Reading your exam results and your list
What your rank means, why it can differ from your score, how ties work, how long a list lasts, and the deadlines for an exam appeal.
What your rank means, why it can differ from your score, how ties work, how long a list lasts, and the deadlines for an exam appeal.
Chapters
Transcript
Your results notice gives you a score and, if you passed, a rank. They don't always line up.
On an open competitive list, the rules set the order. Disabled veterans who passed come first, in score order. Then veterans, then everyone else. When a local exam covers more than one jurisdiction, that order runs within each residency group.
A promotional list runs straight by score. Veterans go first only inside a tie.
If you tie with someone, the tie stays. You share the rank.
A list normally lasts up to three years, four at most. Your name can come off if you turn down an appointment or the mail can't reach you, and the rules make keeping your address current your job.
Appeal deadlines depend on the test. On a multiple choice test, item appeals are due within five business days of the test or of your review of the keyed booklet, and scoring appeals on your own paper run on a separate 20 day period after the results notice. Other tests have a 20 day window for item and scoring appeals. A complaint about how the test was given has to be filed at the exam site, that day.
The dates on your own notice are the ones that count, so check your notice. Then look up your title on NJ Civil Service Navigator.
The data in this video
This video states no figures of its own. What it says comes from the rules quoted below, read in full before the script was written.
Rules quoted in this video
Eligibles entitled to disabled veterans preference in order of their scores;
the resulting list of eligibles shall be separated into sub-lists by the residency requirements as provided by applicable law and ordinance.
When scores are tied, veterans shall be listed first within each rank.
Ties in final earned ratings shall not be broken.
no list shall have a duration of more than four years.
Inability, unavailability or refusal of eligible to accept appointment.
Notice by the postal authorities that they are unable to locate or deliver mail to the eligible;
It shall be the responsibility of an eligible to keep a current address on file with the Civil Service Commission.
Within five business days after the date of review, in the case of candidates who have reviewed the keyed test booklet, or five business days
may file appeals during this 20-day period only with respect to the scoring of their test papers.
may file an appeal in writing of examination items and scoring within 20 days after the candidate's date of review.
must file an appeal in writing at the examination site on the day of the examination.
Read more on the site
More videos
- Competitive, noncompetitive, unclassified (1:28)
- How a NJ civil service job gets filled (1:37)
- How NJ salary steps work (1:42)
- Veterans preference is ranking, not points (1:22)
- What the Civil Service Commission decides (1:37)
How this video was made
The script was written from the rules and the data the site publishes, checked against them, and approved before narration. Every figure on screen and in the narration is read from a data file at render time rather than typed, so the video and this page state the same numbers. The narration is synthetic speech generated on our own computer; the captions are timed to it word by word. First published November 8, 2026. An independent reference, not the Civil Service Commission.
Sources read for this video:
- N.J.A.C. 4A:4-2.15 (data/njac-4a/sections.json), site page /regulations/4a-4-2-15
- N.J.A.C. 4A:4-3.2 (data/njac-4a/sections.json), site page /regulations/4a-4-3-2
- N.J.A.C. 4A:4-3.3 (data/njac-4a/sections.json), site page /regulations/4a-4-3-3
- N.J.A.C. 4A:4-4.7 (data/njac-4a/sections.json), site page /regulations/4a-4-4-7
- N.J.A.C. 4A:4-6.4 (data/njac-4a/sections.json), site page /regulations/4a-4-6-4