PELLETB Practice Test: 2026 Online Format
The reading and writing test California POST sets for entry-level peace officers, as it runs now: four multiple-choice sub-tests on one 1 hour 45 minute clock, no CLOZE, and online on an agency computer. Practise each sub-test on its own, then the whole test in one sitting.
The test in 2026
From POST's applicant preparation guide and 2026 agency FAQs. One clock covers all four sub-tests, with no separate limit for any of them, and you can move back and forth freely.
| Sub-test | What you do | Items (POST) | Items (ours) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Clarity | Two versions of a sentence; choose the one written more clearly. | 15 to 18 | 16 |
| Vocabulary | A sentence with one word underlined; choose the word closest in meaning, from four. | 15 to 18 | 16 |
| Spelling | A sentence with a blank; choose the correct spelling of the missing word, from four. | 15 to 18 | 16 |
| Reading comprehension | Short paragraphs and longer passages, some with a code or a rule to apply, each with four-option questions. | 20 to 24 | 22 |
| In all | 1 hour 45 minutes of test time; about 2 hours 15 minutes with instructions. No deduction for a wrong answer. | 65 to 78 | 70 |
Clarity
Two versions of a sentence; choose the one written more clearly.
- Items (POST)
- 15 to 18
- Items (ours)
- 16
Vocabulary
A sentence with one word underlined; choose the word closest in meaning, from four.
- Items (POST)
- 15 to 18
- Items (ours)
- 16
Spelling
A sentence with a blank; choose the correct spelling of the missing word, from four.
- Items (POST)
- 15 to 18
- Items (ours)
- 16
Reading comprehension
Short paragraphs and longer passages, some with a code or a rule to apply, each with four-option questions.
- Items (POST)
- 20 to 24
- Items (ours)
- 22
In all
1 hour 45 minutes of test time; about 2 hours 15 minutes with instructions. No deduction for a wrong answer.
- Items (POST)
- 65 to 78
- Items (ours)
- 70
Free Tests
Free to try with a free account - unlock this provider for unlimited practice.
Premium Tests
PELLETB Vocabulary
The vocabulary sub-test of the PELLETB: 16 sentences in 10 minutes, each with one word underlined, and you choose the closest meaning from four. Common words that come up in police work, with the opposite-meaning and fits-the-sentence traps POST's own examples use.
PELLETB Spelling
The spelling sub-test of the PELLETB: 16 sentences in 8 minutes, each with a blank and four spellings of the same report-writing word. American spelling, with no word that is spelt differently in British English, so nothing marks a British spelling wrong.
PELLETB Reading Comprehension
The reading sub-test of the PELLETB: 22 questions on 10 passages in 55 minutes, from one-paragraph rules to page-long policies and general articles, with the passage beside the question as on the online test. Reading is half the total, so each question here counts more than a writing one.
PELLETB Full Test (online format)
The whole PELLETB as POST runs it online in 2026: clarity, vocabulary, spelling and reading, 70 questions on one 1 hour 45 minute clock, with the item list, flags, dashboard and section warnings of the real platform. Results split into writing and reading, as POST reports them.
Three things most guides get wrong
CLOZE is gone
POST removed the CLOZE sub-test from every sitting on or after 1 January 2025, because its research found it redundant with the other four. Test time fell from 2.5 hours to 1 hour 45 minutes.
It is online now, but never at home
Since spring 2026 POST has been moving the PELLETB onto the Assess.ai platform, taken in person on a desktop or laptop the agency provides, under a lockdown browser. Agencies new to the test must use it, and paper is being phased out.
There is no single pass mark
POST reports T-scores and recommends 42, but every agency sets its own bar, from 42 on the total to 50, and San Diego checks reading and writing separately.
How it is scored, and the score agencies want
Your raw score is the number of items you get right, with nothing taken off for a wrong answer. POST turns it into three T-scores: writing, from clarity, vocabulary and spelling together; reading, from reading comprehension; and a total that combines the two. On a T-score 50 is the average of the applicants POST calibrated the test on and 10 points is one standard deviation.
POST does not publish the weights, but it reports writing and reading side by side and builds the total from the pair, so one reading sub-test carries about as much as the three writing sub-tests together, and each reading question is worth more than a writing question. It also does not publish how raw marks convert to T-scores, so our results never print one. They tell you your percent correct per section and set it against the average applicant in POST's published figures, which is about 70% on every sub-test.
Agencies that test you on the PELLETB
California Highway Patrol
Sit it with the CHP each time you apply; passing scores from other agencies are not accepted.
Agency sourceSan Francisco PD
Pass/fail. PELLETB or FrontLine National; a T-score of 42 or higher from the last two years is accepted, and a bachelor’s degree may waive the exam.
Agency sourceBART Police
A weighted score of no less than 42; a T-score of 42 or higher from a California sitting in the last 12 months is accepted.
Agency sourceCity of Modesto
Runs its own sittings; a PELLETB result must accompany police officer recruit applications unless a degree waiver applies.
Agency sourceAgencies with their own test that accept a PELLETB score instead
California lets agencies use another validated reading and writing test, so these run their own and treat a PELLETB score as a waiver. Applying to one of them, you may not sit the PELLETB at all.
San Diego PD
Runs its own written test, waived with T-scores of 42 in all areas (reading, writing and total) from the last six months.
Agency sourceSacramento PD
Runs its own online exam, with an exemption for a T-score of 45 or higher from the last two years.
Agency sourceSan Jose PD
No test of its own; asks for the PELLETB or FrontLine, with a PELLETB T-score total of 50 or higher.
Agency sourceRules change with each posting. Check the current one for the agency you are applying to before you rely on any of these.
How our practice works, and what POST has not published
The real test is taken on an agency computer. Our tests work properly on a phone, which is fine for learning the item types. But on the day you will read long passages on a desktop or laptop screen, under a lockdown browser, so sit at least one full test at a desk before you go.
A full run takes 1 hour 45 minutes. The full test is 70 items on one clock, like the real one. You can stop between sections and come back later, with the clock paused on the section brief. The real test has no such break, so do at least one run straight through.
The section order online is not published. POST's booklet runs clarity, vocabulary, spelling, then reading, and so do we. Its FAQ lists the four in a different order, and nothing we could find says which order the online platform uses.
The drill clocks are ours. POST gives no time per section. Each drill's clock is the share of the 1 hour 45 minutes we suggest spending there: clarity 12 minutes, vocabulary 10, spelling 8 and reading 55, with 20 minutes left over for review. That puts reading, where each question counts most, on more than half the clock.
The averages we compare you with are old. POST's published figures for the average applicant (about 71% on clarity, 70% on vocabulary, 74% on spelling and 70% on reading) come from applicants tested between 1983 and 1994, on forms that still had CLOZE. They are the only real applicant figures POST has published, and our feedback labels them as history every time it uses them.
Items are in American English. It is an American test, so the questions use American spelling, as the real one does, and our spelling items avoid words spelt differently in British English.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is on the PELLETB in 2026?
Four multiple-choice sub-tests: clarity, vocabulary and spelling, with 15 to 18 items each, and reading comprehension, with 20 to 24. That is 65 to 78 items in all. Clarity, vocabulary and spelling make up the writing score; reading comprehension is the reading score.
Is the CLOZE section still on the PELLETB?
No. POST removed the CLOZE sub-test from every administration on or after 1 January 2025, because its research found CLOZE redundant with the other sub-tests. Any guide that still teaches CLOZE, or quotes 2.5 hours of test time, describes the old test.
How long is the PELLETB?
1 hour 45 minutes of test time on one clock, with no separate limit for each section. The whole session runs about 2 hours 15 minutes once the 30 minutes of instructions are added.
What is a passing score on the PELLETB?
There is no single one. POST reports writing, reading and total T-scores, where 50 is average, and recommends that agencies set 42 or above. Each agency sets its own: 42 at BART, 42 in every area for San Diego’s waiver, 45 at Sacramento and 50 at San Jose, and SFPD accepts an earlier score of 42 or higher.
Can I take the PELLETB online at home?
No. Since 2026 many agencies deliver it online on the Assess.ai platform, but always in person, on a desktop or laptop the agency provides, under a lockdown browser. There is no at-home sitting, and paper booklets are being phased out.
How soon can I retake the PELLETB?
After 30 calendar days, so on the 31st day, at any agency. POST says a retake inside the 30 days is invalidated, and the online platform blocks registration for anyone who has tested in that window.
Can I use my PELLETB score at another agency?
POST puts no expiry on a score, but each agency decides what it accepts. The CHP accepts no outside scores and tests you itself; SFPD accepts scores up to two years old; BART accepts a California sitting from the last 12 months.
Is there a penalty for guessing on the PELLETB?
No. The raw score is the number answered correctly, and POST’s own booklet says it is to your advantage to answer every question. Leave nothing blank.
POST's own answers are in its 2026 applicant FAQs.
Companies That Use PELLETB (California POST)
The PELLETB is not a vendor test that agencies buy. California POST writes it, gives it to agencies free, and state regulation requires every peace officer to pass a reading and writing test of this kind, so most California police and sheriff applicants sit it, usually as the first scored step.
California Highway Patrol
Government & Public SectorUses the PELLET-B as its officer written exam and requires you to sit it with CHP every time you apply: passing scores from other agencies are not accepted.
View California Highway Patrol guide →San Francisco Police Department
Government & Public SectorOffers the PELLETB or FrontLine National as a pass/fail written exam for entry-level officers, accepts a PELLETB T-score of 42 or higher from the last two years, and waives the exam for applicants with a bachelor's degree.
View San Francisco Police Department guide →BART Police Department
Government & Public SectorUses the PELLETB as its written exam with a minimum weighted score of 42, and accepts a T-score of 42 or higher from a California sitting in the preceding 12 months.
City of Modesto
Government & Public SectorRuns its own PELLETB sittings for police officer recruits, whose applications must include a PELLETB result unless an associate degree or higher and an HR waiver apply.
Agencies set their own pass marks and their own rules on old scores, and several large departments (LAPD, San Diego PD, Sacramento PD) run their own written test and accept a PELLETB score only as a waiver. Check the current posting for the agency you are applying to.
Guides and Tips
Read up before you practise: what the tests reward, what catches candidates out, and why shortcuts do not work.
Can You Cheat the PELLETB? Not on a Locked PC
Proctored in person on an agency computer under a lockdown browser, with your POST ID on the registration. Why no shortcut survives the PELLETB.
PELLETB in 2026: No CLOZE, Now Online
Most PELLETB practice material still teaches CLOZE and a 2.5-hour paper booklet. Both are gone: POST removed CLOZE from every sitting from 1 January 2025, and in 2026 it began moving the test onto a computer, taken in person at the agency.
Practice by Test Type
Compare the same format across every provider that uses it, and see what each one is really measuring.
About CogniPrep PELLETB Practice
CogniPrep provides simulations of the POST Entry-Level Law Enforcement Test Battery (PELLETB, also written PELLET B or PELLET-B), the reading and writing test the California Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) sets for entry-level peace officers. POST writes and scores it and gives it to agencies free; Commission Regulation 1951 requires every California peace officer to show reading and writing ability on it or on another validated test. Agencies also call it the POST test, the POST written exam or the POST Reading and Writing Test, and the California Highway Patrol calls it the CHP written exam.
- 5 practice tests available: PELLETB Clarity, PELLETB Vocabulary, PELLETB Spelling, PELLETB Reading Comprehension, PELLETB Full Test (online format)
- Real test: 65 to 78 items in 1 hour 45 minutes, one clock, no deduction
- Sub-tests: clarity, vocabulary, spelling (writing) and reading comprehension (reading)
- CLOZE removed from 1 January 2025; online on Assess.ai since 2026, in person only
- T-scores for writing, reading and total; POST recommends 42, agencies set their own
- Retake after 30 calendar days, at any agency
Ready to Start Practising?
Sign up for free to try the clarity sub-test, or unlock all 5 PELLETB practice tests, including the full 70-item test on the real clock, with unlimited practice sessions.