The TCOLE exam.

The TCOLE exam (formally the State Licensing Examination) is the test Texas requires a recruit to pass before the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement will issue them a peace officer license. Passing it, along with completing an approved Basic Peace Officer Course, is the last step between a cadet and a working badge.

The exam covers every chapter of the Basic Peace Officer Course curriculum, grouped into 16 modules that together cover constitutional and criminal law, the Code of Criminal Procedure, the Penal Code, traffic law, use of force, family violence, mental health response, firearms, patrol procedure, and more. Every learning objective the curriculum lists is fair game for a question.

The exam is a multiple-choice test with roughly 250 questions. Time limits and section structure are set by TCOLE and by the testing vendor; a recruit registered for the exam gets the exact format in their confirmation.

A 70% correct answer rate is the commonly cited threshold for a passing TCOLE score. Some jurisdictions or academies set a higher internal standard for the cadets they sponsor.

Yes. If a recruit does not pass, they can retest after a waiting period; the exact wait and the number of allowed attempts are set by TCOLE and can change. Recruits should confirm the current retake window on tcole.texas.gov before scheduling.

For a recruit who worked through the Basic Peace Officer Course seriously, the exam is passable on the first attempt. For someone who cruised through the academy without engaging the material, it is not. The recruits who struggle usually struggle in the same places: warrantless arrest exceptions, statutory definitions in the Penal Code, use-of-force thresholds, and cite-and-release rules for Class C misdemeanors.

Most recruits study alongside their academy classes rather than cramming after graduation. Structured daily practice for the last 30 to 60 days of the academy, focused on weak spots identified by practice questions, is a common approach.