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PELLETB (California POST)

Can You Cheat the PELLETB? Not on a Locked PC

Every shortcut people describe for an online test assumes you are alone with your own device. The PELLETB never gives you either.

Short answer: no.

There is no at-home sitting to game: every PELLETB is proctored in person on the agency's own machine.

Where
In person only, at a POST-approved California agency. POST requires both the paper and the online format to be administered in person.
Device
A desktop or laptop the agency provides, running the Assess.ai WebLock lockdown browser. No tablets and no device of your own.
Who watches
A proctor who has completed POST’s proctor training, and online a test coordinator with access to the platform.
Registration
Your full name, email and POST ID. The platform blocks registration for anyone who has tested in the last 30 days.
Scoring
Number correct, no deduction for a wrong answer, turned into writing, reading and total T-scores. Agencies set their own pass marks.

There is no unsupervised sitting to work around

Almost every shortcut people describe for an online assessment assumes you take it alone, on your own device: another tab, a second screen, someone else in the room, an answer key from a forum. The PELLETB offers none of that. POST states that "both the paper-and-pencil and online formats of the PELLETB are required to be administered in person by a POST-approved California agency with proper test security protocols". Moving online in 2026 changed the answer sheet, not the room.

The mechanism that actually defeats it
An agency computer under a lockdown browser, in a room with a POST-trained proctor. The things a shortcut needs, your own device, a connection, a second person or a moment unobserved, are exactly what the setup removes.

The machine is the agency’s, not yours

Online, you sit the PELLETB on "a secure laptop or desktop computer with a lockdown browser, provided by the testing agency". POST says the WebLock browser "prevents candidates from taking screenshots of secure test content or accessing the internet or other applications". You receive a test code by email and a group code from the proctor on the day, and the test does not start until the proctor says so.

Your POST ID follows every sitting

Registration for the online test asks for your POST ID, a unique identifier POST issues, and the platform uses it to block anyone who has tested in the previous 30 days. A retake inside that window is invalidated even where it slips through, so sitting it repeatedly to learn the questions is not an option either.

And the written test is only the first gate

A PELLETB score only moves you on to the rest of a peace officer selection process. At the California Highway Patrol it sits between the Physical Abilities Test and the background investigation, and POST notes that many agencies and academies use it as an indicator of readiness for a career in law enforcement. Reading and writing are the job, from incident reports to court testimony, so a candidate who got past this stage without them would meet the same skills again, supervised, from the academy onwards.

What working on it actually looks like

The honest route is short and cheap. Nothing is deducted for a wrong answer, so answer everything. Learn the short list of clarity faults, take unknown words apart by their roots, read spelling options letter by letter, and protect your reading time, because reading is scored on its own and probably carries as much as the three writing sections together. Our PELLETB practice tests give you each sub-test on its own and the full 70-item test on one 1 hour 45 minute clock.

Do
Use POST’s own applicant preparation guide, which is free and shows every item type.
Answer every question. The raw score is the number right, with no deduction.
Plan your time so you start reading with about 55 minutes left.
Sit at least one full test at a desk on a computer, as you will on the day.
Check the posting for the agency you are applying to: pass marks and old-score rules differ.
Do not
Do not look for leaked PELLETB answers. POST has used several parallel forms.
Do not prepare from material that still teaches CLOZE. It was removed in January 2025.
Do not book a retake inside 30 days. The result is invalidated.
Do not expect to bring a phone, notes or your own laptop into the room.

The cost of being caught is the career

This is the entrance test for a peace officer. Honesty is not a side condition of the job you are applying for, it is the job, and misconduct at the first stage ends the application and follows you into the background investigation. There is nothing on the other side of that trade worth having.

Frequently asked questions

Can you take the PELLETB at home?

No. POST says both the paper-and-pencil and the online formats must be administered in person by a POST-approved California agency with proper test security. The online version runs on the agency’s own computer, not yours.

Can you get the answers to the PELLETB?

No. POST writes the items and publishes only its applicant preparation guide, whose sample questions are practice material rather than a live form. POST has also used several parallel forms, built so that scores on each are comparable, so even a real memory of someone else’s sitting would not tell you your own questions.

What does WebLock actually stop?

POST says the lockdown browser prevents candidates from taking screenshots of secure test content or reaching the internet or other applications. With the agency’s machine, the agency’s network and a proctor in the room, there is no second window to open.

Can I retake the PELLETB straight away if it goes badly?

No. You must wait 30 calendar days and can test again on the 31st day, at any agency. POST says a retake inside the 30 days is invalidated, and the online platform uses your POST ID to block the registration in the first place.

Does using an old score count as a shortcut?

No, it is allowed where an agency allows it, and the rules vary. SFPD accepts a T-score of 42 or higher from the last two years and BART one from the last 12 months, while the California Highway Patrol accepts no outside scores and tests you itself every time you apply.

Practise the PELLETB (California POST) assessment instead

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PELLETB (California POST) practice tests

The POST Entry-Level Law Enforcement Test Battery (PELLETB, also written PELLET B or PELLET-B), the reading and writing test California POST sets for entry-level peace officers and the written exam behind most California police and sheriff applications. Four multiple-choice sub-tests, clarity, vocabulary, spelling and reading comprehension, in 1 hour 45 minutes, scored as writing, reading and total T-scores. Also called the POST test, the California POST exam, the POST written exam or reading and writing test, and the CHP written test at the California Highway Patrol. Taken in person, online on Assess.ai since 2026. California.

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Employer guide

California Highway Patrol assessment guide

What the California Highway Patrol process involves, stage by stage, and where PELLETB (California POST) sits in it.

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Employer guide

San Francisco Police Department assessment guide

What the San Francisco Police Department process involves, stage by stage, and where PELLETB (California POST) sits in it.

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