911 dispatcher practice
911 Dispatcher Call-Taking (Audio) Practice Test
Listen to recorded 911 and non-emergency calls, take notes, then answer detailed questions.
Also called: Call Summarization (audio), Recalling Facts and Details. 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 call-taking (audio) measures
Picking out and holding on to the facts that matter from a real-sounding call — locations, descriptions, numbers, corrections — with or without notes.
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
The clock runs on the questions, not the call. Each call plays once, with no pause or replay. In the with-notes format you then get 30 seconds to finish your notes, and that call's questions come on one screen with 30 seconds per question. You can change answers until you submit; blanks score as wrong, and a wrong guess costs nothing extra.
Calls come from a bank of scripted police, fire, EMS and non-emergency calls, voiced with synthetic voices on a simulated phone line. Each run mixes services and skips calls you have heard recently on the same browser.
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 call-taking (audio)
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.
The same skill also turns up outside the batteries above, in other vendors' tests and in tests agencies build themselves, usually under a different name.
How to get better at call-taking (audio)
Specific to this module, and specific enough to change what you do on your next run.
Write the location first, every call
Give your notes a fixed shape before the first call plays: where, then what is happening, then people and vehicles, then hazards. Location goes down the moment you hear it, even mid-sentence. When the questions arrive, you want to find an answer by where it sits on the page, not by rereading everything you wrote.
When the caller corrects something, cross out and rewrite
Callers change their minds about the street, the direction of travel or the color of a car, and the question will ask for the final version. Do not squeeze the correction in beside the original. Strike the old detail through and write the new one clearly, so there is only one thing to read when you come back to it.
Use the wrap-up seconds to fill gaps, not to tidy
In the with-notes format you get a short window after each call ends before the questions start. Spend it finishing half-written numbers and names while they are still in your ear. Neat handwriting and full words earn nothing; the notes are never scored.
Notice what was never said
Some questions ask about a detail the caller did not give — whether a weapon was mentioned, whether anyone was hurt. If you only listen for what is there, you will pick the plausible option. Part of your attention should be tracking what is conspicuously missing from the call.
Train the no-notes format as well
Some tests allow notes during a call and some do not. The recall format plays calls with no notes allowed, which forces you to hold details in a structure in your head. If your agency's test allows notes, the recall runs still make your notes better, because you learn which details you actually retain without them.
Practice these next
Audio Memory Recall
Hear phone numbers, plates, VINs and caller details, then type them from memory; match spoken codes at speed.
Evaluating Facts
Decide whether each conclusion is true, false, or can't be told from the facts given.
Unit Assignment
Apply a rule sheet to send exactly the right units to each incident.
Multitasking (Checking & Listening)
Check plates and names against a hot sheet while logging unit statuses from live radio traffic.
Common questions
What does the call-taking drill practice?
Listening to a simulated 911 or non-emergency call once and then answering detailed multiple-choice questions about it — addresses and directions, descriptions, vehicles and plates, numbers, times, hazards, details the caller corrected, and what the caller never actually said. You can practice with notes (three calls of one and a half to three minutes, ten questions each) or in a no-notes recall format (two calls).
Which dispatcher tests use a task like this?
Listening to a call and answering questions about it appears in several published batteries, in different forms. California POST's examinee guide describes a Call-Taking test with notes and a Recalling Facts and Details test without them. Stanard's National Dispatcher Selection Test brochure describes listening passages with notes followed by questions, and Biddle describes CritiCall's Call Summarization as hearing information and summarizing the important facts. Agencies choose which tests to run, so check your own notice. Our calls and questions are original; we train the skill rather than copying any exam.
Can I replay a call?
Not during the drill. Each call plays once, with no pause, rewind or replay, because that is the condition the skill has to hold up under. There is an untimed practice call you can replay as often as you like, and after the run every question is shown beside the transcript line that answers it, with the recording available to replay.
Does it work on a phone?
Yes. Answering is tap-based, and on a phone you can take notes with pen and paper instead of the on-screen notes box — some real tests use paper notes anyway. Use headphones if you can; the calls are recorded to sound like a phone line, and a small speaker in a noisy room makes them harder than they need to be.
Are the recordings real 911 calls?
No. Every call is scripted by us and voiced with synthetic voices, then processed to sound like a phone line. The names, addresses and phone numbers are fictional. Calls you have heard recently on the same browser are skipped, but the bank is finite, so over many runs you will eventually hear a call again.
Is call-taking included in Standard?
No. Call-taking is one of the audio and multitasking drills in Complete, which is $49 once. If you already own Standard, you can upgrade for $20. Anyone can run a short free sample — one call and six questions — before buying.
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