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Kaya Mo ’ToReviewer for the Career Service and DICT ICT Proficiency exams

Study notes · Clerical · Subprofessional

Clerical Ability

Clerical Ability (Subprofessional level) covers filing and spelling. Filing questions are logic with rules: once you apply one convention consistently, the order is unambiguous. Spelling questions favour commonly misspelled office words.

Official scopeScope: Filing, spelling.

§1 Alphabetic filing rules used in this reviewer

Agencies follow their own records-management manuals, so treat these as a standard convention rather than a CSC rule. Questions here state any rule that changes the answer.

§2 Numeric and chronological filing

§3 Spelling patterns

PatternWords
Double consonantsaccommodate, committee, embarrass, occurrence, questionnaire, recommend
ie / eireceive, receipt, achieve, believe, seize (exception)
-ance / -encemaintenance, attendance, occurrence, existence, independence
Silent or easily dropped lettersgovernment, February, environment, privilege
-able / -ibleacceptable, available; accessible, eligible, responsible

§4 Worked examples

Example 1

Arrange: De Guzman, Paolo · Deguzman, Ana · De Leon, Rica

  1. Ignore spaces: DEGUZMAN (Paolo), DEGUZMAN (Ana), DELEON.
  2. The two DEGUZMAN surnames tie, so compare given names: Ana before Paolo.
  3. DEG… comes before DEL….

Answer Deguzman, Ana · De Guzman, Paolo · De Leon, Rica

! Common traps

  • Switching conventions mid-question (counting spaces for one name and not another).
  • Misreading dates when the format is not stated — check the item.
  • Picking the 'most common-looking' spelling. Check each letter group against the word's root.

Coverage sources: Examination Announcement No. 03, s. 2026; Examination Advisory No. 10, s. 2026