Here you will find info on the National Police Officer Selection test along with free NPOST practice test questions. Let’s dive in.
What Is the National Police Officer Selection Test (NPOST)?
The National Police Officer Selection Test (NPOST) is similar to a high school equivalency examination. This timed assessment comprises four distinct sections: Math, Reading Comprehension, Grammar, and Incident Report Writing. A minimum score of 70% in each of the four sections is required to pass.
The test is administered to would-be police officers, deputy sheriffs, and corrections officers to find out if they have the necessary cognitive skills for their roles.
NPOST Utah And Other States that Use the Exam
The Police Officer Selection Test is used by Salt Lake City Police, West Valley City Police, Weber state police, and other police officer training programs in Utah for student admission.
The N.P.O.S.T test is administered in testing centers located in academic institutions like the Utah Valley University (UVO), and the Salt Lake Community College (SLCC).
Other states that use the exam include the Pennsylvania state police, Illinois state police, and the Capitol state police.
Need to take the NPOST as part of your hiring process? Try some NPOST practice questions to see how well you’ll do.
Free NPOST Practice Test
The police POST test practice questions below are broken down according to the four sections of the NPOST exam. There are two tabs in the first 3 sections of the police officer selection test that you can press to move from question to question. Good Luck.
Math Practice
This section consists of 20 questions with a 20-minute duration - that's 1 minute per question, on average.
Math Practice Question 1
1. A tray of 18 boxes with 200 grams worth of instant coffee packets makes 6000 cups of coffee. How many 200-gram boxes are required to make 4000 cups?
A. 15.
B. 12.
C. 10.
D. 150.
E. 120.
The number 4000 is 2/3 of 6000. If 18 boxes are required to produce 6000 cups of coffee, then 2/3 of this amount are required to produce 4000 cups. And 18 x 2/3 = 12.
The answer is 12
Math Practice Question 2
2. An electrical store that used to specialize in televisions and computers, has decided to expand into the cellular world. Prior to the expansion, the store offered a variety of 1,200 items, 800 of which were computers. After the expansion, the store added a large amount of cell phones to its stock. How many items does the store offer in total if the number of cell phones added is twice the number of televisions?
A. 1400.
B. 1800.
C. 2000.
D. 2600.
E. 2800.
The correct answer is 2,000 items in total.
The initial total amount of items was 1,200 which included: 800 computers and 400 televisions (=1200-800). The number of cell phones is said to be twice the number of television: 400*2 = 800.
Thus, the new total of items is: 1,200 (computers + televisions) + 800 (cell phones) = 2,000.
Reading Comprehension Practice
This section measures reading comprehension. Your job is to read the passage of each question and then answer questions based on these passages. There are three types of reading comprehension questions: True/False, choosing the correct answer, or choosing an alternative answer that best completes the sentence. There are a total of 25 questions, and you’ll have 25 minutes to answer them (An average of 1 minute per question).
Reading Comprehension Question 3
3. On Oct. 1, when the limit on federally guaranteed loans drops to $625,500 from the current level of $729,750, hundreds of buyers in the city and nearby suburbs will either have to come up with larger down payments to stay under the new limit or face the prospect of applying for jumbo loans — anything above $625,500 — which have higher interest rates.
In order to buy a house, one would now have to:
A. Pay a new tax.
B. Pay more for insurance.
C. Pay larger interest rates.
D. Pay more in advance to take a bigger loan.
The correct answer is (D).
The passage notes that "hundreds of buyers in the city and nearby suburbs will either have to come up with larger down payments to stay under the new limit or face the prospect of applying for jumbo loans." The other answers are not mentioned in the passage at all.
Reading Comprehension Question 4
4. Admired university lecturers that benefit from a good reputation among students tend to concentrate on core subjects and have a carefully planned and inflexible developmental trajectory while their teaching methods and class requirements continuously adapt to contemporary themes. Distinguished lecturers differentiate between invulnerable resources and ephemeral themes. They blend topical substances into their long-established course material but will never eliminate a focal topic due to low current relevance. Having both the experience to concentrate on the essence and the motivation to stimulate students is what makes these lecturers successful.
Which one of the following provides the best summary of the main point of the passage?
A. Good lecturers have many traits.
B. Good lecturers have a good sense of differentiation.
C. Good lecturers are organized yet adaptable.
D. Good lecturers have great experience and motivation.
The paragraph focuses noticeably on the features of a good lecturer and it is our job to identify the main one/s the author emphasizes in the text.
Distracter A is too general, providing very little information about the features of a good lecturer and is therefore eliminated.
Distracter D, although providing information given in the text (‘Having both the experience to concentrate on the essence and the motivation to stimulate students’) focuses on information given solely at the very end of the paragraph, suggesting that perhaps it is an aspect of secondary importance to the subject.
In order to choose between distracters B and C, let us try to understand the message of the text: ‘Admired university lecturers…have a carefully planned and an inflexible developmental trajectory while their teaching methods and class requirements continuously adapt to contemporary themes… Distinguished lecturers differentiate between invulnerable resources and ephemeral themes’.
It seems as though a good lecturer has to be organized and adaptable (distracter C).
Although distracter B sounds correct, and even appears in the text, it is not as accurate as distracter C since it is quite general and fails to convey the main idea of the text.
Grammar Practice
This section of the exam requires you to identify errors in grammar, punctuation, or any misspelled word. There are two types of questions presented in this section: incomplete sentences, and spelling errors.
During this section, you will have 15 minutes to answer 20 questions (45 seconds per question).
Grammar Practice Question 5
5. The assertion that cat people are different from dog people seems to have substantial scientific evidence, though many owners, particularly the fish people, are disinterested by such research.
A. Change "from" to "than"
B. Change "seems to have" to "apparently possesses"
C. Change "disinterested" to "unintrested"
D. No correction is necessary
The correct answer is (C).
Answer (C) is correct because the word "disinterest" means "impartial" and is wrong in the given context.
Answer (A) is incorrect because while in some rare cases it is appropriate to use the phrase "different than," the phrase "different from" is more accepted and used more often.
Answer (B) is incorrect because the word "possess" is more often used to describe ownership, while here, the assertion is supported by science, not an owner of any research or scientific evidence.
Grammar practice Question 6
6. Although he has been training since youth, Josef just recently found out that his methods were not only the most unique but also far exceeded the training of the rest of the competitors.
A. Change "has been training" to "had been training"
B. Change "the most unique" to "unique"
C. Change "far exceeded" to "exceeds by far"
D. No correction necessary.
The correct answer is (B).
Answer (B) is correct because the adjective "unique" is an absolute, in this case, one of a kind, and shouldn't be modified. Therefore, the adjective "most" is incorrect and should be removed.
Answer (A) is incorrect because the phrase "has been" implies he is still training, while the phrase "had been" implies he no longer trains. Since the sentence indicates (recently found out) that he is still training, there is no reason to change "has" to "had."
Answer (C) is incorrect because the phrases "far exceeded" and "exceeds by far" have similar meanings, but the former is set in the past, which is the general tense of the sentence, while the latter is set in the present and doesn't fit in the context.
Incident Report Writing Practice
This section tests your writing skills. You’ll be provided with a completed sample incident report form and be asked to use the information contained in it to answer the question. This section of the test has 10 questions, and you have 15 minutes to answer them. (A minute and a half per question).
On Monday the 22nd of June officers Walt Elaine Cooper and Corby Lemon were on patrol between 11:00 PM and 2:00 AM in district 9203. At 12:47 AM, around Adams St., they found a van parked in an empty parking lot next to a public park.
Upon approaching the vehicle officer Cooper noticed the windows were steamy and a smell of marijuana was evident in the air. In the vehicle were two teenagers; Alex Roland of 76 Meadow Lane, 17 years of age, and Dane Sherman of 90 Sunny Road, 16 years of age. Officer Cooper knocked on the window a few times, and only after a while, Mr. Roland who was in the driver’s seat rolled it down. Mr Sherman appeared to be asleep still. Officer Cooper asked Mr Roland for his license and registration papers and while Mr Roland was looking for them a smoking pipe fell out of his jacket. Officer Cooper asked him to step out of the vehicle and proceeded to conduct a body check.
Officer Cooper found two bags of marijuana 10g each on Mr Roland’s person. Mr Roland admitted to buying the drugs and using them together with Mr Sherman. Officer Cooper read Mr Roland his Miranda rights, handcuffed him and had him sit on the ground while he conducted a search of the car, where he found rolling paper and a lighter. At that time officer, Lemon was trying to wake Mr Sherman up and asked him to step out of the vehicle himself.
No drugs were found on Mr Sherman’s person but he was incoherent when interrogated. When asked where they got the drugs from, Mr Roland claimed to have bought them earlier that day at approximately 7:00 PM from an unidentified dealer on a street corner not too far from the park. Officer Lemon read Mr Sherman his Miranda rights while officer Cooper handcuffed him as well.
Both teenagers were brought in for further interrogation and to provide more details as to the identity of the dealer.
They were interrogated during the day and held up overnight. At 10:30 AM the next morning Mr Roland was released on bail into the custody of his father, Mr Jack Roland, a local bar owner. At 12:45 PM Mr Sherman was released on bail into the custody of his mother Mrs. Iris Sherman, a social worker.
Soon thereafter a date was set for both teenagers to be trialled. On the 21st of July case, 34567 was closed when Mr Roland was charged with possession and use and ordered to serve 3 months of community service. On the same date case, 39485 was closed as well when Mr Sherman was charged with use and was ordered one month of community service. Both cases were put into the teenagers’ permanent records and classified as misdemeanours.
Which of the following is described as coherent?
A. Mr. Jack Roland
B. Mr. Sherman
C. Officer Lemon
D. None of the above
The correct answer is B.
"No drugs were found on Mr. Sherman’s person but he was incoherent when interrogated."
NPOST Test Day Tips
- Guessing is not penalized so make sure you answer every question on the test since the total number of correct answers determines your score.
- Make sure you balance how much time you spend on each question with the total time allotted. The sections will be divided into start and end times. Basically, if you have extra time, you can only check your work in that section.
- Since the test is scanned by a computer, it is recommended that you use a #2 or softer lead pencil. Make sure you don't use ink.
- Make sure you arrive early. The seats may be assigned to you or you may pick your own. Whatever the case, settle in and put your stuff away.
- Take your time to listen. For each section of the test, you will receive detailed instructions from the test administrator.
NPOST Study Guides
If you are determined to excel in your NPOST assessment and secure your desired position, it is essential to equip yourself with the right study guides. The JobTestPrep NPOST preparation pack is designed to help you navigate the complexities of the assessment questions, giving you the best chance of success.
The distinguishing factor of the preparation pack is its extensive range of resources, including one Reading Comprehension and four Basic Math (Formulas, Decimals, Four Operations, and Fractions) study guides.
These guides deliver valuable insights and in-depth explanations, enabling you to not only grasp the concepts but also master the most effective strategies to answer the test questions swiftly and accurately.
They will provide you with the knowledge and techniques you'll need to prepare confidently for the test, giving you an advantage over other candidates.
Press the Get Started Now button to practice POST test police questions.
FAQs
How Do I Pass the NPOST Test?
It is necessary for a candidate to score at least 70% in each section of the test to pass it successfully.
Can You Use a Calculator on The NPOST Test?
Calculators are not allowed in the numerical section. A scratch paper will be provided in the test booklet.
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