Correction Officer or Police Officer: comparing the two exams
New York City Department of Correction / DCAS · Exam No. 7302 · facts last checked October 3, 2026
These two titles sit closer together than any other pair on this site. The basic maximum salary is identical, both reach it at five and one half years, and nine of the abilities tested are the same nine.
The differences are in how you get in, how often you can try, and what you may bring to the test.
Pay: closer than most comparisons suggest
Correction Officer starts at $56,838; Police Officer at $55,942. Both reach a basic maximum of $109,352 at five and one half years.
The difference sits after that. Correction Officer's notice sets out four longevity increments payable on top of the maximum, the largest worth $9,314. The Police Officer notice instead names a 2.25% neighbourhood policing differential, worth roughly $2,460 at the ceiling.
Getting in: four routes against two
Police Officer asks for 24 college credits or two years of honorable full-time military service.
Correction Officer asks for 39 credits — with the Academy supplying a further 21 toward a total of 60 — or a high school diploma plus six months of one of three experiences: military service, social services or casework, or law enforcement. It also accepts a diploma plus a year of full-time paid work of any kind, or two years of active Reserve or National Guard service. Six months is a much shorter qualifying period than two years, and the social services and general-work routes have no equivalent on the Police Officer notice.
On fees the two are level this cycle: both notices print an application fee of $0.00. The previous Correction Officer number, 6303, charged $68.00, so the comparison can change with each new notice.
The calendar is the biggest practical difference
Police Officer runs twelve exam numbers a year under a single notice, with a new filing period opening at the start of every month through June 2027. A missed window costs four weeks.
Correction Officer runs roughly three times a year. Exam 6303 filed 1 April to 29 May 2026 and tested from 13 August; Exam 7302 files 2 September – 27 October 2026 and expects to test from 15 December, and the DCAS annual schedule lists 7303 and 7304 following in the 2027 cycle.
That difference changes the strategy. On a monthly exam, filing for the number you are actually ready for costs almost nothing. On a quarterly one, a missed window is a season.
The test itself
Correction Officer tests eleven abilities, Police Officer nine. The two extra are mathematical reasoning and number facility — arithmetic, in short.
And the rules diverge on the desk: Correction Officer permits a basic four-function calculator, Police Officer permits none. Anyone preparing for both should practise the arithmetic without one, since the harder condition covers both exams.
Prepare for exam 7302
A free diagnostic across 9 of the 11 ability areas tells you which area is costing you rank, so you drill the weak one instead of the comfortable one.
Questions candidates ask
Which pays more, Correction Officer or NYPD Police Officer?
Correction Officer starts slightly higher at $56,838 against $55,942, and both reach the same basic maximum of $109,352 at five and one half years. Correction Officer adds four longevity increments on top; Police Officer adds a 2.25% neighbourhood policing differential.
Which exam is easier to qualify for?
Correction Officer offers more routes: 39 college credits, or a high school diploma plus six months of military service, social services or casework, or law enforcement. Police Officer requires 24 credits or two years of military service.
Can you take both exams?
They are separate examinations with separate numbers, filing periods and eligible lists. Whether results from both may be held is a question for DCAS rather than for this page, but the preparation overlaps heavily — nine of the ability areas are identical.
Which exam runs more often?
Police Officer, by a wide margin: twelve exam numbers a year against roughly three for Correction Officer.
Do both exams allow calculators?
No. Correction Officer permits a basic four-function calculator; the Police Officer notice states that calculators are not permitted at all.
Is the preparation transferable?
Largely. Nine of Correction Officer's eleven abilities are exactly the nine Police Officer tests. The additional work is mathematical reasoning and number facility.
Where these facts come from
Every figure on this page comes from the documents below, each with the date we last opened it. Where a notice is the authority, it wins over anything written here.
- DCAS Notice of Examination — Correction Officer, Exam No. 7302 (PDF)
Document dated September 2, 2026. Checked September 8, 2026.
- DCAS Notice of Examination — Police Officer, Exam Nos. 7311–7322 (PDF)
Checked October 3, 2026.
- DCAS — Take an Exam (official filing schedule)
Checked August 2, 2026.
- New York Civil Service Law § 61 — selection from an eligible list
Checked August 2, 2026.
Keep reading
The full Correction Officer exam guide
Dates, the 11 ability areas, eligibility, scoring and pay in one place.
NYC Correction Officer Salary (2026)
Correction Officer pay starts at $56,838 and reaches $109,352 at five and a half years, with four longevity increments on top.
NYC Correction Officer Requirements (2026)
Exam 7302 lists four ways to qualify: 39 college credits, a diploma plus six months of qualifying service or work, a diploma plus a year of full-time work, or two years in the Reserve.
NYC Correction Officer Test: Format and the 11 Abilities
Exam 7302 tests eleven ability areas — the widest set DCAS publishes — adding mathematical reasoning and number facility to the nine on the Police Officer notice.
What Does a NYC Correction Officer Do?
Care, custody and control, as the notice puts it — and what that means day to day: counts, tool control, cell checks, escorts and the written record that has to survive scrutiny months later..