Police Exam Free Practice Test and Prep

What Is a Police Exam?

In order to begin your career as a police officer – whether it be with the New York Police, New Jersey Police, or any other police department, you must receive a high score on your law enforcement entrance exams.

The purpose of these initial tests is to evaluate your style of thinking, situational awareness, judgment, and cognitive ability.

Although there isn’t one specific police officer exam used across the board for all departments, the free sample questions on this page will give you an idea of the types of questions you'll face.

Police Officer Selection Test Passing Score

A typical passing score of the police written exam is 70%. Some police exams are pass/fail, but this will vary according to each police department. As a rule of thumb, the higher your score, the better your chances are to get selected.

Find Your Tailored Police Written Exam PrepPack™

Each state POST (Peace Officers Standards and Training) either designs its own exam or selects an exam provided by an assessment company. Each department may also choose its own exam.

Popular Police Tests:

Popular Law Enforcement Entrance Exams By State:

New York | Pennsylvania | California

Popular Law Enforcement Entrance Tests:

FrontLine Test | NCJOSI Test

Here is a list of popular assessment companies that have created police exams.

Company	Exam
B-PAD Group Inc.	Behavioral Personnel Assessment Device (B-PAD)
MTA Police	MTAPD Police Exam
Criminal Justice Standards and Training Commission	CJBAT Test
Connecticut Police Force	CPCA Test
CWH Research Inc.	Entry-level Law Enforcement Written Examination
Darany & Associates	Entry Level Police Officer Examination (DELPOE)
EB Jacobs	Law Enforcement Aptitude Battery (LEAB)
Ergometrics	Frontline National Police Test
Fire & Police Selection Inc.	FPSI Police Test
IO Solutions	National Criminal Justice Officer Selection Inventory (NCJOSI)
IPMA-HR	Police Officer Entry Level Series Tests (PO-EL Series)
McCann Associates	McCann Public Safety Exams
Morris & McDaniel	Police S.H.I.E.L.D Police Exam
Nelson Denny	Nelson Denny Reading Test
Stanard & Associates	National Police Officer Selection Test (NPOST)
Wonderlic	Wonderlic Personnel Test (WPT)

Police Practice Test

Although there isn’t one specific police officer exam used across the board for all departments, this free test sample will give you an idea of the types of questions you'll face.

Police Sample Question 1:
The map below is a scheme of subway lines in the city.

Each line is marked by a different color and is associated with a different letter. Stations are numbered by their location on the line(s). The numbering of the stations progresses from the beginning of the line to its end. Lines always begin at the northernmost station, except for lines G and M which begin at the westernmost station. Codes associated with some of the stations have been written below them.

A station can have more than one code associated with it, as some stations have more than one line passing through them.

Question: Ms. Sol Aroches needs to commute from station M3 to station O3. Which of the following routes would be the least efficient (passes through the most stations)?

M3 → M2 → B8 → C3 → O3.
M3 → C4 → O4 → O3.
M3 → M5 → O3.
M3 → B10 → B5 → O3.

Police Sample Question 2:

Question: Mr. Absalom Holmes needs to commute from station B9 to station M9 but cannot take his usual route since section M6 → M7 is blocked due to a malfunction. Which of the following routes would be the most efficient (passes through the least stations)?

B9 → B5 → P4 → H4 → M9.
B9 → B6 → O4 → M9.
B9 → B8 → C3 → C4 → M9.
M3 → B10 → B5 → O3.

Police Sample Question 3:

OFFICER NOTES: At about 11 am on September 6, 2014, I met with Mr. David Lewis at 11 Allenby Street, the Westside Mall, regarding a vehicle theft.

QUESTION: Which one of the following choices most clearly and accurately expresses the facts presented in the note above?

Responding to a call at 11 am at 11 Allenby Street, the Westside Mall, and pulling up to the parking lot, I saw the victim standing there. He identified himself as Mr. David Lewis.

I responded to a call at 11 am at 11 Allenby Street, the Westside Mall. When I pulled up to the mall, I saw a man standing there. He identified himself as Mr. David Lewis and said that he was reporting a vehicle theft.

When I responded to a call from 11 Allenby, the Westside mall I saw pulling into the parking lot a man who identified himself as Mr. David Lewis.

Responding to a call from 11 Allenby Street, I saw a man in the parking lot. He identified himself as the victim of the vehicle theft, Mr. David Lewis.

Correct Answer

Incorrect Answer

Police Sample Question 4: Math

The police math test section tests your basic math skills. It includes: addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.

There will most likely math word problems that are found in everyday situations. Some tests may include fraction, decimals and percentages, and others may not include a math section at all.

Here is quick example:

A train travels 90 miles in 15 minutes, how many miles does it travel in 2 hours?

542

720

789

800

942

None of these

Correct Answer

Incorrect Answer

15 minutes are a 1/4 of an hour. To reach 2 hours from a 1/4 of an hour we need to multiply by 8. Because the time is multiplied by 8 we also multiply the distance traveled by 8:

90*8=720 miles

Practice your math skills now!

Police Sample Question 5: Vocabulary
One of the types of questions that you may find is fill-in. You will be given a sentence and have to find the word that best fits the completion of the sentence.

Find the answer that completes this sentence correctly.

____ claim that new lines of inquiry are being ____ .

A. Investigations, purused

B. Investigators, pursued

C. investigations, pursue

D. investigators, purseud

E. None of these

Correct Answer

Incorrect Answer

The correct answer is B.

Investigators claim that new lines of inquiry are being pursued.

Incorrect Answers

The first word must be capitalized, so you can eliminate C and D. Although A and B would have two different sentence meanings, looking closely at the second word, A can be eliminated because pursued is spelled wrong.

Police Sample Question 6:
An officer would MOST likely require the backup assistance of other officers in which of the following situations?

A woman files a complaint against her neighbor for sexual assault.

An elderly man carrying a cane is having an argument with a younger man in the middle of the day next to a shopping mall.

There's been a call forwarded from dispatch about two women robbing a grocery store.

A couple of teenagers report to the police station about a break-in at their mother's house the previous night.

Correct Answer

Incorrect Answer

How to pass the Police Officer Exam?

Our preparation packs are customized to mimic the actual exam and to better help you prepare for it. They include score reports, study guides, and answer explanations to help you better understand your results.

To excel on your police written exam, start practicing our free police sample questions on this page and then get our accurate preparation pack.

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Police Entry-Level Exam

Becoming a police officer isn’t easy – you must go through a highly competitive hiring process to get the job you want.

The entry-level police exam is the most important part of the police officer recruitment process. That is why you must prepare for it.

The police written exam is used to assess basic cognitive abilities, such as reading comprehension, math, grammar, and spelling. It also evaluates specific skills relevant to the police profession, such as memory and spatial orientation.

Another major part of the recruitment process is the police psychological exam, which assesses your personality traits and behavioral tendencies to determine whether you are a good fit for the career. In this preparation, a personality test + study guides

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