If you are reading this, you are thinking about attempting the pre-entry test for the Station Officers' Promotional Program.
Information on this page is organised into a series of Frequently Asked Questions (or FAQs) provided to help you prepare for the test.
The pre-entry test for the Station Officers Promotional Program (SOPP) consists of three main parts. Two are operationally focused and facilitated by the NSWFB. The other section is set, facilitated and marked by the Emergency Management team at Charles Sturt University .
At present there is no universal ‘pass mark’. The Professional Development Unit of the NSWFB are informed of how many Station Officers are required from each round of testing. The successful candidates are selected by their place in the ranking system relating to the total number of SO’s required. In this sense it is a competitive test based on merit.
When candidates are selected they then enter the appropriate SOPP according to their place in the ranking system. They are also promoted to the rank of Leading Fire Fighter (LF) until their promotion to the rank of SO.
The SOPP itself is NOT competitive even though you need to pass all the assessments. Teamwork is necessary to successfully pass the course and be promoted to the rank of Station Officer.
As part of a dynamic Emergency Management program, the team at Charles Sturt University have expert knowledge in setting assessment tasks related to the Emergency Management field.
There’s no escaping it at this stage. This is a written test. So, you need to practice writing.
In this test we are looking for your writing skills in two areas:
The test will ask you to:
So, practice writing good, detailed descriptions of fireground incidents. THEN, practice writing explanations of the leadership/management issues taking place within those examples.
Run these examples by people and ask them for feedback. Then, with the feedback, try and improve your descriptive and analytical writing.
Finally, keep practicing your writing skills – try writing with a clock or stopwatch, until you are confident of your writing abilities under time pressure.
Out of a possible 100% for the SOPP pre-entry test, the university paper is worth a maximum of 30%.
You do not have to be an ‘academic’ to pass the pre-entry test. The pre-entry test will:
Each of the sections in the test is allotted an equal percentage of the total mark. These percentages will be clearly explained in the instruction paper. Simply address all of the sections in order and you’ll be doing yourself a favour.
In addition, the papers will be co-marked in an examiner-review process. Random sampling will ensure that any significant differences in marking will be picked up.
OK, this is a ‘simple, complex, simple’ answer. It starts as a simple answer, due to human nature it becomes a bit complex, but it is essentially simple.
30% of the total 100% for the SOPP pre-entry test.
We are specifically looking for your ability to write:
We wish you the best with your preparations for these tests. We know that most of you will have put a lot of your ‘life’ on hold whilst preparing for these tests.