I've got my NTN Police exam coming up in about five weeks and trying to figure out where to put most of my energy. I played college soccer so the physical fitness component doesn't worry me much — my mile time is around 6:45 and I'm hitting the push-up and sit-up benchmarks easily. What I'm less sure about is the written portion.
Started prepping for the National Testing Network Police Test cognitive sections about three weeks ago and I'm scoring 71% on reading comprehension and about 65% on the incident report writing questions. The video-based incident recall section is weird — I've never practiced anything like it and not sure how to get better at it other than just doing more of them.
Anyone have a realistic picture of how the written scores actually affect hiring? Some departments say it's just pass/fail but others seem to weight the percentile ranking heavily.
The written section varies a lot by department. For most mid-size agencies it's really a percentile game — passing isn't enough, you want to be in the top 20-25% to get competitive consideration. I scored 84th percentile and got interviews at every agency I applied to.
The video recall is the weirdest part to prep for but it's also pretty coachable. Watch the clips, then immediately write down everything you remember in structured order — person descriptions, vehicle info, sequence of events. Do it 10-15 times and your retention improves noticeably.
I was at 68% on the report writing three weeks out and ended up at 79% by test day. There's a specific format they're looking for — chronological, objective, complete — and once you internalize that structure the scores jump fast.
Physical is almost never the differentiator unless someone genuinely can't meet minimums. If you're already at your fitness level, shift 90% of remaining prep to the written sections. That's where candidates separate themselves.
Quick update since I'm kind of in the same boat, exam's in about five weeks for me too. I finally stopped just reading and started doing timed practice questions, and honestly the written side is where it gets you. Took a full ntn police practice test pdf over the weekend under a timer and pulled a 78, which I wasn't thrilled about but it's way better than the low 60s I was scoring cold a couple weeks back. The reading comprehension and the math word problems ate up most of my time.
I'm planning to sit the real one in week four so I've got a buffer in case I need to retake. If your fitness is already dialed like mine, I'd honestly throw most of your energy at the written stuff now. It's the part you can actually move the needle on fast, and the clock pressure is real once you're in there.
Just passed mine last month, and honestly the written caught me way more off guard than I expected. The reading comprehension sections weren't that hard, but the report writing portion tripped me up because I kept overthinking the format. What actually helped was doing timed practice under pressure — like setting a timer and not letting myself stop to second-guess word choices. That habit was the one thing I didn't have going into my first practice run and it made a huge difference once I built it.
With your fitness background you're probably fine there, so I'd pour most of your five weeks into the cognitive and reasoning sections. The math wasn't advanced but it was fast-paced, and if you're not used to that kind of timed pressure it can shake your confidence mid-test. Give yourself at least three full timed sessions before exam day and you'll feel a lot more settled walking in.