CritiCall Test Prep for the pop-ups, the callers and the clock
An emergency message pops up while you are still typing: 15 seconds, or the item scores zero.3 Calls are heard once. Nothing replays.4
Start CritiCall prep: $68★ 4.2/5on Trustpilot · 451 reviews · as of Nov 3, 2026
In most agencies every module has its own passing level,5 so one weak module can be enough to fail. CritiCall QuickPass is a CritiCall test prep course that puts you in the chair before test day: the Dispatch Console with voiced callers and radio traffic, 30 timed drills and four full shift simulations.
- 11 console modules, 6 of them with voiced callers and radio traffic
- 30 timed drills, every answer explained
- Diagnostic + 4 shift simulations that name your weakest module
Just want to try a free CritiCall practice test first? The full free console drill is there; the 2-minute multitasking check is below.
52 seconds inside CritiCall QuickPass
The pop-ups, the cross-referencing and the Dispatch Console, the way the course trains them.
Course trailer, 52 seconds, with sound.
Free multitasking check: 4 tasks, about 2 minutes
Multitasking is one of the hardest parts of CritiCall: an emergency message lands while you are busy, and it must be answered in 15 seconds.3 This check is built like the Multitasking module of our Dispatch Console at the Hard level: keep a unit board current from four radio calls, answer an emergency message by the agency decision rules, then recall what the radio said. Nothing replays. Headphones on.
The 4 tasks as text, with solutions (spoiler)
The unit board
| Unit | Plate | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Echo-12 | RDT 8714 | On scene |
| Delta-4 | KDK 2741 | Available |
| Lincoln-7 | TTK 3471 | Out of service |
| Echo-21 | KRT 9471 | Available |
| Mary-9 | DKT 5417 | Available |
| Delta-16 | RKT 4710 | Available |
| Lincoln-11 | TDR 2471 | En route |
| Mary-7 | KKD 6471 | On scene |
Task 1: Which unit is Available now and has a plate ending in 4-7-1?
Before the question appears, radio traffic plays once: “Dispatch, Echo-21, show us en route to the pharmacy … (excerpt)” “Dispatch, Lincoln-7, we’re clear from Maple, back in service, available.” The board is not updated for you.
- Echo-21
- Mary-9
- Lincoln-7
- Lincoln-11
Answer: C, Lincoln-7. Four plates end in 4-7-1: Lincoln-7 (…3471), Echo-21 (…9471), Lincoln-11 (…2471) and Mary-7 (…6471). On the board only Echo-21 is Available – but the radio put Echo-21 en route to the pharmacy and brought Lincoln-7 back in service. So the answer is Lincoln-7. Lincoln-11 (…2471) is still en route – the radio never released it; Mary-9 (…5417) has the digits in the wrong order.
Task 2: How many units are Available now?
Before the question appears, radio traffic plays once: “Dispatch, Delta-4, in pursuit northbound on Harbor … no plate yet. (excerpt)” “Dispatch, Echo-12, we’re on scene at Riverside, second floor. Send one more unit and a medic, two people down.” The board is not updated for you.
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
Emergency message 4 seconds into the question (15 seconds to answer): Grocery store parking lot: a mother locked her keys in her car with her 2-year-old inside. The child is awake and calm but cannot open the doors; the windows are cracked and the day is mild. A man in the lot has a tire iron and is offering to break the window; he has not touched the car. Which agency? Rules: Police: someone attempting, threatening or causing physical harm to a person, or harming another’s property; Fire: flames or smoke, a sounding fire alarm, or a trapped or confined person who needs rescue; EMS: a medical emergency that needs medically trained personnel; Utility: broken water, electric power (lines, streetlights, traffic signals), home-heating gas or blocked sewer drains.
Pop-up answer: Fire. Fire. The deciding fact is a confined person who needs rescue: the child cannot get out. The man with the tire iron is not harming anyone (he is offering help), so it is not Police; the child is calm and not hurt, so it is not EMS; nothing here is a utility failure.
Answer: B, 3. The board shows four Available units (Delta-4, Echo-21, Mary-9, Delta-16). Four radio calls: Echo-21 en route (−1), Lincoln-7 back in service (+1), Delta-4 in pursuit (−1), Echo-12 on scene (no change: the board already says so). That leaves three: Lincoln-7, Mary-9, Delta-16. Four is the board without the radio (or the number of calls); five forgets that two units left.
Task 3: From memory: Delta-4 is in pursuit. On which street, and in which direction?
- Arbor · northbound
- Harbor · northbound
- Harbor · southbound
- Arbor · southbound
Answer: B, Harbor · northbound. Delta-4: “in pursuit northbound on Harbor.” Harbor and Arbor sound alike on a radio channel, and the direction is the detail that slips when Echo-12’s longer call and the emergency message come right after it.
Task 4: From memory: where did Lincoln-7 clear from, and where is Echo-21 going?
- Cleared from Marble · en route to the pharmacy
- Cleared from Maple · en route to the clinic
- Cleared from Maple · en route to the pharmacy
- Cleared from Marble · en route to the clinic
Answer: C, Cleared from Maple · en route to the pharmacy. Lincoln-7: “clear from Maple”; Echo-21: “en route to the pharmacy”. These were the first two of four calls, heard before two more calls and an emergency message; Marble and the clinic are the sound-alike and the near-miss.
What is the CritiCall test?
CritiCall is a computer-based work-sample test for 911 dispatcher and call-taker applicants, published by Biddle Consulting Group and used by more than 1,500 agencies.1 Instead of asking what you know about dispatching, it puts you at a simulated console with a headset and measures what you can do under a clock.2
- Publisher
- Biddle Consulting Group, Inc. (CritiCall 3D: Operational, Behavioral, Situational)1
- Format
- Work-sample test on a computer with a headset;2,3 calls and stories are heard once4
- Modules
- More than 20 in the catalog; your agency picks its set2 and sets passing levels per module5
- Length
- Typically 1 to 3 hours;2 the RCMP runs 8 modules in 60–90 minutes5
- Hard clock
- Emergency messages during another task: 15 seconds, or no credit3
- Skipping
- Skipping a scored item is penalized unless the section says otherwise3
- Practice test
- The publisher sells no official full practice test; the software goes only to agencies and verified private dispatch companies2
The modules and where the course trains them
| Module (official name) | What you do | In the course |
|---|---|---|
| Keyboarding | Type a passage; net words per minute | K1 · console |
| Data Entry (visual, audio, multitasking) | Copy or take down records into nine CAD fields; pop-ups in the MT version3 | D1 · D2 · D3 · console |
| Decision Making | Police, Fire, EMS or Utility by four fixed rules, within 15 seconds3 | D4 · 3 drills · console |
| Prioritization | Rank a call on a four-level priority scale | D5 · 3 drills · console |
| Call Summarization | Listen once, take notes, answer questions | C1 · console |
| Memory Recall | Numbers, plates or a card, recalled after a pause | C2 · console |
| Map Reading / Position Locating | Directions, legal routes, spoken directions | M1 · console |
| Cross Referencing · Character Comparison | Look up records; spot the one that differs | R1 · R2 · 6 drills |
| Reading, Spelling, Sentence Clarity, Proofreading | Language accuracy under time | L1–L4 · 12 drills · dictation |
| Mathematics · Probability | ETA, time arithmetic, witness statements | N1 · N2 · 6 drills |
| Behavioral · Situational (3D) | Personality inventory and judgment scenarios1 | B1 · guide |
Independent CritiCall test prep. Prepterminal is not affiliated with or endorsed by CritiCall or Biddle Consulting Group.
What is inside CritiCall QuickPass?
Every number below is counted from the course itself (CritiCall 2026, November 2026). Two kinds of training: written guides with the method and the traps for each module, and the Dispatch Console where you drill it with audio, pop-ups and the CAD form.
The 21 lessons
Free practice or the course?
Free material is fine for a first look. It stops where the test gets hard: audio, pop-ups and the full battery.
| Free practice | CritiCall QuickPass | |
|---|---|---|
| Audio data entry, callers who speak once | Rare, usually text only | Yes, voiced callers, three levels |
| 15-second pop-ups during another task | A few samples | Yes, in the multitasking module and the shift simulations |
| Every module your agency may run | Some | All 21 lessons, 11 console modules |
| Full shift simulations | No | 4 + a 20-minute diagnostic |
| Explanations | Sometimes | Every drill answer explained; console results list every miss |
| Fresh questions each run | Fixed sets | Yes, generated drills |
How do you prepare for the CritiCall test?
Agencies score every module separately, so the plan fixes the weakest module first. It follows the course lesson “Your shift plan”.
Three weeks, 30–45 minutes a day
Typing and data entry every day from day one; the rules-based modules come later because they are quick to fix.
- Day 1Diagnostic (20 min): every core module once0
- Week 1Keyboarding, visual and audio data entry daily · decision rules · memory recallK1 D1 D2 D4 C2
- Day 7Shift 1 (core battery)SIM
- Week 2Same core at moderate · multitasking, call summarization, maps, cross-referencingD3 C1 M1 R1 R2
- Day 14Shift 2 · goal: 80% in every moduleSIM
- Week 3Hard audio · prioritization, language and number modules, behavioralD5 L1–L4 N1 N2 B1
- Day 19 + 21Shifts 3 and 4 at Hard; rest the day beforeSIM
Seven days, about an hour a day
No time to polish strong modules: find the weak one, train the floors daily, learn the rules once.
- Day 1Diagnostic, note your lowest module0
- Days 1–6Daily: keyboarding passage + one visual and one audio data-entry blockK1 D1 D2
- Days 2–3Decision rules and the priority scale by heartD4 D5
- Days 3–5Multitasking and memory at moderate, then hardD3 C2
- Day 6One full shiftSIM
- Day 7Light review only–
Two or three focused sessions
Learn the mechanics so they cost you nothing, then drill the module with the hardest clock.
- Session 1How CritiCall works + diagnostic0
- Session 2Decision rules, priority scale, multitasking with pop-upsD4 D5 D3
- Session 3Audio data entry and one shift if time allowsD2 SIM
Everything for the CritiCall test, in one course
- The Dispatch Console: 11 module drills, 6 with voiced callers and radio traffic
- 30 timed drills at three levels, every answer explained
- A 20-minute diagnostic and 4 full shift simulations
- 21 written guides and 8 video lessons
- 90 days of access, one payment, no subscription
What dispatch applicants say
“I passed the exam on my first try. I think the practice was actually harder than the real exam itself, which was nice to know I practiced harder, so I felt more confident going in.”
Kristine R., US · Aug 2025“The CritiCall test prep was a great resource for anybody who doesn’t know what to expect going into a dispatch test. It provides information you didn’t know you needed, and happy you had. Seriously helped me pass my test on the first try.”
Natalie D., US · Oct 2024“Helped greatly understand the different areas to the Criticall test.”
Fred E., US · Apr 2026Unedited excerpts from public Trustpilot reviews of Prepterminal; the reviews from 2024 and 2025 are about earlier versions of the course. Individual results vary. All reviews on Trustpilot (4.2 · 451 reviews, as of Nov 3, 2026).
CritiCall test prep: questions and answers
What is on the CritiCall test?
It depends on your agency. CritiCall has more than 20 modules and each agency chooses its own set.2 Batteries commonly include data entry, decision making, call summarization, memory recall, map reading, cross-referencing, prioritization and keyboarding; check your invitation for yours.
How long is the CritiCall test?
Typically one to three hours, depending on how many modules your agency runs.2 The RCMP, for example, runs eight modules in 60 to 90 minutes.5
Is there an official CritiCall practice test?
No. Biddle Consulting Group sells the software only to agencies and verified private dispatch companies and offers no official full practice test.2 All tasks in this course are written for the course in the CritiCall formats; they are not CritiCall items.
What do candidates find hardest on CritiCall?
Two things stand out. Multitasking: an emergency message pops up while you are working on another task and must be answered within 15 seconds, or it scores nothing.3 And audio data entry, because the caller is heard once and part of the record may come out of order.4
What score do I need to pass CritiCall?
There is no national pass score. Agencies set their own passing levels, usually per module,5 so one weak module can fail you even with a good average. The course reports every module separately and starts you on the lowest one.
Does the course have audio?
Yes. Six console modules run with voiced callers and radio traffic: audio data entry, multitasking, call summarization, memory recall, position locating and spelling, at three levels. Hard adds degraded phone lines and callers who dictate out of order.
What equipment do I need?
A laptop or desktop with headphones for the Dispatch Console and the shift simulations, because the real test is taken on a computer with a headset.3 Nothing to install: the course runs in the browser.
How long do I have access, and what does it cost?
90 days from purchase for one payment of $68. No subscription, nothing renews.
Is there a money-back guarantee?
Yes, a 7-day money-back guarantee: if you feel you did not get what you paid for, email [email protected] within 7 days of purchase for a full refund.
Is Prepterminal affiliated with CritiCall?
No. Prepterminal is independent and not affiliated with or endorsed by CritiCall or Biddle Consulting Group.
The caller will not wait.
Train the pop-ups, the audio and the clock before test day.
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