EXAM 7313 · TEST OCTOBER 5, 2026
NYC Police Officer exam 7313: the complete guide
What the job is, when the exam is, the 9 ability areas it tests, and how to prepare for each one. Every fact below traces to the official notice.
Take the free diagnostic12 questions · no signup · built for exam 7313
Key dates
- Filing closes
- September 14, 2026
- Test date
- October 5, 2026
- Passing score
- 70%
One notice now covers twelve exam numbers. Exam Nos. 7311 through 7322 share a single Notice of Examination whose overall application window runs 1 July 2026 to 14 June 2027, and inside it each exam number has its own two-week filing period and its own testing week. The application fee is $0.00 for all of them — the notice instructs applicants to select "No Fee" as the payment method.
The whole twelve-number schedule is printed in the notice, so read it against today's date rather than against any one row a page like this one happens to have picked. Application and scheduling period, then testing period: 7311 filed 1 – 14 July 2026 and tested 3 – 8 August; 7312 filed 3 – 17 August and tests 1 – 4 September; 7313 files 1 – 14 September and tests 5 – 9 October; 7314 files 1 – 14 October and tests 2 – 7 November; 7315 files 2 – 16 November and tests 1 – 5 December; 7316 files 1 – 14 December and tests 4 – 9 January 2027; then 7317 (4 – 19 January, testing 1 – 6 February), 7318 (1 – 16 February, 1 – 6 March), 7319 (1 – 15 March, 5 – 10 April), 7320 (1 – 14 April, 3 – 8 May), 7321 (3 – 17 May, 1 – 5 June) and 7322 (1 – 14 June, testing 5 – 9 July 2027).
That cadence is the fact worth planning around. Police Officer is not an exam you wait years for — a missed filing period costs four weeks, not a hiring cycle, and a candidate who is not ready this month can aim at the next number without losing anything but time.
The 9 ability areas, and what each one asks of you
The Police Officer test is multiple choice, taken at a computer terminal, and a score of at least 70% is required to pass. Your score is what sets your position on the eligible list — this is a ranking exam, not a pass/fail certificate. Each area below has a technique lesson and a drill built for this exam — not adapted from another one.
Deductive Reasoning
Take a rule you are given and apply it to a specific case, then judge whether the answer actually follows. The wrong options are usually the ones that break one clause of the rule.
Drill this areaInductive Reasoning
Work the other direction: combine separate facts into the general conclusion they support, and reject conclusions that outrun the evidence.
Drill this areaInformation Ordering
Put steps, numbers, names or procedures into the order a stated rule demands. The rule is always supplied — the work is following it exactly.
Drill this areaMemorization
Hold words, numbers, faces and procedures well enough to answer after the material is taken away. A trainable filing habit, not a talent.
Drill this areaProblem Sensitivity
Notice that something is wrong, or about to go wrong, before it is pointed out — and name both the whole problem and its parts.
Drill this areaSpatial Orientation
Work out where you are relative to something else, and pick the route or direction that follows. Usually a map, a floor plan or a set of turns.
Drill this areaVisualization
Predict how a shape, pattern or object looks once it is rotated, folded or rearranged — mentally, without drawing it.
Drill this areaWritten Comprehension
Understand what a sentence or paragraph actually says — policies, regulations, signage — and answer from the text rather than from assumption.
Drill this areaWritten Expression
Choose the wording that another person will read the way you meant it. Grammar, clarity and precision in reports, in multiple-choice form.
Drill this areaThe nine abilities below are the same nine the School Safety Agent notice tests, construct for construct. What differs is the worked example DCAS attaches to each one: information ordering is illustrated here by storing found, seized or recovered property, and spatial orientation by navigating an assigned precinct on foot or in a vehicle. Anyone filing for both titles is preparing for one set of skills, not two.
Some questions are answered from documents or other material handed to candidates on the day, which is the same mechanic the New York court officer exam uses for its memory and record-keeping material.
Calculators are not permitted, and neither is any other electronic device: phones, smart watches, cameras, e-cigarettes and vape pens are all named. Using one at any time before, during or after the exam event nullifies your score and disqualifies you.
Who can apply
- Education
- By the date of appointment: 24 college semester credits at an accredited college or university with at least a 2.0 cumulative index, or a four-year high school diploma or its educational equivalent plus two years of honorable full-time U.S. military service. The 24-credit route is a reduction from the 60 credits earlier notices required.
- Age
- At least 17 by the date you sit the multiple-choice test, and 20 years and 6 months by the date of appointment. There is also a maximum: you must not have reached your 35th birthday by the first date of the application period to be appointed. Time spent on military duty as defined in section 243 of the New York Military Law can be deducted from your age, up to seven years. If you are too young for appointment when the list is terminated, you get no further opportunity from it.
- Convictions
- Unlike the School Safety Agent notice, this one offers no certificate-of-relief route: the notice states that persons convicted of a felony or a domestic violence misdemeanor are not eligible for appointment as a Police Officer. Petit larceny is named among the convictions that would ordinarily disqualify, alongside an arrest or conviction record indicating disrespect for the law and a dishonorable discharge from the Armed Forces.
- Driver license
- A valid, unrestricted New York State motor vehicle driver license is required on the date of appointment and must be maintained for the duration of employment.
- Residency
- The New York State Public Officers Law requires an NYPD police officer to live in New York City or in Nassau, Westchester, Suffolk, Orange, Rockland or Putnam county.
- Citizenship
- United States citizenship is required at the time of appointment.
- Screening
- Character and background investigation (with a $75 fingerprint-screening fee), medical and psychological assessment, a qualifying physical test, and drug screening. The probationary period is 24 months, and academy recruits must complete a timed 1.5-mile run before graduating.
NYPD candidate assessment: what happens after the exam
As of 2026-08-10, the NYPD Candidate Assessment Division (CAD) is the post-exam screening operation, not another civil-service test. After a passing written score, CAD coordinates the medical exam, character investigation, written and oral psychological assessments, Job Standard Test and drug screening. The NYPD says these phases do not necessarily happen in the order shown below.
A passing score starts the process but does not schedule every appointment at once. CAD first emails successful candidates an invitation to create a Candidate Portal account. When your list number is reached, the portal opens the Personal History Questionnaire and the document-upload instructions that begin your assessment.
- Candidate Portal and PHQ
- Watch the email address used for your exam, including spam, for the CAD invitation. When your list number is reached, complete the Personal History Questionnaire and prepare the documents listed in the portal; the official candidate-forms page says not to mail its printable forms.
- Medical assessment
- The published checks include vision and color vision, hearing, blood pressure and pulse, an EKG, a medical questionnaire and an examination by an NYPD doctor or physician assistant. The stated vision floor is 20/30 or better corrected and 20/100 or better uncorrected in each eye; blood pressure must be controlled at no more than 140/90 with a pulse under 100.
- Character investigation
- An investigator verifies identity, education, employment and the history disclosed in the PHQ, and reviews criminal, driving and other records. Respond to document requests and correct discrepancies rather than guessing what the investigator already has.
- Psychological assessments
- The written assessment is a full day of autobiographical questionnaires, symptom inventories and objective personality measures. The oral assessment is a one-on-one interview of about one hour covering education, work, medical and psychological history, legal history and relationships.
- Job Standard Test
- The JST is one continuous six-station event with a 4:28 limit: a 50-foot sprint and six-foot barrier, stair climb, restraint simulation, 600-foot pursuit run, 35-foot drag of a 176-pound mannequin, and trigger pulls with both hands. The hiring process allows additional attempts and tutoring after an initial failure.
- Drug screening
- Drug and alcohol screening is a separate required part of the hiring process. The NYPD hiring FAQ says prior substance use is considered with the whole background rather than treated as an automatic bar, but a drug screening must be passed before appointment.
Last verified: 2026-08-15.
Scoring, and what happens after you pass
Passing puts your name on an eligible list in final score order with a list number, and the notice says such a list typically stays active for four years. New York Civil Service Law § 56 sets the outer bounds: a list runs for not less than one and not more than four years.
Appointments then come off that list under the rule in New York Civil Service Law § 61 — an appointing authority selects one of the three highest-ranked candidates on the certified list who are willing to accept the job. That is why a few points of score can be the difference between being reachable and never being canvassed.
Two credit schemes can move your number. Ten points are added to the test score of candidates who qualify for New York City Residency Credit, which requires continuous NYC residency from the date of the multiple-choice test through the date the list is established, and must be requested on test day. Veterans' preference and Legacy credits are separate. Both must be claimed before the list is established — neither can be added afterwards.
What the notice says about pay
The notice for Exam Nos. 7311–7322 states a current minimum salary of $55,942 per year, rising through increments to $109,352 at the completion of five and one-half years of employment. On top of that sit an annual uniform allowance, holiday pay, City contributions to the Welfare and Annuity Funds, City-paid health insurance, and a 2.25% differential of base salary for neighborhood policing. The notice says these rates are subject to change.
That ceiling is the highest of any title tracked on this site, and it is reached faster than most: five and a half years, against the two-year traineeship plus increments a New York court officer works through to reach $68,593.
How to prepare
Start with the diagnostic — 12 questions, about seven minutes, no signup. It tells you which of the 9 areas is costing you rank, so you drill the weak one instead of the comfortable one. Then work the lessons and drills for that area, and sit a timed mock when you want to know where you stand under the clock.
Questions candidates ask
When is the next NYPD police officer exam?
There are twelve of them, one a month, and the right question is which number you are filing for rather than when the next exam is. Under the single notice covering Exam Nos. 7311–7322, each number has a two-week filing period and a testing week roughly three weeks later: 7313 files 1 – 14 September 2026 and tests 5 – 9 October; 7314 files 1 – 14 October and tests 2 – 7 November; 7315 files 2 – 16 November and tests 1 – 5 December; the pattern runs to 7322, which files 1 – 14 June 2027. Missing one costs four weeks, not a hiring cycle.
Is there a fee for the NYPD police officer exam?
No. The application fee is $0.00 for every exam number from 7311 through 7322, and the notice instructs applicants to select "No Fee" as the payment method.
How many college credits do you need for the NYPD exam?
By the date of appointment you need a four-year high school diploma or its equivalent, plus either 24 college semester credits at an accredited college with at least a 2.0 cumulative index, or two years of honorable full-time U.S. military service. That 24-credit figure is a reduction from the 60 credits required under earlier notices.
What is the age limit for the NYPD police officer exam?
You must be at least 17 to sit the test and have attained 20 years and 6 months to be appointed. At the other end, you must not have reached your 35th birthday by the first date of the application period. Military duty as defined in section 243 of the New York Military Law can be deducted from your age, up to a maximum of seven years.
Is the NYPD exam the same as the School Safety Agent exam?
The ability list is identical — the same nine constructs, with worked examples drawn from different jobs. The exams themselves are separate, with their own numbers, dates and eligible lists, and the entry bar differs: School Safety Agent asks only for a high school diploma, where Police Officer additionally requires 24 college credits or two years of military service.
What score do you need to pass the NYPD exam?
At least 70% on the multiple-choice test. Passing is only the threshold — your actual score determines your list number, and appointments are made from the top of the list down.
Do you have to live in New York City to be an NYPD police officer?
Not strictly in the five boroughs. The New York State Public Officers Law allows residence in New York City or in Nassau, Westchester, Suffolk, Orange, Rockland or Putnam county. Living in NYC does matter for a different reason: it is what qualifies you for the ten-point New York City Residency Credit.
How long does the NYPD eligible list last?
The notice says a list typically remains active for four years, which is the statutory ceiling under New York Civil Service Law § 56. Lists can be exhausted or terminated sooner, and a candidate too young for appointment when the list is terminated has no further opportunity from that list.
What is the NYPD Candidate Assessment Division?
The Candidate Assessment Division runs the screening that follows a passing civil-service exam. It coordinates the Candidate Portal and Personal History Questionnaire, medical assessment, character investigation, written and oral psychological assessments, the 4-minute-28-second Job Standard Test, and drug screening. It is not a second written entrance exam.
The rest of the guide
Police Officer practice test — one question from every ability area
Real questions from the bank, answered in the page, with the technique explanation after each one.
NYPD Police Officer Salary (2026)
Police Officer pay starts at $55,942 and reaches $109,352 at five and a half years, per the notice covering exams 7311–7322.
NYPD Police Officer Requirements (2026)
What the notice for exams 7311–7322 requires: 24 college credits or two years of military service, age 20½ to appoint and under 35 to be eligible, a felony bar with no certificate-of-relief route, and residency across seven counties..
NYPD Police Officer Test: Format and the 9 Abilities
What is on the NYPD Police Officer test: computer-based multiple choice, 70% to pass, nine named ability areas identical to School Safety Agent, no calculators, and a ten-point residency credit.
NYPD Police Officer Exam Dates: Every Filing Period to June 2027
One notice covers twelve exam numbers, 7311 to 7322, each with its own two-week filing period and testing week running monthly to June 2027.
What Does an NYPD Police Officer Do?
The job as the notice describes it: patrol, crime in progress, aided cases, vouchering property, memo book entries and court appearances — plus the physical activities the notice states and the 24-month probation..
Where these facts come from
We do not publish exam dates ourselves, and you should be skeptical of any site that posts one without a source. Every fact on this page comes from the documents below, each with the date we last opened it. Facts on this page were last checked August 15, 2026 — for the current filing period and test date, the official notice is authoritative.
- DCAS Notice of Examination — Police Officer, Exam Nos. 7311–7322 (PDF)
Checked August 15, 2026.
- DCAS Monthly Applications Schedule (PDF)
Checked August 9, 2026.
- DCAS Annual Examination Schedule through 30 June 2027 (PDF)
Checked August 9, 2026.
- DCAS — Take an Exam (official filing schedule)
Checked August 9, 2026.
- NYPD Careers (official)
Checked July 31, 2026.
- NYPD Police Officer Hiring — Candidate Assessment steps
Checked August 10, 2026.
- NYPD Police Officer Hiring FAQs — portal and assessments
Checked August 10, 2026.
- NYPD Police Officer Candidate Forms
Checked August 10, 2026.
- New York Civil Service Law § 61 — selection from an eligible list
Checked July 31, 2026.
- New York Civil Service Law § 56 — duration of eligible lists
Checked July 31, 2026.