CA POST PELLETB Cheat Sheet.
The night-before summary, built like the exam.

One page to skim the night before the PELLETB: the numbers that matter, the rules the Writing Test rewards, and the patterns the reasoning items keep recycling. Everything here is short on purpose — read it once, sleep, and trust the preparation you already did.

PELLETB at a Glance

• Scores report as a T-score: average 50, standard deviation 10 — position in the pool, not percent correct.
• POST recommends agencies set their cutoff at a T-score of 42 or above; every agency chooses its own standard.
• The full session runs 2¼ hours, and that window includes the instructions.
• POST charges no fee for the test itself.
• Agencies must deliver your results within 30 days of the administration.
• Unhappy with the number? Wait 30 calendar days, then retest.
• Scores never expire, though individual departments may set their own acceptable time frames.
• The CLOZE sub-test is gone — removed effective January 1, 2025 — so skip those chapters in older books.

Writing Test Structure

• 45 to 54 multiple-choice items in total.
• Three sub-tests — clarity, spelling, and vocabulary — with 15 to 18 items each.

Clarity Rules That Win Points

• Prefer the sentence that names the actor first: 'I searched the vehicle,' not 'the vehicle was searched by me.'
• An opening phrase describes the noun that follows it — hunt for dangling modifiers before anything else.
• Two complete sentences need a period, a semicolon, or a comma plus and/but/so; a comma alone is a splice.
• With neither/nor, the verb agrees with the nearer subject.
• Keep every item in a list in matching grammatical form.
• Cut filler on sight: 'in the event that' becomes 'if'; 'at this point in time' becomes 'now.'

Spelling Demons

• occurrence — double c, double r, -ence ending.
• harassment — one r, double s.
• noticeable — keep the silent e after the c.
• seized — e before i; a stock exception word.
• premises, sequence, separate, judgment, privilege, sergeant — the report-writing regulars.

Vocabulary Tactics

• Reread the whole sentence; context rules out the look-alike meanings.
• Substitute each choice into the sentence and test the logic.
• Match the tone: a hostile crowd is belligerent, never curious.
• When the word is unfamiliar, mine its root and prefix before guessing.

Reading Attack Plan

• The main idea is the point most sentences support — never a single detail.
• The correct answer must be provable from the passage alone; outside knowledge is a trap.
• Judgment words — clearly, best, finest, should — signal opinion, not fact.
• On fill-in-the-blank items, predict your own word before you look at the choices.

Reasoning Patterns

• Number series: compute the gaps first; look for constant, growing, doubling, or sum-of-previous-two rules.
• Ordering: sketch a line, place the fixed positions, then apply the relative clues.
• 'Must be true' means no counterexample is possible; 'could be true' is not good enough.
• Odd one out: name the category three items share, then find the one that fails it.

Night-Before Checklist

• Confirm the reporting time, location, and any identification requirements in the administering agency's instructions.
• Plan pacing around the single 2¼-hour block — steady beats frantic.
• Skim your personal error log, not new material.
• Sleep. A rested reader beats a crammed one on a comprehension battery every time.