911 Dispatcher Typing Test
Practice with call notes, street names, and times. This is a practice test, not an official exam from any agency.
More typing tests
Practice typing call notes
Dispatchers type quickly while listening, so notes need to be both fast and correct. This five minute test gives you practice with that kind of text: short call notes, street names, and times. When the timer ends you see your WPM and your accuracy.
Please note: this is a practice test only. It is not an official exam from any agency, center, or employer, and a good score here does not qualify you for anything. Real tests have their own rules, so check with the organization you are applying to.
How your score is calculated
Your speed is shown in WPM, words per minute. A "word" here is a standard five characters, so the count does not depend on how long your words happen to be. The engine takes the characters you typed correctly, including correct spaces, divides by 5, then divides by the minutes you spent typing. In this five minute test, 1,250 correct characters is 250 words, and 250 words in 5 minutes is 50 WPM.
Accuracy is the number of correct keystrokes divided by all the keystrokes you made. A wrong letter that you fix with Backspace still counts as a keystroke, so careful typing at a steady pace usually beats rushing and correcting. In call notes, numbers and times count as characters like any other, so take care with them.
Who it helps
It is useful for people who are considering a dispatcher or call-taker career, and anyone who wants to practice typing under steady pressure. For a gentler start, try the 5 minute typing test first, then come here. To work on figures, add the 10-key typing test.
Reading your result
After the timer ends, look at both numbers together. A high WPM with low accuracy means you are rushing, and a high accuracy with a lower WPM means you have room to speed up. The best plan is to raise accuracy first and let speed follow. Try to type a little each day, even for five minutes, and track your WPM and accuracy from one session to the next. Small steady gains add up, and comparing against your own earlier scores is more useful than comparing against other people.
Tips for note-style text
- Accuracy comes first. A wrong street name or time can cause real problems in real work.
- Stay calm and keep an even rhythm.
- Learn the position of the number row and the colon used in times.
- Do not look down at the keys. Practice makes this natural.
Build the basics with Learn to Type or the typing test.