NPOST exam facts: format, passing score, retakes

1. Mathematics: 20 items, 20 min. Math
2. Reading Comprehension: 25 items, 25 min. Reading
3. Grammar: 20 items, 15 min. Grammar
4. Incident Report Writing: 10 items, 15 min. Report writing

• Answer types: Multiple choice and true/false in the first three sections; written sentences in report writing. In report writing, full credit needs the correct information, a complete sentence, correct grammar and no misspelled words.
• Timing: Each section starts and stops on the examiner's call; spare time can only be used to check that section.
• Guessing: No penalty for guessing, so answer every item before time is called.
• Calculator: Not allowed; scratch paper is provided.
• Forms: Four forms (Stanard); Utah sites rotate versions A, B and C.

No single score passes everywhere. You get a percent-correct score for each section, and the passing score is the hiring agency’s decision. Where the rule is 70% per section, a high total cannot make up for one weak section. Agencies we checked:

Retake rules belong to the agency or the test site. Three we checked:

• Salt Lake City PD: 60 days on the same version, at most twice a year per version. A different version (A, B or C) can be taken at any time, and your best score counts.
• West Jordan PD: no limit on attempts; you submit your best passing score.
• Iowa DPS: No retest.

Results come from the test site, 2–4 weeks after the test. Salt Lake City estimates about 4 weeks, because the report-writing section is scored by hand. Lexington, which gives the test by computer, is the exception: it gives scores right after the test.

Each agency sets this too, and two we checked sit at opposite ends:

• Iowa: 12 months from the exam date; if you are not hired or placed on a civil service list in that time, you retake it.
• Salt Lake City: Results do not expire. It accepts only the Utah NPOST, taken in Utah, though, so out-of-state candidates have to come to Utah.

• Where: At the hiring agency or a test site it names, such as an academy or a college testing center. You book through the department or the site it names.
• Paper or screen: Printed or online, depending on the agency; some agencies run it remotely over video conference (U.S. Capitol Police). The Supreme Court of the United States Police also gives it online.
• Fee: each site sets its own; the amounts we found, with sources, are on the cost page.

Utah POST stopped requiring the test in March 2020; Utah agencies still use it. Pages that still say the test is required in “Iowa and Utah” predate that change. Iowa’s rule still stands. Which states and departments use it now: who uses the NPOST.

• NPOST →What the four sections test, who uses it and who sets the pass mark
• NPOST practice test →Questions from all four sections, every option explained
• NPOST cost →No national price: site fees with sources, the study guide, retakes and transfers
• NPOST agencies →States and departments that use the NPOST, with each one’s pass mark and retake rule
• NPOST study guide →What each section asks, a study order built on your weak spot, the test owner’s guide