Next CSE-PPT: 14 March 2027 · Professional & Subprofessional
Civil Service Exam Subprofessional reviewer on clerical ability: correctly spelled office words and alphabetical filing rules for personal names, with the rule behind every answer.
Clerical Ability is tested only in the Subprofessional level of the Civil Service Exam, and its official scope has two parts: filing and spelling. This set practises choosing the correctly spelled word among close look-alikes, and arranging names in alphabetical order using standard filing rules.
For filing, index each personal name surname first, then the first name, then the middle name or initial. Treat prefixes such as "dela" and "San" as part of the surname, ignore spaces and hyphens, and remember that nothing comes before something: "Cruz" is filed before "Cruzado".
Correct answer: B. Accommodate
"Accommodate" has a double c and a double m. A simple way to remember it is that the word is big enough to accommodate two c's and two m's.
Read detailsCorrect answer: A. Bureaucracy
"Bureaucracy" comes from the French "bureau" (office), so it begins with "bureau-" followed by "-cracy" (rule). It describes government administration and its procedures.
Read detailsCorrect answer: C. Correspondence
"Correspondence" has a double r and ends in "-ence". It refers to letters and other communications, a common word in clerical work.
Read detailsCorrect answer: A. Maintenance
Although the verb is "maintain", the noun is spelled "maintenance", with "-ten-" in the middle and "-ance" at the end.
Correct answer: B. Occurrence
"Occurrence" doubles both the c and the r and ends in "-ence". The verb "occur" doubles its final r before adding a suffix: occurred, occurring, occurrence.
Read detailsCorrect answer: A. Privilege
"Privilege" has no d, and its vowels follow the pattern i-i-e-e. "Priviledge" is a very common misspelling.
Correct answer: B. Questionnaire
"Questionnaire" has a double n, from the French spelling. It means a set of written questions, such as a survey form.
Correct answer: B. Receive
Following the rule "i before e, except after c", the letters after c are "ei": receive, receipt, ceiling.
Correct answer: B. Separate
"Separate" has "par" in the middle; a common memory aid is that there is "a rat" in sep-a-r-a-te.
Correct answer: A. Necessary
"Necessary" has one c and a double s. A memory aid is "one collar and two sleeves".
Correct answer: B. Embarrass
"Embarrass" has a double r and a double s. The noun "embarrassment" keeps both pairs.
Correct answer: B. Liaison
"Liaison" has an i on both sides of the a: l-i-a-i-s-o-n. It means communication or cooperation between groups, or the person who handles it.
Read detailsCorrect answer: D. Pedro Bautista
Filing goes by surname first: Bautista, Cruz (filed as "delaCruz", under D), Reyes, Santos. "Bautista" comes first, since B is earlier than D, R and S.
Read detailsCorrect answer: C. Ben Cruz
The surnames "Cruz" come before "Cruzado" and "Cruzat" because nothing comes before something. Between the two Cruz names, the first names decide: Ben comes before Carlo.
Read detailsCorrect answer: C. Juan De Guzman
Prefixes are part of the surname and spaces are ignored, so the units are "deguzman", "delacruz", "delosantos" and "delrosario". Comparing letter by letter, "deg" comes before "del", so De Guzman is filed first.
Read detailsCorrect answer: B. Rosa Lim
All four have the same surname and first name, so the next unit decides. "Rosa Lim" has no middle unit, and nothing comes before something, so it is filed first.
Read detailsCorrect answer: C. Liza Go
"Go" is the shortest surname and the others all begin with "Go", so nothing before something puts Go first. Hyphens are ignored, so "Gomez-Tan" is filed as "GomezTan".
Read detailsCorrect answer: D. Mark Samson
"San Juan" is filed as one unit, "SanJuan". Comparing the surnames letter by letter, "Sam" comes before "San", so Samson is filed first, followed by Sanchez, SanJuan and Santos.
Read detailsCorrect answer: C. Ella Velasco
Arranged alphabetically by surname, the order is Valdez, Valencia, Vargas, Velasco. "Ve" comes after "Va", so Velasco is filed last.
Read detailsCorrect answer: D. Arnel Macapagal
Names beginning with Mac and Mc are filed exactly as spelled. Comparing "macapagal", "macarthur", "madrid" and "mcdonald": "macap" comes before "macar", so Macapagal is first.
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