Address Checking and Types of Errors Study Guide for McGraw-Hill's Postal Exams 473/473C

Types of Errors That Are Easily Overlooked

Cities—Spelling Errors

You’ll recognize many, if not most, of the cities in the list. Spelling errors such as New Yorck, Los Angels, Chicogo, and Miamie will jump off the page at you. However, spelling errors involving some other well-known cities are remarkably easy to overlook, especially if the misspelled version “sounds” correct if you read it phonetically. For example, many test takers would miss the spelling errors in the right-hand column below:

Correct List	List to Be Checked
Duluth, MN	Deluth, MN
Boise, ID	Boisie, ID
Minneapolis, MN	Mineapolis, MN
Cincinnati, OH	Cincinatti, OH
Ann Arbor, MI	Anne Arbor, MI

Also, expect to see some cities and towns that are less well known or have unusual names. Inspect the spelling of these city and town names very carefully. Many test takers will overlook spelling errors such as the ones in the right-hand column below:

Correct List	List to Be Checked
Kalamazoo, MI	Kalamozoo, MI
Pocatello, ID	Pocattelo, ID
Puyallup, WA	Pullayup, WA
Juneau, AK	Juno, AK
Schenectady, NY	Schenektady, NY
Elkhart, IN	Elkardt, IN

Street Names That Look or Sound Similar

In the List to Be Checked, be on the lookout for pairs of street names that look or sound a lot alike, but aren’t exactly the same. Here are some typical examples:

Correct List	List to Be Checked
9th Street	90th Street
Fifth Ave.	Fourth Ave.
Johnson Drive	Johnstown Drive
Harrington Bridge Road	Harrington Ridge Road

Note: On the exam, you won’t see discrepancies such as the one between 9th Street and Ninth Street. Why not? Because there’s no error either way—they’re just two different ways of naming the same street.

Street Names—Compass Directions

Pay close attention to street-name compass directions: North (N.), South (S.), East (E.), and West (W.), and also NE, NW, SE, and SW. You’re sure to encounter at least two or three errors involving compass directions, as in the following examples:

Correct List	List to Be Checked
233 N. 22nd Street	233 S. 22nd Street
19920 SW Radcliffe Road	19920 SE Radcliffe Road
55 Boundary Blvd. NE	55 Boundary Blvd. SE
5757 South Yucca Avenue	5757 North Yucca Avenue
112 Illinois Drive, Suite 234	112 E. Illinois Drive, Suite 234

Street Names—Is It a “Road” or a “Drive”?

Pay close attention to whatever follows a street name on the first line of an address, such as the words listed below.

Most Common	Less Common
Street (St.)	Court (Ct.)
Road (Rd.)	Circle (Cir.)
Drive (Dr.)	Lane (Ln.)
Boulevard (Blvd.)	Way
Avenue (Ave.)	Terrace
	Place
	Suite (Ste.)
	Apartment (Apt.)

Look especially for Rd. (Road) confused with Dr. (Drive) and for Ct. (Court) confused with Cir. (Circle). Abbreviated versions are easier to overlook because they’re briefer. Here are some examples of these sorts of errors:

Correct List	List to Be Checked
9230 W. Granger Rd.	9230 W. Granger Dr.
25 Babcock Ct.	25 Babcock Cir.
767 N. Yamhill Ridge	767 N. Yamhill Road
112 Timpuhaqua Lake	112 Timpuhaqua Lane
340 Lookout Mountain	340 Lookout Mountain Rd.

Remember: You won’t be tested on punctuation, so there’s no need to inspect for periods (or missing periods) after abbreviations.

Is It “Kansas City, KS” or “Kansas City, MO”?

Some well-known cities share their names with cities in one or more other states. One of the test maker’s favorite ploys is to list the same city, but different states. If you’re not careful, you can easily overlook this type of error, especially if the city and state in the List to Be Checked is well known, as in the following examples:

Correct List	List to Be Checked
Kansas City, MO	Kansas City, KS
Miami, OH	Miami, FL
Rochester, MN	Rochester, NY
Portland, ME	Portland, OR

Did You Know?

From the year 1900 to the year 2000, the annual volume of U.S. mail increased almost 30-fold, from 7,129,990,000 pieces in 1900 to 207,882,200,000 (almost 208 billion) pieces in 2000. However, the same time period saw a decline in the total number of U.S. Post Offices—from 76,688 in 1900 to 27,876 in 2000.