What Does a Police Entrance Exam Test?

A police entrance exam tests the basic skills you’ll need in the academy and on patrol: reading comprehension, writing and grammar, and on some tests arithmetic or judgment in everyday police situations. There’s no single national police exam, though. Each agency, or in some places the state, picks the written test, so the sections, time limits and passing score depend on where you apply.

Three widely used tests show the range. Stanard & Associates’ National Police Officer Selection Test covers arithmetic, reading comprehension, grammar and incident report writing (Stanard). California’s PELLETB measures only reading and writing (CA POST). FrontLine National pairs reading and report writing with a video test of judgment (National Testing Network).

Who decides which test you take

Agencies and states make that call, so look up your own situation before you study.

In California, POST Commission Regulation 1951 requires peace officers to read and write at the level the job demands, measured by the PELLETB or another professionally developed and validated reading and writing test. POST leaves the passing score to each agency (CA POST agency FAQs). Iowa has mandated Stanard’s POST as its statewide entry-level test (Stanard).

New Hampshire works differently. The Police Standards and Training Council’s path is to get hired by an agency, pass the Council’s physical fitness entrance test, then complete the academy (NH PSTC). The Council’s academy requirements and hiring rules don’t list a statewide written entrance exam, so expect any written test to come from the department you apply to (Pol 300 rules).

Ask the agency, or check the job posting, for the exact name of the test.

Sections you’re likely to see

Skill	What it looks like	Tests that include it
Reading comprehension	Answer questions about a passage, or pick the word that fits a blank	NPOST, PELLETB, FrontLine
Grammar, spelling, vocabulary	Fix errors, pick the correct spelling or meaning, choose the clearer sentence	NPOST, PELLETB, FrontLine Express
Report writing	Turn notes on an incident into a clear, factual report	NPOST, FrontLine
Arithmetic	Basic math framed around police tasks	NPOST
Judgment	Choose the best response to a work scenario	FrontLine

The National Police Officer Selection Test (Stanard & Associates)

Stanard calls its POST an entry-level basic skills test built for law enforcement. It has four separately timed sections, and agencies can give it on paper or online (Stanard). Stanard’s own study guide, posted by Utah POST, lists these limits (Stanard study guide, 2009):

Section	Items	Time
Mathematics	20	20 minutes
Reading comprehension	25	25 minutes
Grammar	20	15 minutes
Incident report writing	10	15 minutes

In total, that’s 75 items in 75 minutes in the 2009 edition of the guide. Ask the agency whether its version matches. The first three sections use multiple-choice and true/false questions. In the report writing section, you write your answers out in complete sentences. Your score is the number you get right, with no penalty for guessing, so answer every question (same guide).

The PELLETB (California POST)

The POST Entry-Level Law Enforcement Test Battery is a multiple-choice, fill-in-the-blank test of reading and writing. Since January 1, 2025, it has four sections: spelling (pick the correctly spelled word), vocabulary (pick the meaning of a word), clarity (pick the more clearly written of two sentences) and reading comprehension (answer questions about a passage) (CA POST agency FAQs). The CLOZE section, where you filled in blanks in a passage using context clues, was dropped that day. POST’s agency FAQ allows 2¼ hours, including instructions.

You get a T-score, not a percentage. POST converts your raw score into a standardized score where 50 is average and each 10 points is one standard deviation. A score of 40 or below counts as below average, and 60 or above as above average. POST’s research found that the chance of finishing the academy rises with every point above 42, so it recommends agencies set their passing score at 42 or higher (CA POST applicant FAQs; agency FAQs).

POST’s public applicant FAQ also says the test is given on paper only, and only by authorized law enforcement agencies within California.

FrontLine National (National Testing Network)

FrontLine National takes about 2 hours and 15 minutes and has three parts (NTN):

• In the Human Relations Test, you watch video scenes and pick the best course of action. The video keeps playing, and you get 10 seconds to answer each question. NTN says it doesn’t test policy or technical knowledge, so answer from what the test shows you and common sense.
• In the Report Writing Test, you watch a short scenario twice, taking notes, then get 10 minutes to write a factual report. A multiple-choice section follows, and you answer it from the report you wrote.
• The Reading Test is multiple choice. You pick the word that best fits each blank in a passage based on real job material.

NTN also offers a shorter Law Enforcement (Express) exam of about 2 hours. It has a written-scenario judgment test, a writing test with grammar and spelling corrections plus a report written from an audio recording, a reading test, and a Role Fitness Questionnaire about job fit and work-related personality traits (NTN).

You can take NTN tests from home or at a test center. You choose the departments you’re applying to, take the test once, and the results go to all of them (NTN testing process). NTN’s test page doesn’t publish passing scores, so check each department’s posting.

The written test is one step of several

In New Hampshire, for example, the Council’s hiring requirements include a background investigation, a fingerprint check, a psychological evaluation and a medical exam. You also can’t have a serious criminal or motor vehicle record, and you need a good credit history (NH PSTC). The state’s physical fitness entrance test follows Cooper Institute standards: one minute of sit-ups, untimed push-ups and a timed 1.5-mile run, with recruits required to pass at the 35th percentile (NH PSTC physical fitness). Other states and agencies set their own steps.

How to prepare

1. Find out which test the agency uses, including the version if there’s more than one.
2. Get the publisher’s own prep material. CA POST’s free Applicant Preparation Guide has sample questions for each section (CA POST). Stanard sells an online POST study guide and a timed practice test (Stanard study materials). NTN points candidates to frontlinetest.com, which has sample video items and a practice reading test (NTN).
3. Practice at the real pace. On the NPOST grammar section, for instance, you get 15 minutes for 20 items, which is 45 seconds each.
4. Read and write more in general. CA POST says the best way to prepare for its test is to do things that involve reading and writing, and it suggests community college assessment centers and free online writing labs for finding weak spots (CA POST).
5. Practice short factual reports against a clock. Watch a short scene, take notes, then write down who was involved, what happened, and when and where it happened, in plain sentences.

Police work can also count toward a fire investigator certification later on. NAFI’s application, for example, gives credit for years worked as a police officer (NAFI CFEI application). See how to become a certified fire investigator.