You may download a booklet containing a complete list of civil service exams to be given by the Department of Citywide Administrative Services by clicking this link:
Staff And Associate Staff Analyst Exams
The Organization of Staff Analysts gave a training course for these exams from December 21, 2009 through early February of 2010.
The union has completed an item analysis for the exams. You can download it in PDF format at this link.
The item analysis is based on 200 answer sheets returned to the union for the main 2/20/10 analyst exam session. It gives you the number and percentage of those 200 candidates who chose each answer A-D for each question. We did not receive sufficient numbers of answer sheets to do an item analysis for either the Friday or Sunday alternate sessions.
Where the most popular answer accounted for 50.1% or more of the total answers, that answer is highlighted. Where no answer accounted for 50.1% or more of the total answers, the highest two (or three) answers are highlighted and the question number in the left hand column is white not gray. Please remember that this is not DCAS's official proposed answer keys which indicate DCAS's preferred answer to each question on the exam.
You can download DCAS' proposed answer key for the Staff Analyst and Education Analyst exams at this link:
Proposed Answer Key - Staff and Education Analyst Exams
And you can download the proposed answer key for the Associate Staff Analyst and Associate Education Analyst exams at this link:
Proposed Answer Key - Associate Staff and Associate Education Analyst Exams
You can compare the proposed keys with your own answer sheet to see how you did on the exam(s).
A few reminders. If you took both the Staff and Associate exams and, therefore, answered 100 questions, your grade for Staff Analyst is based on questions 1-80 and your grade for ASA is based on questions 1-60 and 81-100. All questions are worth 1.25 points. Passing is a grade of 70 on each written exam, or 56 correct answers. Your score on the written exam is your final score for the open competitive staff, education, associate staff and associate education analyst exams.
However, if you took the promotional version of the ASA and/or AEA exams, your grade is divided between your written exam score (worth 85% of your final score) and your seniority score (worth 15% of your final score). To calculate your seniority score, start with 70 points and add to that 70 points a half point for every 3 months of "completed, permanent, continuous service with an agency under the jurisdiction of the Commissioner, Department of Citywide Administrative Services in competitive class titles." (DCAS notes that "service will be credited through the date of the test, up to a maximum of 15 years. Time served prior to a break in service of more than one year will not be credited.") After you calculate your seniority score, multiply your score on the written test by 0.85 and your seniority score by 0.15 and add the two results to obtain your final grade on the promotional exam.
Staff Analyst List
The list for Staff Analyst exam #3045, given in June 2004, was established by the NYC Department of Citywide Administrative Services (DCAS) in mid-January, 2005 and expired on January 19, 2009.
Administrative Staff Analyst List On May 17, 2006, the Department of Citywide Administrative Services issued the final answer key and established the list for Administrative Staff Analyst Exam No. 4540. The list expired as of May 16, 2010.
Most of the agencies moved their lists fairly well. You can download a chart here compiled by Michael Schady, which shows the movement of the list. And you can read a final report on the movement of the list by clicking here.
As of mid-August, 2008, the list was certified to all City agencies except the Actuary and agencies began calling the list. If you receive a letter calling you to a hiring pool or indicating you have been promoted, please call Mike Schady at the union office at 212-686-1229.
We are tracking the movement of the list, including the number of individuals who currently are Staff Analysts who are promoted to ASA, the number of individuals who are currently provisional ASA's turned over in place and the number of individuals on leave to titles other than ASA who have their underlying civil service title upgraded to ASA. You can download the latest version of the chart, which will be updated periodically, by clicking here.
In most agencies, the list has now either been exhausted or few candidates remain. OSA has been in regular communication with agencies that have candidates remaining on their lists to encourage them to consider appointing them. In some cases, we have been sucessful and appointments have been made over the past months.
The list from the 2007 exam should remain viable until August of 2012. However, since the new promotional ASA exam was given in February of 2010 and a list will be published from that exam prior to 2012, there is the likelihood that DCAS will terminate the earlier list when the new list is published.
The Staff Analyst Trainee Notice of Exam
Staff Analyst Trainee Job Description
The Staff Analyst Trainee list was established in early March, 2008. A total of 1013 candidates passed the exam. You can find the complete Staff Analyst Trainee list at the links below:
Staff Analyst Trainee List Part One (List No. 1-520)
Staff Analyst Trainee List Part Two (List No. 521-1013)
Agencies have begun to call the list. You might wish to consult the detailed outline of pool and list procedures that appears below.
New Probationary Status For SAT's
If you were appointed as a Staff Analyst Trainee from the list, you should receive a notice from your agency about your probationary period. The probationary period has been reduced from three years to two years through a stipulation agreed upon by OSA and DCAS. Please ask your personnel office for an updated notice of your new probationary period, making sure it only indicates two years of probation and not three.
Some Tips and Rules
Candidates may be called to pools at multiple agencies, since this is a citywide open competitive list which will be given to every agency that has a provisional Staff Analyst Trainee, not simply the agency you are presently serving in (assuming you are a City employee already).
Your list number is very important. Agencies cannot simply appoint whomever they want, whenever they want. They must, by law, proceed in number order while making appointments.
Some words about the "One-In-Three Rule." An agency does not have to appoint every successful candidate. When the agency "considers" candidates whose list numbers are #1, 2 and 3 for the first job, the agency can select the best of the "one-in-three."
If the agency gives that first appointment to the candidate whose list number is list #1, numbers 2 and 3 are marked "CNS" or considered but not selected. If a second job is available, list #s 2, 3, and 4 must be considered. If #2 is chosen, #3 has been considered but not selected twice and #4, once.
When a third position is offered, #3, 4 and 5 are considered, but if the job goes to candidate #4, candidate #3 has been considered but not selected three times. His or her name is removed from the list for any future consideration. The agency can (but does not have to) grant a candidate's written request for later restoration to the list. On the other hand, you remain eligible to be called from the list at all other City agencies.
If you are presently a City employee, you need to ask your agency if they have received the certified Staff Analyst Trainee list from DCAS, if they will reach your number, and whether you will be appointed.
If you receive a notice from another agency inviting you to a hiring pool, you need to tell your agency immediately. If they choose to, they will give you a "DP-72" form to take to the hiring pool at the other agency. The other agency will appoint you for your agency. Agencies help each other in this way all the time, but your agency must approve the appointment by providing the "DP-72" form. Give the form to the personnel at the hiring pool when you arive. If they reach your number, they will give you papers to return to your agency.
If you are called to a pool by your agency or another agency, never decline a job offer. Let them decline you. If you decline a job, you will be removed from the list for every agency and you will have to write to DCAS to restore you. They can only restore you to the list three times. If the agency declines you, you remain on the overall list, but will not be called by that particular agency again. You may, however, write to Human Resources at that agency and ask to be restored to the list for that particular agency.
If you are invited and do not go to a pool or call and tell them you will not be coming, either in your agency or another agency, you will be considered an "FTR" or Failure to Report. You will be taken off the list for every agency and will be forced to write DCAS for restoration to the list – which can only be done three times.
Sometimes, you will have no choice but to FTR at an agency, because agencies sometimes call the list on the same date and at the same time. You will be forced in those cases to choose which pool to attend. If you are appointed at the pool you do attend, you don't need to do anything. If you are declined by the agency whose pool you attended, the FTR in the other agency you did not attend will mean you are removed from the list and you will need to write to DCAS for restoration to the list.
If you are a provisional Staff, Associate Staff or Administrative Staff Analyst, or another higher provisional title (other than Analyst Trainee), you will remain in your current position at your current salary and become a permanent Staff Analyst Trainee (on leave). After two years, you will become a permanent Staff Analyst (on leave). You will be, what is called "turned over." If you are a provisional Staff Analyst earning above the minimum salary, you should be certified permanent at the higher salary.
OSA normally seeks to monitor the "calling of the list." If you receive a notice calling you to a pool, contact OSA Executive Director Sheila Gorsky at (212) 686-1229. Occasionally, candidates know about a hiring pool before the union does.
Congratulations to all who passed the test. We look forward to welcoming you into the union, if you are not already a member.
If you are not currently a member of OSA, please call the union office at (212) 686-1229 and let us know how to communicate with you so that we can provide assistance as the list is moved.
As of late 2009, movement of the SAT list has stalled. We continue to encourage DCAS and the agencies to call the list.
The Organization of Staff Analysts encourages our members to take civil service exams. The New York City Department of Citywide Administrative Services (DCAS) gave several exams in our title series on February 20, 2010, with alternate exam dates both Friday, February 19, 2010 and Sunday, February 21, 2010. DCAS gave an open competitive Staff Analyst exam, a promotional Associate Staff Analyst exam and, for the first time in more than thirty years, an open competitive Associate Staff Analyst exam. In addition, there were Education Analyst and Associate Education Analyst exams given at the same time.
The City gave the first Administrative Staff Analyst exam in, literally, decades on Saturday, June 25, 2005.
The City held an Associate Staff Analyst promotional exam on Saturday, May 5, 2007, with a Sunday session for sabbath observers the following day and a make-up exam on May 18, 2007.
The City gave a Staff Analyst Trainee exam on Saturday, June 16, 2007, with an alternate session on Sunday, June 17, 2007.