COUNTY & GROUP ENTRY-LEVEL TESTING EXAM PLATFORM
$1,000 a year for your whole county.
Candidates cover the rest.
A validated, fully-remote entry-level exam platform for counties and groups of fire and EMS departments. One annual subscription, no cap on participating departments, and a fresh question set every quarter.
If you handle recruitment for a county fire or EMS group, you know the problem.
Six departments. Six hiring processes. Six small applicant pools. And the same candidate filling out six applications.
<break time=”0.15s”/> There is a better way!
MissionCIT runs one entry-level exam for your whole group as often as you want. Remotely. Candidates test from home, under live proctor supervision.
You get one ranked eligibility list. Every department draws from it. And every department still sets its own standard, and hires in its own order.
No exam day. No facility. No travel. And because the cost is shared, the price per department drops sharply as more join.
Structure the pricing to fit your model. Choose from Department pays, student pays, or any combination that works for you. Tell us how many departments are in your group, and we’ll show you what it costs. Call us or fill out the form below. Your next exam could be exactly what you’ve been looking for!
$1,000
Annual subscription per county or group. No limit on participating departments.
$75
Per candidate, invoiced separately so the cost passes to candidates, not your budget.
4×/year
The question bank rotates on the first day of every quarter.
1 week
From signature to your first live testing window.
WHY TESTING DEPARTMENT BY DEPARTMENT COSTS MORE
Six departments. Six processes. The same candidate, six times.
Most counties recruit entry-level firefighters and EMS personnel one department at a time. Every department pays for its own process and screens its own small pool – for the same job, at the same level, in the same county.
Duplicated cost
Platform, question development and administration paid separately by every department, for an identical entry-level standard.
A pool of one versus many
A single department advertises to its own area. A county-wide window reaches every candidate in the region at once.
No shared visibility
A strong candidate who narrowly misses in one town is invisible to the department twelve miles away that is still hiring.
HOW IT WORKS
Your department runs the room. We handle everything else.
No on-site visit, no scheduling around anyone’s calendar but your own. A validated exam, ready when your candidates are. On-site proctoring by our team is available at additional cost.
01
Subscribe your county or group
Tell us how many departments will participate. We invoice through the county or split between departments – whichever your procurement requires.
02
Send your candidate list
Email a standard CSV of candidate names and addresses. We generate credentials and return them within a few business days.
03
Your department proctors
Candidates log in through our secure portal. Your staff supervises the room. We supply the exam; you supply the space.
04
Results, immediately
Scores are available as soon as candidates submit. No waiting weeks for a third party to return paper results.
EXAM SCHEDULE
Fresh questions, every quarter.
The question bank rotates on the first day of each quarter, so no two testing windows use the same exam set. Need a set swapped outside the rotation? A mid-quarter update is $500.
Q1
Winter
January 1 – March 31
Q2
Spring
April 1 – June 30
Q3
Summer
July 1 – September 30
Q4
Fall
October 1 – December 31
PRICING
Simple subscription, with a per-candidate fee.
One annual subscription covers your county. Add departments as you grow.
One-time annual fee
$1,000 per year
Per county or group of departments. No limit or cap on how many departments participate.
Candidate access fee
$75 per candidate
Invoiced to your department as a separate line item, passing the cost to candidates. Candidate-facing payment collection available on request.
Mid-quarter exam update
$500 one-time
Swap the question set outside the standard quarterly rotation window.
START HERE
Your next recruitment cycle shouldn't drain your budget.
Tell us how many departments are in your group and we’ll show you exactly what it costs – plus a one-page summary you can take to your next chiefs meeting.
Talk to us
| Call | +1 203-649-5090 |
| [email protected] | |
| Typical response | 1 business day |
| Group size | 2 to 20+ departments |
| Setup time | About one week |
THE INSTRUMENT, AND WHAT YOU RECEIVE
What the exam measures, and what the subscription includes.
Measured at entry level
Entry candidates are not yet firefighters, so the exam measures the aptitudes that predict success in recruit training – not department policy. That is why a common instrument is appropriate at entry level and can be shared across a group.
- Reading comprehension and retention of technical material
- Mechanical reasoning, tool and equipment logic
- Applied mathematics, including hydraulics fundamentals
- Spatial orientation, map and diagram reading
- Situational judgement and decision-making under pressure
- Human relations, teamwork and public interaction
Included in the subscription
Everything needed to run a defensible entry-level cycle, and everything you would need if a candidate contested a result.
- Secure candidate credentials, generated from your CSV
- A validated question set, rotated quarterly
- Scores available immediately on submission
- Per-candidate score reporting
- A documented per-question challenge process
- Written adjudication of any challenge received
- Separate invoicing per participating department
- Optional on-site proctoring by our team, billed separately
Departments needing local policy or geography content can add a short supplemental section, scored separately from the shared ranking. Custom, department-specific exams built from your own SOPs and SOGs are how we handle promotional testing, where there is a body of your own policy to examine.
COMMON QUESTIONS
Before you take it to the group.
How much does a county entry-level exam cost?
A flat $1,000 per year for the county or group, with no limit on the number of participating departments, plus a $75 candidate access fee. The candidate fee is invoiced to your department as a separate line item so it can be passed through to candidates. A mid-quarter question-set swap outside the standard rotation is $500.
Who is responsible for proctoring?
Your department. We provide the secure exam portal and candidate credentials; your staff supervises the testing environment. This is documented in your service agreement. If you would rather we ran the room, our proctors can travel to your location for an additional cost, with travel billed separately depending on location.
Can multiple small departments share a subscription?
Yes – that is exactly what the model is designed for. One county or department lead manages the account, and each participating department receives its own invoice. There is no cap on the number of departments in a subscription.
How does candidate payment work?
The $75 candidate access fee is invoiced directly to your department as a separate line item, which allows the cost to be passed through to candidates. We can also set up a candidate-facing payment structure for your account – let us know during onboarding.
When does the exam question set change?
Automatically on the first day of each quarter: January 1, April 1, July 1 and October 1. No two testing windows use the same question set. An off-cycle update is available for $500.
Is the entry-level exam custom to each department?
No, and it should not be. Entry-level candidates are not yet firefighters, so there is no department-specific policy knowledge to test. The exam measures reading comprehension, mechanical reasoning, mathematics, spatial and situational judgement and human relations – the aptitudes that predict success in recruit training. Our custom, department-specific approach applies to promotional examinations, where there is a body of your own policy to examine.
How quickly can we get set up?
Most counties and groups are live within a week of signing. Once we receive an initial candidate list in our standard CSV format, credentials are delivered within a few business days.
Do all departments have to use the same passing score?
No. The group shares one examination and one question set, but each department retains its own hiring authority – its own minimum score, its own interviews and background process, and its own hiring order. The shared element is the exam, not the hiring decision.
Has a MissionCIT examination ever been challenged or appealed?
No. Across the life of the business no MissionCIT examination has been challenged or appealed. Each exam carries a documented per-question challenge process, and on average zero to one item is withdrawn through that process before scores are finalised.
Does this cover the physical ability test?
No. A physical ability or agility evaluation must be conducted in person and is scheduled separately by the group, usually at a shared regional site after written results are published. Running the written exam first means the physical evaluation only needs to be staffed for candidates who have already ranked.
What does a candidate need in order to test?
A computer with a webcam, a stable internet connection, government photo identification and a quiet room at the location your department nominates. No software purchase is required.
What if this model does not meet our specific requirements?
Every use case is different. If the standard model is not delivering what you need, we will work with you to fit it – our team can adjust parameters to align with your department’s goals, and on-site proctoring or a fully custom examination are both available.