Ohio Civil Service Exam Problem Solving and Logic 5 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A department tracks errors: 4 on Monday, 7 on Tuesday, 6 on Wednesday, 3 on Thursday, 5 on Friday. What is the median number of errors?
- 4
- 5 (Correct answer)
- 6
- 7
Correct answer: 5
Ordered: 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 — the middle value is 5.
Question 2: All city vehicles must be inspected annually. Vehicle #47 has not been inspected this year. What can be concluded?
- Vehicle #47 is out of service.
- Vehicle #47 is in violation of policy. (Correct answer)
- Vehicle #47 is a new acquisition.
- Vehicle #47 does not require inspection.
Correct answer: Vehicle #47 is in violation of policy.
The rule requires annual inspection; not having one this year means Vehicle #47 violates that policy.
Question 3: A city hall prints 3,000 flyers for a public meeting. If 15% are kept in reserve, how many are distributed?
- 2,400
- 2,500
- 2,550 (Correct answer)
- 2,700
Correct answer: 2,550
15% of 3,000 = 450 reserved; 3,000 − 450 = 2,550 distributed.
Question 4: Look at the pattern: A1, B3, C5, D7, ___. What comes next?
- E8
- E9 (Correct answer)
- F9
- E10
Correct answer: E9
Letters advance alphabetically and numbers increase by 2: E follows D, and 7 + 2 = 9.
Question 5: If completing a form correctly requires steps P, Q, and R in that order, and an employee does Q before P, what is the result?
- The form is still valid.
- The form is completed faster.
- The form is completed incorrectly. (Correct answer)
- The sequence does not matter.
Correct answer: The form is completed incorrectly.
The required order is P, Q, R; deviating from it means the form is not completed correctly.
Question 6: Two clerks together process 90 files per hour. One clerk processes twice as many as the other. How many files per hour does the slower clerk process?
- 25
- 30 (Correct answer)
- 35
- 45
Correct answer: 30
Let slower = x; faster = 2x; x + 2x = 90; 3x = 90; x = 30.
Question 7: A supervisor concludes: 'Since complaints went down after the new policy, the policy caused the decrease.' What logical flaw is present?
- Circular reasoning
- False dilemma
- Correlation mistaken for causation (Correct answer)
- Hasty generalization
Correct answer: Correlation mistaken for causation
Assuming that sequence implies cause-and-effect is the classic correlation-causation error.
Ohio Civil Service Exam Problem Solving and Logic 5
A department tracks errors: 4 on Monday, 7 on Tuesday, 6 on Wednesday, 3 on Thursday, 5 on Friday.
What is the median number of errors?