- POST is a 75-item pre-employment test developed by Stanard & Associates, not a renewable license.
- Four timed sections: Arithmetic (20 items/20 min), Reading Comprehension (25 items/25 min), Grammar (20 items/15 min), Incident Report Writing (10 items/15...
- Reading Comprehension carries the most questions of any domain.
- Calculators are not allowed on the arithmetic section, and report writing must use complete sentences.
What Is POST?
The National Police Officer Selection Test, commonly called POST, is an entry-level law-enforcement hiring exam developed by Stanard & Associates. Agencies across the country use it as a screening tool during the application process for patrol officer and deputy sheriff positions. Unlike credentials that require renewal, continuing education, or recertification cycles, POST is a one-time pre-employment selection test. You take it, an agency scores it against its own cutoff, and the result feeds into a hiring decision rather than a license you maintain.
If you've landed here after searching for a broader definition, our companion pieces on POST Meaning and What Does POST Stand For? walk through the acronym itself in more depth. This article focuses specifically on how the test is built, scored, and prepared for.
Who Develops and Uses the Test
Stanard & Associates is the organization behind POST, and it makes the exam available in both printed and online formats through participating hiring agencies. That means you generally don't register directly with Stanard - instead, you apply to a police department or sheriff's office that has adopted POST as part of its hiring pipeline, and that agency administers the test on its own schedule.
Because individual agencies control the process, candidates will notice variation from one department to the next. A city police department may run paper-based sessions at its own testing center, while a county sheriff's office might offer an online proctored version. This is also why candidate fees, eligibility rules, and qualifying cutoff scores are set by the hiring agency, not by Stanard itself. For a breakdown of what candidates typically pay and where those costs come from, see POST Certification Cost 2026: Complete Pricing Breakdown.
Because passing scores are agency-specific, there's no single universal cutoff to memorize. Our guide on POST Passing Score 2026: Exactly What You Need to Pass explains how to find the number that matters for the department you're applying to.
Exam Format and Timing
POST consists of 75 total questions split across four separately timed sections. Each section has its own clock, so time from an earlier section never carries over - strong performance on Reading Comprehension won't buy you extra minutes on Grammar. The structure looks like this:
| Section | Questions | Time Allowed |
|---|---|---|
| Arithmetic | 20 | 20 minutes |
| Reading Comprehension | 25 | 25 minutes |
| Grammar | 20 | 15 minutes |
| Incident Report Writing | 10 | 15 minutes |
Two format details trip up unprepared candidates every year. First, calculators are not permitted during the arithmetic section, so every computation has to be done by hand under time pressure. Second, the incident-report-writing section requires answers in complete sentences - sentence fragments or bullet-style notes are not acceptable, even though the section is scored on comprehension and narrative accuracy rather than creative writing.
For a section-by-section walkthrough of how tough each format actually feels in practice, check out How Hard Is the POST Exam? Complete Difficulty Guide 2026.
Key Takeaway
Practice each section with its actual time limit, not a relaxed pace - 15 minutes for 20 grammar items or 10 report-writing items moves faster than most candidates expect on a first attempt.
The Four Domains Explained
POST is organized into four content domains, and each one tests a distinct skill set that maps to real patrol and report-writing duties. For a deeper dive into all four with practice-style breakdowns, see POST Exam Domains 2026: Complete Guide to All 4 Content Areas.
Domain 1: Arithmetic
Twenty questions in twenty minutes, all completed without a calculator. This domain checks whether you can perform practical math quickly and accurately under pressure - the kind of quick figuring an officer might need for time estimates, distances, or evidence counts.
- Whole-number and decimal operations done by hand
- Fractions, percentages, and basic word problems
- Speed as much as accuracy, given the tight per-question time budget
Domain 2: Reading Comprehension
With 25 items in 25 minutes, this is the largest section on the test by question count. Passages resemble the kind of written material officers encounter on the job - policies, short narratives, and factual passages - and questions check whether you can extract accurate details and draw sound inferences.
- Identifying stated facts versus reasonable inferences
- Reading efficiently enough to answer one question per minute on average
- Avoiding answer choices that sound plausible but aren't supported by the text
Domain 3: Grammar
Twenty grammar questions must be completed in just 15 minutes - the tightest per-question pace on the exam. This domain evaluates sentence structure, word usage, and mechanics that matter when officers draft reports that hold up as accurate written records.
- Subject-verb agreement and correct verb tense
- Proper punctuation and capitalization
- Choosing the clearest, most correct version of a sentence
Domain 4: Incident Report Writing
Ten questions in 15 minutes make this the section with the most time per item, but also the one demanding the most complete written responses. Candidates must answer using full, grammatically correct sentences based on facts presented in a scenario, mirroring how an officer would document an incident.
- Extracting only the relevant facts from a scenario
- Writing clear, complete sentences rather than fragments
- Staying factual and objective rather than adding assumptions
Registration, Fees, and Materials
Because hiring agencies - not Stanard & Associates - control the application process, there isn't a single national registration portal for POST. Instead, you'll typically apply to an open officer or deputy position, and the agency will notify you of testing dates, format, and any fee once your application clears initial screening. Details on timing and how to plan around agency-specific windows are covered in POST Exam Dates 2026: Testing Windows, Deadlines & Scheduling.
On the preparation side, Stanard & Associates does sell official materials directly: an online practice test priced at $17.50 and a study guide priced at $7.50. These are modest costs compared to many professional licensing exams, and pairing official materials with structured practice - like the timed drills available on our practice test platform - gives candidates a realistic sense of pacing before test day.
Eligibility requirements - age minimums, background checks, citizenship, and similar prerequisites - are set at the agency level as part of the broader hiring process rather than by the test itself. Our POST Requirements 2026: Eligibility, Prerequisites & How to Qualify guide covers what departments commonly ask for.
POST vs. Other "POST" Credentials
Search results for "POST" often mix together several unrelated things: state-level Police Officer Standards and Training commissions that govern academy training and licensing, and the National Police Officer Selection Test discussed here, which is a pre-hire screening exam from Stanard & Associates. They are not interchangeable, and the fees, formats, and governing bodies differ entirely.
If your goal is simply to pass the entry-level written screening that many departments use before an interview or academy offer, you're looking at the four-section, 75-question exam described in this article. If a recruiter mentions academy-based "POST certification" as part of officer licensing after hiring, that's a separate process handled by the state's training authority, not the Stanard exam. For more on how this distinction plays out in job postings and career planning, see POST Jobs and POST Training.
Curious how the written exam compares to holding a professional license? Our analysis in Is the POST Certification Worth It? Complete ROI Analysis 2026 and salary context in POST Salary Guide 2026: Complete Earnings Analysis address that question in more depth.
Building a Study Timeline
Because POST's four sections have very different time pressures, a smart prep schedule treats them separately rather than lumping "study for the test" into one vague task. Grammar and Arithmetic reward drilling for speed; Reading Comprehension and Incident Report Writing reward practicing full-length passages and scenarios under the clock.
Arithmetic & Diagnostic
- Take a full diagnostic run to find your baseline pace without a calculator
- Drill fractions, percentages, and word problems daily in short timed sets
Reading Comprehension
- Practice full 25-question passages under a strict 25-minute limit
- Focus on distinguishing stated facts from inferences, since this is the largest domain
Grammar
- Review subject-verb agreement, tense, and punctuation rules
- Time yourself at roughly 45 seconds per question to match the real pace
Incident Report Writing & Full Simulation
- Practice writing complete-sentence answers from scenario prompts
- Run a complete 75-question, four-section simulation with all official time limits
For a condensed version of everything above on a single page you can review the night before testing, bookmark the POST Cheat Sheet 2026: One-Page Review of Must-Know Facts. And if you want a more detailed week-by-week plan built specifically around this exam's four sections, our POST Study Guide 2026: How to Pass on Your First Attempt goes further than the outline here.
Key Takeaway
Spend the most rehearsal time on Reading Comprehension and Grammar - the largest domain and the tightest per-question pace, respectively - while treating Incident Report Writing as a sentence-construction drill, not a creative-writing exercise.
Frequently Asked Questions
No. The National Police Officer Selection Test is a pre-employment screening exam developed by Stanard & Associates that agencies use before hiring. It is not a state training-and-standards license and does not require renewal.
There are 75 total questions across four separately timed sections: 20 arithmetic questions in 20 minutes, 25 reading comprehension questions in 25 minutes, 20 grammar questions in 15 minutes, and 10 incident-report-writing questions in 15 minutes.
No. Calculators are not permitted during the arithmetic section, so all calculations must be done by hand within the 20-minute time limit.
Stanard & Associates sells an official online practice test for $17.50 and a study guide for $7.50. Any additional testing fees are set by the individual hiring agency, not by Stanard.
Reading Comprehension has the largest item count on the exam, with 25 questions in 25 minutes, making it the single biggest domain to prepare for.
No. Hiring agencies set their own qualifying cutoffs, so the score needed to move forward in the hiring process can vary from one department to another.