Pass the CHP Test on Your First Try With This Free Practice Test & Accurate Prep Materials
The California Highway Patrol (CHP) is the largest state police agency in the US, with more than 11,000 employees working from 140 locations. While the CHP receives over 10,000 applications for Officer positions every year, only 5-6% get accepted to the academy.
The CHP written test is a crucial step of the recruitment process, and only candidates with the highest scoring pass it and move on to the next step.
The CHP uses the PELLET B test for its written exam, which is considered one of the US's most challenging law enforcement entry tests. It assesses your language skills through 120 questions you need to answer in 2 hours.
In this CHP written test study guide, you will find everything you need to know to ace the test, with the test’s structure, scoring, CHP practice test questions, and solving tips.
Highway Patrol Test Practice
What You'll Get:
- Over 900 practice questions
- Start practicing for the highway patrol preparation.
- 3 Original study guides
- 9 English Clarity practice drills
- 5 spelling and grammar practice drills
- 5 vocabulary practice drills
- 10 reading comprehension tests
- 2 time-limited CLOZE practice tests
What Is the CHP Written Exam?
The PELLET B California Highway Patrol exam is a verbal aptitude test that evaluates the language skills required from police officers and correctional officers.
The test comprises three sections that are further divided into several topics –
- Writing Ability – assesses your basic writing skills and fluency
- Reading Ability – assesses your comprehension and interpretation skills
- Reasoning Ability – assesses your analytical skills
Writing Ability Test
The writing ability section has 45 multiple-choice questions that cover three topics:
- English clarity – you will be presented with two sentences. Your job is to determine which of them is written more clearly.
- Spelling – you will be presented with a sentence that has a missing word. Your job is to choose the correct spelling of the missing word.
- Vocabulary – you will be presented with a sentence with a capitalized or underlined word. Your job is to choose the correct synonym for that word.
Reading Ability Test
The reading ability section covers two topics:
- Reading Comprehension – you will be presented with a written passage. Your job is to answer 20 multiple-choice questions related to the information within the text.
- CLOZE – you will be presented with a block of text with 40 missing words replaced by dashes. Each dash represents a single letter of the deleted word. Your job is to fill in the blank words. You will not be given a list of words; rather, the purpose is to test your knowledge of context, good grammar, spelling, and vocabulary.
Logical Reasoning Test
The logical reasoning section contains 16 multiple-choice questions that cover three topics:
- Ordering information – you will be presented with a written paragraph. Your job is to reorganize the data and rearrange the content to reach a conclusion.
- Grouping information – you will be presented with several items with a common ground. Your job is to determine which of the items is exceptional.
- Pattern recognition – you will be presented with a set of letters, numbers, or shapes. Your job is to recognize the pattern ruling the set and determine which comes next in the series.
Let’s see how it looks through a free CHP practice test:
CHP Test Sample Questions
CHP Writing Ability Sample Questions
English Clarity Sample Question
A. The thief was wearing a red shirt; he ran through the alley.
B. The thief was wearing a red shirt, ran through the alley.
Tip💡: pay attention to common writing errors, like misspellings, vague references, and sentence fragments.
Spelling Sample Question
The deadly shooting of a suspect who ______ rocks at officers during a disturbance call in Washington has sparked calls for a federal ________ and weeks of protests.
Tip💡: many words can sound alike, even when spelled differently. Breaking the words into syllables will reveal their correct spelling.
Vocabulary Sample Question
The notions of freedom and liberty were conceived during the revolutionary war.
Which of the following can replace the word conceived:
Tip💡: words included in this section are likely common words that can be encountered in law enforcement work. Practice and learn as many words within the low enforcement lexicon as possible beforehand.
CHP Reading Ability Sample Questions
Reading Comprehension Sample Question
Read the following passage, then answer the question below:
Wild species of bees are said by researchers to be responsible for pollinating around one-third of the world's crop production, performing an important role in preventing world starvation. Lately, there has been a great concern across the country about the demise of bee populations.
American Food Safety Association (AFSA) scientists have identified a number of risks posed to bees by the chemicals used in some pesticides. The AFSA has found that these pesticides have acute and chronic effects on bee colony survival and development.
Although the federal government is adamantly pushing toward restricting the use of toxic chemicals for crops not attractive to bees and other pollinators, many farmers and crop experts argue that there is insufficient data to make such drastic restrictions. They argue that the report published by the AFSA specifically stated that in some cases it was “unable to finalize the assessments due to shortcomings in the available data.
Which one of the following statements is definitely correct in light of the text?
Tip💡: This is the most time-consuming part of the test. To keep pace and not read the text more than once, you can divide the text by topics; thus it will be easier to identify the relevant sentence or paragraph to answer the question.
CLOZE Sample Question
Read the encased text. Then, try to guess which words were intended to replace the blanks. Remember, each dash represents a letter.
Some countries have two or more levels of police forces. For example, most (1)-------- in Australia is carried out by the six state police forces, but there is also the Australian Federal Police who police the (2)----- country. Germany has a similar system. The United (3)------- and Switzerland have many local police forces and several national agencies, but no (4)------ national police force. In Canada, local governments can choose to (5)------ run their own police force or (6)---- the job to a bigger one. So most Canadian cities have their own police, while most rural areas are policed by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, which is also the national police.
Tip💡: There may be more than one correct answer for some of the missing words. In these cases, you will be given credit for the word if it fits the number of letters and the context.
CHP Logical Reasoning Sample Questions
Ordering Information Sample Question
Witness A stayed outside the bar for several minutes longer than Witness B. Witness C stayed outside the bar for several minutes shorter than Witness B.
Which witness stayed outside the bar for the longest time interval?
Tip💡: The information is basically a story told out of order. Putting the story in the correct chronology will make it easier to figure out the answer.
Grouping Information Sample Question
Three of the words below share a similarity; one does not. Select the odd one out:
Tip💡: Try to discover a rule that links between the words; once you find one that applies to three of the options, you also find the odd one out.
Reading Comprehension Sample Question
What is the correct number to continue the following series? 20, 19, 18, 17, 16, ___
Tip💡: Pay close attention to all the changes between the items; any variation can hint at the pattern.
Now that you've got it, try the full free PELLETB practice test!
With JobTestPrep’s CHP preparation pack, you will get everything needed for you to ace the test and receive a good score on the CHP test!
CHP Written Test Passing Score
Unlike most law enforcement tests, where your score is based only on the number of questions you answer correctly, the CHP written test passing score is based on percentile scoring.
What that means is that your score is compared to the other testees and placed on a T-score model, where 50 is the average score.
So, if you happen to take the test along with a very strong candidate pool, you may answer as much as 70% of the questions correctly but still receive a percentile score of 45, and while most law enforcement agencies in California require a percentile score of 42 and above, the CHP passing percentile score is 48.
With this scoring system and a high passing score, you must exceed your fellow applicants. To do so, you need to familiarize yourself with the test format, each of its different sections, and their unique challenges.
With JobTestPrep's CHP Test Prep course, you will receive all the tools required to ace the test, with a CHP written test study guide, hundreds of questions and detailed answers, and a specific practice for the CLOZE reading test.
CHP Hiring Process
To apply for the California Highway Patrol, you have to meet the following requirements –
- Age of 20 to apply, and at least 21 when graduating from the CHP academy
- Possessing a high school diploma or a GED
- Having legal authorization to work in the US under federal law
- No felony convictions
If you fulfill all the demands, you can start the CHP hiring process, which includes seven steps –
- Submitting the CHP employment application
- Passing the CHP Physical Abilities Test
- Passing the CHP written exam – the PELLEB written exam that assesses your language skills
- Passing the CHP background investigation
- Passing the psych exam, the medical check, and the CVSA Truth Verification exam
- Completing the 27-weeks training at the California Highway Patrol academy
- Completing the 12 probationary months period as an active trooper
The whole process, from your application to the academy appointment, can take between 12-18 months.
Frequently Asked Questions
The CHP written exam consists of 120 questions divided into three sections –
- Writing Ability - 45 multiple-choice questions that assess your English clarity, spelling, and vocabulary.
- Reading ability – a CLOZE and 20 multiple-choice questions that assess your ability to understand and interpret written instructions.
- Reasoning ability – multiple-choice questions that assess your logic and analysis abilities.
The CHP written test has a time limit of 2 hours.
To pass the CHP test, you need to receive a score of 48 or above. Because your score is determined according to the other applicants who took the test, the only way to pass it is to practice beforehand as much as possible with study materials that are explicitly tailored to the CHP written exam.
The CHP written test is considered one of the US's most challenging law enforcement entry exams, especially for its CLOZE section. With questions that evaluate your reading, writing, and comprehension competencies, you have to be well-prepared and master all the test’s topics.
There is no limitation on the number of times you can take the CHP test. However, you can take it only once every 30 days.
The best CHP test preparation is to be familiarized with the test and its different sections. The preferred way to do so is with specific CHP learning materials adapted to the unique challenges of each test’s topics and types of questions.
Start preparing yourself with JobTestPrep's CHP Test PrePack to boost your performance and ace the test.
