Spokane Firefighter Test Guide

The test has been grouped into sections based on the primary knowledge or ability being examined. Other abilities, however, may be an incidental part of each section. For example, the Math section includes “story problems” that require some ability to read sentences. Those sentences are typically easy to read, because the focus of the item is on your math ability rather than your reading level. The overall test is designed so that those with a high school diploma will understand most, if not all, of the questions.

Reasoning & Judgment

Reasoning problems test your ability to find and/or follow the rules that govern the question, and then to extend those rules to future steps in a sequence.

Those rules may determine how letters and numbers are arranged in patterns, how visual images change in a sequence, or even how chairs can be arranged around a table. Applying the rules for each question are key to answering them correctly.

Sample Question:

“Identify the pattern in the sequence below. Then fill in the blank with the correct part of the sequence.

1ABC, 21AB, 321A, ____.”

1. 4321
2. A321
3. 4321A

Analysis:

The rules for this question may be found in two ways. First, the numbers displace the letters from the left each time the sequence advances. Second, the letters move up in the alphabet. After A, the letter becomes the number 1.

For both rules, numbers increase by one for each item in the sequence. There is no indication that the items will become longer than four characters.

Option B can be eliminated because there is no evidence that the first character of the third item (the number “3”) would be replaced by a letter (“A”). Option C can be eliminated because it contains more than four characters.

Therefore, the correct option in this case is Option A (“4321”).

Reasoning problems often involve basic math. You can expect to do some basic arithmetic to answer some of the items. The math, however, is secondary to finding the logical rules that will lead you to the correct response.

Reasoning items may also be pure logic puzzles. For instance:

“All dogs are animals. All cats are animals. Therefore ______.”

1. All dogs are cats.
2. All cats are dogs.
3. Animals include both cats and dogs.
   
   

The only information you have in the question is that both cats and dogs are animals. You do not know from the information provided whether cats and dogs are the same thing. Therefore, both Options A and B can be rejected, and Option C is the only correct answer.

Judgment items require you to use your reasoning skills with a dash of common sense in situations that a firefighter may encounter. Many of the questions follow the general topic of, “What is the best action to take in a given situation?” Again, there may be more than one decent answer, but choose the one best answer for each item.

Mechanical Aptitude

Questions in this section are designed to test your knowledge of tools and equipment and their proper use. The items here may ask about hand tools or power tools. No specific knowledge of or experience with specialized firefighting tools is required to do well here.

Study the rules of leverage and how gears, pulleys, levers, and mechanical wedges work.

Plan Reading & Spatial Awareness

Firefighters must be able to see an object or building and understand how they look from the sides or back, and even from above. In this section, you may be given a map and asked to locate places relative to each other. You might be presented with a floor plan and asked to navigate through the building. You could also be given an image of a building and be asked to choose another image that shows the same building from a different location.

Make sure you understand the cardinal directions (north, south, east, west) and how locations may be found relative to each other.

Communication Skills

The ability to express oneself clearly is important both during firefighting operations and during the daily life at the firehouse.

In part of this section, you will be presented with reading passages. Sometimes the passage is just a sentence or two, but it can be up to a page or more in length. These passages are roughly the same difficulty as material you will be expected to read and understand as a firefighter.

You will be given questions related to the reading passage. Use only the information presented and what may be directly inferred from it to answer the questions. A paragraph about Ancient Greek mythology might seem simple (or even incorrect) to you if you have a college degree in Ancient Greek History, but you should answer the question based only on the selection provided.

In other parts of this section, you may be asked to order a set of individual sentences into a complete paragraph that flows well. You may also be asked to choose the best word to complete a sentence.

Sample Question:

“The baron and his mistress kept their ______ affair a secret for many years.”

1. elicit
2. illicit
3. efficient

Analysis:

The word in Option A, “elicit,” means “to draw forth,” so that is not correct. It might be an “efficient” affair, but the context of the sentence is that the affair is a secret. Option C is therefore not an effective choice. Option B, “illicit,” meaning improper or not permitted, fits the meaning of the sentence best and is the best response.

Mathematics

Most of the items in this section are in the form of short story problems. Rather than giving you a simple math problem to solve, such as 12 X 8 = ______ (96 in this case), a question might be asked as follows:

“Your company officer asks you to cover a scorched wall with plastic sheeting. The wall is 12 feet long and 8 feet high. How many square feet of sheeting is required to cover the wall?”

The required math is the same, 12 X 8, but it is presented in narrative format. You need to understand what a square foot is and how to calculate area from the length and the width. The question itself is presented at a reading level equivalent of about grade 5 (an elementary school grade).

You will need to decide how to approach each question. At a minimum, you should understand:

1. The basic math operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.
2. How fractions are converted to decimals and vice versa.
3. How to calculate area and volume.