There is no single US police exam. Find out which of three tests your department uses, then prepare for that one

The three written exams most US departments use all lean on reading comprehension and plain written English, and two of them add basic arithmetic. The verbal and numerical questions in our reasoning test practice reading a passage closely and working simple figures under a clock, and the ASVAB practice test adds paragraph comprehension and arithmetic word problems.

None of our tests has spelling or vocabulary items in the PELLETB style, a CLOZE passage, an incident report form to fill in, or the video scenarios of the FrontLine human relations section. Practice those directly from the publishers' free study guides, and use our tests for reading speed and arithmetic only.

The job posting or the testing invitation names the exam. If you are applying in California, it is almost certainly the PELLETB, because POST maintains it for agencies across the state. Outside California, the two names you will most often see are the NPOST, which Stanard & Associates has supplied since 1976 and which many state chiefs of police associations offer, and the FrontLine National exam, which you book through National Testing Network.

Some large cities write their own exams, and some states run the NPOST under a different name, such as "the POST test". If the posting is vague, email the recruiting unit and ask for the test name and any study guide. It is a normal question and it saves you from preparing for the wrong format.

POST describes the PELLETB as a multiple-choice and fill-in-the-blank test of reading and writing ability. Its subtests have covered spelling, vocabulary, clarity of writing, reading comprehension and a CLOZE passage, where you fill in missing words from context. POST's agency guidance says that for tests given on or after January 1, 2025 the reading T-score is no longer calculated with the CLOZE subtest, and prep sites describe the CLOZE section as removed. Check the current applicant guide to confirm the layout you will see.

Scores come back as T-scores, a scale where 50 is the average of a reference group. You get a writing T-score, a reading T-score and a total. POST deliberately does not set a passing score, so a 45 might clear one agency's cutoff and miss another's. Prep sites report cutoffs commonly between 42 and 50 and say the California Highway Patrol asks for 48, but treat those as reports and confirm with each agency you apply to.

The National Police Officer Selection Test checks the basic skills the job needs. Prep sites describe 75 items over four sections: arithmetic, reading comprehension, grammar and incident report writing, in about an hour and a quarter. The passages and report forms use situations from patrol work, so you will meet some police vocabulary, but you are not tested on law.

Agencies can score the NPOST themselves or send it to Stanard for scoring. A 70 percent cut per section is often quoted by prep sites, but we could not confirm it from Stanard, and agencies may set their own. Stanard publishes a study guide with sample items, and several agencies post it; work through it once before anything else.

FrontLine has three parts. In the human relations section you watch short video scenes of situations officers meet and choose how you would respond. The reading section checks comprehension, and the writing section has you work through a report and choose clear, correct language. National Testing Network says the video part does not test department policy or require police experience.

San Francisco publishes its cut scores: 60 on the video section and 70 on each of reading and writing, with every section passed separately. That means a strong reader can still fail on the video, so give the judgement scenarios real practice. Our situational judgement guide explains how to read a scenario for safety, fairness and respect before choosing.

In many departments the written exam is a gate: pass and you move to the physical test and background. In others, your score ranks you on an eligibility list, so a higher score gets an earlier call. Ask which one applies. If scores rank you, a few extra points from focused reading and writing practice can change when you are hired.

Some test scores can be sent to more than one agency. FrontLine scores taken through National Testing Network can be shared with multiple departments that accept them, and California agencies may accept a PELLETB score from another agency. Each agency decides how old a score it will take.

These come from anonymous reviews, university careers pages and prep guides. They often disagree, and Police officer (United States) has not confirmed them. Read them as leads, not rules.

• Prep sites report that California agencies commonly set PELLETB cutoffs between 42 and 50, and that the Highway Patrol asks for 48.
• Prep sites describe the NPOST as 75 items in about 75 minutes with a 70 percent pass mark per section; one site lists eight sections instead of four, so accounts conflict.
• Prep sites count between about 46 and 50 video scenarios in the FrontLine human relations section and give total testing times between two hours fifteen minutes and two and a half hours.