TCOLE

It is the state licensing exam associated with becoming a licensed Texas peace officer. It is distinct from your academy coursework: the academy delivers the Basic Peace Officer Course curriculum, and the licensing exam is the state-level assessment tied to licensure. Confirm the current sequencing and eligibility rules with TCOLE and your academy before registering.

Primarily candidates who have completed or are completing a Basic Peace Officer Course at an approved training provider and are pursuing a Texas peace officer license. If you are unsure whether you are eligible to sit for the exam, ask your academy coordinator or contact TCOLE directly; eligibility is determined by the commission, not by this site.

Four content areas of roughly equal weight: professional policing, professionalism and ethics; legal foundations such as the U.S. and Texas constitutions, the Penal Code and the Code of Criminal Procedure; patrol operations, traffic and criminal investigation; and use of force, de-escalation, crisis intervention and officer wellness. Expect scenario-style items that blend law with judgment.

We do not publish a question count or time limit here because those details are set by TCOLE and can change between revisions. Treat any figure you see on a third-party site with suspicion. Check the TCOLE website and your academy's exam briefing for the authoritative current numbers before test day.

The passing standard is established by TCOLE and is not something this independent site can confirm for you. Verify the current passing score and any minimum section requirements with TCOLE or your academy. Do not rely on a number you remember from an older study guide; standards are periodically revised.

Retake eligibility, waiting periods, and any limits on attempts are governed by TCOLE rules and your academy's policy. Because these terms change, confirm them with TCOLE or your training coordinator rather than assuming. Build a retake plan in advance by identifying which content area pulled your score down.

Because the four content areas are weighted roughly equally, there is no single domain to cram last. Start with legal foundations, since Penal Code and procedural concepts resurface inside patrol and use-of-force scenarios, then rotate through ethics, patrol and investigation, and force and wellness in short, frequent sessions with practice questions.

The most common pattern is deep knowledge of one area and shallow knowledge of the rest, especially skipping ethics, officer wellness, and de-escalation because they feel like soft topics. They are graded content. A second pattern is reading scenario items too quickly: the legally correct answer often turns on one fact about authority, consent, or threat.

TCOLE maintains a dedicated licensing exam accommodation request process. If you need an accommodation, start that request early, because approval is not instantaneous and your scheduled test date may need to move. Get the current procedure and any documentation requirements from TCOLE's site rather than from a secondary source.

Use TCOLE's own resources: the commission website, its training and licensing FAQ pages, and the Public License Lookup for license status. Those are the authoritative sources for requirements, fees, scheduling, and results. This page is an independent study aid and cannot verify or alter anything in your licensing record.