RankHighCompetitive Exam Prep

PELLETB Scores and T-Scores Explained

POST sets no passing score. It reports a T-score and leaves every hiring decision — the cutoff, how long a score stays acceptable, whether it travels — to the individual department.

Score type
T-score — mean 50, standard deviation 10
Below / above average
40 or below / 60 or above
Passing score set by POST
None — each agency sets its own
POST shelf life
None — departments set their own time frames
Retake
Wait 30 calendar days; eligible on the 31st
Results to applicant
Within 30 days, from the agency or academy

What a T-score is

Your raw number of correct answers is converted to a T-score with a mean of 50 and a standard deviation of 10. POST describes 40 or below as below average and 60 or above as above average. A 50 is squarely average against the population of people who take this test.

POST's preparation guide states that research shows the likelihood of successful academy completion increases for every point scored above 42. That is a statement about academy outcomes, not a passing score, and it is the closest thing POST publishes to a benchmark.

There is no POST passing score

This is the single most misunderstood fact about the exam. POST does not publish a cutoff anywhere in its preparation guide. Each hiring agency decides what T-score it will accept, and the published figures genuinely differ — RankHigh's verified agency pages record cutoffs from the low forties to the low fifties, and some agencies publish none at all.

So the honest answer to what score you need is: the score your department requires. Check the agency you are applying to, not a general figure from a prep site.

How long a score lasts, and whether it travels

POST states that a score on the POST test has no shelf life, and that individual departments have the discretion to establish their own acceptable time frames. In practice the departments RankHigh has verified publish windows ranging from three months to three years, and several publish none.

Portability works the same way. Departments that administer the test are required to give you a letter stating your T-score, and other departments have the discretion to accept that letter if the score is acceptable to them. So one sitting can serve several applications — but acceptance is the receiving department's call, never automatic.

Retaking

You must wait 30 calendar days between attempts and are eligible again on the 31st day. POST is explicit that this applies even if you take the exam through a different department or agency, and that retesting inside the 30 days invalidates the result.

Agencies and academies are required to give applicants their results within 30 days. POST does not release scores directly to candidates.

Sources

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