Two halves. A 105-question cognitive test covering verbal comprehension, verbal expression, problem sensitivity, deductive and inductive reasoning, information ordering, mathematical reasoning and numeric facility. And a 50-question behavioural section on firefighter orientation, stress tolerance, team orientation and motivation.

How do I practise the personality half?

You do not, and you should be wary of anyone selling you a way to. It measures predispositions rather than knowledge, there are no right answers, and the useful advice is the dull kind: answer consistently and as yourself, because inventories of this kind are built to notice when someone is answering as the person they think is wanted.

What is the passing score?

The publisher does not set one for you — the department or programme does, and the figures quoted around the internet usually belong to whichever college or agency published the document they were copied from. Ask the body you applied to.

Is the NFSI the same as the FCTC test or the NFST?

No. Three different publishers, three different structures. The NFSI is I/O Solutions’, the FCTC test is Cal-JAC’s, and the NFST is FPSI’s. The skills overlap heavily, which is why practice transfers, but the shape of the day does not.

NFSI practice test

The National Firefighter Selection Inventory, published by I/O Solutions, is 155 questions in two and a half hours — but only 105 of them are a test in the sense you can practise. The other 50 are a behavioural inventory measuring firefighter orientation, stress tolerance, team orientation and motivation, and it has no right answers. This page runs practice for the half that does: verbal comprehension, reasoning, information ordering and the arithmetic the publisher calls mathematical reasoning and numeric facility.

NFSI practice test

30 questions. 25 minutes.

That is 50 seconds a question. The clock starts when you press the button and submits the test when it runs out. You will not be told whether an answer was right until the end — that is the point of a timed run.

50s a question No calculator No publisher here penalises a wrong answer more than a blank — answer everything No account, nothing saved off your device

2 free full-length runs left on this test. Unlimited for $24.99, one payment.

Frequently asked

What is on the NFSI?: Two halves. A 105-question cognitive test covering verbal comprehension, verbal expression, problem sensitivity, deductive and inductive reasoning, information ordering, mathematical reasoning and numeric facility. And a 50-question behavioural section on firefighter orientation, stress tolerance, team orientation and motivation.
How do I practise the personality half?: You do not, and you should be wary of anyone selling you a way to. It measures predispositions rather than knowledge, there are no right answers, and the useful advice is the dull kind: answer consistently and as yourself, because inventories of this kind are built to notice when someone is answering as the person they think is wanted.
What is the passing score?: The publisher does not set one for you — the department or programme does, and the figures quoted around the internet usually belong to whichever college or agency published the document they were copied from. Ask the body you applied to.
Is the NFSI the same as the FCTC test or the NFST?: No. Three different publishers, three different structures. The NFSI is I/O Solutions’, the FCTC test is Cal-JAC’s, and the NFST is FPSI’s. The skills overlap heavily, which is why practice transfers, but the shape of the day does not.

Practise one type at a time

Untimed sets with the explanation right after each answer — where the timed run tells you what is going wrong, these are where you fix it.

Mechanical reasoning Maths Reading and recall FCTC practice test

Sources

Every figure on this page comes from one of the documents below, with the date it was read. Requirements change; if a source has moved on since that date, the source is right and this page is out of date.

Firefighter Candidate Testing Center (Cal-JAC) — FCTC Written Test, test details for candidates Read September 3, 2026
Firefighter Candidate Testing Center (Cal-JAC) — FCTC Written Test Study Guide (free candidate guide, 25 pages) Read September 3, 2026
Firefighter Candidate Testing Center (Cal-JAC) — Test Prep (what FCTC gives and sells) Read September 3, 2026
Fire and Police Selection, Inc. — National Fire Select Test (NFST) candidate orientation guide Read September 3, 2026
I/O Solutions — National Firefighter Selection Inventory (NFSI), assessment information sheet as published by a testing college Read September 3, 2026
Firefighter Candidate Testing Center (Cal-JAC) — Candidate Physical Ability Test (CPAT) Read September 3, 2026

Hiring Test Practice is independent practice material and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or authorized by Criteria Corp, Wonderlic, Inc., National Testing Network, the electrical training ALLIANCE, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, NECA, Biddle Consulting Group, Inc., Pearson Education, Inc. or its TalentLens business, the California Firefighter Joint Apprenticeship Committee or the Firefighter Candidate Testing Center, Fire and Police Selection, Inc., I/O Solutions, Inc., Ergometrics & Applied Personnel Research, Inc., the International Association of Fire Fighters or the International Association of Fire Chiefs. CCAT® is a registered trademark of Criteria Corp; Wonderlic® is a registered trademark of Wonderlic, Inc.; CritiCall is a trademark of Biddle Consulting Group, Inc.; Bennett Mechanical Comprehension Test is a trademark of Pearson Education, Inc.; FCTC and CPAT are used to name tests administered by others. Test names are used only to describe what this material prepares you for. Every question here is original and none is taken from any actual assessment. Cal-JAC and FCTC publish that materials supplied directly by them are the only authorized FCTC Written Test materials; this site is one of the outside sources that warning refers to, and it links their free study guide rather than reproducing it.