Photo by Bill Morrow

The following is a breakdown of the Candidate Physical Ability Test.

Included are things you should do to prepare for the test as well as technique tips for getting through the events.

While being in great shape will help you pass, without preparation even the fittest athlete may hear the word “Time!” called by their proctor while still struggling with the Ceiling breach/pull.

Wasting time and money in your journey to become a career firefighter isn’t why you signed up for the CPAT. So follow the advice in this guide and start preparing weeks in advance. Attend every practice session.

This will put the CPAT behind you so you can move on to the rest of the hiring process.

CPAT Event 1: Stair Climb

 

Photo by Jack Brodus

The first event in the CPAT is the longest and hardest.

It’s where a lack of preparation will either cause you to fail immediately, or leave you too weak to complete the exam in time.

The Stair climb consists of donning 75 lbs of weight in the form of vest and shoulder pads, then climbing stairs at a rate of 60 steps a minute for 3:20(Leaving you with 7 minutes and 7 events when you step off).

It will test your aerobic ability and balance as your not allowed to grab the handrails while climbing the step mill machine. The treadmill steps are taller than normal steps, so count your blessings if your tall and get ready to work if your short.

Technique Tips

The key to this exercise is keeping your balance.

As time progresses your legs tire and you become winded.

This alters the gait of your walk and disturbs your rhythm, throwing your balance off.

When you become unbalanced, your natural reaction is to reach for something to steady yourself with(The hand rail).

Stop the urge to grab the rail by keeping your hands held at the collar of the vest, right below your collarbone.

when you do feel yourself reaching for the rail, instead of grabbing simply push off with the back of your hand. If this is done quickly it won’t get a warning from your proctor. Also be sure to concentrate on your rhythm and breathing.

Exercises to Prepare

A weightlifting regimen including squats and leg press is helpful, but nothing will prepare you like actually walking weighted stairs.

This can be done one of two ways. The cheap yet effective way involves an old backpack, a parking garage and a stopwatch.

You’ll need between 50-75lbs of “weight” in said backpack to effectively train for the stair climb. This weight could be sandbags, dumb bells or the barbell circular weights.

The second way is buying a weighted vest.

Next, find something that weighs 25 lbs.

However, nothing is going to beat working with a 24 ft ladder.