The firefighter video recall section

Two short videos, no note-taking, seven to ten questions each — and one showing only.

There are no practice questions on this page.

A video section needs video, and needs it to be gone afterwards. Writing out a scenario and asking questions about it would let you read it twice, which removes the entire thing being measured — the questions are hard only because the tape does not come back.

What FCTC publishes about it

It is 20 of the 100 questions on the FCTC written test, and the free study guide describes the format exactly. Candidates watch two short videos and answer questions on the scenarios in them. No note-taking is allowed and all pencils must be down on the desk while the video plays. After each video, seven to ten questions follow.

Two details decide how people do. The videos and the questions are played once only. And the questions are based on what is seen as well as on what is heard, which catches candidates who listen carefully to the dispatch audio and do not register the number on the door, the colour of the vehicle or how many people walked out of the building.

Why it exists

The study guide gives the job reason rather than a psychometric one: every member of a crew contributes to the scene size-up, so each of them has to see and hear detail and pass it on accurately. The same guide notes that listening to an assignment correctly is what makes the rest of the crew’s work possible.

Ergometrics’ FireTEAM, used in many departments outside California, is built even more heavily on video: candidates watch a segment and choose a course of action, with the items playing without stopping.

What actually helps

  • Practise on video you have not seen, and answer from memory. Any bodycam, ride-along or incident walkthrough clip works; watch once, then write down every number, name, colour and count you can recall.
  • Rehearse the five things a size-up always wants: what is burning, where, who is there, what is in the way, and what was said on the radio.
  • Do not fight the no-notes rule by trying to memorise everything. The questions ask about salient detail, so watch the way a crew member would, not the way a stenographer would.
  • FCTC’s own “Coach’s Corner” video walkthrough of the written test shows a sample scenario, and the free study guide contains one. Both are the publisher’s and both are free.

The parts that do have questions.

Whichever version of this test your employer uses, the parts below are the ones it can ask in writing — and the ones practice actually moves.

Mechanical reasoningMathsReading and recall Full timed run

The other parts without a quiz

CPAT

Eight events, ten minutes twenty seconds, fifty pounds of vest — the physical test, not a paper one.

Frequently asked

Can I take notes during the firefighter video test?
Not on the FCTC test. Its study guide is explicit: no note-taking is allowed and all pencils must be down on the desk while the videos are playing. Rules on other tests belong to their own publishers, and the instructions read out at the start of your section govern.
How many video questions are there?
On the FCTC written test, 20 of the 100 — seven to ten after each of two videos. The other firefighter tests do not publish a breakdown, and Ergometrics’ FireTEAM is video throughout rather than in a section.
Why are there no video questions on this site?
Because a written scenario can be re-read and a video cannot be re-watched, so a text imitation would practise the opposite skill. The honest version of this page tells you what the section is and how to rehearse it on video you have not seen before.

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.

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.