The assessments
POST Dispatcher Test: All 11 Sub-Tests, Scoring and Prep
California's POST dispatcher test, from POST's own guide: the 11 sub-tests, the penalty for wrong answers, T-scores, the 48–57 range and how to prepare.
Updated September 15, 2026 · 11 min read
If you are applying for a public safety dispatcher job in California, the written test you are most likely to sit is the POST Entry-Level Dispatcher Selection Test Battery, published by the California Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training. Candidates usually just call it the POST dispatcher test. This guide covers what it contains, how it is scored and how to prepare, and it is built from POST's own published material rather than prep-industry summaries. Where POST says something that contradicts what circulates online, we say so.
If you want to start practicing straight away, our POST dispatcher practice test page lists the drills that map onto this battery, and the free practice hub needs no account.
The POST dispatcher test at a glance
| Question | What POST says |
|---|---|
| What it measures | Four abilities: verbal, reasoning, memory and perceptual |
| How many tests | Eleven short tests, each with its own instructions and time limit |
| Format | Six written multiple-choice tests and five where you listen to audio and then answer multiple-choice questions in a booklet |
| How long | About 2½ to 3 hours including a short break; individual tests run about 5 to 15 minutes |
| Wrong answers | A fraction of a point is subtracted for each wrong answer; blanks neither add nor subtract |
| Score | A T-score (average 50, standard deviation 10), not a percentage |
| Passing score | Set by each hiring agency; POST recommends agencies set it within 48 to 57 |
| Retakes | Wait 30 calendar days; retesting sooner, with any agency, invalidates the result |
| Score validity | POST says the score has no shelf life, but each agency can set its own limit |
| Study material | A free Examinee Guide with sample items; POST says there is no study guide or reading list |
Who has to take it
POST's dispatcher selection regulations (Commission Regulations 1956 and 1957) require every public safety dispatcher candidate at an agency in the POST Public Safety Dispatcher Program to demonstrate verbal, reasoning, memory and perceptual abilities. The POST battery is the standard way to do that, but it is not the only one: POST's own FAQ confirms that "other job-related tests of verbal, reasoning, memory and perceptual abilities are acceptable," and the regulation also recognizes candidates who already hold a POST Public Safety Dispatcher Basic Certificate or who completed the Basic Course and probation. Not every California agency is in the POST dispatcher program either. So a California posting may name the POST test, a different vendor's test, or its own. Read the posting before you prepare.
The 11 sub-tests
These are the eleven tests described in POST's Examinee Guide. The ability shown is the one POST's user manual lists as each test's primary measure. The descriptions are ours, summarizing POST's; the guide itself has a simplified sample item for every test and is worth reading once.
| # | Test | Ability | What you do |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Public Safety Bulletin | Memory | Study a one-page shift bulletin describing several events for 3 minutes, then answer questions about it from memory |
| 2 | Assigning Field Units | Reasoning | Apply a new set of rules to decide which units, if any, go to each incident |
| 3 | Evaluating Facts | Verbal | Read a set of facts and judge whether each conclusion is true, false or cannot be determined |
| 4 | Setting Priorities | Reasoning | Apply a given set of priority rules to rank events presented in sets of three |
| 5 | Reading Comprehension | Verbal | Read a short passage and answer questions on its facts, meaning and conclusions |
| 6 | Sentence Clarity | Verbal | Pick the more clearly written of two versions of a sentence |
| 7 | Recalling Facts & Details | Memory | Listen to a simulated call with no notes allowed, then answer questions from memory |
| 8 | Call-Taking | Reasoning | Listen to several simulated calls, taking notes, then answer questions using your notes |
| 9 | Oral Directions | Reasoning | Listen to a radio call from an officer, taking notes, then answer questions about the tasks, their order and the details |
| 10 | Checking Coded Information | Perceptual | Hear short letter-number codes and mark the matching one among five written options, at a pace that keeps speeding up |
| 11 | Checking & Listening | Perceptual | Compare names, addresses and plates against a hot sheet while also logging unit status updates from simulated radio traffic |
Three things in that table are easy to miss.
- There is listening, and some of it allows notes. Five tests are delivered by audio. You may take notes during Call-Taking and Oral Directions, and your notes are not scored. You may not take notes during Recalling Facts & Details.
- The priority and unit-assignment tests give you the rules. Setting Priorities and Assigning Field Units are reasoning tests: the rules are new to you and printed in front of you. The right answer is whatever those rules produce, not what you think a real dispatch center would do. Answering from habit or from how you imagine a real center works is the easiest way to lose points here.
- Some tests are built so that nobody finishes. POST warns that certain tests work up "to a pace where no one can keep up." Falling behind on Checking Coded Information is expected. Do not let it rattle you for the next test.
Notice also what is not on the list: no typing, no data entry, no spelling test and no vocabulary test. There is also no job knowledge. POST says the battery measures general abilities, not "job-specific knowledge or skills that are taught in training," so you do not need radio codes or penal code sections.
The four abilities
POST defines the four abilities the battery measures as follows. Paraphrased:
- Verbal ability. Reading and listening to information, picking out the facts and drawing conclusions, and writing clearly.
- Reasoning. Applying general rules to specific problems to reach logical answers, and following rules to put things or actions in the right order.
- Memory. Storing and retrieving facts, details and other information.
- Perceptual ability. Comparing letters and numbers quickly and accurately, both spoken and written, and switching between two or more sources of information while working.
How the POST dispatcher test is scored
Wrong answers cost you
This is the rule that matters most on the day, because it reverses the usual advice. POST's Examinee Guide says "there is no advantage to guessing at random. A fraction of a point will be subtracted from your test score for each wrong answer," and a blank "will not count towards or against your score." POST's own worked example uses a four-option question: guess blindly on four and you expect one right and three wrong, gaining one point and losing a third of a point three times, which nets to zero.
The practical rule: if you can rule out at least one option, answer, because the odds are now in your favor. If you genuinely have no idea, leave it blank. Within each test every item counts the same, and POST suggests answering the ones you can do quickly first and coming back to the hard ones.
T-scores, not percentages
Your result is a T-score. POST converts your raw score (right answers minus the guessing deduction) on each of the eleven tests into a standard score against a reference group, adds them up, and standardizes the total. Each test counts equally. On the T-score scale, 50 is the reference-group average and every 10 points is one standard deviation. POST describes 40 or below as below average and 60 or above as above average.
The trap is reading a T-score as a percentage. A candidate who gets a 55 and thinks "fifty-five percent" concludes they did badly. They actually scored above the reference average. Agencies receive a breakdown for verbal, reasoning, memory, perceptual and the total, and POST requires agencies to give each applicant their T-score breakdown in writing within 30 days. POST does not send scores to candidates directly.
What score do you need?
POST sets no pass mark. In its own words it has established "neither a mandated nor recommended cut score"; each agency sets its own. POST does give agencies a recommended range of 48 to 57 on the overall T-score to set that cut within. That is a real, citable figure, but it describes where agencies are advised to set their own number, not a pass mark. POST also notes that some agencies use a minimum passing score while others combine the battery score with other assessments. The number that decides your outcome is the one your department uses, and asking the recruiter is a normal question.
This is not the PELLETB
The PELLETB (POST Entry-Level Law Enforcement Test Battery) is the written test for peace officer applicants. It is a different test, with sections for spelling, vocabulary, clarity and reading comprehension. Some prep sites file dispatcher material under PELLETB names, which is how candidates end up drilling vocabulary for a dispatcher test that has no vocabulary section. If a resource is built around the PELLETB, it is not built for this test.
Where to take it
You cannot book the POST dispatcher test on your own. It is given by hiring agencies (or a testing provider working for an agency) under a security agreement with POST. POST does not keep a list of testing locations, so you get tested by applying to agencies that are hiring and following their instructions. The answer sheets go to POST for scanning, and your agency receives the scores.
Two rules apply wherever you test. You must wait 30 calendar days before retesting, and a retest inside that window is invalidated even if it is with a different agency. And although POST says a score has no shelf life, many departments only accept a recent one, so check each posting's rule before relying on an old result.
Is there a typing test?
Not in this battery, and POST's selection standards do not set a typing requirement. POST's user manual for the battery says manual speed and dexterity "were not targeted for measurement" and recommends assessing them "through other means." Many California agencies add a separate typing test of their own, usually with a net words-per-minute minimum stated in the posting. If yours does, that is a separate gate. Our dispatcher typing test guide explains how those are scored, and the free typing test gives you a net WPM figure to compare against the posting.
How to prepare for the POST dispatcher test
POST is clear that "there is no study guide or reading list," because the battery measures general abilities. That does not mean preparation is pointless. POST itself recommends getting familiar with the formats, and suggests that people who get tense in tests practice activities similar to the samples. Here is what that looks like in practice for each ability.
- Memory. The bulletin gives you three minutes and then takes the page away. Practice organizing details by category as you read (who, where, vehicle, numbers) rather than re-reading top to bottom. For the audio test, practice holding a spoken description without writing anything down. Our guide to memory and recall sections covers the technique, and the memory recall drill trains it.
- Rules-based reasoning. For Setting Priorities and Assigning Field Units, read the rules slowly once, then apply them literally, every time. Practice ranking sets of incidents against a stated scheme with our prioritization drill, and remember that on this test the printed rules win over any instinct.
- Listening with notes. Build a fixed shorthand: location first, then what happened, then people and vehicles. Abbreviate however you like, since the notes are not scored. Practice by taking notes on a radio or podcast segment you cannot pause, then answering questions about it.
- Verbal. For Reading Comprehension and Evaluating Facts, answer only from what the text says. "Cannot be determined" is a real answer, and it is often right when an option sounds sensible but is not actually stated. Reading comprehension and sentence clarity drills cover the written side.
- Perceptual speed. For the checking tests, compare in small chunks (two or three characters) rather than reading whole strings, and expect the pace to get ahead of you. Our character comparison drill trains the chunking habit, though on the real test you mark a paper booklet rather than a keyboard.
- Stamina and paper. The battery runs close to three hours. Do at least one long practice session on paper, with a pencil and a clock, so the format is not the new part on the day.
If you are also applying outside California, other agencies use different instruments. Our overview of what is on the 911 dispatcher test compares them, and the California dispatcher requirements page covers the state certification side.
Sources
- POST, Entry-Level Dispatcher Selection Test Battery Examinee Guide (test formats, guessing rule, timing, scoring)
- POST, Dispatcher Test Battery Applicant FAQs (retesting, score shelf life, study materials)
- POST, Dispatcher Test Battery Agency FAQs (T-scores, recommended 48 to 57 range, score reports)
- POST, Public Safety Dispatcher Selection Requirements FAQs (alternative tests)
- POST, PELLETB Applicant FAQs (the separate peace officer test)
POST refers to the California Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training. DispatchDrills is an independent practice provider and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by POST. We do not reproduce exam content; our practice items are original.
Common questions
What is on the POST dispatcher test?
Eleven short tests covering verbal, reasoning, memory and perceptual abilities: Public Safety Bulletin, Assigning Field Units, Evaluating Facts, Setting Priorities, Reading Comprehension, Sentence Clarity, Recalling Facts and Details, Call-Taking, Oral Directions, Checking Coded Information, and Checking and Listening. Six are written and five use audio. There is no typing, spelling or job-knowledge section.
What is a passing score on the POST dispatcher test?
POST does not set one. Each hiring agency sets its own minimum T-score, and POST recommends agencies set it somewhere between 48 and 57 on the overall T-score. Check the posting or ask the agency which number applies.
Is guessing penalized on the POST dispatcher test?
Yes. POST subtracts a fraction of a point for each wrong answer, and a blank item counts neither for nor against you. Answer when you can rule out at least one option; leave it blank when you have no basis to choose.
How long does the POST dispatcher test take?
About two and a half to three hours including a short break. Each of the eleven tests has its own instructions and time limit, from about 5 to 15 minutes.
Is there an official POST dispatcher study guide?
POST publishes a free Examinee Guide that describes each test format and includes a simplified sample item for each. POST says there is no study guide or reading list, because the battery measures general abilities rather than knowledge.
How soon can I retake it?
You must wait 30 calendar days. Retesting within 30 days, with the same or a different agency, invalidates the result. Agencies can add rules of their own.
How long is a POST dispatcher test score valid?
POST says the score has no shelf life, but each department can decide how recent a score it will accept, and many only accept recent results. Check each posting.
Is the POST dispatcher test the same as the PELLETB?
No. The PELLETB is the peace officer written test, with spelling, vocabulary, clarity and reading comprehension sections. The dispatcher battery is a separate eleven-test instrument that includes listening, memory and rules-based reasoning tests.