If you are preparing for a 911 dispatcher or public safety communications position, you will almost certainly face the criticall test as part of your hiring process. The CritiCall exam is a computer-based pre-employment screening tool developed by Biddle Consulting Group and used by hundreds of law enforcement agencies, fire departments, and emergency communication centers across North America. It measures the cognitive and technical skills required to handle high-pressure dispatch work — not just whether you know dispatch procedures, but whether your brain can keep up with them in real time.
This page gives you a free printable CritiCall practice test PDF you can download and use for offline study. Below the download button you will find a full breakdown of every test section, what scores you need to pass, and practical preparation strategies that actually work.
CritiCall is not a knowledge test in the traditional sense. It does not ask you to memorize penal codes or radio protocols. Instead, it evaluates the underlying mental abilities that every dispatcher needs: the ability to type quickly and accurately, to hold information in short-term memory under pressure, to read a map and trace a route, and to manage two or more tasks simultaneously without losing accuracy on either one.
The test is administered entirely on a computer and typically runs between 90 minutes and three hours depending on which modules the hiring agency has selected. Because different agencies configure their own CritiCall versions, the exact sections you will see may vary — but the core modules appear consistently across departments.
Understanding each module before test day removes a major source of anxiety. Here is what each section tests and why it matters for dispatch work.
You listen to audio recordings — names, addresses, vehicle descriptions, incident codes — and type them into forms while the audio plays. This section tests both your typing speed and your ability to transcribe accurately under time pressure. Dispatchers take calls while simultaneously entering data into CAD (Computer-Aided Dispatch) systems, so this is one of the most job-relevant modules on the exam. Most agencies require a minimum of 40 words per minute with high accuracy.
You are presented with scenarios involving multiple incoming calls or competing priorities and must allocate resources or sequence responses correctly. This section measures your ability to triage — to distinguish urgent from non-urgent, to apply a logical framework when demands are simultaneous, and to remain consistent under stress. There are no trick questions; the correct answers follow clear prioritization logic that you can learn and practice.
You are shown or told a set of information — vehicle plates, suspect descriptions, sequences of events — and then, after a delay, asked to answer questions about it without referring back to the original. Dispatchers regularly relay information from one unit to another, often after receiving it verbally and without time to write it down. Strong short-term memory and the habit of mentally grouping related details together are essential here.
You receive a street map and must answer questions about locations, cardinal and intercardinal directions, shortest routes between two points, and grid references. This section trips up many test-takers who rely on GPS navigation in daily life. You will need to mentally rotate perspectives, trace routes, and compare distances. Practice with printed street grids — not digital maps — before your test date.
You read passages drawn from dispatch procedures, departmental policies, or public safety protocols, then answer questions that require you to extract specific information or draw logical inferences. Strong readers who can identify the main point and locate supporting detail quickly have a natural advantage. Skimming techniques that work on social media do not work here — you need close, careful reading.
You are shown words commonly encountered in dispatch communications — street names, incident types, agency terminology — and must identify misspelled versions or select the correct spelling from options. Dispatchers produce written records that may be used in legal proceedings. Spelling errors in incident reports carry real consequences, and this section reflects that directly.
You are given scenario descriptions and asked to assess the likelihood of various outcomes. This is not advanced statistics — it is practical reasoning about which explanation or result is most consistent with the evidence presented. Logical thinking and the ability to weigh competing possibilities are the skills being measured.
This is frequently the most challenging module for new test-takers. You must complete one on-screen task — often a drag-and-drop sorting activity — while simultaneously processing audio input and responding to it. Both tasks are scored independently. The ability to split attention without catastrophically degrading performance on either task is a core dispatcher competency, and this section assesses it directly.
You are given tables or lists and must match, compare, or verify entries across them — finding discrepancies, confirming that a record exists, or identifying the correct row given partial information. Dispatchers regularly cross-reference databases, and speed with accuracy defines performance on this module.
You are shown pairs or sets of number strings — phone numbers, incident codes, identification numbers — and must identify whether they match or find where they differ. Small differences such as transposed digits are easy to miss under time pressure, which is exactly the condition this section replicates.
CritiCall does not have a single universal passing score. Each hiring agency sets its own cutoffs for each module. That said, most departments require an overall score in the range of 70–80%, with some setting module-specific minimums. A department may require you to pass all individual modules regardless of your overall composite score, meaning a weak performance in one section cannot be offset by strength in another.
Before your test, confirm with the specific agency or testing center which modules will be administered and what the minimum acceptable scores are. Some agencies post this information on their hiring pages; others share it in the testing instructions they send after you apply.
If your typing speed is below 40 words per minute, address this before any other preparation. Free typing practice tools are widely available online. Focus on accuracy over raw speed — a dispatcher who types 50 WPM with 95% accuracy outperforms one typing 70 WPM with 80% accuracy in both test score and real-world performance. Spend at least 15 minutes per day on typing drills for three to four weeks before your test date.
Print street grid maps and practice tracing routes by hand. Identify intersections using only compass directions. Practice determining the shortest path between two points on a grid when one route is blocked. This physical practice develops spatial reasoning in a way that using digital mapping tools does not. The CritiCall map module displays a static grid — GPS intuitions do not transfer.
Practice receiving a list of five to seven items — names, numbers, or addresses — then recalling them in order after a 60-second delay. Gradually extend the delay and increase the number of items. Grouping or "chunking" related items together (e.g., treating a phone number as area code + two groups rather than ten individual digits) dramatically improves recall accuracy.
The multitasking module cannot be fully replicated without computer-based practice tools, but you can build the underlying skill by practicing divided-attention tasks in daily life. Listen to an audio description of something while writing notes about a different topic simultaneously. The goal is to train your brain to maintain two active processing streams without shutting one down.
Make a list of words that appear frequently in emergency communications: intersection names common in your region, incident types (burglary, larceny, trespassing, disturbance), agency-specific terminology. Spell them aloud, write them, and identify which ones your muscle memory tends to misspell. Targeted spelling practice on your personal weak points is far more efficient than general vocabulary drilling.
The CritiCall test rewards preparation that is specific and deliberate. General test-taking advice about staying calm and reading questions carefully applies here, but the candidates who score highest are those who identified their weakest modules early and targeted those areas with focused daily practice. Download the free CritiCall practice test PDF above, work through it at your own pace, note which question types feel uncertain, and build your study plan around those gaps. You have everything you need to pass.