How to Pass the NFA Situational Awareness & Problem Solving Test

What the test involves

The Situational Awareness & Problem Solving test lasts 35 minutes and contains 30 multiple-choice questions. Each question describes a scenario — you are placed in the role of a firefighter or trainee firefighter — and presents four or five possible responses. You are asked to select the most appropriate and least appropriate response from those options.

The scenarios cover a wide range of situations: responding to a team disagreement, deciding how to handle a safety concern, dealing with a member of the public, choosing how to prioritise tasks, or navigating a situation involving procedures and rules. They are designed to assess your alignment with the values and behaviours fire services expect of their staff.

The Personal Qualities and Attributes (PQAs)

The NFA Situational Awareness test is designed around the national Personal Qualities and Attributes (PQAs) for the firefighter role — the behavioural competency framework used across UK fire services. Understanding the PQAs is the most important preparation step for this test.

The key PQAs assessed include: commitment to diversity and integrity (treating everyone with respect, challenging inappropriate behaviour), working with others (teamwork, supporting colleagues, communicating well), commitment to development (being open to feedback, taking responsibility for your own learning), and effective communication (clear, accurate, appropriate communication in all situations).

When judging which response is most appropriate, ask: which response best demonstrates these values? Which response is safest, most respectful, most honest, and most likely to be recommended by an experienced watch manager?

Common traps to avoid

The most common mistake in SJT tests is choosing the response that sounds most action-oriented or decisive without checking whether it is actually the safest and most professional option. Fire services value following procedures and reporting concerns through the right channels — not taking independent action that bypasses established safety processes.

Responses that involve ignoring a problem, hoping it resolves itself, or keeping concerns to yourself are almost always incorrect. Equally, responses that involve confrontational or aggressive behaviour — even if 'justified' in the situation — are rarely the most appropriate choice.

The least appropriate response is not always obviously bad. It might be a response that is technically reasonable but misses a safer or more professional option available elsewhere in the list. Read all options before deciding.

How to prepare

Start by reading the national PQAs carefully. They are publicly available and describe exactly the qualities that fire services are looking for. Understanding the values behind the framework — not just the labels — helps you reason about answers rather than guess.

Practise timed SJT questions in a firefighter context. The discipline of committing to answers under time pressure, and reasoning through why certain responses are better than others, develops with repetition. Review every practice answer in detail — the rationale provided for each answer is as valuable as the score.

When you encounter a practice question where you are uncertain, ask yourself: what would keep everyone safe? What would a watch manager want their crew to do? What response shows respect, honesty, and teamwork? These questions cut through most ambiguity.