CVSA was pretty much as described here, we did a pre-test, in which he asked questions, some just going over what was on the application and some weird ones like "what's the weirdest sexual thing I have done", "Have I ever paid for sex", "have I ever been sexually abused" and "Have I ever touched an under aged person sexually". These were asked, but not while hooked up. Whole thing took about 1 hour 10 minutes.
Only about 15 questions, like - Have I ever be convicted of a misdemeanor or felony or had one expunged, have I ever tried dope, have I ever stolen anything over a $100, is there any physical item that would keep me from doing the job, did I knowingly withhold anything from the application, have I ever been fired from a job, do I pay child support, have I ever drove over the speed limit. The rest were control - color of his hair, color of the wall, day of the week, color of the floor tile - these I had to answer incorrectly. Also, he wanted me to pause a second or two before answering as not to get part of his voice in the response. This was good for me since it gives you time to take your mind elsewhere and relax.
When test was done, he left for about 5 minutes, came back and said I could leave, looks good. He even said, If I come back and tell you to get out of here, that's good, if I gotta ask some things again, that's deception and not good depending on how many I gotta ask and how much variation there was. So he shared alot of the process with me and was real cool about it. He kinda had the attitude it was just his job and didn't hype it up, but then again, it wasn't his only job, he is also a detective, just trained to do it. So who knows.
I guess I'll see, don't want to get too confident, but from what I have read here, seems like it went well. Only advice I can give is they will go over the questions BEFORE the test. If anything is uncomfortable, while that question was being read, I thought of something funny - in my case, Chevy Chase in Fletch. Really relaxed me. Pay attention to your voice in your answers, he said deception has low tones, so practice your yes and no's and make them consistent. I was saying them to myself on the drive over.
Good luck to all who gotta do the CVSA, hopefully it will work the way it is intended and not boot any honest people. But that's a fantasy...
e1d,
Thanks for the great description of your CVSA. It sounds like you were successful.
Its odd that he asked you about paying your child support, becuase if you didn't it would surely be a red flag when they did your background. If your background was done correctly that would have been known already. That is why some agencies depend on polygraph and CVSA to do their "investigations" rather than do the footwork.
But then again the attitude you alluded to was that he "was just doing his job" and then he said he was also a detective. You have to wonder about his "truthfulness".
Good Luck
Fred F. ;)
Thanks to all - got my acceptance to the academy yesterday. I have other depts I have applied, so I am sure I will have more of these. Having done the CVSA and passed, I am confident with the others using polys since countermeasures can be used. TIP - for CVSA, definitely, the "I don't give shit" attitude is the way to go. You are relaxed confident. Also, practice your answers. If you have Windows 98, use the sound recorder in the accessories area, it will chart you tone similar to a CVSA.