A friend of the family suggested that I try out for firefighting, as they're taking recruits. They have this psychological stress response exam called the B-PAD when they videotape you. I guess it's to gauge how you respond to life-threatening situations.

Wondered if you had any insights or info about it.

Hey Raven-   Bpad stands for Behavior Pattern Assessment Device.  What they do is sit you in front of a television and play a series of 8 situations in front of you each of which you get 30 seconds or so to respond to.  Total of 32 points (perfect score) with 4 possible points per scenario.  There should be lots of info on the internet (even a list of the actual scenarios themselves) if you do a search for "Bpad".  Is used as kindof a psych test to balance the regular civil service exam.  Different departments give it a different percentage of your total score.  Mine was 60% of the total score to rank you on the list.  The real reason some departments do the test is so they can stack minority examiners on to review the candidates hoping that they will be racist and score their own color better giving them a better shot at getting in the department.  At least that's what mine did.  Doesn't generally work very well in that regard but shakes the civil service lists up a little so they can get the numbers they want.  Just stay calm, keep a cool head and if you can, try to talk to a few examiners to see what they look for.  Hope this helps.

D.

I just took mine a few months ago.  I did pretty well (A-).  I left the test wondering if I answered correctly.  Several of the scenarios have outcomes that were very simular - i.e. 'approach with a firm voice but polite manner', or 'approach with a firm voice and firm manner', etc...I was very unsure when I finished If I did well.  This was a test for LEO and not Fire, so I am sure yours will be somewhat different.  This test had about 50 scenarios, so I am not sure if it was 'the B-PAD'as mentioned above, but it was a video based scenario test that applicants take here in FL.

Before I took it, I was told to just answer as you really would, not to answer the way you think they want you to.  Don't answer like you think they would on COPS or any other TV show!  

I just answered with common sense...and tried to 1. keep the interaction with the public polite, 2. keep control of the situation, and 3. do not read into the situation, only use what is presented in the sceanrio.  You will have about ten seconds to choose the best answer (usually 4 possible choices) to each scenario.  There will be wierd scenarios, racial scenarios, violent scenarios, and other kinds of situations that might catch you off guard.  I hope this helps...feel free to IM me if you have other questions.

Those are two good posts. My test was a few years ago but I just sat in a room and talked to a television in response to several scenarios. It was a little wierd but they just want to see how you interact with people. Kinda hard to prepare for. Just don't be to aggressive or to passive and you will be fine. Avoid racial slurs as well and explicatives. They tend to frown on that[cuss]