THE PURPOSE OF PRACTICE EXAMS
Some of our Examiners offer Practice Exams to provide clients with a legitimate in-person polygraph experience. The intent is to introduce the Examinee to polygraph procedures so they have a general idea how a real exam might be done. These are administered the same way as any real exam would be, with a few notable differences (read below).
PRACTICE EXAMS ARE ONLY AVAILABLE AT SELECT TESTING LOCATIONS
Not all GPN members offer Practice Exams. If they are not available at a particular location, that will be noted on each individual Testing Location page.
ACCURACY OF PRACTICE TESTS
Since practice exams lack the “fear of detection” and “question salience” present in real exams, some critical psychological elements will be missing from the process. As a result, the outcome of the exam will be less accurate than with a “real” exam.
ONLY VALIDATED TESTING METHODS WILL BE USED
Your examiner will provide the exam using only APA Validated testing methods. Non-validated and experimental methods will not be used, unless the exam is being done for solely for experimental purposes.
NO WRITTEN REPORT WILL BE PROVIDED
Since these are not “real” exams, your Examiner will not memorialize the test results in a written report. You will only receive verbal feedback at the end of the exam procedure, and results will not be provided to, or discussed with, any third party.
PRACTICE TEST RESULTS DO NOT PREDICT THE OUTCOME OF REAL EXAMS
Even if the test is about the exact same subject matter, a Practice Test lacks psychological elements (see above) that are present in real exams. A person may do well on a Practice Exam but then fail the real thing. Predicting a test outcome is NOT the purpose of these exams. If you are using a Practice Exam to see how you might do on a real exam, then you’re wasting your money. A better option would be to have a real exam done at the request of your attorney, so any results – good or bad – will be protected under attorney-client privilege.
ATTEMPTED COUNTERMEASURES WILL NOT BE TOLERATED
Practice Exams can not be used to practice countermeasures. If you attempt countermeasures, the exam will be terminated.
YOUR EXAMINER WILL NOT PROVIDE COACHING
This is simply an introductory and orienting procedure. The Examiner will not provide any feedback or suggestions about how to do “better” on an exam, other than to be truthful and to follow the Examiner’s instructions.
TEST FORMATS AND QUESTIONS MAY DIFFER
There are at least a dozen different testing formats available for an Examiner to use. It is not likely that a subsequent “real” exam will use the same format or same test questions as used in the Practice Exam. There will be similarities, but it is more likely there will be significant differences. Your Practice Exam will most likely incorporate a “Directed Lie” (DLT) format.
RECORDINGS ARE NOT PERMITTED
Even if your Examiner normally allows recordings of real exams, they will not allow recordings of Practice Exams.