Free 911 Dispatcher Practice Test: 20 Questions With Answers

These twenty practice questions cover the question types that appear most often on 911 dispatcher tests: character comparison, cross-referencing, memory, rules-based priorities, agency decisions, reading and evaluating facts, sentence clarity, spelling, math and map reading. Every question is original, written for this page, and not taken from any real exam; the formats follow what the test publishers describe in their own candidate material. Answers and explanations are at the bottom, so you can work through them first.

Two parts of real dispatcher tests cannot be done on a static page: typing and timed data entry. For those, use our free typing test and the free data entry drill, both with no account.

How to use this practice test

• Time yourself. Give yourself 15 minutes for all twenty. Real tests are timed, and the clock is most of the difficulty.
• Do not scroll down to the answers until you have finished, including the memory questions.
• Answer from what the question gives you. On real tests, and here, the right answer comes from the rules or facts provided, not from how you think a real center works.
• Know your test's guessing rule. California's POST dispatcher test deducts a fraction of a point for wrong answers; CritiCall penalizes skipped questions unless told otherwise; NTN says there is no penalty for guessing. See what is on the 911 dispatcher test for how they differ.

Part 1: Character comparison

For each pair, decide whether the two entries are exactly the same or different.

Question 1

4417 NW 82nd Ter  |  4417 NW 28nd Ter

A) Same   B) Different

Question 2

KLV-4408  |  KLV-4408

A) Same   B) Different

Question 3

Ortiz-Delgado, Marisol  |  Ortiz-Delgado, Marisel

A) Same   B) Different

Part 2: Cross-referencing

Use this unit status table for questions 4 and 5.

Unit	Status	Location
214	Available	Station 3
241	En route	1900 Birch St
124	On scene	Elm St & 4th Ave
412	Out of service	Fleet garage
142	Available	Station 1

Question 4

What is the status of Unit 241?

A) Available   B) En route   C) On scene   D) Out of service

Question 5

Which units are available?

A) 214 and 241   B) 124 and 142   C) 214 and 142   D) 214, 142 and 412

Part 3: Memory

Read the call summary below once, at normal speed. Then cover it, count backward from 50 by sevens (50, 43, 36...), and only then answer questions 6 and 7 without looking back.

Caller Rosa Kimbrough reports that a green hatchback, partial plate 7TR, backed into a parked motorcycle outside 1840 Larkspur Avenue and left heading east on Carver Street. The driver was a woman in her twenties with a red backpack. The motorcycle's owner was not hurt.

Question 6

Which direction did the hatchback leave in?

A) North   B) South   C) East   D) West

Question 7

What was the partial plate?

A) 7RT   B) T7R   C) 7TR   D) 1TR

Part 4: Rules-based priorities

Use only these rules for questions 8 to 10. They are our own simplified example of the kind of rule set these tests give you.

• Priority 1: anyone injured, or an immediate threat to someone's life.
• Priority 2: a crime in progress with no one injured, or a hazard that could cause injury.
• Priority 3: everything else, including reports of things that already happened and requests for information.

Question 8

Put these in order from first to last priority: (a) a bicycle was stolen from a porch overnight; (b) a man has collapsed and is not breathing; (c) someone is breaking into an empty parked car right now.

A) b, c, a   B) c, b, a   C) b, a, c   D) a, c, b

Question 9

A traffic signal is out at a busy intersection. There has been no crash. What priority is it?

A) Priority 1   B) Priority 2   C) Priority 3

Question 10

A caller wants to know what time the police department's records window opens. What priority is it?

A) Priority 1   B) Priority 2   C) Priority 3

Part 5: Which agency to send

Use only these rules for questions 11 and 12. They are our own simplified version of the four-agency decision rules some tests use.

• Police: someone is harming, trying to harm or threatening a person, or damaging property.
• Fire: signs of fire such as flames or smoke, a sounding fire alarm, or a person trapped who needs to be freed.
• EMS: a medical emergency that needs medically trained personnel.
• Utility: broken or malfunctioning water, power, gas or sewer systems.

Question 11

A water main has burst and the street is flooding. Nobody is hurt.

A) Police   B) Fire   C) EMS   D) Utility

Question 12

A woman is stuck inside a stalled elevator between floors. She is not injured.

A) Police   B) Fire   C) EMS   D) Utility

Part 6: Evaluating facts

Read the facts, then decide whether each conclusion is true, false, or cannot be determined from the facts alone.

Facts: Station 2 covers the north district. Every structure fire requires at least two engines. Engine 21 is out of service today.

Question 13

Conclusion: A structure fire in the north district today requires at least two engines.

A) True   B) False   C) Cannot be determined

Question 14

Conclusion: Engine 21 will respond to a structure fire today.

A) True   B) False   C) Cannot be determined

Question 15

Conclusion: Station 2 has three engines.

A) True   B) False   C) Cannot be determined

Part 7: Sentence clarity and spelling

Question 16

Which sentence is written more clearly?

A) The caller told the neighbor that his dog had bitten a child.
B) The caller said that the neighbor's dog had bitten a child.

Question 17

Which word is spelled correctly?

A) ambulence   B) ambulance   C) ambulanse   D) ambulanc

Part 8: Math and maps

Question 18

A unit went en route at 23:48 and arrived on scene at 00:06. How many minutes did the response take?

A) 12   B) 18   C) 22   D) 42

Question 19

A center took 312 calls on Monday, and 25% were non-emergency. How many non-emergency calls was that?

A) 62   B) 75   C) 78   D) 84

Question 20

You are driving north on Main Street. You continue two blocks, turn right, drive one block, then turn right again. Which direction are you now facing?

A) North   B) South   C) East   D) West

Answers and explanations

1. B, different. "82nd" became "28nd." A transposed pair keeps the string the same length, which is why a quick glance misses it. Compare in chunks of two or three characters.
2. A, same. Every character matches. Items like this exist to test whether you can say "same" confidently instead of hunting for a difference that is not there.
3. B, different. "Marisol" and "Marisel" differ by one vowel. Fluent readers see the name they expect; check names letter by letter.
4. B, en route. The trap is Unit 214 or 124, which use the same digits. Anchor on the whole unit number before reading across the row.
5. C, 214 and 142. Unit 412 uses the same digits but is out of service.
6. C, east. The car left heading east on Carver Street. If you missed it, you were probably re-reading the summary top to bottom instead of sorting it into who, what vehicle, where and which way.
7. C, 7TR. The distractors are reorderings and a look-alike digit. Chunking it as "seven, T-R" makes it easier to hold through the counting task.
8. A: b, c, a. The man not breathing is Priority 1. The car break-in is a crime in progress with no injury, Priority 2. The overnight theft already happened, Priority 3.
9. B, Priority 2. Nobody is injured, but an outage at a busy intersection is a hazard that could cause injury.
10. C, Priority 3. A request for information. It still gets handled; it just is not urgent under these rules.
11. D, Utility. A broken water system with no one hurt fits only the utility rule.
12. B, Fire. Under these rules, a trapped person who needs to be freed goes to fire, even though there is no fire. Candidates who answer from instinct often pick police or EMS; the rules decide.
13. A, true. Every structure fire requires at least two engines, so one in the north district does too.
14. B, false. Engine 21 is out of service today, so it will not respond.
15. C, cannot be determined. Nothing in the facts says how many engines Station 2 has. "Cannot be determined" is a real answer; do not fill gaps with assumptions.
16. B. In A, "his" could mean the caller's dog or the neighbor's. B says exactly whose dog it was.
17. B, ambulance.
18. B, 18 minutes. From 23:48 to midnight is 12 minutes, and from midnight to 00:06 is 6 more.
19. C, 78. A quarter of 312 is 78. A quick estimate (a quarter of 300 is 75) tells you B and C are the only sensible options.
20. B, south. Facing north, a right turn faces you east; a second right turn faces you south.

What your score means

There is no pass mark for this page, and there is no universal pass mark for real dispatcher tests either: each agency sets its own. A more useful way to read your result is by type. If you missed comparison or cross-referencing items, practice checking in chunks. If you missed memory items, practice sorting details into categories as you read. If you missed the rules-based questions, practice applying printed rules literally. And if you ran out of time, that is the most common problem of all, and the most trainable.

Keep practicing

• Free, no account: the typing test, the data entry drill and everything on free practice.
• Full timed drills: character comparison, cross-referencing, memory recall, prioritization and more, including versions with emergency interruptions, plus a full mock exam. Full access is a one-time payment; see pricing.
• Know your test: guides to CritiCall, NTN ECOMM and the California POST dispatcher test.

All questions on this page are original and illustrative. They are not taken or adapted from CritiCall, ECOMM, the POST dispatcher test or any other exam. CritiCall is a registered trademark of Biddle Consulting Group, Inc. ECOMM is a trademark of the National Testing Network, Inc. POST refers to the California Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training. DispatchDrills is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by any of these organizations.

Common questions

What kind of questions are on the 911 dispatcher test?

Most are comparison and cross-referencing, memory, rules-based priorities and decisions, reading and evaluating facts, sentence clarity and spelling, basic math and maps, plus typing and data entry. The exact mix depends on the test your agency uses.

Are these the real 911 dispatcher test questions?

No. Every question here is original. Test publishers do not release live questions, and you should be wary of anyone who claims to sell them. Practice with the formats and skills instead.

How many questions are on the 911 dispatcher test?

It varies by test. California's POST dispatcher test is eleven separately timed tests taking about two and a half to three hours; CritiCall's length depends on which of its tests the agency picks, and Biddle puts a typical sitting at one to three hours; NTN lists its ECOMM exam at about two hours.

Is there a free 911 dispatcher practice test?

Yes. This page is one, and our typing test and data entry drill are free with no account. Biddle also publishes free sample keyboarding, proofreading and spelling tests for CritiCall candidates, and POST publishes a free Examinee Guide with a sample item for each of its tests.