Pre-Qualifying Exam of DILG

This is not a post that shows sample tests about the DILG Pre-Qualifying Exam but rather a post of my experiences when I took the exam and twelve things to know about the DILG PQE.

I took the Pre-Qualifying Exam (PQE) today at the Baguio City National High School Library. I counted a total of 61 examinees, including me, who bravely took it unaware of its contents.

I only remembered the number of items and corresponding minutes and not a specific question of the exam inasmuch as I wanted to remember.
 
What is the Pre-Qualifying Exam or the DILG PQE?

1. It was (and is) a gruelling exam that will really exhausts you, the applicant/examinee.
2. It was (and is) a time-pressured exam which will rattle you once the proctor announce the remaining time during the examination.
3. It is the national qualifying exam of the Department of Interior and Local Government.
4. It is a battery of tests aimed for applicants who wants to join and become part of DILG.
5. It is a continuous exam with a duration of two to three hours.
6. It consists of four parts, namely:
• Logical Reasoning Tests -
• 55 minutes for 100 items.
• Language Tests - 
• 3 parts. 
• Part 1, PD (Paragraph Development), 7 minutes for 10 items; 
• Part 2, RC (Reading Comprehension), 13 minutes for 22 items; and
• Part 3, LT (Language Test), 10 minutes for 20 items.
• Verbal Tests - 
• 3 parts. 
• Part 1, (Analogy), 6 minutes for 20 items; 
• Part 2, (Analogy, requires 2 answers), 6 minutes for 20 items; and 
• Part 3, (Mathematical Test, no choices, input your answer after solving using provided scratch paper), 10 minutes for 20 items.
• Non-Verbal Tests - 
• 3 parts.
• Abstract part.
• Part 1, 3 minutes for 16 items; 
• Part 2, 3 minutes for 16 items; and 
• Part 3, 4 minutes for 18 items.
7. It is usually administered every last Friday of the month in the DILG Central Office located in Quezon City but in our case, it was scheduled in Baguio City and a representative from DILG Central Office officiated the examination.
8. In the case of my application, I had to write a request for endorsement to take the PQE and also indicating that it is a prerequisite for non-DILG applicants.
9. Passing the exam does not mean you are hired already. According to the DILG employee, there may be another exam to be taken depending on the position applied for. It also depends on the assessment of the regional or district office.
10. You must be prepared to read fast and analyze quickly for the logical reasoning test.
11. Mathematics is still a part of this exam and you need to know how to compute because guessing will definitely not help you on this part of the exam because you need to write an answer and there are no choices to select from.
12. Common sense and stock knowledge will help you plus lots of prayers to survive this challenging examination.

Pray. It helps.