911 dispatcher practice
911 Dispatcher Audio Memory Recall Practice Test
Hear phone numbers, plates, VINs and caller details, then type them from memory; match spoken codes at speed.
Also called: Checking Coded Information. If your agency's letter uses one of those names, this is the module it means.
Included in Complete: $49 once for every module, unlimited attempts, no subscription. Own Standard? Upgrade for $20.
What audio memory recall measures
Short-term memory for information you only hear once, and fast, accurate matching of spoken codes against look-alikes.
These assessments are modular — an agency chooses which components to run and sets its own minimum for each one. We can tell you what the skill is and how to get better at it. We can't tell you what score your agency wants, and anyone who quotes you a universal one is guessing.
How our drill works
Items are timed one at a time. Typing unlocks when the voice stops, and the window to answer is sized to the length of the item, so the memory has to be used straight away. In the final round, codes arrive on a fixed schedule that speeds up in four stages whether or not you have answered.
Each run draws a fresh selection from a bank of recorded numbers, plates, serials, caller descriptions and codes, and the look-alike options for each code are generated for that run.
When the run ends you get a breakdown, not just a percentage. The point is to show you where the points went, so the next run can be different.
Which assessments include audio memory recall
Agencies use different vendors, and each picks its own combination of components. This module appears in the batteries below — but check the job posting, because an agency using one of them may not run every part of it.
CritiCall
Biddle Consulting Group, Inc.
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.
POST Entry-Level Dispatcher Selection Test Battery
California Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training
California's standard written test for public safety dispatchers: eleven short tests of verbal, reasoning, memory and perceptual ability. Six are written and five play audio, answers are marked on paper, and scores are reported as T-scores.
How to get better at audio memory recall
Specific to this module, and specific enough to change what you do on your next run.
Chunk numbers the way they are spoken
A ten-digit phone number is three chunks, not ten digits. A VIN read in groups of four is two or three chunks. Rehearse the chunk you are hearing, not the individual characters, and you will hold much longer strings than you expect.
Say it back silently before the voice finishes
Typing is locked until the speaker stops, which is deliberate. Use that time: repeat the item to yourself as it arrives, so that when the field unlocks you are reading it off a rehearsal loop rather than trying to reconstruct it.
Give caller details a fixed slot order
For lists of three to five details — clothing, a vehicle, a direction — decide on an order and always use it, such as top to bottom for clothing. A consistent structure gives you a path back to the detail that slipped, and the results screen shows which positions in a list you tend to lose.
On the coded-information round, let the missed ones go
The codes keep coming whether or not you answer, and the pace rises until nobody keeps up. Dwelling on a code you missed costs you the next one as well. Answer, or abandon, and be ready when the next code is read.
Listen for the sound-alike, then check it by eye
The wrong options are built from letters that rhyme or look alike — B, D, P and T; M and N; 5 and S; 8 and B. When two options differ by one of those pairs, that position is where your decision is. Knowing the families in advance turns a guess into a check.
Practice these next
Call-Taking (Audio)
Listen to recorded 911 and non-emergency calls, take notes, then answer detailed questions.
Multitasking (Checking & Listening)
Check plates and names against a hot sheet while logging unit statuses from live radio traffic.
Audio Data Entry
Type a record read out by a caller or officer into a fixed-order form as you listen.
Evaluating Facts
Decide whether each conclusion is true, false, or can't be told from the facts given.
Common questions
What does the audio memory drill practice?
Holding information you hear only once. There are four rounds: numbers of five to ten digits, plates, serials and VINs of five to ten characters, and short lists of caller details, each typed from memory after the voice stops; then a round where letter-number codes are read aloud and you pick the matching written option from five look-alikes while the pace speeds up.
Which assessments test audio memory or coded information?
Biddle lists a Memory Recall module for CritiCall with audio and numeric audio versions, and its candidate guide suggests having someone read you seven-digit phone numbers to type from memory. California POST's examinee guide describes a Checking Coded Information test in which short letter-number codes are read aloud, you mark the matching written alternative, and the pace speeds up. Agencies choose which components they use. Our items, timings and scoring are our own.
Can I replay an item?
Not during the timed run — each item plays once, and the next one starts on its own. The optional untimed practice lets you hear items again with feedback. Once the run is over, the results screen lets you replay any clip and read exactly what was said.
Can I take it on a phone?
Yes. The answers are short and you press Done on a phone keyboard to submit, so it works on a phone with headphones. If you hear nothing on an iPhone, turn the volume up and check the silent switch; the drill has a sound check you can run before you start.
Is it all-or-nothing scoring?
No. For typed items we show how many characters you had in the right place, not just right or wrong, because getting eight of ten digits tells you something different from getting none. The coded-information round is scored per code.
Which plan includes audio memory?
Complete, at $49 once. It is not part of Standard, which covers the written memory and recall drill instead. Standard owners can upgrade for $20, and there is a free sample of about three minutes covering a short piece of each round.
Practice every module, unlimited attempts
Included in Complete, $49 once. Access never expires, and there's no subscription.