The results of the Promotion to Sergeant Qualifying Examination (PSQE) and the PSQE (Auxiliary) 2019 were promulgated in late December 2019. A total of 33 candidates, including 31 regular and two auxiliary police constables, achieved distinction in the examinations. OffBeat invited five outstanding candidates, Police Constable (PC) Tsang Hin-keung, PC Kam Chiu-on and PC Chung hung-ching of the Emergency Unit of New Territories South (EU NTS), PC (Auxiliary) (PC (A)) Wong Yuen-kwan Amy of Cheung Sha Wan Division, and PC (A) Tsang Chi-kan of Sau Mau Ping Division, to share their keys to achieving distinction with readers.

Early start strategy

PC Tsang and PC Chung both recommended that candidates should start their preparation for the examinations early. PC Kam, PC (A) Wong and PC (A) Tsang advised that the syllabuses and the debriefing reports of the examinations were important as they enabled candidates to know in advance what types of questions came up in the past and what mistakes were usually made by other candidates.

Professionalism and perseverance

PC Tsang, PC Kam and PC Chung of EU NTS were delighted to have achieved distinction in the examination. Despite the difficulties during Operation TIDERIDER, they never slackened off in the preparation for the examination. PC Kam said police officers should enhance their professional knowledge to embrace challenges. In the face of unprecedented challenges, officers were determined to achieve good results in the examinations, fully demonstrating their diligence and tenacity.

Memorisation tips and examination techniques

"Candidates should adopt a memory method that best suits themselves," said PC (A) Wong, who works as a full-time researcher in the field of medical research. She preferred to do the revision before going to sleep or just after waking up. She opined that it would help strengthen her memory. She encouraged candidates to find their best memory method in order to enhance learning efficiency.

Both PC (A) Wong and PC Kam recommended that candidates could build their own "mind palaces", that is converting what they have learned into images and associating the images with locations in their memory palaces. PC Chung and PC (A) Tsang stressed the need to organise study materials systematically. For instance, they grouped the materials on police's powers delegated to each rank into a separate file as it would make their revision easier. PC (A) Tsang also advised candidates to manage their time in examination carefully. He suggested candidates to answer easy questions first, avoid spending too much time on difficult questions, and leave sufficient time for re-checking before submitting answer scripts.

Many hands make light work

The five outstanding candidates all supported the idea of "many hands make light work". They believe that joining a study group would help candidates in their preparation for the examinations because it offers opportunities for candidates to discuss the topics of the examinations among themselves, thereby making their revision more interesting and effective.

The 2020 PSQE and PSQE (Auxiliary) will be held in the second half of 2020. Candidates are advised to take note of the administrative instructions to be issued by the Examinations and Assessment Centre on the Force Noticeboard in due course.