How many reading comprehension questions are on the CritiCall?

Biddle Consulting Group publishes no question count at all — not for this type and not for the test as a whole, only that the whole sitting runs on average between one and three hours. Any site that gives you an exact count has made it up. The 30-question run on this site is this site's own practice length, and it deals the types evenly.

Is this section timed?

Not on this page. These sets are for learning the type — each answer comes with an explanation straight away. When you want the clock, the full-length run is 30 questions in 20 minutes, which is 40 seconds a question.

Are these real questions from the test?

No. Every question here is original, written to the published format. The real item banks are confidential and nobody outside the publisher has them.

CritiCall reading comprehension questions

A short paragraph, then what it said and what follows from it.

50 questions in this set Untimed — explanation after each answer

CritiCall reading comprehension 1 of 10

Salt lowers the temperature at which water freezes, which is why it is spread on roads before a cold night. It does not melt ice by warming it. What it does is dissolve into the thin film of water always present on the surface of ice and turn that film into a solution that cannot refreeze at the temperature the plain water would have. The effect has a floor. As the air gets colder, more and more salt is needed to hold the same film liquid, and below roughly minus ten degrees Celsius the amount required stops being practical to spread. Crews working in colder places switch to grit, which does nothing chemically and simply gives tyres something to bite on, or to other compounds that stay effective further down but cost several times as much.

According to the passage, how does salt keep a road clear?

What this type asks

Biddle describes its Reading Comprehension module in one line — the ability to “read, comprehend and retain details contained in a short paragraph” — and the word doing the work is retain. The paragraphs are short and the questions are about detail: who was told what, in which order, and which of four statements the paragraph actually supports. The wrong answers here are built the way they are built on the real thing: true of the world but absent from the paragraph, or true of the first sentence and cancelled by the third. Nothing in this set needs dispatch knowledge, because the booklet is explicit that no dispatcher knowledge is required to answer anything on the test.

A stated detail, exactly as statedWhat follows from the paragraphWhat the paragraph does not sayOrder of eventsWhich statement the paragraph supports

Now do it with the clock running.

30 questions in 20 minutes — 40 seconds each. That clock is this site's, not the publisher's: Biddle Consulting Group does not print a length per question. Working under one is still the part untimed practice cannot teach.

Take the full CritiCall test

The other question types

Dispatch decisions Spelling and sentence clarity Data checking Full timed test

Frequently asked

How many reading comprehension questions are on the CritiCall?: Biddle Consulting Group publishes no question count at all — not for this type and not for the test as a whole, only that the whole sitting runs on average between one and three hours. Any site that gives you an exact count has made it up. The 30-question run on this site is this site's own practice length, and it deals the types evenly.
Is this section timed?: Not on this page. These sets are for learning the type — each answer comes with an explanation straight away. When you want the clock, the full-length run is 30 questions in 20 minutes, which is 40 seconds a question.
Are these real questions from the test?: No. Every question here is original, written to the published format. The real item banks are confidential and nobody outside the publisher has them.

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.