What is the Police Officer Exam?Police and highway patrol academies, police departments, and departments of corrections across the United States use comprehensive exams to assess candidates.
What Police Officer Exam exam does my state, city or agency administer?California’s Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) has developed the PELLETB (the POST Entry-Level Law Enforcement Test Battery)
In Florida, most police academies and Florida Highway Patrol require the CJBAT (Criminal Justice Basic Abilities Test)
The NCJOSI (National Criminal Justice Officer Selection Inventory) is used by Chicago, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and state police in Missouri, Arkansas, Maine, Pennsylvania and elsewhere
Michigan uses the MCOLES (Michigan Commission on Law Enforcement Standards)
Check with your agency or academy to determine which exam you need to prepare for. Many community colleges also offer police exams.
How is the Police Officer Exam administered? To register for an exam, you must directly contact the participating agency or academy where you are applying. You may take most exams in a pencil-and-paper format or a computer-administered format. Check with your agency to be sure.
What should I expect on the day of the Police Officer Exam?On test day, arrive early. Personal belongings, cell phones, and other electronic, photographic, recording, or listening devices are not permitted in the testing center. Many testing centers offer lockers to secure your personal items, but you should check beforehand with the facility to be sure storage is available.
What can I bring with me on test day for the Police Officer Exam?Check with the facility or participating agency to make sure you know what type of identification to bring (usually government-issued photo identification). Bring at least two sharpened No. 2 pencils.
How do I prepare for the Police Officer Exam?Trivium Test Prep offers full-length study guide that covers all topics you might encounter on your Police Officer Exam. A full practice test and glossary of terms is included as well.
What is on the Police Officer Exam?Different exams test different subjects. Still, there are a few major topics covered on almost every exam. Candidates are evaluated on their reading, language, and reasoning skills. Some exams also test basic math and quantitative reasoning skills. Most tests have around one hundred multiple-choice questions and are approximately two hours long. The number of questions and exact time vary by test.
What are some reasoning skills questions that might come up on the Police Officer Exam?Inductive reasoning questions ask you to draw conclusions from quantitative information provided in the form of charts or graphs.
For deductive reasoning questions, you will be provided with a written textual excerpt from state law or a typical precinct policy. Then, you will be presented with a situation related to that written material and asked a question about it.
Information ordering questions ask you to place a series of statements into chronological or logical order.
Problem sensitivity questions test your ability to understand if a situation is deteriorating or if something is likely to go wrong.
Spatial orientation questions determine your ability to understand where you are located in relation to something else.
Selective attention and flexibility of closure questions test your attention to detail.
Memorization questions test your observation skills.
Not every police exam contains each kind of reasoning question, but Trivium Test Prep’s Policy Officer Exam study guide provides practice for all of them.
How do I check my Police Officer Exam score?Check with the agency you tested at. In some cases, results can be available immediately or 24 hours after (such as the MCOLES, for example).
Can you retake the Police Officer Exam?Policies about retaking the exam vary from agency to agency; most do allow individuals to retake the exam.
