The NYC Police Communications Technician
exam: a complete guide

What the job is

Police communications technicians staff the 911 console: taking calls, dispatching by radio, and handling Text to 911.

Nothing in this exam is drawn and nothing is calculated. It is all words arriving faster than you would like, which is the console.

What is on the exam

Seven abilities, and nothing is drawn anywhere in this exam — no maps, no figures, and no arithmetic. Everything arrives as words, at speed.

Section	Questions	Time	Per question
Written Comprehension	20	26 min	78 sec
Deductive Reasoning	20	26 min	78 sec
Inductive Reasoning	20	24 min	72 sec
Information Ordering	20	24 min	72 sec
Problem Sensitivity	20	24 min	72 sec
Written Expression	20	24 min	72 sec
Memorization	20	20 min	60 sec
Total	140	168 min

Memorization here is what a caller told you two minutes ago, while a second call is coming in.

The pacing

Memorization is the squeeze at sixty seconds. It is also the section closest to the job, because a caller does not repeat themselves.

Passing does not get you the job

This is the part almost nobody explains, and for a Police Communications Technician candidate it matters more than anything else on this page. Answering enough of these 140 questions correctly does not hire you. It places you on an eligible list with a number on it, and that number is your position in the queue for every Police Communications Technician vacancy the City fills.

Hiring runs down that list under the Rule of Three: for any Police Communications Technician vacancy, the agency must select one of the three highest-ranking candidates who are willing to take it. The difference between a list number of 300 and one of 3,000 is not a difference of degree. It is usually the difference between being called and never being called.

Police Communications Technician lists are worked steadily, because the 911 console runs around the clock and turnover is real. The job is shift work from the start and the hiring process does not hide that.

The list expires

A Police Communications Technician eligible list typically runs four years from the date it is established, and it can be extended. If your number has not been reached when it expires, the list is gone and your place on it goes with it. You start again with the next Police Communications Technician exam, which may be years away.

911 operator lists are worked steadily because the console runs around the clock, but four years is still four years, and candidates who treat the written exam as a formality are the ones still waiting when it lapses.

The points you have to ask for

The Police Communications Technician exam is an open competitive exam, so veterans are entitled to 5 additional points on it, or 10 if disabled, and New York City residents are entitled to 5 additional points on some exams. Claim veterans' and residency credits at filing. This is a title where a great many candidates pass, so the list position rather than the pass is what decides everything.

Here is the part that costs people the job. Those credits are not applied automatically. You claim them when you file for the Police Communications Technician exam and produce documentation later. Nobody looks up your service record and adds the points for you. A candidate entitled to ten points who does not claim them sits ten points lower on the Police Communications Technician list, permanently, and will never be told that is why the call did not come.

Filing is a deadline, not a date

You file for a specific exam number during a specific filing period -- for Police Communications Technician that is exam 6309, 6329, and missing it means waiting for the next administration. Filing periods are published in advance and they are not long. Check the number on the Notice of Examination against the annual schedule before you pay the fee: candidates file for the wrong exam every year, and a Notice of Examination never says it is the wrong one.

What happens after you pass

Background screening, a hearing test, typing and keyboard assessment, and then training on the console itself. The training is substantial because the job cannot be learned on the fly.

How to prepare

Memorization is the squeeze at sixty seconds a question, and it is the section closest to the job, because a caller does not repeat themselves. Practice holding four facts while a second thing demands attention. Everything on this exam arrives as words, faster than you would like.

One thing worth being clear about: you do not need to know the radio codes, the dispatch protocol or the boroughs by heart. These exams test abilities, not job knowledge, and candidates who spend their preparation memorizing procedures are preparing for a different test.

What we found when we tested our own exam

911 operator candidates often prepare from generic clerical practice material, because dedicated material barely exists, and generic material has generally never been measured for anything.

So we measure it. Across the 38 sections of our NYC civil service exams long enough to measure (760 questions, in sections of 20 or more), the best score any length-based strategy reaches is 40%, against the 25% that guessing alone should give. Four strategies are scored: pick the longest option, pick the shortest, cross off the longest and guess, cross off the shortest and guess. Nothing on this exam is drawn or calculated, so every option is prose, which is the format most vulnerable to a length pattern and the reason this title is measured carefully.

Memorization is the squeeze at sixty seconds a question, and it is the section closest to the job, because a caller does not repeat themselves.

Produced from the live bank by the same script that fails our build over 40%. Every option on this title is prose, with nothing drawn and nothing calculated, which makes it the civil service exam most exposed to a length pattern and the one where the measurement is worth the most.

Where to practice

We publish two full Police Communications Technician practice exams with no questions shared between them, and you can sit a single section on its own when that is all the evening allows. Every wrong answer carries its own explanation saying what a student who picked it was probably thinking, which is the part that turns a score into something you can act on. There is a free sample on the samples page if you want to see the format before paying for anything.

Common questions

How many questions are on the NYC Police Communications Technician exam?

140 questions across 7 sections. Seven abilities, and nothing is drawn anywhere in this exam — no maps, no figures, and no arithmetic. Everything arrives as words, at speed.

Does passing the civil service exam mean you get the job?

No. Passing puts you on an eligible list with a list number, and hiring runs down that list. For a Police Communications Technician vacancy the agency must select one of the three highest-ranking candidates on the list who will accept it, which is the Rule of Three.

How long does the Police Communications Technician eligible list last?

Typically four years from establishment, and it can be extended. If your number is never reached before it expires, you sit the Police Communications Technician exam again whenever DCAS next offers it.

How do I get veterans' or residency credits on the Police Communications Technician exam?

You claim them yourself. Veterans get 5 additional points on an open competitive exam, or 10 if disabled, and New York City residents get 5 on some exams. Nothing is applied automatically: claim at the point you file for Police Communications Technician and document it later.

What does the Police Communications Technician job involve?

Police communications technicians staff the 911 console: taking calls, dispatching by radio, and handling Text to 911.