How Postal Exam 475 works
USPS uses 475 for Mail Handler and Mail Handler Assistant (MHA) jobs. It is taken online on any device, within 72 hours of the email invitation, and takes about 30 to 45 minutes.
After an unscored job preview, our 475 sitting has four scored sections: Work Situations, Tell Us Your Story, Describe Your Work Style and Checking for Accuracy. USPS does not publish the exact list or order for each version.
Checking for Accuracy is the one section with plain right answers. USPS describes it as checking whether customer information on screen matches USPS records. Its example screen compares an Original ID with a Computer ID for four locations, and you tick Match or Error for each row.
The pass mark is 70. Eligible candidates are ranked by final score, with veterans’ preference points added only to passing scores.
How to check records quickly and accurately
Use the same routine on every row:
- Compare in chunks of two or three digits, left to right, rather than reading the whole number at once.
- Check right to the last digit. Both errors in USPS’s own example sit at the end of the number.
- Look out for swapped neighbours, such as 47 becoming 74. They keep the number’s shape and slip past a glance.
- Expect some rows to match exactly. Marking a correct row as an error is still a mistake.
Worked example: Checking for Accuracy
Location A: Original 52910476, Computer 52901476. Location B: Original 38845120, Computer 38845120. Location C: Original 61773092, Computer 61773092. Location D: Original 70214488, Computer 70214483.
A is an Error: the fourth and fifth digits are swapped (10 against 01). B and C Match. D is an Error in the final digit, 8 against 3. Two errors and two matches on one screen is normal; so is a screen with none.
Tips for the real Exam 475
- In mail-handling situations, safety around heavy loads and equipment comes before speed. Reporting a hazard is usually part of the best response.
- For each work situation, pick the least likely response first. It is usually the unsafe or careless one.
- Take the checking section at a steady pace. No time limit is published, and accuracy is what counts.
- Keep your work-history answers in line with your application.
- Set aside 45 minutes somewhere quiet, and start well inside the 72 hours.
Practise Exam 475 on CogniPrep
Our 475 sitting has 12 work situations, 10 work-history questions, 48 work-style pairs and three checking screens of four rows each, untimed and with no going back. The score comes from Work Situations and Checking for Accuracy, two marks per situation and one per row; the work-style and work-history answers are described in your results, because USPS does not publish how it scores them. The counts are ours.