Q. How is my examination scored?
A. The New York State Civil Service Commission designs, prepares and scores the civil service examinations used by the Westchester County Department of Human Resources.

Effective June 1996, the New York State Civil Service Commission expanded the use of a scoring methodology called band scoring which groups similar scores together. Band scoring facilitates the assessment of candidate performance on written tests in a more realistic manner than the traditional individualized scoring formulas and is used for both open-competitive and promotional examinations.

In band scoring methodology for open-competitive examinations, the number of correct answers (the raw score) determines which band is applied for a final score. An individual band scoring table is prepared for each examination. Veteran's credits are added after the band has been applied. A candidate does not move from pass to fail or from fail to pass as a result of band scoring.

The typical scoring formula used in promotional examinations adds seniority credits to the raw score before the band is applied. Veteran’s credits are added after the band has been applied.

Neither the seniority nor veteran's credits can be used to enhance a failing score.