FRV Firefighter Written Selection Test: Free Practice Exam (2026)

The WST is the first major filter in FRV's recruitment process, 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 FRV 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. Literacy

Tests your ability to read and process written material efficiently, identify key details, and answer questions based on what's written, including some passages with graphs, charts, diagrams, or maps, all under time pressure.

2. Abstract Reasoning

Tests your ability to identify and complete sequences and patterns: recognising the rule governing a series of shapes and applying it to determine what comes next, what's missing, or what belongs in the middle.

3. Numeracy

Tests your ability to work through arithmetic, fractions, percentages, algebra, and measurement in real-world contexts, under a visible timer.

4. Mechanical Reasoning

Evaluates your ability to understand and apply basic mechanical and physical concepts, things like gears, levers, pulleys, wheels, and pressure, 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, often from a diagram rather than a written description.

The WST is delivered at ACER test centres across Victoria and select interstate venues, or online under live remote proctoring. That means:

• You take the test at a test centre, or on your own laptop or computer with a working webcam if sitting it remotely.
• An offsite or on-site proctor monitors you for the duration of the test.
• No personal calculator, phone, dictionary, or paper is permitted, only an A4 whiteboard and marker, plus the onscreen calculator built into the Numeracy section.
• Each of the four components is timed separately, with a visible countdown, and once a section ends or its timer runs out, you cannot return to it.
• Within a section, you can flag and revisit questions if time allows.

Importantly, FRV requires candidates to meet the minimum standard on all four components to progress, each is scored separately, and it's possible to do well overall while still falling short on one section. The goal isn't a perfect score, it's meeting the benchmark FRV has set for that campaign.

Source: Fire Rescue Victoria, Written Selection Test.

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. FRV 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.

Numeracy questions cover arithmetic, fractions, decimals, percentages, and quick mental math, under a visible timer, with an onscreen calculator provided (you just can't bring your own). The questions themselves are rarely advanced, the challenge is doing them fast and accurately.

Abstract Reasoning questions are 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, what's missing, or what belongs in the middle.

Literacy questions test whether you can read a passage under time pressure and apply it precisely, not just recall the general gist. FRV describes this component as reading comprehension across varied text types, some including graphs, charts, diagrams, or maps, identifying key details and answering accurately based on what's actually written, exactly what a question like this is built to measure.

Becoming a firefighter with Fire Rescue Victoria (FRV) is a competitive, multi-stage process that typically takes 6 to 12 months from application to job offer, not including the 20-week Recruit Training Course itself. FRV recruits in campaigns rather than on a fixed annual calendar, so applications only open when a campaign is announced (the current campaign accepted applications between 4-17 May 2026 to fill recruit courses in 2027 and 2028), and once open, no late applications are accepted.

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

• Australian citizen, permanent resident, or New Zealand citizen who has entered Australia on a valid passport
• Held a driver's licence for at least two years by 1 January 2027 (a green probationary licence is acceptable; a learner's permit is not)
• No more than seven driving demerit points at the time of application and at any stage up to an offer of employment
• Compliance with FRV's Criminal History and Driving History policies, including a nationally coordinated criminal history check
• Medical clearance from your own doctor before the physical assessment stages, followed by a full pre-employment medical from FRV's Brigade Medical Officer before any offer
• A Heavy Rigid licence, obtained after receiving an offer of employment, not before

Unlike some other fire services, FRV does not publish a minimum education requirement or a minimum amount of prior work experience, recruits come from all kinds of backgrounds, and all firefighting-specific training is provided during the course.

Once you apply, every candidate in that campaign moves through the same stages together, in order: online application, Written Selection Test, Group Assessment, Shuttle Run, Personality Profile, Selection Interview, Order of Merit, Physical Aptitude Test (PAT), pre-employment medical assessment, pre-employment checks and uniform fitting, and offer of employment. Candidates who fail the PAT on their first attempt are given one retest, but timeframes can be tight, and missing or failing other stages generally means waiting for the next campaign to try again.

Candidates who clear every stage are required to complete a 20-week Recruit Training Course at FRV's Training Academy in Craigieburn. Training runs on a rotating four-days-on, four-days-off shift cycle between 7am and 5pm, including weekends, and the course is not a live-in program, recruits generally arrange their own accommodation. The course includes units from PUA20622 Certificate II in Public Safety (Firefighting & Emergency Operations), PUA30622 Certificate III in Public Safety (Firefighting & Emergency Operations), and a Fire Rescue Emergency Medical Response first responder course. Completing every component is mandatory to reach the competence level required to operate safely on shift.

After graduating, recruits can be stationed at any of FRV's 85 fire and rescue stations across Victoria, and being posted statewide is a condition of employment, there's no guarantee of a placement near home.

Source: Fire Rescue Victoria, Recruitment Process, Entry Requirements, and Recruit Course.

When people search for the "ACER Written Selection Test" or "ACER firefighter test," they're referring to the Written Selection Test (WST), the assessment Fire Rescue Victoria (FRV) uses to test Literacy, Abstract Reasoning, Numeracy, and Mechanical Reasoning, delivered on FRV's behalf by ACER (Australian Council for Educational Research).

ACER is an independent, not-for-profit educational research organisation founded in Melbourne in 1930. It's one of the world's leading educational assessment bodies, with offices across Australia and internationally in Dubai, London, and New Delhi, and it's an official UNESCO partner responsible for coordinating Australia's participation in international assessments like PISA and TIMSS. Unlike a large commercial testing-centre network, ACER's reputation comes from decades of educational measurement and psychometric research, government departments, education systems, and organisations like FRV turn to ACER specifically because its assessments are built on that research base, not just delivered at scale.

For FRV's Written Selection Test specifically, you don't need to travel to a Pearson-style test centre in every case, ACER delivers the WST both at test centres across Victoria and select interstate venues, and online in a proctored (supervised) format on your own laptop or computer, with your webcam active for the duration and a remote proctor monitoring the session. You won't be permitted to bring your own calculator, phone, dictionary, or paper, only an A4 whiteboard and marker, plus the onscreen calculator built into the Numeracy section. Each of the four components is timed separately, with a visible countdown, and once a section ends you cannot return to it. Organisations like FRV use a provider like ACER for exactly this kind of high-stakes, large-volume selection testing because it standardises the experience for every applicant regardless of where or how they sit 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 FRV Written Selection Test isn't just about knowing the concepts, it's about performing under the exact conditions you'll face on test day: a strict, separately-timed countdown per section, a proctor watching (either in person or via webcam), no calculator or notes to fall back on beyond an A4 whiteboard, and four different question types back to back. 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 built a dedicated FRV WST PrepPack, designed specifically around this test rather than adapted from a generic aptitude course. It's built around three principles:

• Time-simulated practice. Full-length practice tests that mirror the WST's actual timing per section, so you walk into the real, proctored ACER 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 FRV's Literacy, Abstract Reasoning, Numeracy, and Mechanical Reasoning sections, 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 eight practice questions on this page are a preview of what to expect, but they're not a substitute for full, timed preparation across all four components of the real test.