NFSI Test - Full Practice Tests & Study Guides
Yedidya Lixenberg

Yedidya, Firefighter Recruitment Expert at JobTestPrep.

Have a question? Contact me at: ask_the_team@jobtestprep.com

What is the National Firefighter Selection Inventory Test (NFSI Test)?

The National Firefighter Selection Inventory is an assessment by test providers I/O solutions, which measures the cognitive and behavioral abilities of potential future firefighters. The NFSI test is 2.5 hours long and is divided into two sections that include 105 cognitive and 50 behavioral questions. 

NFSI Test Cognitive Skills Section

The cognitive skills section of the NFSI test is comprised of 105 questions spread out over 8 different areas:

  • Verbal comprehension– This competency measures your ability to read a scenario and understand what took place. You will find a moderately long, job-related passage followed by questions and alternative responses. The questions can be answered entirely by the material provided in the passage. Each item presented involves information, analysis or conclusions derived from the scenario.
  • Verbal expression – Assessing your skill in conveying ideas and facts through written language, the NFSI highlights capitalization, vocabulary, punctuation, grammar, spelling and English usage. A short statement with missing words is provided. Select the alternative that correctly completes the sentence and various words in a statement are underlined. Select the alternative containing the word that is spelled incorrectly.
  • Problem Sensitivity – The ability to recognize a problem or the most serious problem is tested through questions requiring you to identify the difficulty in a given scenario. 
  • Deductive Reasoning – Questions assessing this skill require the application of a rule or procedure to a set of circumstances.
  • Inductive Reasoning – A set of events or objects are presented. The task involves a determination of the rule or connection that exists between the individual elements of the set. You will be asked to draw conclusions, find the connecting link or summarize data concerning the series of items.
  • Information Ordering – Rules or procedures are provided. Apply the rules/procedures to statements for the purpose of correctly sequencing the sentences. Items that measure this competency include Questions requiring the selection of the procedure to attend to first/last and sequencing all statements, selecting the alternative containing the correct sentence sequence.
  • Mathematical Reasoning – Expect to encounter charts, tables, diagrams, pictures, and math word problems. Carry out basic mathematical functions to answer the questions using the information contained in the charts.
  • Number Facility – Calculate answers to math word problems using fundamental math functions such as addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, percentages, ratios, decimals, averaging and square measures.

NFSI Test Personality Attributes Section

This NFSI fire test section contains 50 multiple-choice, five-point rating scale, questions. The rating is from “Strongly Agree” to Strongly Disagree.” Same as on other pre-employment personality tests your selections reflect your thoughts, actions, and preferences in regard to work-based characteristics. The main characteristics assessed include:

  • Stress Tolerance – Your ability to handle the extreme work pressures of a firefighter is measured through NFSI stress tolerance questions.
  • Team Orientation – Teamwork is the essential characteristic being assessed.
  • Motivation – Initiative and conscientiousness are the two main traits that establish the outstanding nature of every firefighter.

 

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The National Firefighter Selection Inventory Practice Test Questions

The National Firefighter Selection Inventory practice test questions in this section represent some of the main elements of the test, taken from our NFSI prep pack. 

NFSI firefighter test question 1 - Information Ordering 

Read the following statements

1. Social workers interact with a wide range of populations.
2. These patients can be seen in their homes, schools, hospitals or drug rehabilitation centers.
3. Their patients may include families of physically and mentally handicapped, children at risk or the elderly.
4. The demand for social workers is very high, unfortunately, because of budget cuts, many positions for social workers are not being filled at this time.

Select the answer choice that represents the most appropriate and effective ordering of the sentences above.

A. 3142

B. 1432

C. 3124

D. 1324

A
B
C
D
Correct Answer
Incorrect Answer

Explanation


D – Represents the best-organized paragraph. Looking at the options, you can determine that your introduction sentence is either 1 or 3. Sentence 1 is very general – it presents a subject, not yet discussing it. Sentence 3 has a lot of information, it is a support sentence. Once you determine that sentence 1 is a better introduction you can eliminate options A and C, leaving you with options B and D. In this situation, when you have already identified the introduction sentence, it is sometimes to easier to try to find the closing sentence next. Remember the closing sentence should not be introducing new ideas or supporting new ideas, it should only be summarizing what was stated in the paragraph. In this case, the only two options you have closing sentence is 2 and 4. If you read sentence 2 and 4 closely, you can see that sentence 2 gives additional information while sentence 4 is a conclusion, summarizing what was stated in the previous sentences. Remember a great paragraph introduces the idea (introduction sentences) then has 2-3 supporting the idea (supporting sentences) and then summarizes the information given (closing sentence).

Arranged correctly it should read:
Social workers interact with a wide range of populations. Their patients may include families of physically and mentally handicapped, children at risk or the elderly. These patients can be seen in their homes, schools, hospitals or drug rehabilitation centers. The demand for social worker is very high, unfortunately because of budget cuts, many positions for social workers are not being filled at this time.


NFSI firefighter test question 2 - Verbal Comprehension

Each of the following sentences has four answers, each restating the original sentence in different words. Find the answer which best matches the meaning of the original sentence.

To maintain a healthy physical form, one must combine aerobic and strength exercises.

A. The maintenance of a healthy physical form is achieved by performing strong aerobic exercises.

B. A mix of aerobic and strength workouts is important for staying in good shape.

C. It is essential to combine aerobic and strength exercises for people who want a beautiful physical appearance.

D. A healthy combination of strength and aerobic exercises will help one get in great physical shape.

 

A
B
C
D
Correct Answer
Incorrect Answer

The correct answer is B.
Answer A combines the two types of exercise into one strong aerobic exercise.
Answer C replaces the health benefits with beauty.
Answer D has the word "healthy" refer to the combination of exercises, instead of the physical result of it.

For more sample questions, check out our free Firefighter Test Question page.


How to Pass the NFSI Test

 The NFSI firefighter test is highly challenging, and approaching it without accurate preparation could mean that your goal of becoming a firefighter are put on hold. 

JobTestPrep's specialized NFSI firefighter test preparation pack, has everything you need to ensure your skills are on point and that you are well placed to get a high score - including NFSI study guides and practice tests with full answers. 

 

 

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