QFD / QFES Firefighter Test: Free Practice Questions (2026)

When people talk about the "QFD written exam" or "QFES written test," they're referring to the Online Cognitive Ability Test, the formal name QFD (Queensland Fire Department, previously known as Queensland Fire and Emergency Services, or QFES) gives to the assessment. It's one stage within a much longer, 10-stage Recruit Firefighter selection process that also includes a Beep Test, a physical Operational Focused Abilities Test (OFAT), a panel interview, and a psychological assessment. But the Online Cognitive Ability Test is the first major filter, and the one candidates search for most, since it's the stage where reasoning and reading skills, not fitness, decide who moves forward.

The test is not a test of firefighting knowledge. It doesn't ask about hose diameters or fire behaviour. Instead, it measures the underlying cognitive skills QFD has identified as essential to the job: the ability to reason through a mechanical problem, work with numbers and logic under pressure, and extract the right information from a page of text quickly and accurately.

1. Mechanical Reasoning

Mechanical Reasoning evaluates your ability to understand and apply basic mechanical and physical concepts, things like gears, levers, circuits, pulleys, and kinetic energy, and to predict how a mechanical system will behave. You won't need trade-level technical knowledge, but you will need to reason logically about cause and effect in physical systems, often from a diagram rather than a written description.

2. Core Abilities

The broadest of the three components. It covers literacy, numeracy, problem solving, and analytical aptitude, essentially your general reasoning and academic skill set. Expect numerical calculations (including fractions and decimals), logical sequences, and inductive reasoning questions where you identify a pattern and predict what comes next.

3. Written Comprehension

Tests your ability to read and process large volumes of text efficiently, then answer questions that require you to identify key details, draw conclusions, and think critically about what you've just read, all under a strict time limit.

The Online Cognitive Ability Test is delivered through Pearson VUE in a proctored (supervised) online format, similar to Pearson's OnVUE remote proctoring system. That means:

• You take the test on your own laptop or computer, in a location of your choosing, with a working webcam.
• An offsite proctor monitors you for the duration of the test.
• No pens, pencils, note paper, phones, or calculators are permitted for either assessment.
• Each component is timed, with a visible countdown, and you manage your own pace across the questions.
• Depending on the component, you may be able to flag and revisit questions if time allows.

Importantly, QFD is explicit that these assessments are designed to test a wide range of applicants, and it is not expected that every candidate will answer every question correctly. The goal isn't a perfect score, it's meeting the minimum standard QFD has set for that intake, since the assessments exist to reflect the real occupational requirements of the firefighter role.

Source: QFD Firefighter Recruitment Candidate Information Pack.

Mechanical Reasoning questions test whether you can look at a physical system, a bridge, a lever, a set of gears, and reason through how it actually behaves under force. QFD isn't checking for trade experience here, it's checking whether you can apply basic physical logic to a diagram you've never seen before.

This is the numeracy strand of the Core Abilities component: arithmetic, fractions, decimals, and quick mental math, done without a calculator and under a visible timer. The questions themselves are rarely advanced, the challenge is doing them fast and accurately.

This is the analytical aptitude strand of Core Abilities, non-verbal, inductive reasoning. You're shown a sequence of shapes or grids and asked to identify the rule governing how they change, then apply that rule to pick what comes next.

Written Comprehension questions test whether you can read a longer passage under time pressure and apply it precisely, not just recall the general gist. QFD describes this component as the ability to evaluate large volumes of text, identify the important details within it, and respond accurately to what's actually written, exactly what a question like this is built to measure.

Becoming a firefighter with QFD (Queensland Fire Department, formerly Queensland Fire and Emergency Services, or QFES) is a competitive, multi-stage process that typically takes 8 to 10 months from application to job offer, not including the 16-week Recruit Training Program itself. QFD recruits in campaigns rather than on a fixed annual calendar, so applications only open when a campaign is announced, and once open, there are no exceptions made for late submissions.

Before you can apply, you must meet the following mandatory criteria:

• A manual C class driver licence held for at least one year, or a manual medium rigid (MR) driver licence
• Physically, mentally, and medically fit for the role
• Australian or New Zealand citizen, or Australian permanent resident
• Successful completion of Year 12, or an equivalent recognised by QFD
• A minimum of two years' full-time equivalent general paid work experience

A current, valid, paid Working with Children Blue Card from Blue Card Services is highly desirable at application and becomes mandatory before you can start the Recruit Training Program.

Once you apply, every candidate in that campaign moves through the same 10 stages together, in order: application, the Online Cognitive Ability Test, Beep Test, Operational Focused Abilities Test (OFAT), Firefighter Panel Interview, Psychological Assessment, Criminal History Check and referee reports, State Selection, Medical Assessment, and pre-course requirements. Missing or failing any one stage generally means waiting for the next campaign to try again.

<p> Candidates who clear all 10 stages are offered a place on the 16-week Firefighter Recruit Training Program, run at either the School of Fire and Emergency Services Training (SFEST) in Brisbane or the Northern Campus Training Academy in Townsville. You're paid at the recruit rate for the full duration, and a 12-month probationary period applies from the start of the course. Attendance for the full 16 weeks is treated as essential, since missing three or more days is considered a significant risk to meeting the required competency standards. </p> <p> After graduation, you'll serve a minimum of four years at your first appointed employment location before becoming eligible for a transfer, and transfers are never automatic, they depend on vacancies and waiting lists. </p>

Once on shift, firefighters enter Q-STEP, a three-year, four-stage training and assessment program that runs alongside your operational duties. Completing it takes you from Firefighter Recruit through 4th, 3rd, 2nd, and 1st Class Firefighter, and results in three nationally recognised qualifications: a Certificate II and two Certificate III awards in Public Safety.

Source: QFD Recruit Firefighter and the QFD Firefighter Recruitment Candidate Information Pack.

When people search for the "Pearson VUE Core Abilities Test," they're really referring to the Core Abilities component of QFD's Online Cognitive Ability Test, one of three sections (alongside Mechanical Reasoning and Written Comprehension) that make up the assessment, delivered on QFD's behalf by Pearson VUE.

Pearson VUE, now operating under the name Pearson Professional Assessments, is a division of Pearson, the global education company, and runs one of the largest secure testing networks in the world, delivering high-stakes certification, licensure, and screening exams across more than 175 countries. It's the same underlying platform and security infrastructure that government agencies, professional bodies, and emergency services organisations use when they need a standardised, tamper-resistant way to assess large numbers of candidates fairly and consistently.

For QFD's Online Cognitive Ability Test specifically, there's no need to travel to a physical test center. The assessment is delivered remotely, in a proctored (supervised) format, on your own laptop or computer at a location of your choosing, with your webcam active for the duration and an offsite proctor monitoring the session in real time. You won't be permitted to use pens, paper, phones, or calculators, and each component is timed, with a visible countdown you manage yourself. Organisations like QFD typically turn to platforms like Pearson VUE for exactly this kind of high-stakes, large-volume selection testing because it standardises the experience for every applicant regardless of where they're sitting the test, a consistency that matters for a role like firefighting, where the selection process needs to be defensible, fair, and repeatable across thousands of candidates in a single campaign.

Passing the QFD Online Cognitive Ability Test isn't just about knowing the concepts, it's about performing under the exact conditions you'll face on test day: a strict timer, a proctor watching through your webcam, no pen or calculator to fall back on, and three different question types switching in quick succession. Most candidates who don't make it through this stage aren't lacking the underlying reasoning skills, they lose marks to time pressure, unfamiliar question formats, or simply not knowing what to expect walking in.

That's exactly why we're building a dedicated QFD / QFES PrepPack, currently in development, designed specifically around this test rather than adapted from a generic aptitude course. It's being built around three principles:

• Time-simulated practice. Full-length practice tests that mirror QFD's actual timing per section, so you walk into the real, proctored Pearson VUE assessment already used to the pace, instead of experiencing that pressure for the first time when it counts.
• Expert-checked content. Every question and explanation is reviewed by our team of psychometric test experts to make sure it reflects the actual reasoning style, difficulty level, and format of QFD's Mechanical Reasoning, Core Abilities, and Written Comprehension components, not just generic aptitude questions with a firefighting theme applied on top.
• Built on the experience of thousands of successful candidates. Our approach draws on patterns we've identified across thousands of candidates who've successfully prepared for firefighter and emergency services entrance exams with us, so the course targets where applicants genuinely lose marks, not just where a textbook assumes they might.

The three practice questions on this page are a preview of what to expect, but they're not a substitute for full, timed preparation across all three