Which sentence is best suited to an incident report?

The man shouted, clenched both fists and stood about three feet from me.

Which sentence is the clearest and least open to misreading?

Officer Hart told Officer Cole, "I left the report on your desk."

Test de práctica del examen de policía EE. UU.

15 preguntas
Unos 15 min
Gratis

Las preguntas del test siguen en inglés.

Pregunta 1 de 15

Read this report excerpt. Officer Reyes was dispatched to 410 Alder Street at 9:40 p.m. after a neighbor called about breaking glass. The neighbor, Mr. Okafor, said he heard the glass break at about 9:35 p.m. and saw one person run north. Officer Reyes arrived at 9:52 p.m., found a broken side window and photographed it. According to Mr. Okafor, how many minutes passed between the sound of breaking glass and the officer's arrival?

Sigue practicando

Crea el tuyo

Sube tu libro de preparación, tus diapositivas o tus apuntes, o dile a Bo qué quieres estudiar. No necesitas ningún documento para empezar.

Crear mi propio test

Sobre este test

Este es un test de práctica gratis de 15 preguntas para la parte escrita de un examen de ingreso a la policía de EE. UU., escrito por el equipo de StudyPDF. No existe una prueba nacional única, así que practica las destrezas que comparten la mayoría: leer un informe de incidente, redactar uno claro y basado en hechos, captar detalles de una escena, juicio situacional y las matemáticas básicas de un turno de patrulla. Mezcla opción múltiple, marcar todas las que correspondan y completar huecos. Responde las 15, después mira tu puntuación y lee por qué cada respuesta es correcta.

Las 15 preguntas de un vistazo

¿Prefieres leer antes de jugar? Abajo están todas las preguntas de la muestra. Las respuestas y explicaciones quedan plegadas hasta que las abras.

1.Read this report excerpt. Officer Reyes was dispatched to 410 Alder Street at 9:40 p.m. after a neighbor called about breaking glass. The neighbor, Mr. Okafor, said he heard the glass break at about 9:35 p.m. and saw one person run north. Officer Reyes arrived at 9:52 p.m., found a broken side window and photographed it. According to Mr. Okafor, how many minutes passed between the sound of breaking glass and the officer's arrival?
- A. 5 minutes
- B. 12 minutes
- C. 17 minutes
- D. 22 minutes
Respuesta: C. 17 minutes
The question asks about the time Mr. Okafor gave for the sound (9:35 p.m.), not the time of the dispatch (9:40 p.m.). From 9:35 to 9:52 is 17 minutes. The 12 minutes is the gap from dispatch to arrival, which you can work out from the passage but which answers a different question. On report questions, underline what is being measured before you subtract.
2.Which sentence is best suited to an incident report?
- A. The man was clearly furious and wanted to hurt me.
- B. The man shouted, clenched both fists and stood about three feet from me.
- C. The man looked like a typical troublemaker.
- D. The man had probably been drinking and was out of control.
Respuesta: B. The man shouted, clenched both fists and stood about three feet from me.
A report records what you saw, heard and did, in words another person can picture. Shouting, clenched fists and a distance are observable facts. Furious, wanted to hurt, troublemaker and probably drinking are conclusions or guesses about what is going on in someone's head, and they can be challenged later. If you do think a motive or condition matters, state the fact it rests on, such as the smell of alcohol or slurred speech.
3.Which sentence is the clearest and least open to misreading?
- A. Officer Hart told Officer Cole that he had left the report on the desk.
- B. Hart told Cole it was on the desk.
- C. The report was told to Cole by Hart on the desk.
- D. Officer Hart told Officer Cole, "I left the report on your desk."
Respuesta: D. Officer Hart told Officer Cole, "I left the report on your desk."
In the first sentence, "he" could mean Hart or Cole, so the reader cannot tell who left the report. The second leaves out what "it" is and where the desk is, and the third is garbled. Using the exact words as a quotation removes the doubt completely. When a pronoun could point to two people, repeat the name or quote the speaker.
4.These four sentences come from an officer's report. Which order is best? (1) I handcuffed the suspect and placed him in the patrol car. (2) I saw the suspect run out of the store carrying a bag. (3) I received a dispatch about a robbery at Kelly's Market. (4) I caught up with the suspect in the alley.
- A. 3, 2, 4, 1
- B. 2, 3, 4, 1
- C. 3, 4, 2, 1
- D. 2, 4, 3, 1
Respuesta: A. 3, 2, 4, 1
A report is told in the order things happened. The dispatch comes first (3), then the officer sees the suspect leave the store (2), catches up in the alley (4) and finally makes the arrest (1). Any order that has the officer catching up before seeing the suspect, or seeing the suspect before the dispatch, breaks the timeline and makes the report hard to rely on.
5.Study this description. A dark blue four-door sedan left the scene heading east. It had a cracked left taillight, a roof rack and a bumper sticker on the right side. The plate began with 4K. Two people were inside, and the driver wore a gray hooded sweatshirt. Which statement about the vehicle is correct?
- A. It had a cracked right taillight.
- B. It left the scene heading west.
- C. It had a cracked left taillight and a roof rack.
- D. Three people were inside.
Respuesta: C. It had a cracked left taillight and a roof rack.
The description gives a cracked left taillight and a roof rack, so the third choice is the only one that matches. The other choices each swap a single detail (right for left, west for east, three for two), which is exactly how memory questions are built. Reading a scene in an order, for example vehicle, plate, people, direction, makes it easier to hold on to the details that can be checked.
6.A patrol car travels at a steady 45 miles per hour for 40 minutes. How far does it go?
- A. 25 miles
- B. 30 miles
- C. 33 miles
- D. 45 miles
Respuesta: B. 30 miles
40 minutes is 2/3 of an hour, and 2/3 of 45 is 30. Distance is speed times time, as long as both use the same unit. The 45 comes from forgetting to convert minutes to hours, and 25 or 33 come from rounding mistakes. Converting the time first keeps these problems simple.
7.A department received 250 calls in one week, and 20 percent of them were about traffic. How many calls were not about traffic?
- A. 50
- B. 180
- C. 200
- D. 230
Respuesta: C. 200
20 percent of 250 is 50, so 250 - 50 = 200 calls were not about traffic. The 50 is the traffic share, which answers the opposite question. You can also take 80 percent of 250 directly: 0.8 x 250 = 200. Reading whether the question asks for the part or the rest is where most percent mistakes happen.
8.The day after you file a report, you realize that you wrote the wrong street number for the scene. What is the best response?
- A. Tell your supervisor promptly and correct the report the way your department requires
- B. Leave it, because nobody has noticed and the street name is right
- C. Change the report yourself without telling anyone so that no record shows the mistake
- D. Wait to see whether anyone raises it before saying anything
Respuesta: A. Tell your supervisor promptly and correct the report the way your department requires
Reports can end up in court, so accuracy and honesty matter more than looking perfect. An honest error that is reported and corrected through the proper process is a small problem. Hiding it, quietly changing a record or hoping nobody notices can look like falsification and damages your credibility, even though the original mistake was minor. On judgment questions, pick the answer that is open, prompt and follows procedure.
9.Two witnesses describe the same car differently: one says it was red, the other says it was maroon. How should your report handle this?
- A. Record each witness's statement as given, with the witness's name
- B. Include only the statement you find more believable
- C. Write "reddish" so that both statements are covered
- D. Leave the color out until the witnesses agree
Respuesta: A. Record each witness's statement as given, with the witness's name
The report is a record of what each person said, not a ruling on who is right. Writing both statements with names keeps the facts intact and lets investigators weigh them. Dropping one account is a judgment you are not there to make, blending them creates a statement nobody gave, and leaving the color out throws away useful information.
10.Which items belong in the narrative of an incident report?
Marca todas las que correspondan.
- A. The time you arrived and where the scene was
- B. What a witness told you, with the witness's name
- C. Your guess about why the suspect did it
- D. What you saw and heard, in specific terms
- E. Your opinion on whether the person is guilty
Respuesta: A. The time you arrived and where the scene was, B. What a witness told you, with the witness's name, D. What you saw and heard, in specific terms
A narrative answers who, what, when, where and how with facts: times, places, statements and what the officer observed. A guessed motive and an opinion about guilt are conclusions that belong to investigators and courts, and putting them in the report makes the facts around them look less reliable.
11.Read this report. At 7:15 a.m. a delivery driver left his white box truck parked outside 22 Pine Street and went inside to make a delivery. When he returned at 7:30 a.m., the rear door was open and about twelve cartons were missing. A camera on the building across the street faces the rear of the truck. The building manager said the camera records over its footage every 48 hours. Which statements does the report support?
Marca todas las que correspondan.
- A. Exactly twelve cartons were stolen.
- B. The driver was away from the truck for 15 minutes.
- C. A camera across the street faces the rear of the truck.
- D. The truck was parked outside 22 Pine Street.
- E. The footage is certain to be available next week.
Respuesta: B. The driver was away from the truck for 15 minutes., C. A camera across the street faces the rear of the truck., D. The truck was parked outside 22 Pine Street.
Three statements can be found in the text: 7:15 to 7:30 is 15 minutes, the camera faces the rear of the truck and the truck was at 22 Pine Street. The report says about twelve cartons were missing, not exactly twelve, and it does not say they were stolen. The footage is overwritten every 48 hours, so it is not certain to exist next week, which is the whole point of the manager's remark. Supported means the text says it, not that it seems likely.
12.Which sentences keep the verb tense consistent, as an incident report should?
Marca todas las que correspondan.
- A. I arrive at the scene, spoke with the caller and take her statement.
- B. I arrived at the scene, spoke with the caller and took her statement.
- C. The suspect ran north, then turned and entered the alley.
- D. The suspect runs north, then turned and enters the alley.
- E. He told me that he had not seen the vehicle before that night.
Respuesta: B. I arrived at the scene, spoke with the caller and took her statement., C. The suspect ran north, then turned and entered the alley., E. He told me that he had not seen the vehicle before that night.
Everything in a report has already happened, so the verbs stay in the past. The first and fourth sentences jump between present and past in the middle. The fifth uses past perfect ("had not seen") correctly for something that happened before the moment he spoke. Switching tense is easy to miss when you reread your own work, so check the verbs one at a time.
13.Complete the sentence.
A squad of 6 officers each writes 2 reports a day. Over 5 days they write _____ reports, and if three quarters of them are filed on time, _____ are filed on time.
Opciones para el hueco 1: 30, 60, 90
Opciones para el hueco 2: 45, 40, 50
Respuesta: 60, 45
6 officers times 2 reports is 12 a day, and 12 times 5 days is 60. Three quarters of 60 is 60 / 4 = 15 per quarter, times 3 = 45. Breaking a word problem into one multiplication at a time is faster and safer than trying to do it in a single step.
14.Complete the sentence.
An incident report is written in the _____ tense and sticks to _____ rather than opinion.
Opciones para el hueco 1: present, past, future
Opciones para el hueco 2: rumors, assumptions, facts
Respuesta: past, facts
A report describes events that already took place, so the past tense is the natural fit, and it should record facts that you observed or that someone told you, with the source named. Rumors and assumptions can be wrong, and a reader who sees them mixed in with facts may stop trusting the rest of the report.
15.Complete the sentence.
Many agencies write times on a 24-hour clock. A report lists one event at 2140 hours, which is _____, and another at 0605 hours, which is _____.
Opciones para el hueco 1: 9:40 a.m., 8:40 p.m., 9:40 p.m.
Opciones para el hueco 2: 6:05 a.m., 6:05 p.m., 5:06 a.m.
Respuesta: 9:40 p.m., 6:05 a.m.
On a 24-hour clock the hours after noon continue past 12, so subtract 12 from 21 to get 9, which makes 2140 equal to 9:40 p.m. Times from 0000 to 1159 are morning, so 0605 is 6:05 a.m. A common slip is subtracting 13 instead of 12, which gives 8:40 p.m.

¿Qué examen de policía vas a hacer? No hay una prueba nacional única

No existe un examen nacional de ingreso a la policía. Cada departamento decide qué prueba escrita usa, y en muchos estados una junta estatal, a menudo llamada POST (Peace Officer Standards and Training, es decir, estándares y formación de agentes del orden), fija o aprueba la prueba. Algunas agencias compran la prueba a un proveedor, otras la redactan ellas mismas y algunos estados exigen una prueba concreta. Como dos ejemplos, Stanard & Associates describe su National Police Officer Selection Test como una prueba que mide aritmética, comprensión lectora, gramática y redacción de informes de incidentes, y la POST de California fija estándares de lectura y escritura para los candidatos a agente del orden. Otras pruebas se apoyan más en el juicio situacional y en preguntas sobre estilo de trabajo.

Por eso el primer paso es leer la oferta de empleo. Suele nombrar la prueba, o al menos las destrezas que mide, y la empresa examinadora o la junta estatal suele publicar gratis su propia guía para candidatos. Esta página no da por hecho ningún formato, y no afirma número de preguntas, límites de tiempo ni notas de aprobado, porque difieren de una prueba a otra y cambian con el tiempo.

El examen escrito es además solo una fase. La mayoría de las agencias añaden una prueba de aptitud física, una investigación de antecedentes, una entrevista y evaluaciones médicas y psicológicas, pero los pasos y su orden varían. Confirma el proceso completo con la agencia a la que te presentas.

Cómo usar este test de práctica

Las 15 preguntas se reparten entre las destrezas que salen una y otra vez: leer un informe de incidente y sacar horas y hechos, elegir la frase que corresponde en un informe (objetiva, concreta, en el orden correcto), fijarte en detalles de la descripción escrita de una escena, decidir qué hacer cuando una situación pone a prueba tu honradez o tu juicio, y la aritmética de tiempo, distancia, promedios y porcentajes.

En una prueba real la escena puede mostrarse unos instantes y retirarse antes de que aparezcan las preguntas. Aquí la descripción se queda en la pregunta, para que puedas practicar el hábito que importa: leer buscando el detalle que se puede comprobar, como un color, un número, una posición o una hora. Cuando eso te resulte fácil, tapa la descripción con la mano después de leerla una vez y vuelve a intentarlo.

Haz el test de una sentada y después lee todas las explicaciones, también de las que acertaste. Un fallo en las preguntas de redacción de informes suele tener una sola causa: una opinión, una suposición o una palabra vaga donde tenía que ir un hecho. Las preguntas de comprobación administrativa, series de números y vocabulario están en el test de práctica de Civil Service de este sitio, así que no se repiten aquí.

Cada pregunta la escribió el equipo de StudyPDF. Ninguna procede de un departamento, de una junta POST ni de un proveedor de pruebas, y StudyPDF no está afiliada a ninguno de ellos.

Cómo crear más tests de práctica con tu propio material

Quince preguntas te muestran qué destrezas necesitan trabajo, pero lo que cuenta es tu propia prueba, y un banco genérico no sabe qué formato usa tu agencia ni dónde pierdes puntos.

StudyPDF parte de tu material. Sube la guía para candidatos de tu agencia, la guía de estudio de la empresa examinadora o de la junta estatal, los apuntes de tu academia o tus propias notas. Después pulsa Nuevo material, elige un examen de práctica o un cuestionario, marca esos archivos como fuentes y fija la duración y la dificultad. Cada pregunta se escribe con esas páginas exactas y cada explicación cita de dónde sale la respuesta, así que puedes abrir la fuente en cuanto algo no te cuadre. Puedes acotar un test a una destreza como la redacción de informes, y tus respuestas componen una imagen por concepto de lo que te sigue costando puntos.

Bo es el tutor para el resto. Pregúntale por qué una respuesta es correcta y te lo explica con tus propias páginas, con una pista primero si la quieres.

No hace falta que subas nada para empezar. Nombra un tema, por ejemplo redacción de informes de incidentes, comprensión lectora o problemas con tiempo y distancia, y Bo lo prepara con sus conceptos clave para que crees un test de práctica sobre él. Empezar es gratis.

Escrito por el equipo de StudyPDF. Actualizado el 19 de agosto de 2026.

Bueno saberlo

¿Es gratis este test de práctica del examen de policía?

Sí. Las 15 preguntas, la pantalla de puntuación y todas las explicaciones son gratis, y el test funciona entero en tu navegador. Necesitas una cuenta gratis de StudyPDF para descargar el PDF o para crear más tests de práctica con tu propio material de estudio.

¿Es la misma prueba que usa mi departamento?

Probablemente no exactamente. No existe un examen nacional de policía: cada departamento, y a menudo cada junta estatal, elige su propia prueba escrita. Esta página practica destrezas que comparten muchas, como leer y redactar informes, observación, juicio y matemáticas básicas. Mira tu oferta de empleo para saber qué prueba harás.

¿Quién escribió estas preguntas?

El equipo de StudyPDF escribió cada pregunta y cada explicación. No son preguntas de examen reales, y StudyPDF no está afiliada a ningún departamento de policía, junta POST ni empresa de pruebas.

¿Puedo conseguir más preguntas como estas con mis propios materiales?

Sí. Sube a StudyPDF la guía para candidatos de tu agencia, los apuntes de la academia o tus notas y crea tests de práctica completos con tu material exacto, con explicaciones ligadas a tus páginas. Si no tienes nada que subir, puedes nombrar un tema.