How to Pass the DCAS Traffic Device Maintainer Exam in 2024?
To work for the City of New York as a Traffic Device Maintainer, you must pass an examination conducted by the City Department of Citywide Administrative Services (DCAS). This examination is a computer-based test that you must complete at the DCAS offices. It includes sections on a variety of cognitive skills that are required for anyone wishing to work as a Traffic Device Maintainer for the City of New York.
The test covers:
•Deductive Reasoning •Written Comprehension •Number Facility •Memorization
This page covers all sections of the Education and Experience Exam and DCAS Traffic Device Maintainer Exam and explains how to prepare for them and sample questions and links to study packs that will help you better understand and prepare for the exam.
If you have questions about the pack or about the DCAS Traffic Device Maintainer Exam - ✉ contact us ✉
DCAS Traffic Device Maintainer Exam
DCAS Traffic Device Maintainer Exam
What you'll get:
- Study guides for all four topics
- Dozens of practice tests
- Written comprehension questions
- Logical reasoning questions
- Memorization questions
- Number facility questions
- Comprehensive explanations and tips
What Is the DCAS Traffic Device Maintainer Exam?
The DCAS Traffic Device Maintainer Exam is a computer-based, multiple-choice, NYC public-sector examination that covers the different subjects and skills that are necessary to be a Traffic Device Maintainer. You need to achieve a score of at least 70% to pass. The test is administered by the City Department of Citywide Administrative Services, the same agency that is responsible for hiring special officers, city carpenters, caseworkers, sanitation workers, and more.
Officially, the test is dubbed 'Exam No. 3063'. You can find more information about it in the Notice Examination, which can be viewed on the city website or your OASYS account. The front page of the notice looks like this:
Step #1 - Education and Experience Exam
The Education and Experience Exam is held separately from the DCAS Traffic Device Maintainer exam (usually several weeks prior). The Education and Experience Exam is not so much of an ‘exam’, despite its name, but actually a questionnaire about your education and work experience that you need to fill out online.
It is important to answer truthfully, because if it is revealed that you misrepresented your professional past in some way this may cause your application to be rejected.
Step #2 – Multiple-Choice Test
This is where you really have to show your worth! This part of the recruitment process is aimed at ascertaining whether or not you possess the skills and knowledge required to thrive as a traffic device maintainer. All questions on the test are related in one way or another to the everyday tasks met and handled by New York traffic device maintainers. They might include measurements and unit conversions that are required for the job, procedures that regulate workplace safety, physical principles that guide the use of tools, and more.
The test covers four areas of capability. Let's go over them:
Deductive Reasoning
Deductive Reasoning Sample Question:
Five bears – Jinan, Knot, Lee, Mushu, and Nee-Hau – are kept in three adjacent rooms numbered 1-3 from left to right.
• There is at least one bear in each room.
• The knot is in a room to the left of Lee's.
• Mushu and Nee-Hau are not kept in the same room.
• Either Mushu or Jinan, but not both, are kept in room 2.
• Nee-Hau is kept in room 3.
A sixth bear, Osami, is brought into either room 2 or 3. If there are now two bears in each room, which one of the following must be true?
The correct answer is A
Written Comprehension
A Traffic Device Maintainer must be able to understand written materials used in the workplace. For this reason, the Traffic Device Maintainer exam includes a ‘Written comprehension’ section. (The DCAS refers to this as a ‘written comprehension’ skill but it is more often just referred to as ‘reading comprehension’).
Written Comprehension Sample Question
Hawkins was puzzled. Quasars are powered by matter that shines fiercely as it swirls into a supermassive black hole typically billions of times the mass of the sun. Their light does vary, for example as stars are ripped apart by the black hole's enormous gravity. But these flare-ups make quasars brighten and fade within a few days, not years and decades as Hawkins found.
What happens to a quasar when it enters a black hole?
The correct answer is B.
Memory
As a Traffic Device Maintainer, you must have good memory skills. You will use them when remembering work instructions or directions to a work site. For this reason, the exam includes a memorization section, in which you will be tested on your ability to remember images, words, numbers, or procedures.
Memorization Sample Question
How many hats are worn by the people in the image?
The correct answer is B – only two people in the image are wearing hats.
Number Facility
Number Facility is just a term for your ability to handle arithmetical actions – addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.
Number Facility Sample Question
4186 / 0.001 = ?
The correct answer is 4186000
Tips for Taking the Traffic Device Maintainer Professional Exam
- Make sure you sleep well the night before the exam.
- You should eat breakfast before going into the exam building, preferably a light breakfast (candidates are not allowed to leave)
- Bring a photo ID, scratch paper, a pen, and a calculator with you. (Bringing any other electronic devices, including ‘scientific’ calculators, into the exam room is prohibited.)
- Practicing is key to succeeding on the skill-based questions.
Our prep packs include mock tests, sample questions, and study guides that will help you prepare for the exam and get the best possible grade.
If you have questions about the pack or about the DCAS Traffic Device Maintainer Exam - ✉ contact us ✉
Full Solutions
Deductive Reasoning Question
If one of the answer choices must be true, we should deduce it based on the information we already have. The first thing to notice is that we know the exact position of N – room 3. The other conditions provide us with some information, but not enough to place any of the other bears in a specific room. Therefore we should look at what we know about the new bear: O can be either in room 2 or 3. Let's check both options:
If O is in room 2:
The second bear in that room can be either M or J since one has to be in room 2 (fourth condition). Now that room 2 is full; we can turn to the other two. According to the second condition, K is left to L. Since neither is in room 2, K is in room 1, and L is in room 3 (together with N). M/J takes the remaining spot in room 1:
| 1 | 2 | 3 |
K J/M | O M/J | L N |
If O is in room 3:
Room 3 is now full. For K to be to the left of L (second condition), L must be in room 2, and K – in room 1. M and J are placed the same as before.
| 1 | 2 | 3 |
K J/M | L M/J | O N |
Written Comprehension Question
According to the passage, "Quasars are powered by matter that shines fiercely as it swirls into a supermassive black hole".
Memory Question
The man on the left-hand side and the teenager in the center of the image are both wearing hats.
They are the only people wearing hats, so the answer is 2.
Number Facility Question
The decimal point can move an equal amount of places on each side of the quotient
4186 /0.001
= 41860 /0.01
= 418600 /0.1
= 4186000 /1
= 4186000
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