ECOMM Note-Taking Test: Correct, Incorrect or Unsure

The Recording Pertinent Information Test is the segment that makes ECOMM Comprehensive unusual. It does not present you with new material. It tests what you captured from material you have already seen.

What it involves

The National Testing Network describes it in one sentence: "for this test, candidates read statements about the calls they took notes on and use their notes to determine if the statement presented is Correct, Incorrect, or if they are Unsure. Each statement is associated with a call from the CallTaker Video Test."

So the raw material is your own notes from the previous segment, and the question format is three-way rather than true/false.

Why the third option exists

This is the part worth understanding properly, because it changes how you should answer.

A two-way true/false format rewards guessing — half of your blind guesses land. A three-way format with an explicit "Unsure" is asking a different question: do you actually know this, or are you reconstructing it?

That distinction is the job. A dispatcher who reports a plate they half-heard as if it were confirmed causes a worse outcome than one who says they need it repeated. The format is built around exactly that professional habit.

So the honest guidance is: use Unsure when you are unsure. Not as a hedge on everything you find hard, but genuinely — if your notes do not settle the statement and you would be reconstructing from impression, that is what Unsure is for. Guessing Correct or Incorrect on a detail you did not capture is the behaviour this segment exists to detect.

NTN does not publish how the three responses are weighted, and we are not going to invent a scoring rule. What the format tells you is what it is asking for; treat Unsure as a real answer rather than a wasted one.

The test is really about your notes

Everything that determines your result here happened during the previous segment, when the videos were playing without stopping. By the time you reach this test, your score is largely fixed.

Which means the preparation for this segment is note-taking, not test technique:

• Capture the unreconstructable. Names, addresses, plate and phone numbers, times, descriptions, weapons, vehicles, who is where. The statements in this test are about facts and details, and these are the ones memory will not supply.
• Keep calls separate and labelled. Each statement is tied to a specific call. Notes that blur two calls together produce confident wrong answers, which is the worst outcome available.
• Mark uncertainty as you write. A question mark next to a half-heard detail at the time is what lets you answer Unsure honestly later rather than guessing.
• Write legibly enough to read under time pressure. Obvious, and routinely ignored.
• Use a consistent shorthand. Your notes are not assessed for form, only used by you.

Reading the statements carefully

The statements are written to be checked against detail, so the difference between Correct and Incorrect is often a single element — a number, a direction, a relationship between people, a sequence of events. Read the whole statement before deciding; a statement that is three-quarters right is Incorrect, not Correct.

Only in Comprehensive

This segment is part of the Comprehensive exam. The Express version has no linked note-taking test — see Comprehensive versus Express for what Express does instead.

Practising it

Our call summarisation drill is the closest match: listen to a call, capture it, then answer on what you captured. Call taking trains extracting the right details live, and memory recall covers holding detail when notes are not available.

The full ECOMM guide covers the whole exam, and the CallTaker Video Test covers the segment your notes come from.

Sources

• National Testing Network, Emergency Communications Operator Testing with ECOMM
• National Testing Network, Data Entry and Computer Simulations (ECOMM National Computer Simulations)

ECOMM is administered by the National Testing Network, Inc. DispatchDrills is an independent practice provider and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by the National Testing Network, Inc. or Ergometrics. We do not reproduce exam content; every example in our material is original and illustrative.

Common questions

What is the Recording Pertinent Information test?

The ECOMM Comprehensive segment where you read statements about the calls from the CallTaker Video Test and mark each as Correct, Incorrect or Unsure using your notes.

Can I use my notes?

Yes. NTN states candidates use their notes to determine whether each statement is correct.

Should I ever answer Unsure?

Yes, when you genuinely are. The three-way format exists to separate what you captured from what you are reconstructing.

How is Unsure scored?

NTN does not publish the weighting, and we do not speculate on it.

What should my notes contain?

Facts you cannot reconstruct — names, numbers, addresses, times, descriptions — kept clearly separated by call.

Is this segment in the Express exam?

No. NTN lists it only under the Comprehensive version.