911 dispatcher practice
911 Dispatcher Unit Assignment Practice Test
Apply a rule sheet to send exactly the right units to each incident.
Also called: Assigning Field Units. 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 unit assignment measures
Applying several dispatch rules and their exceptions at once — areas, availability, emergency status — quickly and precisely.
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
It's timed: seven minutes for twenty incidents across two rule sheets, the second with exceptions that interact. The rules stay available the whole time; the clock is what stops you rereading them for every incident.
Rule sheets and incidents are generated fresh every run, and each item's answer is confirmed by a solver and an independent brute-force check before it is served, so you cannot memorize your way through and you will not run out.
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 unit assignment
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.
Emergency Communications (ECOMM) Exam
Ergometrics & Applied Personnel Research, Inc.
An Ergometrics-developed exam delivered through National Testing Network, in a Comprehensive (video) version and an Express version. Candidates book it themselves, online with a live proctor or at a test center, and NTN sends the scores to each participating agency they choose. It is a different product from the National Dispatcher Selection Test (NDST), which is published by Stanard & Associates — the two are frequently confused.
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 unit assignment
Specific to this module, and specific enough to change what you do on your next run.
Work unit by unit, A to E, every time
Do not jump to the obvious unit and stop. Go through each unit in order and ask three questions: is the call in its area, is it available under these rules, and does any rule name it? An incident counts as correct only when you mark exactly the right set, so one unit you forgot to consider is a wrong answer.
Read the exceptions twice, the general rules once
The general rules are predictable. The exceptions — a unit that never leaves its area, a float unit for uncovered calls, units on non-emergency calls counted as available — are where the items are decided. Read their exact wording: available, own area, only one.
Note emergency or non-emergency before anything else
Most rule sheets send different units to emergency and non-emergency calls. Deciding the call type first, before you look at the units, stops you applying the wrong half of the sheet.
Drop the last sheet's rules completely
The second rule sheet in a run has different rules and more exceptions that interact. Carrying a habit from the first sheet into the second is a reliable way to lose several items in a row. When the sheet changes, reread it as if you have never seen a rule sheet before.
Review your unit decisions, not just your score
The review breaks every incident into five separate unit decisions and names the rules that decided it. If you keep missing the same kind of decision — say, units on non-emergency calls — that is the exception to slow down on.
Practice these next
Call-Taking (Audio)
Listen to recorded 911 and non-emergency calls, take notes, then answer detailed questions.
Evaluating Facts
Decide whether each conclusion is true, false, or can't be told from the facts given.
Audio Data Entry
Type a record read out by a caller or officer into a fixed-order form as you listen.
Audio Memory Recall
Hear phone numbers, plates, VINs and caller details, then type them from memory; match spoken codes at speed.
Common questions
What does the unit assignment drill practice?
Applying a rule sheet quickly and exactly. Each sheet says which of five units covers which areas and what to send to emergency and non-emergency calls, plus exceptions. For each incident you mark every unit the rules send, or none. A timed run is twenty incidents across two rule sheets in seven minutes, and the sheets are generated fresh every run.
Which dispatcher tests include assigning units?
California POST's entry-level dispatcher battery includes an Assigning Field Units test, where you read a new set of rules and mark no, one or several units for each incident, with a sample in its examinee guide. Stanard's National Dispatcher Selection Test describes a problem-solving section that assigns patrol units by rules, and NTN's ECOMM dispatcher test asks which units to send based on where they are and what they are doing. Rules, formats and timings differ by test and agency.
Do I need to know real dispatch procedures?
No, and it can work against you. The right answer is whatever the rule sheet in front of you produces, even where a real center would do something different. The units, areas and rules are all fictional.
Does it work on a phone?
Yes. You tap units A to E and can show or hide the rule sheet as you work. A larger screen makes it easier to keep the rules and the incident in view together, and on a computer you can use the A to E, N and R keys.
Will I see the same incidents twice?
No. Rule sheets and incidents are generated for each run, and every served item is checked by a solver and an independent brute-force verifier that must agree on the answer. There is also untimed practice with basic or advanced rules and feedback after each incident.
Is unit assignment included in Standard?
No. It is one of the drills added in Complete, $49 once, and Standard owners can upgrade for $20. The Standard prioritization drill covers ranking incidents; this one covers sending units by rule. There is a free three-minute sample with five incidents.
Practice every module, unlimited attempts
Included in Complete, $49 once. Access never expires, and there's no subscription.