small typos, but also contains at least 15 answer key mistakes. The answer key mistakes pop up once in a while throughout the book, but when you get to the end they really throw in the towel in regards to checking/editing. The last few tests in the book consist of name and number checking and it got to the point that I didn't even bother looking to see what the supposed answers were. See Name and Number checking the first test #2 question 4; name and number checking first test #5 questions #'s 9 and 10; final test in the book question # 11. These are just 4 of the mistakes, there are over 15 answer key mistakes I promise you.

Just to list some other examples illustrating how poorly written and prepared this waste of plant life is: Many of the reading comprehension questions are poorly written. You are told that you need to learn legal terms for this test, but there is no glossary of legal terms in this study guide.

We're not done yet folks, there's more! There are at least a dozen cases where the same question pops up twice! Is that what I'm paying for??!!

I'd like to finish off with a bang. A good 20% of the book's content isn't even on the test and a good 20% of the test's content isn't even in the book. There is also 1 or 2 topics in the study guide that are on the test that are far more difficult than what the study guide prepares you for. I always thought the study guide was supposed to be more difficult in order to prepare you for the test. I guess I was wrong.

I don't know how a company like this gets to be the one to create a study guide for a government test, but I can say that it smells real bad, if you know what I mean.

Oh, and by the way, the Product Details say that this book is 274 pages, it is actually 226 pages. I guess when you don't number the pages you can try to get away with something like that.

I went to a class over the weekend to prepare 300 of us to take the Court Assistant examination. What the lecturers said (they were already working for the State of New York Unified Court System) He said the book did not focus on the prescribed subject material on the actual test. that the math questions had nothing to do with the job of Court Assistant and that I wasted my money on the book. I don't know if there is a such thing as studying too much. This class was given by: CONCEPT REVIEW, INC. copyright 2010 A. Tropea. this work book in loose page form was given to us with perforated holes to go into a black loose leaf binder. Now there are subtle differences between the book written by NATIONAL LEARNING CORPORATION - THE MERITS: this book makes you think. I had to ask myself questions regarding legal terminology I should have already been aware of; e.g., abbreviations derived from latin used in law texts. I realized that I needed to sharpen up my skills. This book made me do research which sometimes happen when your a Court Assistant the realization that using "Wikipedia" and consulting books on writing style i.e., "The Chicago Manual of Style" to learn the proper use of punctuation and what some of the legal shorthand terms meant was very important for me to know prior to taking the actual test. I find this book to still be a tool that you - the reader must understand how it works that it makes you think and then you in turn must employ the resources you can muster to get the answers you require to take the test. So having this book I use it as an open book test. When I have time at work I open it up and when I can't understand a phrase or abbreviation or type of filing system terminology such as an "Out guide" which employs a file with lines for those borrowing the contents are recorded as the last known person using the file - these are things i had not known previously. Therefore that means this book has it's place in being relevant. I would recommend to anyone to study this book and take as many class preparations as needed to pass this and any test.

I wish the books would write explanations to the answers like in the Regents answer key book.

This study guide gives lots of practice questions - I recommend it to anyone preparing for the exam.

Test prep was not helpful for the test overall. I would just practice test taking skills.

This book covers maybe 60 percent of what is on the actual test. The first 2/3 of this book offer no explantion whatsoever for the answers for the practice exams (it does provide decent explanations of the reading comprehension section, but by then your so flustered with the utter lack of information it's too little, too late) You can learn pretty much everything you need by downloading a list of legal terms from anywhere on the web, and grab any english book to get a foothold on grammar. Better yet, do what I did spend half the money on a Kaplan civil service book, where it actually gives you strategies for taking the test, in other words that book actually helps and doesn't look like it was slapped together by two guys making these lousy books in their basement.

If you want to throw away 30 dollars on something that cost 30 cents to make, that's your perrogative. There are far cheaper and more effective ways to prepare yourself for the court assistant test.

Fast shipment! ordered it on a Monday and received it that Wednesday with standard UPS shipping. I took this test 5 years ago and passed but unfortunately not with a high enough score to be considered. Going through the book did refresh my memory on sections I encountered during the first test. This book really does make you think. The vocabulary and reading comprehension sections are a huge help to me. Going through it made me realize where I most likely earned my lowest scores. Big plus for identifying your weak areas. I do agree with the other reviewer that said they wished the book provided explanations of the answers. I did have to go online and do some further research but that was OK. I am a person that does not take many written examinations and fears being overwhelmed when presented with one. There are thousands of people taking this exam and I at least wanted a fighting chance, that's why I ordered the book and I'm glad I did.

Excellent book with sample tests to review-invaluable aid as some questions are quite tricky, even the kind I thought I was an expert on and had missed on a former test.