Skills You Need to Pass the NYC Sanitation Exam

The highly awaited sanitation Exam 2060 DCAS will finally be held at the end of this year. In 2021, some sanitation workers in NYC were reported to have made up to $300,000 in incentive payments. Considering this, a lot more people are applying for the upcoming NYC sanitation exam than in previous exams. Before we individually discuss the skills you need to pass the NYC sanitation exam, let’s look at what the exam is like.

NYC Sanitation Exam

The NYC Sanitation Exam is an open competitive DCAS exam that anyone can sit in as long as they meet the basic eligibility criteria. The exam consists of two parts: the written exam and the physical exam.

The NYC Sanitation Written Exam

The written exam tests your fundamental mental abilities, which we’ll discuss in detail later on. You need a minimum score of 70% in the written exam to pass. If you score less than that, you’re disqualified from candidacy. Those who score more than 70% are then ranked based on their performance in the written and physical exams.

The NYC Sanitation Physical Exam

A physical exam consists of various physical tasks that simulate the actual working environment. Also called the “superman test“, the physical exam tests your strength and stamina. The exam consists of two phases, each of which has to be completed in a given time.

With that out of the way, here are the skills you need to pass the NYC sanitation written and physical exams.

Skills You Need For The Written Exam

1. Language Skills

You need language skills to attempt any part of the written exam. You won’t know what to answer if you don’t understand the question. However, the exam has some questions that directly test your language skills. For example, there are questions that test your ability to spot grammatical errors.

2. Critical Thinking Skills

The written exam is more of an aptitude test than your traditional history test. The exam has dedicated questions that test your ability to think critically in real-time. You’re given a passage that gives you all the information you need to answer the questions that follow. The answers to these questions are not directly obvious from the passage—you have to analyze the passage critically to get to the answer.

3. Spatial Ability

Spatial ability questions are common in DCAS exams including the FDNY exam, the Suffolk Police Exam, and of course, the NYC Sanitation Exam. These questions test your ability to visualize objects in your head. The questions show you a 2D representation of an object, and you have to imagine a 3D version in your mind.

Then you’re shown different objects that are similar to the original object but are rotated in different orientations. You have to choose the one object that matches the shape of your original object. You can only do this if you can visualize what the object would look like from different angles.

4. Problem Solving Skills

Problem-solving skills are valuable in most civil service jobs. Problem-solving questions in the sanitation exam usually hand you a set of rules and limitations and ask you to pick which of the given solutions is viable. For example, you might be given the rules of deer hunting in Michigan followed by a number of cases. You’ll have to use your problem-solving skills to assess which of the cases defy the rules.

5. Cognition

Cognition is by far the most important ability you need to pass the test. Your cognitive abilities lie in your prefrontal cortex; the part of the brain responsible for emotion regulation and high-level processing. The latter is more relevant to our purposes.

The prefrontal cortex enables complex processing by holding large amounts of temporary information for other parts of the brain to access quickly. This information is stored in your working memory. You need working memory for everything from reading sentences to solving problems.

Skills You Need For The Physical Exam

1. Physical Strength

For an exam termed the “superman test,” you obviously need physical strength. Most of the tasks you have to do in the physical exam can benefit from physical strength. Some tasks such as dragging four 30-pound baskets to a truck can’t be attempted without a certain level of physical strength.

This doesn’t mean you have to have to train like Arnold Schwarzenegger for the exam. If you eat a moderately protein-rich diet and are physically active, you’ll be fine.

2. Endurance and Stamina

For most applicants, the limiting factor is not the strength. It’s endurance and stamina. The first phase of the physical test consists of three rigorous tasks and the phase must be completed in 3 minutes and 31 seconds. The second phase has four tasks and must be completed in seven seconds.

The problem most applicants face is staying upright for that long. If you’re not physically active, your body will switch to anaerobic respiration to produce energy and you’ll soon be too fatigued to continue.

How to Improve The Skills Required To Pass The NYC Sanitation Exam

Light exercise such as jogging can help you stay in shape and improve your lung function. This will ensure that your body is able to produce the energy needed for the physical exam from aerobic respiration alone.

Getting eight hours of sleep every night is also vital for cognition. Sleep deprivation has both short-term and long-term effects on the prefrontal cortex, which can hurt your performance on exam day.

The best way to train for all the different questions that will be asked in the Sanitation Exam 2060 DCAS is by taking preparation classes from an experienced instructor. That’s where we come in.

Civil Service Success is the only institute for civil service exam preparation in NYC that has been helping candidates succeed for over 45 years. If you’re applying for the Sanitation Exam 2060 DCAS, we encourage you to join our NYC Sanitation Exam prep classes and ensure your success. We also host Nassau and Suffolk Police exam prep classes and NYC Firefighter exam prep classes.

Want to show up to the exam with your A-game? Enroll in our classes now!