1.5 ATMS Official-Result Concept

Two Kinds of Result: Unofficial vs. Official

The single biggest source of confusion after test day is the difference between the result you walk out with and the result that counts. Pearson VUE provides unofficial results on the day of testing. The official result is the electronic record in FDLE's Automated Training Management System (ATMS). FDLE treats the ATMS record as the controlling test record and cannot provide official applicant score documents to applicants. Florida criminal justice agencies have access to ATMS, which is precisely why you should not expect FDLE to mail a score document to you or to an employer.

The practical consequence: do not treat the Pearson VUE same-day printout as a portable, authoritative score report. It is a courtesy preview. If an academy or agency needs to verify your result, they look it up in ATMS — the system of record — not at a piece of paper you hand them. Results are also not given by phone, so plan to rely on the official electronic record rather than a call to FDLE.

How Passing Is Determined

The CJBAT is scored on a count of correct answers across the whole exam, with a floor requirement on the later sections. To pass, a candidate must answer at least 70 questions correctly overall, and at least 30 of those correct answers must fall in Sections II and III (memorization and the written/reasoning section). In other words, you cannot bank a pass purely on Section I (Behavioral Attributes); enough of your correct answers must come from the cognitive-skills sections to clear the 30-of-the-later-sections requirement.

Because the reportable outcome is pass/fail, do not describe a passing CJBAT as "a 78" or "a 90th-percentile score." Candidates, academies, and agencies all receive pass/fail status. A failing report is more detailed: it typically includes diagnostic information by section so a candidate can see where they fell short and target remediation before a retake. That diagnostic feedback is a planning tool — but it does not change the fact that the official, controlling record lives in ATMS.

Talking About Results Accurately

Getting the result vocabulary right protects you from two failures: over-claiming and mis-planning. Over-claiming is describing the exam as something it is not — a numeric ranking score, a job offer, or an automatic academy admission. None of those follow from a pass. Mis-planning is forgetting the four-year clock: a passing result is valid for four years from the test date, so a candidate who passes but delays entering an academy must watch that window and re-test if it lapses.

A practical results checklist:

• Expect unofficial results from Pearson VUE on test day; expect the ATMS record to be official.
• Do not request results by phone — they are not given that way.
• Do not expect FDLE to send an official score document to you or a third party.
• Describe a passing outcome as pass/fail, never as a numeric or percentile score.
• Use any failing diagnostic breakdown to target the weakest sections before a retake.
• Track your test date so you re-test before the four-year validity expires.

This model also keeps study aids honest. A guide should never promise a passing score, a job, or admission, and never claim the Pearson VUE printout is the official record. The defensible framing is narrow and accurate: unofficial same-day information, an official ATMS record, a pass/fail outcome, and a four-year validity window. A passing result is evidence toward a training-entry requirement — not a portable ranking score to shop among employers. Because agencies may not use scores as a hiring minimum or to rank candidates, the result should always be understood within its proper training-eligibility purpose.

A short worked scenario shows why the 30-correct-in-Sections-II-and-III floor matters in practice. Imagine a candidate who answers strongly on Section I (Behavioral Attributes) and racks up correct responses there, reaching 70 correct overall — but only 26 of those correct answers come from Sections II and III. Despite hitting 70 total, this candidate does not pass, because the later-section floor of 30 is unmet. The lesson for planning is concrete: you cannot lean on Behavioral Attributes to rescue weak performance on memorization and reasoning.

Your preparation must put real weight on Sections II and III, since that is where the passing standard is genuinely decided. When you later read a failing diagnostic report, look first at your Section II and III breakdown — that is the band most likely to be the difference between a pass and a retake, and the most productive place to direct remediation before paying another fee.