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As of October 2009, the medical for the Dorset Special Constabulary involves the following:
- a lung capacity test - you blow into a tube and the machine registers the amount of air you can store in your lungs (I believe you do this three times, the highest reading is recorded)
- an eye test - instead of reading random letters from the familiar Snellen Chart, you'll look into a machine that looks like a cross between a microscope and a pair of binoculars. Various test are run covering colour blindness, depth perception, peripheral vision as well as visual acuity. If you wear contacts or glasses you'll do this test twice, once with corrected eyesight and once without.
- an aural test - this involves you donning a pair of headphones whilst sitting in a soundproof booth. Various tones are played at different volumes and pitches, every time you hear a tone you press a button. This test is run twice, once for each ear.
- a mobility test - not as difficult as it sounds, you'll be tested to show you have good mobility in your spine and can maintain your balance whilst standing on one leg! There's a few other mobility tests but there's nothing too strenuous involved!!
- a urine test - time to pee in a cup! This checks for diabetes and a few other things, but again, not the most difficult test you'll be asked to do on the day.
- a hair test - this involves a sample of hair being taken from your head to test for drugs and alcohol (or elsewhere, should you have little up top!). Again, this is nice and easy - you just have to stand still while the medical officer comes at you with a pair of scissors!
One of the trickiest parts of the medical is trying to find the Occupational Health Unit (click here for a Google Maps link to its location). Leave in plenty of time - you can park nearby, but you'll probably wander past the place once or twice without realising it! 
