911 dispatcher practice
911 Dispatcher Multitasking (Checking & Listening) Practice Test
Check plates and names against a hot sheet while logging unit statuses from live radio traffic.
Also called: Checking and Listening. 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 multitasking (checking & listening) measures
Splitting attention between a visual checking task and radio traffic, then answering questions about what was reported.
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 is the recording. Part one runs for about eight and a half minutes of radio traffic while you check the list and keep the log, and your log entries and check-request answers are timed from the moment each transmission is said. Part two gives you four minutes for fifteen questions.
The checking list, the hot-sheet hits and the questions are generated for each run. The radio traffic comes from a small set of recorded scenarios with synthetic voices.
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 multitasking (checking & listening)
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 multitasking (checking & listening)
Specific to this module, and specific enough to change what you do on your next run.
Let the radio interrupt the list, never the reverse
The checking list is longer than anyone finishes, and missing a few items costs little. A status report you fail to log costs more, and a check request has a short answer window. When a unit starts talking, stop checking, listen, log, then go back to the list.
Log it as it is said
Log credit is full inside ten seconds of the status being said and halves after that. Waiting to finish the item you were on, or to hear the whole transmission twice, is the most common way to turn full credit into half. Learn the unit-then-status key presses until you do not need to look.
Ignore the dispatcher, log the units
Only a unit reporting its own status change is a new log entry. The dispatcher assigning a call or reading a status back is not. Logging read-backs as new reports adds wrong entries, and wrong entries cost you.
Do not guess on the hot sheet
A wrong Hit or No hit cancels a right one. Mark an item only when you have checked it character by character against the sheet; a plate that differs by one character is No hit. Speed comes from a fixed scanning habit, not from marking faster.
Your log is your answer key
The questions afterwards — such as the first status a unit reported — are answered with your own log on screen. A clean, complete log makes that part easy, which is one more reason to prioritize logging over checking while the radio is running.
Practice these next
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.
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.
Evaluating Facts
Decide whether each conclusion is true, false, or can't be told from the facts given.
Common questions
What does the multitasking drill practice?
Splitting attention between a written task and the radio. For about eight and a half minutes you check plates, names and addresses against a hot sheet while keeping a log of the status changes units report over recorded radio traffic, and answering occasional check requests. When the radio stops, you have four minutes for fifteen questions about what the units reported, with your log on screen.
Which assessments have a checking-and-listening task?
California POST's examinee guide describes a Checking and Listening test that pairs comparing names, addresses and license numbers with a hot sheet with recording unit status transmissions from simulated radio broadcasts, followed by questions. Stanard's National Dispatcher Selection Test has a speeded multitasking section, and CritiCall lists modules that ask for decisions while other tasks run. Agencies choose which tests they use, and formats, codes and timings differ. Our drill trains the skill with original material.
Can I pause or replay the radio?
Not in the timed run. The radio plays straight through, and response timings are measured against the recording. The one-minute practice is untimed, can be paused and replayed, and marks every answer straight away. After a run, the review lets you replay each transmission and see whether you logged it, how quickly, and what it should have been.
Does it work on a phone?
It works, but it is best on a computer with a keyboard. Doing three things at once is much easier to practice with the hot sheet, the list and the log side by side. On a phone you get a simplified layout with one check at a time and the log as a bar of unit buttons, and scores will run lower.
Is the radio traffic different every time?
Partly. The checking list, the hot-sheet hits and the questions are generated for each run, but the radio traffic comes from a small set of recorded scenarios, so after several runs you will start to recognize the transmissions. The voices are synthetic and every callsign, plate and address is invented.
Is multitasking part of Complete?
Yes. It is included in Complete, $49 once, and not in Standard. Standard owners can upgrade for $20. The free sample runs about two minutes of radio traffic with four questions.
Practice every module, unlimited attempts
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