5.3 Oral Directions Subtest: Capturing Tasks From a Patrol Officer
Key Takeaways
- The Oral Directions subtest plays a simulated radio call from a patrol officer to a dispatcher; questions cover the tasks to be performed, the order they are performed in, details such as names, times and locations, and conclusions the call supports.
- Note-taking is permitted during the call, and POST gives a brief period after the call to complete those notes before the questions begin.
- Notes are never scored, so any abbreviation system is legal; only the answers marked on the answer sheet count.
- The officer routinely asks the dispatcher to relay instructions to a third party, so every task must be tagged with who performs it, not just what is to be done.
- The subtest is not a map-reading or route-tracking exercise; no street grid is scored, and preparing for it as navigation practice trains the wrong skill.
5.3 Oral Directions Subtest: Capturing Tasks From a Patrol Officer
[!IMPORTANT] What this subtest actually is. POST's Examinee Guide describes Oral Directions in one sentence: "The examinee listens to a simulated radio call from a patrol officer to a dispatcher." You may take notes during the call, you are given a brief period to finish them after the call ends, and you may use those notes to answer multiple-choice questions about "various tasks to be performed, the order in which they are to be performed, various details contained in the call such as names, times, locations, etc., and interpretations and conclusions that may be drawn."
[!CAUTION] This is not a map test. A great deal of third-party material describes Oral Directions as turn-by-turn route tracking across a street grid — the kind of item found on the CritiCall dispatcher test, which is a different instrument entirely. POST's battery contains no scored map-reading component. If you spend your preparation practising compass rotations and block counts, you will arrive on test day trained for a subtest that is not on the form. What is on the form is an officer talking to you and asking you to do things.
The direction in "Oral Directions" means instructions, not bearings. On the radio, a field officer's request is rarely one clean sentence. It arrives as a bundle: a couple of things they want you to do right now, one thing they want you to do only if a condition is met, a message to pass to somebody else, and a scatter of names, times and case numbers that the questions will pick at. Your entire job on this subtest is to convert that bundle into an ordered, attributed task list before the audio stops.
Administration Mechanics You Can Rely On
| Mechanic | What POST specifies | What it means for you |
|---|---|---|
| Source of the audio | A simulated radio call from a patrol officer to a dispatcher | You are the dispatcher. Listen for imperatives aimed at you. |
| Note-taking | Allowed during the call | Write continuously; do not try to hold the list in your head. |
| Post-audio window | A brief period to complete notes after the call | Reserved time to fill gaps — plan for it rather than being surprised by it. |
| Notes at question time | You may use your notes | Legibility to you is the only standard that matters. |
| Scoring of notes | Notes are not scored | Abbreviate, symbolise, misspell — none of it costs a point. |
| Question content | Tasks, order of tasks, details, interpretations/conclusions | Capture all four categories, not just the facts. |
The post-audio completion window is the most under-used gift on the whole battery. Most candidates stop writing the moment the recording stops and sit waiting. The window exists precisely because real note-taking under speech pressure leaves holes, and POST expects you to patch them while the call is still echoic — still fresh in the sensory buffer that holds sound for a few seconds and in short-term memory for a minute or two after that. Patch immediately, in priority order: first the task list, then the sequence markers, then names and numbers.
The Four-Column Capture System
Because the questions ask who does what, in what order, a flat list of sentences will not survive. Rule your scratch space into four narrow columns before the audio begins.
+-----+----------------------+----------------+---------------------------+
| # | ACTION | ACTOR | TRIGGER / DETAIL |
+-----+----------------------+----------------+---------------------------+
| 1 | run plate 4KLM220 | me (disp) | now |
| 2 | notify Det. Ruiz | me (disp) | after plate comes back |
| 3 | hold scene, no entry | field tech | until Ruiz arrives |
| 4 | tow req | me (disp) | only if reg comes back |
| | | | stolen |
+-----+----------------------+----------------+---------------------------+
- The number column is the sequence answer. Number each task as you hear it. When a later item asks what you do first, or what happens after something else, you are reading an answer you already recorded rather than reconstructing one under pressure.
- The actor column defends against the relay trap. POST's own published sample question is "What instructions are you supposed to give the field technician?" — the correct answer is a task the technician performs, which the officer asked you to pass along. Candidates who record only actions confuse "things I do" with "things I tell someone else to do," and the distractors are built out of exactly that confusion.
- The trigger column captures conditionals and ordering words. Listen hard for before, after, once, as soon as, if, unless, don't … until. These are the hinge words on which sequence and conditional items turn.
- Detail goes in the trigger column too. Names, ranks, unit call signs, times, case numbers and street names all land here, attached to the task they belong to, which is far more retrievable than a loose margin scrawl.
Listening for the Four Question Types
Every Oral Directions item is drawn from one of four buckets. Knowing them tells you what to write down.
[ Simulated radio call from patrol officer ]
│
┌─────────────────┬───────────────┼───────────────┬─────────────────┐
▼ ▼ ▼ ▼
TASK ITEMS ORDER ITEMS DETAIL ITEMS INTERPRETATION ITEMS
"What are you "What do you "What time did "Why does the officer
supposed to do?" do first?" the officer want the technician
arrive?" to wait?"
- Task items ask what is to be done, by you or by a named third party. Answered from the ACTION + ACTOR columns.
- Order items ask for first, next, last, or what precedes what. Answered from the number column and the trigger words.
- Detail items ask for a name, rank, time, location or identifier. Answered from the detail column.
- Interpretation items ask what the call means — why an instruction was given, what the officer expects to happen, what can be concluded. These are not written anywhere in your notes; they are inferred from the whole call. Leave yourself thirty seconds of listening bandwidth for meaning, not just transcription.
Worked Transcript and Capture
Simulated radio call (Unit 3-Adam-12 to Dispatch): "Dispatch, 3-Adam-12. I'm out at 1400 Grove Street on the vehicle burglary report from earlier. Go ahead and run California plate 4-Kilo-Lima-Mary-2-2-0 for me, and while that's pending, advise Detective Ruiz at extension 4180 that I've got usable prints on the driver's window — she wanted to know before she left for the day, and she's off at 1700. When the field evidence technician gets here, have him hold at the curb and not approach the vehicle until Ruiz clears him; last time we lost a print because somebody leaned on the glass. If that plate comes back stolen, start me a tow and a second unit. Otherwise just log it and I'll clear."
The capture
+-----+----------------------------+---------------+----------------------------------+
| # | ACTION | ACTOR | TRIGGER / DETAIL |
+-----+----------------------------+---------------+----------------------------------+
| 1 | run CA plate 4KLM220 | me (disp) | immediately |
| 2 | advise Det. Ruiz, x4180 | me (disp) | while plate pending; usable |
| | | | prints, driver's window; Ruiz |
| | | | off at 1700 |
| 3 | hold at curb, do NOT | field ev. | until Ruiz clears him |
| | approach vehicle | technician | (reason: prints get smudged) |
| 4a | start tow + 2nd unit | me (disp) | IF plate returns stolen |
| 4b | log only, unit clears | me (disp) | if NOT stolen |
+-----+----------------------------+---------------+----------------------------------+
Loc: 1400 Grove St | Unit: 3-Adam-12 | Orig call: veh burglary rpt
How each question type is answered from that grid
| Question | Bucket | Where the answer lives |
|---|---|---|
| "What is the first thing you are asked to do?" | Order | Row 1 — run the plate |
| "What instructions are you to give the evidence technician?" | Task (relay) | Row 3, ACTOR column — hold at the curb, do not approach until Ruiz clears him |
| "At what time does Detective Ruiz go off duty?" | Detail | Row 2 detail — 1700 |
| "Under what condition should a tow be requested?" | Task (conditional) | Row 4a — only if the plate returns stolen |
| "Why does the officer want the technician to wait?" | Interpretation | Inferred: to preserve fingerprint evidence on the glass |
Notice that the relay item and the conditional item are the two that a flat transcript cannot answer cleanly, and they are the two POST's own sample most resembles. Build the grid, and both become lookups.
A patrol officer’s radio call to the dispatcher includes the line: "When the evidence technician gets here, have him hold at the curb and not approach the vehicle until the detective clears him." A test item then asks what instructions the examinee is supposed to give the evidence technician. What is the correct response?
According to POST’s published description of the Oral Directions subtest, what is the examinee permitted to do?
A candidate captures every action mentioned in an Oral Directions call as a single unnumbered paragraph of shorthand. Which category of question is this candidate least equipped to answer?