Which occupation are you interested in? If postal service jobs excite you, then passing the Postal Exam 473 is mandatory, regardless of whether you to want to sell stamps, sort mail or deliver letters. You’ll be considered for open positions once you score 70 or higher on the test.

The Postal Exam features five sections, four of which are directly related to tasks that you’ll have toperformwhen employed.

Steps to Take Before the Postal Exam

Once you’re sure about working in the postal industry, check out the USPS website and go to their Career section.  Search for jobs that are currently available; you must apply to one of these to become eligiblefor the exam. Find a job that is aligned with yourinterest and complete the application process. If you do this ina timely manner, you’ll have to appear in additional assessments.

Taking the Exam

The Postal Exam 473 features five sections in all. For four of these, you review and memorize addresses and attempt exercises related to sorting mail.  This part of the exam must be given at an authorized testing center. But before this, you have to appear in a personality assessment test, which is actually the fifth section. This part of the exam is unsupervised, so you can take it online at home. 

• Checking Addresses– you’re provided with two copies of an address, of which the left one is correct. Your task is to identify problems with the addresses on the right such as an incorrect zip code or a street number. The section contains 60 questions.
• Form Checking – this section comprises of 30 MCQs that are related to a postal form.
• Coding Mail – in this section, you’represented with routes, addresses and emails; you have toidentify which address a certain piece of the mail must be delivered to. The total number of questions in the Coding section is 36.
• Memory– this section issimilar, except that you have no list and have to complete the route elements using your memory; just like Coding, this section also has 36 questions.
• Personality Assessment – this sectionconsists of 236 timed questions that asses your behavioral traits.

AfterCompleting the Test

Your total score is shared with you, and also appears on the postal site through which you applied for an open position. If it’s over 70, you’re eligible, but generally, higher scoring candidates are preferred. So scoring 70 is no guarantee that you will secure the position.

As you wait until the job recruiting process is complete, you can apply for otherpositions as well. Do mention that you have already taken the exam. Your scores expire after 2 years. Should you not clear the exam, you can retake the exam, but for a different position, not the one you initially applied for. 

Passing the Postal Examcan be a challenge, but if you practice, you can get the job you desire.