Ontario Provincial Police 911 Dispatchers Test Preparation [2026]
The CritiCall is unique among recruitment tests - it evaluates your cognitive skills and doesn't require prior 9‑1‑1 knowledge, yet it's still described by candidates as challenging and arduous.
The test is developed by Biddle Consulting Group, an American company. In Canada, it's used by the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) for dispatchers in the province, as well as by the RCMP nationwide.
If you're scheduled to take the Ontario Provincial Police CritiCall exam or the RCMP CritiCall, this page will get you familiarised with the ins and outs of the assessment.
Ontario Provincial Police 911 Dispatchers Test Preparation
One Month's Access to:
- Decision Making: 1 practice test
- Data Entry: 11 practice tests
- Map Reading: 13 practice tests
- Call Summarization: 13 practice tests
- Typing (Keyboarding): 1 practice test
- 9 additional practice modules.
What Is the Ontario Provincial Police CritiCall Test
The OPP use the CritiCall test as its assessment tool for candidates for their 911 Dispatch.
The CritiCall assessment consists of multiple mini-tests called "modules." Each one is designed to assess a specific skill.
Test Structure:
Individual modules, differing by jurisdiction
Test Time:
Approx. 2 hours
Difficulty:
Considered challenging by most candidates
Importantly, every employer can choose the modules that are most important to them. Additonally, every dispatch organization can choose their own passing score.
The company that made the CritiCall exam, Biddle Consulting (administered by Test Genius), created 25 different modules.
Here are some examples of the most frequently used modules:
- Typing (Keyboarding)
- Decision-Making
- Data Entry
- Call Summarization
- Cross-Referencing
- Map Reading
- Sentence Clarity
- Reading Comprehension
- Spelling
- Memory Recall
- Prioritization
- Character Comparison
- Math
Watch this video explaining the Ontario CritiCall exam:
Practice Questions and Candidate's Guide to the Ontario CritiCall Assessment
JobTestPrep's CritiCall Practice Course
Take advantage of over 150 test practice tests, tutorials and test guides.
• All CritiCall modules for OPP and RCMP included
• Practice varying difficulty levels
• Full solutions to sample questions
• Full feedback reports after each simulation
• The Data Entry Module contains a surprise multitasking task, just like the real CritiCall.
Watch a Sneak Peek of Our Learning Platform:
Frequently Asked Questions
Your CritiCall test score is graded using three metrics: Keystrokes-per Hour (KPH), Words-per-Minute (WPM), and percentage scores (%) of each section. These are accumulated into an overall score shown in percentages.
The average CritiCall passing score for most portions ranges between 70% to 75%. To pass the CritiCall test at some of the most competitive agencies, you'll often need to reach a cutoff score of 80% and even 90%. The cutoff scores are usually determined by testing existing dispatchers and setting the benchmarks according to their scores. The passing score in the CritiCall Ontario Police is 70-75%.
The results’ processing time depends on every agency’s hiring schedule. Some send the results immediately to candidates, while others send out the results only several weeks after all testing dates have been completed.
According to the official site of OACP, the Full Constable Selection System in the Ontario Provincial Police contains 3 phases of different tests-
- Phase 1, Pre-Hiring Stage (OACP Certificate Tests)-
- Stage 1 (A) - Online Files Submission
- Stage 2 (B) - Mental Abilities Test
- Stage 3 (C) - Personality Assessment
- Phase 2, Police Hiring Initial Stages-
- Stage 4 - Information Sessions
- Stage 5 - Application Package
- Stage 6 - Local Focus Interview
- Stage 7 - Essential Competency Interview
- Stage 8 - Additional specific testing (For example, the dispatchers CritiCall exam)
- Phase 3, Police Hiring End Stages-
- Stage 9 - Background Investigation
- Stage 10 - Psychological Evaluation
- Stage 11 - Medical Examination
- Stage 12 - Conditional Job Offer
- Practice for the exam using a desk PC and a regular keyboard with a num pad. Avoid practicing with a laptop, Mac, or MacBook. You’ll have regular Desk PCs on the actual test, so you should feel comfortable using them.
- Practice using “Tab” and “Shift-Tab” on your keyboard. These keys will help you move quickly between boxes and speed up your typing on the actual test.
- To practice your typing speed and accuracy, type into an audiobook. Let it get a few words ahead of you, and see if you can keep up with reasonable accuracy.
- Practice multi-tasking by typing a conversation you hear on the news or radio while holding a conversation with someone in the room.
- Learn the CritiCall decision-making rules in advance. There are pre-determined rules for choosing the correct emergency services to dispatch to a scene. Knowing them in advance can help you select the right option quickly and avoid losing points on the test.
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