The FDNY Exam

You might have considered a career in firefighting but not sure what it entails! There are specific physical and academic requirements along with you having to complete the FDNY exam.

The fire department of the city of New York exam occurs only once in 5 years and only 10% of the scorers make it to the hiring process. Therefore, it is imperative you are well-prepared and have all the knowledge in relation to it.

Why become a firefighter?

The duties of a firefighter include responding to emergency situations, ensuring safety to the public, extinguishing fires and handling rescue missions as well responding to any biological or chemical threats etc.

The best thing of this career choice is that you are not expected to have any prior knowledge of the fire department or firefighting but having it is definitely an advantage.

The career as a firefighter is certainly rewarding with great benefits and attractive salary. Firefighters can earn anything between $39,370 to $76,488 along with additional compensation and benefits. You are your family are also entitled to some benefits such as medical insurance, holiday and overtime pay, pension security etc

The FDNY Exam Process

The FDNY test is a written exam is conducted online. It is divided into five sections and must be completed within 4 hours. It is a multiple choice questionnaire which covers topics such as reading, problem solving, rules and concepts application and listening. You also get video learning, reading comprehension, background and personality test.

Once you have successfully completed the exam and met the minimum score requirement, your name is listed with the civil services.  You are required to achieve a score of 70 out of 100 as a minimum. Once selected, you are requested to appear for the physical exam along with medical and psychological evaluation, a drug screening and a background check. The hiring process at the FDNY can take anything between 2-4 years.

FDNY Physical Ability Test

There is also a FDNY candidate physical ability test which requires you to be in full fire fighter gear in order to test your physical skills and abilities.

You are tested on 9 abilities that are considered necessary to become a firefighter

  • Memorization – This measures your capability to the ability to remember and retain information to which you will be exposed on a daily basis. You are not expected to memorize procedures and policies here. For example, memorizing a layout of an apartment building or any street to help rescue victims.
  • Visualization – This ability tests the imagination skills of the firefighter. For example, you might be asked to imagine what areas of a building might be affected during a fire or if a building collapses.
  • Spatial orientation – The test allows in determining your spatial knowledge. That is whether you are able to locate yourself on the map or a layout plan. This is to ensure you do not get lost in a particular space or a building.
  • Written comprehension – This will test your understanding of written sentences and paragraphs. It will gauge your understanding of individual words, patterns of words, read a sentence or series of sentences and understand the meaning.
  • Written expression – This ability tests your English writing words or sentences and your understanding of it.
  • Information ordering – This test is to determine your ability to follow rules and instructions and act in certain order.
  • Problem sensitivity – You are expected to understand when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It involves you to identify the problem and recognizing the parts of the problem. Keep in mind it does not test your ability to solve the problem but to identify and recognize it.
  • Deductive reasoning – Coming up with a logical answer for specific problems is what deductive reasoning tests.
  • Inductive reasoning – This is the ability to combine separate pieces of information or specific answers to problems to form general rules or conclusions. Additionally this ability involves understanding how a series of events might be connected.

Physical health conditions are also tested such as flexibility, muscle strength or endurance, cardiovascular fitness etc. Other things such as whether you have been a smoker or a non-smoker or managing weight gain are all part of the physical examination.

Practice tips and tricks

The level of difficulty depends on how much you have practiced and prepared FDNY practice exam. Online you will find many tutorials and FDNY example test so you can prepare well and gain some knowledge.

FDNY exam preparation is crucial to cracking this test if you wish to choose a career in firefighting.

The purpose of this test is to determine your learning skills along with your firefighting skills

Before you take the test

  • Understand the format and requirements
  • Understand the question
  • Answer questions strategically and step by step
  • Use your time wisely

Passing the FDNY test is crucial to become a firefighter. It is important to get a score of a minimum of 70 out of 100 to be considered for the hiring process

To sum things up

to become a New York City Fire Fighter you not require patience and hard work but also great knowledge and practice. There are plenty of FDNY Practice tests and information relating to the FDNY exam that you can obtain online. So, go ahead and start early if you want a secure your career with FDNY.

 

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