Official & free resources

• NCSC: Court Interpreter Written Examination Overview

  The official candidate guide the JBCC points to. Appendix 2 has the sample questions for every section, with answers. Opens on NCSC's Box site (copyright NCSC, so it is linked rather than copied here).

• Pennsylvania Courts: 40-question mock written exam (PDF)

  A free public mock built on the NCSC section headings and instructions. Answer key on the last page. Not the actual exam; the Pennsylvania courts state that these questions are not on it.

• JBCC: Written exam page

  Format, reference list (Gov't Code ch. 57 and chs. 151–157, JBCC Rules, Black's Law Dictionary), scoring, and retake rules.

• JBCC: Exam day

  What to bring, prohibited items, and arrival rules. Re-read the night before.

• Texas LCI Code of Ethics

  The 9 canons. Part 3 of the exam draws on these.

• Texas Best Practices for Spoken Language Interpreting

  Source for questions on accuracy, third person, clarification, and teams.

• JBCC: Statutes, rules and resources

  Links to the statutes, JBCC Rules, and glossaries (English, Spanish, Chinese legal terminology) the JBCC lists for candidates.

• JBCC: Exercises & resources

  Mostly for the oral exam (shadowing, simultaneous practice), plus general written-exam reading advice.

• TMCEC: Court interpreter programs

  Texas Municipal Courts Education Center. Its Online Learning Center is listed as having flashcards for written-exam terms, and it publishes a municipal court legal glossary.

• University of Arizona NCI: FCICE sample written exams

  Full-length sample exams built from retired federal exam items. The federal exam is a different test (and may be paid), but the NCSC overview itself recommends it as practice for the multiple-choice format.

• 135 questions, A–D, 2h15m, 80% (108) to pass. A 15-minute warning is given aloud.
• Question numbers by section: Part I items 1–9 sentence completion, 10–17 synonyms in context, 18–38 synonyms, 39–50 antonyms, 51–75 idioms. Part II items 76–111 sentence completion, 112–121 court-related questions, 122–125 sequence, 126–127 professional conduct, 128–135 scenarios. This matches the mock exam here.
• Level: entry-level, for a minimally qualified interpreter. It stresses criminal court terms and the typical progression of a case.
• Instructions you will see: closest in meaning, most appropriately completes, best answer or solution, correct sequence, opposite in meaning.
• No notes or copying of questions. Late arrivals are not admitted.
• Preparation advice: read widely (newspapers, professional journals), review antonyms, synonyms and idioms, watch court proceedings, read an introductory criminal justice text, use a legal dictionary such as Black's, and know the state code of ethics.
• If you don't pass: NCSC recommends studying before retaking; short-interval retakes rarely change results.

The overview dates from 2012 (revised 2020), so for Texas the 2026 JBCC emails take precedence. Texas now gives the exam on iPads, requires your phone for multi-factor sign-in, and displays the score right away for tablet takers.