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What Is a Police Personality Test?

The personality test given to police candidates highlights the job-related personality, motivations, preferences, attitudes, interests, and values of the test taker. There are a myriad of police personality tests developed to find the right applicant for law enforcement positions.

The test consists of at least 100 questions to be answered within a time limit as short as 15 minutes. Questions on the police personality exam are standardized and formatted as either paper & pencil or computer-based. The police personality test questions delve into your personal lifestyle, behavior, and attitudinal attributes.

Many of the same basic questions appear in reworded forms. It is essential that you answer the questions consistently throughout the exam and that you do not attempt to portray yourself as perfect.

Police personality exams are comprised of short statements, each followed by multiple-choice responses. These responses house a five-point agreement scale from “strongly disagree” to “strongly agree.” Look carefully at the response order as some tests place “strongly agree” first and other exams place the it last.

What Is a Police Psychological Test Looking for in You?

Traits Predictive of Law Enforcement Job Performance

The vast majority of police departments utilize the Big Five personality factors as indicators of the applicants most able and willing to carry out the responsibilities of public safety positions. The five-factor analysis includes:

  1. Extroversion – dominant, energetic, socially interactive, talkative
  2. Agreeableness – sociable, sensitive, emotionally intelligent, friendly, kind, compassionate, cooperative, sympathetic
  3. Emotional Stability – self-confident, ability to adjust to changing circumstances, emotionally positive
  4. Conscientiousness – possessing integrity, dependable, thorough
  5. Openness to Experiences – flexible, creative, possessing wide-ranging interests

The sub-factors for each trait remain constant regardless of the employment field. However, the weight given to individual traits varies in accordance with job requirements.

Note that conscientiousness is considered to be the most important factor in predicting job performance across many fields, including law enforcement.

Some police personality exams focus on a more detailed set of 15 behavioral traits:

Taking personal responsibility Emotional resilience Taking charge of victims, witnesses, and suspects
Teamwork Independence Acceptance of the views of other individuals
Desire for achievement Self-confidence Self-awareness
Logical analysis of situations Consideration and sensitivity to others Compliance with rules and regulations
Stress tolerance Desire to support and assist Attention to detail

Other police departments expand upon the Big Five to include:

Dependability  Impulse control General intelligence Motivation to enter the law enforcement field
Judgement Ability to deal with supervision Prior drug use Honesty & integrity
Personal bias or lack of bias Stress tolerance Reasonable courage Ability to perform tedious tasks

How Do I Prepare for a Police Psychological Test?

To determine the applicants who most closely match the needs of law enforcement organizations, 90% of police departments in the U.S. use psychological screening during their hiring processes.

JobTestPrep's practice materials were designed to enhance your understanding of the traits being referenced on police personality test questions. Our preparation package includes a study guide, question and answer analysis, practice exams, and helpful testing strategies.


What's Included

  • Full-length, 233-question professional pre-employment personality test
  • Detailed report, analysis of 50 traits seen on popular employment personality tests
  • Adaptive reports to your specific position
  • The complete "How to pass a personality test" guide
  • Secured payment
  • Exclusive to JobTestPrep
  • Immediate online access
Related PrepPacks™ that come with membership: