NTN Police Test Passing Score: How to Read Your FrontLine Results

The Direct Answer: Your Department Decides Whether Your Score Passes

There is no single national passing score for the NTN FrontLine police test. The National Testing Network candidate FAQ says that individual departments choose their scoring standards based on their own needs. A score that moves you forward with one agency may fall below another agency's cutoff.

That is why a FrontLine result should be read as a set of section scores, not as a universal pass-or-fail verdict. Your real question is not simply, "Did I pass NTN?" It is: Do my current scores satisfy every requirement published by the department I selected, and has that department received everything it needs?

Use this guide after you test. It focuses on interpreting and routing results, checking department requirements, and making a safe retake decision. For the test's three-component format and preparation methods, use the separate NTN FrontLine study guide.

Why 65/70/70 Is Not a Universal NTN Rule

Some prep sites state that candidates need 65% on video and 70% on reading and writing. Those numbers do appear in some agency requirements, but NTN does not publish them as a national FrontLine standard. NTN's Terms of Use says cutoff information comes from the job posting or the department directly, and its FAQ says departments set their own scoring standards.

Current and recent agency materials show why the distinction matters:

These are agency-specific examples, not substitute targets for your application. Recruitments close, standards change, and a department may use scores in ranking as well as minimum screening. Open the live NTN job detail and the agency's own announcement every time you apply. If the two pages disagree or the cutoff is absent, ask the department's hiring contact for the controlling rule in writing.

How to Determine Whether Your FrontLine Scores Qualify

Use this four-step check instead of comparing your results with a percentage from a forum or commercial prep page.

1. Identify the exact job, not just the agency

A department may run entry-level, lateral, certified, recruit, or multiple-location openings with different requirements. Record the exact job title and closing date. Save the agency announcement or note its URL, because the requirement that matters is the one attached to your recruitment.

2. Find every section cutoff

Look for separate requirements for the Human Relations or Video Test, Report Writing Test, and Reading Test. Agencies do not always use the same label for the video-based score. Do not average the three percentages unless the department explicitly tells you to do that. If an agency requires 70% in every section, an 85% and two 90% scores do not rescue a 69% in the remaining section. The section minimum controls.

Also separate FrontLine results from other screening items. The Public Safety Self Assessment, physical ability test, personal history questionnaire, oral board, background investigation, and agency application can affect candidacy, but they are not interchangeable with a FrontLine section percentage.

3. Compare each result with the same named requirement

Create a three-row note:

• Video or Human Relations result versus the agency's corresponding requirement
• Writing result versus the agency's Writing requirement
• Reading result versus the agency's Reading requirement

Mark a row confirmed only when the score meets a requirement from the official posting or hiring contact. Mark it unknown when the agency has not disclosed a number. Unknown does not mean passed, failed, or 70%. It means the department must interpret the result.

4. Confirm the non-score requirements

A passing FrontLine score may be only one gate. Verify that you submitted the separate city or county application, selected the correct department in NTN, met the closing date, and completed any required assessments. NTN's terms explicitly state that participating in testing does not guarantee a passing score, job, or job offer.

Who Receives Your NTN Scores?

NTN does the official score routing. Its How NTN Works page says departments instantly receive results for candidates who specifically apply to them, including application information and test results. The candidate FAQ likewise says NTN provides each designated department with the candidate's scores after testing.

The important word is designated. NTN's Terms of Use says score results go directly to departments selected by the candidate. Except for specifically allowed physical-exam letters, candidates may not print, reproduce, or send score results to departments that were not selected. A screenshot or self-printed result is not a valid workaround for an omitted department.

Before assuming a delivery problem, check these items in your NTN account and application records:

1. The exact department job appears in your selected list.
2. The test shows as completed and the correct testing date is attached.
3. Your agency application, if separate, uses the same name and contact information.
4. The department's application deadline has not passed without another required submission.
5. Email from the department has not landed in spam or a filtered folder.

If the selected job is present and you still suspect a technical issue, contact NTN Candidate Support about routing or account status. Ask the department—not NTN—to interpret a cutoff or hiring decision. NTN's FAQ says its employees cannot discuss score specifics or details of how the examination is scored.

Can You Add a Department After Testing?

This is more restrictive than many candidates expect. The current candidate FAQ says you may add any department job before taking the test. After testing, you may add only a new job or department that opened after you completed the test. NTN's terms add that if you omitted an already-open job before testing, you cannot add it afterward until that job is updated as new.

The practical lesson is simple: before test day, select every currently open department job you genuinely intend to pursue. After test day, do not assume an old score can be attached to any existing vacancy on demand. Check the Add Departments area in your account for eligible new openings, and verify the current charge shown by NTN before completing a transaction.

No Department Contact Does Not Automatically Mean You Failed

NTN's FAQ says departments contact candidates who make it into later phases, but each department determines what it does with scores. That means silence can have several causes: the department may still be reviewing candidates, the recruitment may remain open, it may rank candidates rather than contact everyone immediately, another application item may be missing, or your scores may not meet its standard. Your NTN percentages alone cannot identify which explanation applies.

Use a status check that gives the hiring unit something specific to answer:

I completed FrontLine National on [date], selected [exact department job], and submitted the agency application on [date]. Could you confirm whether my application and NTN results are complete, and whether the recruitment timeline includes a later notification date?

Do not ask NTN to declare that you passed a department's process. Do not repeatedly contact a hiring unit before a timeline it already published. First read the job announcement, candidate portal, and confirmation emails; then ask about a concrete missing status or expired milestone.

How Long Do NTN FrontLine Scores Last?

NTN's candidate FAQ says written scores are good for one year after the test date and that NTN provides departments with scores for one year. The same FAQ notes that departments ultimately choose how long they use those scores. NTN's terms make candidates responsible for having valid results when a department's job closes.

So "valid for one year" does not mean every agency must accept the result for an entire year or that an application survives every recruitment cycle. Use two clocks:

• NTN clock: one year from the test date before the written score expires in the system.
• Department clock: the recruitment's closing date, score-age rule, eligibility-list period, and any agency-specific retest policy.

Record both dates. A score that remains visible in NTN can still be too old for a particular posting, while a department may have already captured a valid score for an active process. If your deadline is close to the one-year mark, confirm the agency rule before relying on the remaining days.

The Retake Decision: Improvement Versus Replacement Risk

For standard computer-administered tests, NTN's candidate FAQ sets a minimum three-month wait before retesting. Some departments may require a longer interval. More importantly, NTN says that when you choose to retest, your previous test scores and all department jobs from the original application are deleted. You must select all desired jobs again for the new test. The Terms of Use explains that the new score replaces the old score for agencies selected for the new exam. NTN does not promise to keep the higher result.

Treat a retake as a replacement transaction, not a free second attempt. Use this decision table:

Before paying for a retake, write down your current test date, earliest permitted retest date, score-expiration date, every selected department, every job closing date, each published cutoff, and which section you can realistically improve. If any of those fields is unknown, resolve it before replacing the score.

Turn a Weak Section Into a Specific Practice Plan

Once a department requirement shows which section is blocking you, practice that workflow rather than restarting a generic police curriculum.

• Video score below the agency cutoff: use the NTN FrontLine practice bank to drill decisions from stated facts. Review whether each miss came from inventing policy, overlooking the immediate problem, choosing an unnecessarily escalatory response, or running out of decision time.
• Writing score below the agency cutoff: use the study guide's report-writing workflow to repeat the full chain of observation, chronological notes, factual report, and detail retrieval. A grammar-only worksheet does not repair missed observations.
• Reading score below the agency cutoff: practice complete-sentence cloze items and label each miss as vocabulary, grammar, logic, or rushing. Use the FrontLine flashcards for targeted recall, then return to fresh passage-based questions.

After remediation, take fresh mixed questions rather than memorized repeats. Your readiness bar should be stable performance above the actual agency threshold, plus clean execution of the section workflow. That is a preparation benchmark, not an official score conversion or a guarantee of hiring advancement.

Your Post-Test Checklist

Use this sequence today:

1. Open the exact agency job posting and record each section cutoff or mark it unknown.
2. Confirm the correct department job was selected in your NTN account.
3. Verify any separate agency application and supporting steps are complete.
4. Compare scores section by section; never substitute an average for an individual cutoff.
5. Record the job closing date, one-year NTN expiration date, and earliest allowed retest date.
6. If the cutoff is unknown, contact the department before deciding you failed or scheduling a retest.
7. If a retake is justified, inventory every selected job before replacing the old result and drill only the weak workflow.

The central rule is durable even when agency standards change: NTN delivers the results, but the hiring department defines what those results mean.

Official Sources

• NTN Candidate Frequently Asked Questions
• NTN Terms of Use
• How NTN Works: Department Access to Candidate Results
• NTN Candidate Support
• Bexley Police Department NTN Job Detail
• City of Garden Grove 2026 Police Recruit Job Detail