CritiCall data entry and typing

Typing what you hear into the right field, in capitals, while something else is happening.

There are no practice questions on this page.

A page of multiple-choice questions cannot measure typing. Anything written here that looked like a data entry test would be measuring reading instead, so this page tells you what the module is and sends you to the two free tools that actually measure it — one of them the publisher’s own.

What the module is

Biddle describes Computerized Data Entry as entering information “received vocally or in writing” by keyboard, assessed on speed and accuracy, with the data going “in the proper location on the screen”. That last clause is the part people underestimate: a correctly typed plate number in the address field is wrong.

The candidate booklet publishes the field layout, and the tab order through it is the sort of detail that costs seconds on the day if you meet it for the first time on the day.

  • Last Name, then First Name, then Telephone
  • Address, then City, then Zip
  • Vehicle Identification Number, then License Plate, then Driver’s License
  • The cursor starts in Last Name every time a new empty set appears, and stops at Driver’s License — Tab will not move past it

Capitals, and why

Much of the test accepts UPPER case only. The booklet says this mimics computerised dispatch systems, which limit an operator to capitals. It is not a trick; it is what the screen you would use at work does. Nobody should discover the caps lock key mid-test.

Where to practise it for real

This is the one part of CritiCall where the publisher gives candidates something free and working: Biddle hosts sample keyboarding, proofreading and spelling tests, plus a combined battery of the three, on its own testgenius.com. They run in a browser and they are the actual interface. Anyone about to sit CritiCall should do those before doing anything else, here included.

Its applicants page also links a data entry practice tool built by an applicant rather than by Biddle — the page says so itself, and says Biddle took no part in building it. Useful, but it is somebody’s practice tool, not the test.

What actually helps

  • Type from a voice, not from a page. The booklet’s own suggestion is to have somebody read you names, addresses and phone numbers while you type them.
  • Practise the seven-digit span: hear a number, wait until they finish, then type it from memory. That is memory recall and data entry at once, which is how the test presents them.
  • Accuracy first. Speed with errors scores worse than being deliberate, because the module is scored on both.
  • Turn Num Lock on. The booklet says many test takers find it helps, which tells you how the number entry is designed.

The parts that do have questions.

Biddle Consulting Group assembles its test from a library of modules and each agency picks its own, so most candidates sit several of these alongside the part described above.

Dispatch decisionsReading comprehensionSpelling and sentence clarityData checking Full timed run

The other parts without a quiz

Map reading

Reading a route off a deliberately plain map, and placing a caller from what they say.

Listening, memory and multitasking

The parts that arrive through a headset — call summarisation, short-term recall, and doing two of them at once.

Frequently asked

How fast do I need to type for a 911 dispatcher job?
Biddle publishes no words-per-minute requirement, and it could not: the agency sets the standard, not the test publisher, and agencies differ. The job posting you are applying to is the only place that number honestly exists. Be suspicious of any site that prints one as if it were the test’s.
Is there a free CritiCall typing test?
Yes, and it is the publisher’s. Biddle hosts free sample keyboarding, proofreading and spelling tests on testgenius.com, linked from its own applicants page. That is the version worth doing, because it is the interface rather than an imitation of it.
Why is there no typing test on this site?
Because a typing test needs to watch you type, and this site is pages of questions. Building a rough one would put a number in front of you that means nothing, and the good version already exists for free at the publisher.

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.

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.