Is the 911 operator test the same as the dispatcher test?

For hiring purposes, usually yes. Agencies split the roles differently — some have calltakers who answer and dispatchers who send, some have one person doing both — but the pre-employment test is the same product, and Biddle sells it as one thing for dispatchers, calltakers and telecommunicators alike.

Whatever your agency chose. Biddle’s library runs to more than twenty modules — data entry, call summarisation, decision-making, map reading, memory, cross-referencing, spelling, sentence clarity, numerical ability and more — and each agency selects the ones it considers appropriate. This site practises the parts that work as written questions and tells you plainly which parts it does not.

Are these real questions?

No. Every question here is original, written to the format the publisher describes. Biddle states that it cannot reveal test details or release the software to applicants, and anybody claiming to publish real CritiCall items is not telling the truth about where they came from.

911 operator test practice

Operator, dispatcher, calltaker, telecommunicator — the job has four names and the hiring test is usually the same one, CritiCall, assembled from the modules the agency picked. This page runs the same timed set as the main one; it exists because people search for the job by the name their own agency uses, and being sent to a page about a different job title is a small, avoidable indignity.

30 questions. 20 minutes.

That is 40 seconds a question. The clock starts when you press the button and submits the test when it runs out. You will not be told whether an answer was right until the end — that is the point of a timed run.

40s a question Never leave a blank — the booklet says skipping is penalised No account, nothing saved off your device

2 free full-length runs left on this test. Unlimited for $24.99, one payment.

Frequently asked

Is the 911 operator test the same as the dispatcher test?: For hiring purposes, usually yes. Agencies split the roles differently — some have calltakers who answer and dispatchers who send, some have one person doing both — but the pre-employment test is the same product, and Biddle sells it as one thing for dispatchers, calltakers and telecommunicators alike.
What is on it?: Whatever your agency chose. Biddle’s library runs to more than twenty modules — data entry, call summarisation, decision-making, map reading, memory, cross-referencing, spelling, sentence clarity, numerical ability and more — and each agency selects the ones it considers appropriate. This site practises the parts that work as written questions and tells you plainly which parts it does not.
Are these real questions?: No. Every question here is original, written to the format the publisher describes. Biddle states that it cannot reveal test details or release the software to applicants, and anybody claiming to publish real CritiCall items is not telling the truth about where they came from.

Practise one type at a time

Untimed sets with the explanation right after each answer — where the timed run tells you what is going wrong, these are where you fix it.

Dispatch decisions Reading comprehension Spelling and sentence clarity Data checking

Sources

Every figure on this page comes from one of the documents below, with the date it was read. Requirements change; if a source has moved on since that date, the source is right and this page is out of date.

CritiCall — Public Safety Communications Pre-Employment Test Preparation Guide (Biddle Consulting Group, 2023, PDF) Read September 2, 2026
CritiCall — “CritiCall and the Dispatcher Applicant: F.A.Q.” (Biddle Consulting Group, 30 April 2024) Read September 2, 2026
CritiCall — CritiCall3D and CritiCall Classic Test Descriptions Read September 2, 2026
CritiCall (Biddle Consulting Group) — Public-Safety Dispatcher / Calltaker Applicants Read September 2, 2026

Hiring Test Practice is independent practice material and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or authorized by Criteria Corp, Wonderlic, Inc., National Testing Network, the electrical training ALLIANCE, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, NECA or Biddle Consulting Group, Inc. CCAT® is a registered trademark of Criteria Corp; Wonderlic® is a registered trademark of Wonderlic, Inc.; CritiCall is a trademark of Biddle Consulting Group, Inc. Test names are used only to describe what this material prepares you for. Every question here is original and none is taken from any actual assessment.