NATIONAL CERTIFICATIONS: PART II–TEST TAKING TIPS
In the Fire Service there are many reasons to take written tests including national certification exams, entrance exams for career positions, and of course promotions. Although the following information was first developed for high school students it has been modified here for adult learning and the fire service specifically. Because the fire service is adult education as an instructor make sure you emphasize that to the firefighters in your class i.e. that you are not treating them as adolescents with these tips but merely reminding them of what they already know as adults.
If you are preparing for a national certification exam don’t shy away from electronic apps but one note is to make sure you use a screen big enough to accommodate because scrolling back and forth to see all the answers can make exam prep much more tedious. Also, these apps tend to have subjective questions but remember that questions on national certification exams will likely be more general – they have to be in order to be as fair as possible to as many firefighters as possible. Is it really fair to ask a New York firefighter a question about an SOP in Wisconsin? Of course not.
1. VOCABULARY, VOCABULARY, VOCABULARY: You cannot possibly answer a question unless you know the meaning of all the words in a sentence. Refer to question #2 on NFPA standards.
2. FIND KEYWORDS: When looking back in your notes or workbook find and use the key words in the question (write them on a separate piece of paper) and then look specifically for those words in any descriptions.
3. ALWAYS USE INFORMATION GIVEN TO YOU ON THE TEST (Including other questions): Often test questions provide information in one question that helps you answer another question. Fire service exams are notorious for asking the same information in multiple questions. These questions are generally factual and so can be used to interpret other questions on the test.
4. USE THE PROCESS OF ELIMINATION IN MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS: Eliminate the choices that you know for sure aren’t or can’t possibly be true. Usually all you are left with is one or two choices which even if you guess is better than four choices.
5. USE COMMON SENSE AND KNOW WHAT THE QUESTION IS ASKING: Think about your answers. Refer to question #1 below. Obviously, this question is asking about a form of communication – a way that firefighters talk to one another. So, PASS devices as an example would obviously not be the answer. PASS devices are automatic alarms on your SCBA and do not involve human communication – it doesn’t make any sense at all to put that as an answer.
6. BREAK DOWN WORDS TO FIND THEIR MEANINGS: Refer to question #3. It contains the word thermal. The word thermal (or variations of) refers to temperature – as in thermometer. Any answer that does not refer to temperature can be eliminated. Also look for prefixes such as photo - which means light (as in photograph) so any answer not referring to light can be eliminated. So even if you didn’t know the answer you would be able to figure it out.
7. THERE IS NO PATTERN TO THE MULTIPLE CHOICE OR TRUE/FALSE
8. READ AND FOLLOW THE DIRECTIONS CAREFULLY: If the directions for the true and false questions say to write out the entire word true and/or the entire word false. That means don’t just put the letter down because it is going to get marked wrong!! The question may also ask you to provide an example so make sure you answer all parts of each question.
9. NAME AND DESCRIBE: This phrase means to write the answer and why it’s the right answer
10. EXPLAIN OR DESCRIBE: This direction means to answer the question by telling a story or providing an example. Make sure you answer these types of questions with enough detail assuming the reader or person grading the paper knows nothing about what you are talking about.
11. WHICH PART FIRST: Start out with the section of questions that is worth the most points (usually that will be the short answer). This way if you run out of time you may still have enough points to pass.
12. ALWAYS TAKE A STAB AT THE BONUS QUESTIONS: Standardized tests will not have bonus questions but in house exams might. Many times, the questions here are examples from class or from a chapter in any class book or manual.
13. GRAPHS ARE YOUR FRIEND: The answer is in the graph itself. You don’t need to add any knowledge.
14. DON’T ADD INFORMATION: If the question states that all apparatus are red then for the purposes of that question all apparatus are red and it doesn’t matter if in real life they are any other color.
15. BEST, MOST and OTHER EXTREMES: These questions tend to be subjective and can be very frustrating because it is almost as if you have to jump into the test makers head and know what they are thinking but there are some of these where because the question refers to an extreme the middle answers can be eliminated. Refer to questions #4 and #5.
16. SUBJECTIVE QUESTIONS SUCK: These questions legitimately have more than one answer. Just remember to read all of your choices and don’t confuse the state curriculum for your local SOPs. See question #6
17. LOOK AROUND THE ROOM FOR ANY ANSWERS: Oftentimes there are posters or information on the walls that can jog your memory. Maybe you’ll get lucky and have a question on a fire alarm and have a pull station next to your desk with the answer written on it.
Sample Questions
1) Knowing the limitations of radio communication is part of general knowledge of:
a) PASS Devices
b) Public Alert Systems
c) External Communications
d) Internal Communications
2) The minimum requirements for receiving, processing and dispatching emergency responders are found in:
a) NFPA 1500
b) NFPA 297
c) NFPA 1221
d) NFPA 2002
3) Which of the Following BEST describes the location of gasses that are in thermal layers?
a) Cool gasses tend to be replaced by warm gasses
b) Hot and cool gasses tend to mix in both layers equally
c) Cooler gasses tend to be in the upper layer, hot gasses tend to be in the lower layer
d) Hot gasses tend to be in the upper layer, cooler gasses tend to be in the lower layer
4) Which of the following BEST describes the impact of higher oxygen concentration on combustion?
a) Materials burn less forcefully
b) Non-Flaming combustion will stop
c) Fires may be more difficult to extinguish
d) Materials that do not burn at normally still do not burn
5) Which of the following is MOST accurate about forcing gates?
a) Gate should be pried or cut to avoid damage
b) Most gates require a key pad code for entry
c) An apparatus bumper can be used to force a gate open
d) Most gates cannot be forced and another means of entry must be used
6) Which of the following is the BEST indicator for a backdraft?
a) Optimally dense smoke
b) Little or no visible flame
c) Turbulent smoke discharge
d) Fire confined to a void space
*Please note I inserted the term BEST to make this question subjective. The original question had the term SMOKE instead of BEST.
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