Pellet B passing score, and the rules around it

You get a test booklet and a separate answer sheet, and you mark your answers in pencil. All 65–78 questions are multiple choice, split into two parts.

Writing (45–54 items):

• Clarity, 15–18 items: choose the more clearly written of two sentences.
• Vocabulary, 15–18 items: pick the closest meaning of an underlined word.
• Spelling, 15–18 items: choose the correct spelling of the word missing from a sentence.

Reading (20–24 items):

• Reading comprehension, 20–24 items: answer questions about passages from one paragraph to one page long.

The session runs about 2 hours 15 minutes in total, including 30 minutes of instructions. POST's guide advises answering every question, and skipping one that takes too long so you can come back to it.

POST scores the answer sheets, not the agency. The number of questions you answer correctly is converted to a standardized score, the T-score (mean 50). POST's guide reads it this way: 40 or below is below average, 60 or above is above average. You receive a reading, a writing and a total T-score.

Because the scale compares you with other applicants, no table turns a number of correct answers into a T-score, and the raw count you need isn't published.

POST does not require all agencies to use the same passing score. It recommends a cut of 42+, and its research finds that the chance of finishing the academy rises with every point above it. The departments set the actual rule, and several differ from POST's number. CHP doesn't take a score from elsewhere at all: you test with CHP. LAPD and SFPD follow POST's recommended cut, SDPD applies it to each of the three scores, and Oakland PD and Santa Ana PD ask for more. The table shows each rule with its source and check date.

For security reasons POST does not release scores to applicants. The agency or academy that gave you the test must give you your results within 30 days. If 30 days have passed, contact that agency. An authorized representative of any POST user agency can also ask POST for your result on your behalf.

Using a score with a second department is that department's call: it may accept another agency's T-score letter, or test you again. Oakland PD, for example, wants the score on the testing agency's letterhead.

You can retake the test, but you must wait 30 days between attempts: the earliest retest is day 31 after the last test. POST's own example: if you tested on October 31, the soonest retest is December 1.

The wait counts across all agencies. Testing with a second department inside 30 days invalidates that result. CHP applies the same wait, pass or fail, even when the next test is with another agency.

POST sets no time limit on a score, so each department decides how old a score it accepts. SFPD wants a T-score of 42 or higher, taken within the last 2 years. Santa Ana PD wants a score of 46 or higher, taken within one year of the application date. CHP accepts no outside score at all. If your score is old or below the department's cut, a retest after 30 days is often the faster route.

The test is given only inside California, at sessions run by POST-authorized agencies and academies, and POST publishes no list of test dates. It is on paper only; there is no online version. Contact the departments or the academy you want to join, and ask whether they give the PELLETB and when. Where to take the Pellet B lists the agencies we checked and how to find a session.

POST charges no test fee. There is no single price to quote: what you pay, if anything, depends on who runs your session. What the Pellet B costs.

What changed: CLOZE reading sub-test removed on January 1, 2025. The CLOZE sub-test asked you to fill in missing words in a passage. POST found it added little beyond the other reading and writing sub-tests and dropped it. The session got shorter too: it now has 1 h 45 min of testing, plus instructions.

What stayed the same: the reading, writing and total T-scores, POST's recommended cut of 42+ and the 30-day retest rule. Every test given since January 1, 2025 is the new form, and agencies can't order the old one.

Many prep products and some academy pages still describe five sections and 2½ hours, and so does the body of POST's own applicant FAQ, right under its banner about the change. Trust POST's preparation guide for the 2025 form and its agency FAQ on the removal.

• PELLETB →The four sub-tests, T-scores, the 30-day retest rule and who takes the score
• PELLETB practice test →Clarity, vocabulary, spelling and reading questions, every option explained
• PELLETB cost →No POST fee; what a session, a retest and prep can cost you
• PELLETB where to take →California agencies and academies only, on paper; how to find a session
• PELLETB study guide →What to study for each sub-test, in what order, with POST's free guide