I took the test a few years ago and could have done better had I re-read
some texts from grad school. The Care of Antiques and Historical Collections
by MacLeish is one that could have saved me some wrong answers. That being
said the written exam was only part of the test. I also took an oral exam
which boosted my score from my not so stellar performance on the written
section. My information may be out of date, but I worked for NYS and the pay
was great and the historic site was fantastic.

Sarah Y. Smith
Executive Director
Hanover Tavern Foundation
(804) 537-5050 ext. 22
www.hanovertavern.org
-----Original Message-----
From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf
Of Megan Welsh
Sent: Thursday, February 08, 2007 11:39 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: NYS Civil Service Advice?

Dear List:

I will be taking the NYS Civil Service exam for the position of Historic
Site Assistant on March 10th. Has anyone ever taken this or a similar exam
(other NYS civil service positions include Historic Site Managers and
Interpretive Program Assistants)? Do you have any advice on how to prepare
for the exam?

The exam description highlights five areas covered in the written test. I am
most concerned with the following four topics:

1. Educating and interacting with the public: "testing knowledge of
interpretive and educational techniques, assessing needs of an audience,
preparing educational and informational materials, presentations, and
exhibits."

2. Supervision: these questions are situational leadership questions about
"planning, organizing, and controlling the activities of a work unit toward
predetermined objectives." I am not sure if these will be museum specific...

3. Supporting museum operations: "These questions test for knowledge in
assisting in such areas as collection care and presentation, care of
structures and grounds, historical research methods, ethics, educating and
interacting with the public, security, and interpretive programming."

4. Understanding and interpreting historical narrative material:
"understanding narrative material... from the perspective of presenting and
interpreting history to the public.


Can anyone give me advice on materials that might provide general overviews
of any (or all) of these topics?

Thanks so much!
-Megan Welsh

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