How the CritiCall Map Reading test works
Each map is basic: streets, intersections, bridges, rivers and railroad tracks, with no contour lines. A question asks you to choose the most direct route to a destination that obeys every regulatory sign, or to work out where a set of directions ends. No map-reading training is needed, but Biddle says you must be able to follow directions such as left and right.
In Biddle’s Florida Highway Patrol study, Map Reading was one of the modules whose scores tracked supervisors’ ratings of overall job performance.
How to solve a route question
Trace before you choose:
- Find the start and the destination, and note which way is north.
- Mark every one-way street and turn restriction before you look at the options.
- Trace each option with your finger or cursor. Cross out any that break a rule, then pick the shortest of what is left.
- For every turn, picture yourself in the vehicle. Facing south, east is on your left.
Worked example
Numbered streets run east to west and avenues run north to south, with Pine Avenue one block east of Oak Avenue. You are at 1st Street and Oak, facing north, and must reach 3rd Street and Pine. 2nd Street is one-way westbound and Pine Avenue is one-way southbound.
Option A goes north on Oak, right on 2nd, then left up Pine: it drives east on a westbound street and north on a southbound one. Option C goes right on 1st, then left up Pine: north on Pine again. Option D goes north on Oak to 4th, right on 4th, then right down Pine to 3rd: legal, but five blocks. Option B, north on Oak to 3rd and right on 3rd to Pine, is legal and three blocks, so B is the answer.
Tips for the real Map Reading test
- Expect one option to be shorter but illegal. It is there to catch anyone who skips the one-way arrows.
- Practise describing routes on a simple street map using left, right and the four compass points, as Biddle’s guide suggests.
- Practise turns while heading south and west, where left and right feel reversed.
- Do not assume a river or railroad can be crossed anywhere. Look for the bridge or crossing.
Practise CritiCall Map Reading on CogniPrep
Our version gives you 15 questions in 20 minutes: nine route questions (the most direct legal route from four) and six position questions (follow the directions and choose where you end up). Five are on sparser suburban maps with a river and a railroad. Maps include one-way streets, turn bans and closed blocks, and no U-turns are allowed. You get your percentage correct, with wrong picks sorted into illegal shortcuts, longer routes, swapped turns and miscounted blocks. The count and time limit are ours.