ENTRY & PROMOTIONAL EXAMINATIONS
The exam is built from your material.
Not a catalogue.
Custom entry and promotional examinations for fire departments and county EMS agencies — written from your reading list, your SOPs, your SOGs and your agreements. Entry through chief officer. On-site or remote.
If you’re running a promotional exam this year, you already know where the risk sits.
One badly worded question. One candidate who feels the process wasn’t fair. And you’re explaining yourself to a commission.
MissionCIT builds the exam from your material. Your reading list. Your SOPs; your S.O.G’s, your bargaining agreement. You choose the sources — we don’t hand you a catalog, we build a fresh exam that purposefully meets your objectives.
Then we run the whole process. written exam development, oral boards, assessment centers, scoring rubrics, hiring and prepping the proctors, scoring, and the written challenge process and adjudication if it comes.
Our practice lead ran certification testing for an entire state. Twenty thousand firefighters, forty disciplines.
And in the life of our business, including hundreds of tests and thousands of candidates, not one exam has ever been challenged or appealed.
Want to learn more? Tell us the rank and the date. We’ll tell you what your process needs. Give us a call, email, or fill in the form below.
100s
of tests delivered, at every rank from entry level to chief officer
1,000s
of candidates who tell us our tests were fair
0
exams challenged or appealed, across the life of the business
NO
long-term contracts. We prove ourselves every single test.
RANKS WE EXAMINE
Can you test my rank? Here is the whole list.
Entry level through fire chief, plus the specialist ranks most vendors skip. Every line below is a rank MissionCIT has examined for a real department.
Rank ladder — components and recent engagements
| Rank | Components | Recent engagements |
|---|---|---|
| Firefighter — entry level | Written | South Fire District, CT · Torrington, CT · Delaware County EMS, OH |
| Apparatus Operator / Driver | Written + practical | Town of West Hartford, CT — four days of testing |
| Lieutenant | Written + oral board | Milford, CT · Salisbury, CT · Hamden, CT · South Burlington, VT |
| Captain | Written + oral board | Delaware County EMS, OH · Malvern FD, PA |
| Fire Marshal / Deputy Fire Marshal | Written + oral board | West Haven, CT · New London, CT · Torrington, CT |
| Battalion Chief | Written + oral + in-basket | Milford, CT · New London, CT · Meriden, CT · Malvern FD, PA |
| Assistant / Deputy Chief | Assessment center | Westport, CT · Meriden, CT · Torrington, CT |
| Fire Chief | Assessment center + in-basket | Scenario stations, in-basket exercises and a structured oral board |
County EMS agencies are examined at entry, lieutenant and captain level on the same basis. Ask for a reference in your state on a scope call.
WHY IT HOLDS UP
Four things that make an exam defensible.
Most testing vendors claim the same four words: reliable, unbiased, modern, valid. Here is what we mean by them, with the evidence attached.
AUTHORITY
Run by someone who governed testing at state scale
Our testing practice is led by Dr. Jason Decremer, formerly Director of Certification for the Connecticut Commission on Fire Prevention and Control, where he oversaw national certification testing for 20,000 firefighters across 40 disciplines.
FIDELITY
Written from your material, and you choose it
Every item is referenced to your reading list, SOPs, SOGs and collective bargaining agreement. We do not dictate the sources. Roughly half of each promotional exam is department-specific content that exists nowhere else.
INTEGRITY
A documented process and a clean record
No MissionCIT exam has ever been challenged or appealed. Every exam carries a per-question challenge process, and on average zero to one item is withdrawn through it before scores are finalised. You receive the adjudication in writing. And we never ask you to lock in beyond the exam in front of you.
OWNERSHIP
We run the process, not just the paper
Item development, exercise and rubric design, proctor sourcing, delivery, scoring, challenge handling and the eligibility list. In West Hartford that extended to training candidates on the apparatus before testing them on it.
HOW WE EARN THE NEXT ONE
We don’t ask for a multi-year contract. We’d rather earn the next exam.
Some vendors want three years signed before they start. We quote every examination on its own, and we expect to be judged on it. If the process was sound and your commission was satisfied, you’ll call us for the next rank.
Almost every time, that is exactly what happens.
FROM SCOPE TO ELIGIBILITY LIST
Six to ten weeks, and four things we need from you.
Week 1
Scope
Rank, candidate count, components, civil service requirements and your date. We confirm how your commission’s rules shape the process before anything is written.
Weeks 1–2
Sources
You select the reading list, policies and agreements the exam draws from. If a source is contested internally, we would rather resolve it now than on appeal.
Weeks 2–7
Development
Item writing with source citation, oral board scenarios, assessment center exercises and rubrics, then a compliance read before anything reaches a candidate.
Weeks 7–10
Delivery
Proctored administration on-site or remotely, immediate written scoring, challenge adjudication in writing, and the ranked eligibility list.
WHAT YOU GET, WHAT IT COSTS
The examination file, and the number.
Delivered to your department
- A custom examination referenced to your own sources
- Item-by-item source citations showing where each question comes from
- Scored results, released immediately for written components
- Per-candidate score breakdown and the ranked eligibility list
- The answer key and blank challenge forms
- Written adjudication of every challenge received
- Oral board and assessment center rubrics agreed before delivery
- Proctor sourcing and management, on-site or remote
- A process summary suitable for presentation to your commission
Prices shown are starting points, not quotes. A scope call produces a fixed figure.
Starting prices
| Entry-level written examination | from $3,500 |
| Promotional — written only | $5,000 |
| Promotional — written + oral board | $7,000 |
| Promotional — remote delivery | Inquire |
| Assessment center / chief officer | $13,500 |
Final pricing depends on rank, candidate count and components. No multi-year commitment is required or offered — every exam is quoted on its own.
ENGAGEMENT RECORD
Town of West Hartford — Apparatus Operator
A large applicant pool, a rank with a practical component, and a department that needed the process to be visibly fair from day one.
“Our biggest goal entering our Apparatus Operator promotional recruitment was to ensure a fair and equitable process for a large pool of applicants. MissionCIT helped us meet this goal from Day 1. Not only did they create a customized written exam for us, but they worked with us to create an extensive practical exam. This involved developing rubrics, hiring proctors, administering apparatus training to the candidates, and four days of testing. There was very little work for us to do; MissionCIT took the reins and ran with it! This made our lives much easier! We look forward to having the opportunity to work with MissionCIT again and highly recommend them to any organization in need of testing services.”
DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN RESOURCES · TOWN OF WEST HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT
Written
Custom exam from department sources
Practical
Apparatus stations with rubrics
4 days
Of testing administered
Turnkey
Proctors hired and managed by us
WHO WE TEST FOR
Departments and agencies we have examined.
Deepest in Connecticut and the Northeast, with completed engagements in Alabama, Arkansas, California, Maryland, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Vermont and Washington State. Remote delivery is available nationwide.
Stratford, CT
Assessment process
Entry · Assistant Chief
Lieutenant · Battalion Chief
Meriden, CT
Lieutenant · Battalion · Assistant Chief
Westport, CT
Assistant Chief
New London, CT
Fire Marshal · Battalion Chief
Entry · Battalion Chief · Deputy Fire Marshal
Hamden, CT
Lieutenant
Fire Marshal · Deputy Fire Marshal
Lieutenant
Town of West Hartford, CT
Apparatus Operator
Delaware County EMS, OH
Entry · Lieutenant · Captain
Sandusky County EMS, OH
Promotional
Battalion Chief · Captain
South Burlington, VT
Lieutenant
Myrtle Beach, SC
Promotional process
UConn Fire Department, CT
Promotional process
Waterbury, CT
Promotional
A partial list. These are a sample of the departments and agencies MissionCIT has examined for — not the full roster. Ask for a reference in your state on a scope call.
IN THEIR WORDS
What chiefs say afterwards.
“MissionCIT created the best overall assessment process we have had in Stratford in many years. I plan on using them again for future exams.”
Chief Jermaine Atkinson
Stratford Fire Department, CT
Stratford Fire Department, CT
“We are very impressed with your entry testing service, response and professionalism. South Fire District looks forward to working with you again in the future.”
Chief Jim Trzaski
South Fire District, Middletown, CT
South Fire District, Middletown, CT
“It was a pleasure meeting you and having you administer the testing process along with your cohort.”
Battalion Chief Kenneth M. Chapman
Myrtle Beach Fire Department, SC
Myrtle Beach Fire Department, SC
HOW IT IS DELIVERED
On-site, remote, or both in the same process.
ON-SITE
We come to you
MissionCIT proctors run the room. Secure workstations and immediate scoring for written components. Oral boards and assessment center stations staffed and managed by us.
REMOTE — LOWER COST
Candidates test where they are
No exam day, no facility, no candidate travel. Same scoring and same examination file. Suited to departments with dispersed candidates or shift constraints — and to counties and groups running entry-level cycles.
WHO BUILDS IT
Jason Decremer, PhD
LEAD — TESTING & STRATEGY PRACTICE
Twenty years in the fire service as a chief officer and educator. Formerly Director of Certification for the Connecticut Commission on Fire Prevention and Control, where he oversaw national certification testing for 20,000 firefighters across 40 disciplines.
A published author and IFSTA committee member, Dr. Decremer is a recognised expert in curriculum development, recruitment and grant writing, and serves as an adjunct professor at the University of New Haven. He holds a PhD in Public Policy and Administration.
QUESTIONS WE GET ASKED
Before you scope it.
How much does a custom fire department promotional exam cost?
An entry-level written examination starts at $3,500. A promotional examination with a written component only is $5,000. A promotional examination with a written component and a structured oral board is $7,000. An assessment center for chief officer ranks starts at $13,500. Remote delivery is quoted on inquiry. Final pricing depends on rank, candidate count and the number of components, and no multi-year commitment is required.
Do you require a multi-year contract?
No. We do not ask for one and we do not offer one. Every examination is quoted on its own and billed on its own. Our view is that a testing vendor should be judged on the last process it ran, not on a signature obtained three years earlier, so we expect to earn the next exam by getting this one right. Almost every department that uses us once calls us back for the next rank.
How long does it take to develop a custom entry or promotional exam?
Six to ten weeks from signed scope to score release for a standard process. Item development is the longest stage and begins as soon as your reading list and policy set are confirmed. Assessment centers take longer because exercises and rubrics are designed from scratch for the rank.
What source material are the exam questions written from?
Your material. Questions are referenced to the reading list, standard operating procedures, standard operating guidelines and collective bargaining agreement that your department selects. MissionCIT does not dictate the references. Roughly half of every promotional examination is department-specific content that exists nowhere else.
How does MissionCIT establish content validity?
Every item is written against a specific, citable passage in a source the department has approved, and every item is linked to a duty of the rank being tested. The item-to-source citation list is delivered with the examination file, so the link between the job, the source and the question can be demonstrated on the record rather than asserted.
Is a MissionCIT exam legally defensible in a civil service appeal?
No MissionCIT examination has ever 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. The department receives the item source citations, the answer key, the challenge forms and written adjudication of every challenge received. MissionCIT is not a psychometric consultancy and does not provide legal advice; where a process carries unusual exposure, the department should involve its own counsel.
Are exam items ever reused between departments or administrations?
A department never sits the same examination twice. Items drawn from widely used national sources such as IFSTA texts and NFPA standards may appear across different departments using the same reading list, which is normal practice across the industry. The department-specific portion, written from your own SOPs, SOGs and agreements, is unique to you and is not reused anywhere.
Which ranks can MissionCIT test for?
Entry-level firefighter, apparatus operator and driver-engineer, lieutenant, captain, fire marshal and deputy fire marshal, battalion chief, assistant and deputy chief, and fire chief. MissionCIT also develops examinations for county EMS agencies at entry, lieutenant and captain level.
Does MissionCIT run assessment centers and in-basket exercises?
Yes. Chief officer processes typically combine a written component with in-basket exercises, tactical or scenario stations and a structured oral board. Exercises and scoring rubrics are designed for the specific rank and the specific department, and MissionCIT supplies and manages the assessor panel.
What does a department need to provide, and what does MissionCIT handle?
The department provides the rank description, the reading list and policy set, the candidate roster and the timeline. MissionCIT handles item development, exercise and rubric design, proctor sourcing and management, delivery on-site or remotely, scoring, challenge adjudication and the ranked eligibility list. In the West Hartford apparatus operator process this extended to hiring proctors, delivering apparatus training to candidates and running four days of testing.
How quickly are results available after the exam?
Written multiple-choice components are scored on submission and results are available immediately. Oral board and assessment center scoring depends on rubric review and panel scheduling; the eligibility list is typically issued within two weeks of the final sitting.
Can the exam be delivered remotely?
Yes. Written components can be delivered through a secure remote portal, which removes the cost and logistics of an exam day and suits departments with dispersed candidates or shift constraints. Oral boards and assessment centers are normally run in person, though structured oral components can also be delivered remotely with identical question sets for every candidate.
What states and regions does MissionCIT serve?
MissionCIT works nationally. The deepest reference base is Connecticut and the Northeast, with completed engagements in Alabama, Arkansas, California, Maryland, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Vermont and Washington State. Civil service rules differ by state and in some states the state itself administers promotional examinations, so MissionCIT will confirm how your commission’s rules affect the process before scoping.
START HERE
Tell us the rank and the date.
A scope call takes about thirty minutes. We will tell you what your commission’s rules require, what the process looks like against your timeline, and what it costs — before you commit to anything.
Talk to us
| Call | +1 203-649-5090 |
| [email protected] | |
| Typical response | 1 business day |
| Ranks covered | Entry through chief |
| Service area | Nationwide |