911 dispatcher hiring assessments
CritiCall Practice Test
Timed drills for the skills CritiCall measures — data entry, cross-referencing, character comparison, memory, map reading, decision making and typing — with drills that interrupt you mid-task with a message to answer in 15 seconds (our interruptions are read-back questions, not CritiCall's agency-selection items), plus audio drills for typing and recalling what you hear. The typing and data entry drills are free, with no account.
DispatchDrills is an independent practice-test provider. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Biddle Consulting Group, Inc., and CritiCall is Biddle Consulting Group, Inc.'s property. The name is used here descriptively, to identify the assessment our practice material prepares you for. All of our practice questions are original work. Full disclaimer.
Free official resources
Biddle publishes free preparation material for CritiCall applicants: a candidate test preparation guide (including the rules for the emergency-message items), sample keyboarding, proofreading and spelling tests, and a link to a free data entry practice test. Start there.
One-time payment. No subscription. 14-day money-back guarantee.
What the CritiCall test is
A computer-based pre-employment test for 911 dispatchers and call takers from Biddle Consulting Group, which says it is used by over 1,500 agencies. It is modular: Biddle says the software holds over 20 tests and each agency picks the ones that fit its jobs, so no two agencies necessarily test the same set. Biddle puts a typical sitting at one to three hours.
Published by Biddle Consulting Group, Inc..
Read the full guide: CritiCall Test: What's On It, Scoring and How Hard It Is →
The honest answer
What score do you need?
There is no single national pass mark. Each agency sets its own cut score for each test it uses, which is why candidates who pass at one department fail at another with the same performance.
You will find sites quoting a specific pass mark, and sometimes a specific pass rate, for this assessment. We do not, because we cannot source them. When each agency sets its own minimum for each component it chooses to run, a single universal figure structurally cannot exist — and the numbers that circulate trace back to marketing copy rather than to the vendor or to any agency.
The practical consequence is that the only number worth having is the one your agency uses. It is on the job posting more often than candidates expect, and when it is not, asking the recruiter is a normal question that gets a normal answer. Our guide to dispatcher test scores explains how agencies set and combine them.
Practice drills for the CritiCall test
Agencies choose which components to use, so you will not necessarily sit all of these. Each page explains what the skill involves and how to improve at it.
Data Entry
Type caller and incident details into a fixed-field form, accurately, against the clock.
Cross-Referencing
Look a value up in a reference table and report the matching record.
Character Comparison
Decide whether two strings of letters and numbers are identical.
Typing Speed & Accuracy
Timed typing runs with live words-per-minute and accuracy scoring.
Math & Probability
Arithmetic, elapsed time, distance and simple probability questions.
Data Entry with Emergency Interruptions
Data entry, interrupted by emergency messages you must answer within 15 seconds.
Cross-Referencing with Emergency Interruptions
Table lookups, interrupted by timed emergency messages.
Spelling
Identify the correctly spelled word from a set of options.
Sentence Clarity
Choose the clearer, better-constructed version of a sentence.
Reading Comprehension
Answer questions on a short passage of procedural text.
Memory & Recall
Study details for a short period, then answer from memory.
Decision Making
Choose the appropriate action in a dispatch scenario.
Map Reading
Find the fastest legal route on a street grid, respecting one-way streets and closures.
Call Summarization
Read a rambling call transcript and write the summary a responding unit would need.
Audio Data Entry
Type a record read out by a caller or a unit on the radio into a fixed-order form as you listen.
Call-Taking (Audio)
Listen to recorded 911 and non-emergency calls, take notes, then answer detailed questions.
Audio Memory Recall
Hear phone numbers, plates, VINs and caller details, then type them from memory; match spoken codes at speed.
Multitasking (Checking & Listening)
Check plates and names against a hot sheet while logging unit statuses from live radio traffic.
Which plan covers which drills
Drills marked Complete — the audio, multitasking and rules-based reasoning drills — are in the Complete plan, $49 once. Everything else here is in Standard, $29 once, and Complete includes it too. Already own Standard? You can upgrade for $20. Every paid drill has a short free sample you can try without an account.
Want a longer run? The full mock exam strings several drills together under one clock, and free practice lists everything you can use without paying.
How to prepare for the CritiCall test
Ordered roughly by how much difference each one makes.
Find out which tests your agency actually runs
Biddle says the software contains over 20 different tests and each agency selects the ones that fit its positions, so two departments hiring for the same job can test very different things. The job posting and the agency's candidate information are the only reliable sources for what you will sit. Preparing for components you will never see is wasted effort, and being surprised by one you did not know about is worse.
Learn the four decision rules before test day
Biddle's own candidate preparation guide sets out the rules for its emergency-message items: which agency or service to send, and when. It tells candidates to learn them in advance and to use only those rules, not what they know about any real agency. Read the guide and learn the rules cold. Our interruption drills train answering a message mid-task, but they ask read-back questions rather than which agency to send, so the rules themselves come from Biddle's guide.
Practice divided attention deliberately
The emergency messages can appear while you are working on another task, and the guide says you get 15 seconds to respond, with no credit for a wrong agency or a late answer. Being strong at data entry on its own tells you very little about how you perform when that happens mid-record. It needs its own practice.
Get your typing and data entry to a comfortable margin
Keyboarding is scored in words per minute and data entry is often set as a keystrokes-per-hour minimum, and where either applies it is usually a hard gate. It is also the most improvable thing on the list. Practice entering names, phone numbers and plates into fields, using Tab to move between them, because that is how the test is laid out.
Do not skip questions unless told you can
Biddle's guide warns that you will be penalized for skipping questions unless the instructions for that section say otherwise. That is the opposite of California's POST dispatcher test, where a blank beats a blind guess. Read each section's instructions; they govern.
Sit down for full-length runs, not five-minute samples
Biddle puts the typical sitting at one to three hours. Most people's accuracy holds for the first few minutes and then drifts. A short burst tells you your ceiling; a full-length run tells you your actual performance, and only one of those is the number that matters.
Guides for the CritiCall test
CritiCall Test: What's On It, Scoring and How Hard It Is
The CritiCall dispatcher test from Biddle's own material: the modules agencies pick from, the 15-second emergency messages, typing, scoring, and how hard it is.
Dispatcher Typing Requirements: WPM Minimums and How Tests Score
What WPM 911 dispatcher postings ask for, net vs gross, and how CritiCall, NTN and agency typing tests are scored. Take the test itself on our free typing test page.
Dispatcher Test Scores Explained: Is There a Passing Score?
Is there a passing score on the CritiCall test? Why dispatcher batteries have no universal pass mark, how modular scoring works, and what to aim for.
How to Prepare for a 911 Dispatcher Test in Two Weeks
A two-week plan for a 911 dispatcher test: diagnose first, fix numeric typing and interrupt recovery, set your pacing rules, and know what happens on test day.
Common questions
What score do I need to pass the CritiCall test?
There is no single national pass mark. Each agency chooses which tests to run and sets its own minimum for each, which is why candidates can perform identically and get different outcomes at different departments. Anyone quoting a universal cut score or pass rate is guessing. Check the job posting and the agency's candidate information.
How long does the CritiCall test take?
Biddle's applicant FAQ says the test takes, on average, between one and three hours. The exact length depends on which tests the agency selected.
Is there an official CritiCall practice test?
No. Biddle states there is no practice test and the software is only available to agencies. It does publish a free candidate test preparation guide and free sample keyboarding, proofreading and spelling tests, and each section of the real test opens with practice items that are not scored.
How fast do I need to type for CritiCall?
Biddle does not publish a typing standard. The keyboarding test reports words per minute and each agency sets its own minimum, often alongside a data entry minimum in keystrokes per hour. Postings we checked in 2026 asked for 35 to 40 net words per minute, but the only figure that binds you is the one in your posting.
How long do I get to answer the emergency messages?
Biddle's candidate preparation guide says 15 seconds for each emergency message, and no credit is given for the wrong agency or a response after the 15 seconds.
Can I practice on a phone?
Partly. The reading, memory, cross-referencing and decision-making modules work fine on a phone, and so do the call-taking and audio memory drills if you use headphones. Data entry, audio data entry and typing do not — they measure physical keyboard speed and accuracy, and a touchscreen will give you a score that means nothing.
Is this practice test the real thing?
No, and we would not claim otherwise. We build original timed drills for the skills the assessment measures. We do not reproduce, and will not accept from candidates, any material from a live examination.
Dispatcher requirements by state
Which test you sit is an agency decision everywhere. What changes by state is the certification and training layer.
Practice the interruptions, not just the typing
Standard $29 or Complete $49 with the audio and multitasking drills. One payment, unlimited attempts, access never expires.