Is it easy to pass the fire engineer exam? If I had done this earlier, I wouldn’t have wasted three years

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This post was last edited by sdwfsgyykai on 2018-6-19 at 14:12. Is it easy to pass the fire engineer exam? From my first attempt at the Level 1 Fire Engineer exam in 2015, to my second attempt in 2016, and then to when I learned in 2017 that I had passed the exam, I’m finally on the verge of obtaining the certificate. It feels like all my hard work from last year has finally paid off. 　　 　　Is it easy to pass the fire engineer exam? Taking the fire safety exam wasn’t an easy task for me. After all, I have a job, a family, and children. Moreover, I’m not young anymore; I can’t compare to people in their twenties, and I don’t want to keep moving around with different projects. I remember that it was in March 2015, while talking with the fire safety inspector for the project, that I first heard about fire safety certificates. After thinking it over for over a month, I realized that compared to becoming a construction engineer, the policy regarding fire safety certificates had only been introduced in 2014, which represented a great opportunity for me. It would also help increase my family’s income; therefore, whether for work reasons or personal needs, it was essential for me to obtain such a certificate. 　　So I bought a set of textbooks online. Once I received them, I realized they were quite thick. I glanced through the table of contents casually and thought there was nothing difficult about them; since I already had a certain foundation, I put the books aside right away. On May Day, I took the kids out to play. At that time I thought it was fine; I would just live as things went, and read books whenever I had time. It was just a matter of time before the exam arrived, and when I got to the examination room, I was stunned. I had only watched others carry out fire safety inspections and skimmed through the textbooks beforehand – is it easy to pass the fire engineer exam? Now I finally understand that fire safety certificates aren’t as easy to obtain as they seem. I wasn’t sure I could pass the exam, but I still wanted to test my abilities, so I took all 3 exams. The results came out in March 2016, and when I saw them, they were just as I had expected – I had no chance. 　　I’ve taken the exam once already. I know that passing the fire safety exam is not easy; its difficulty is on par with that of the First-Class Constructor exam. But still, I need a fire safety certificate. After all, I do have a certain foundation; after thinking it over, I decided that I should continue to take the exams. Moreover, it’s better to obtain such professional certificates as early as possible. 　　To ensure that I could pass the exam in 16 years, I created a study plan for myself, which was developed starting in April and continued all the way up to the exam in November. I spent 3 to 4 months thoroughly studying the textbooks and completing the exercises at the end of each chapter. Starting in August, I devoted one and a half months to reinforcing my knowledge of various sections and fire protection systems, based on what I had learned during the first round of study. From late September onward, I entered the final preparation phase; two weeks before the exam, I began working on practice tests to get ready for it. 　　After making the plan, I began to study earnestly using the textbooks; when I encountered aspects that did not conform to the standards, I searched for information in various ways, both online and by asking colleagues who work in fire safety. After nearly a month of hard work, I realized that going through it step by step on my own was too slow. After much consideration and searching, I decided to try enrolling in an online course; after all, I might not have time to attend in-person classes. I won’t promote any specific courses here, but once I enrolled, I immediately started studying the materials intensively. Studying the textbook following the teacher’s explanations is indeed much more effective than trying to understand it on one’s own. The teacher will tell you what is important, what needs to be memorized, and what can be understood merely as background information. When you encounter something you don’t understand, you can also ask the teacher for help, which is quite good. Finally, within the planned 4 months, I went through the textbooks carefully, completed many exercises after class, and noted down the difficult points, as well as those that are easy to confuse or lead to mistakes, along with related exercises. 　　 　　In August, under the guidance of teachers, a second round of intensive study began, treating the three textbooks as one integrated system and carrying out comprehensive intensive memorization and organized learning related to the setup, installation, testing, and maintenance management of all aspects of this system, from start to finish. After organizing the entire set of textbooks into three parts, they don’t seem so thick anymore. In the first part, fire safety regulations, professional ethics, safety management, and basic knowledge become mere facts that need to be memorized; one just has to memorize them more. The second part, on building fire protection, systematically connects various topics such as fire hazard, building classification and fire resistance rating, overall layout and plan layout, as well as fire and smoke prevention zones, safe evacuation, and explosion protection. As for the third part, various systems such as those for ventilation, water supply, electricity, smoke control and exhaust, and fire extinguishers – knowledge related to each of these systems is memorized based on the specific characteristics of that system. It took almost two months to complete the second stage of learning. Although it took longer than expected, I now understand fire safety concepts much better; there’s no need to memorize the content of many modules by rote. It took 3 days, with one set of practice tests completed each day, to assess the learning outcomes. 　　Starting in October, I began preparing for the final exam push. I took out all the questions related to the confusing concepts and those that are prone to errors, as recorded earlier, and started working through them one by one. I also found several sets of practice tests; the online school provided some mock exams as well. Other than my work, I spent all my time on these fire safety-related questions. I worked on it for over a month, and with less than a week left until the exam, I was consistently scoring around 80 points on each test paper. Before the exam, the teacher also shared some additional tips for answering questions, basically methods to help everyone improve their scores. However, the techniques for dealing with case studies are particularly useful, as there are certain strategies involved in answering subjective questions, and these were really helpful to me. 　　 　　Half a year has passed, and I managed to persevere until the exam day. This time I was better prepared than before, so I wasn’t as nervous or anxious. During the exam, I thought it would be similar to the regular practice tests, so I believed I should be able to pass without any problems. When the results were released on February 28th this year, the teacher informed me that I could check my scores, and indeed I passed. Now I’m just waiting to receive my certificate in April or May. 　　Finally, it is advised that all candidates: if they want to pass the Level 1 Fire Engineer exam, they must be patient and study diligently, keeping up with daily reading and practice questions, and should avoid relying on luck. There must be effort in order to achieve results, but without effort, there will definitely be no results! Additionally, if you are not a graduate of a fire engineering program and want to obtain this certification, I recommend that you first study the relevant systems. There are three-in-one courses available on the market that teach according to these system modules, and they should be very helpful. Moreover, there are various minor knowledge points as well; watch more micro-lectures on fire engineering to identify any gaps in your knowledge and fill them in. 　　Here, I also wish that all the candidates taking the exam this year will pass the Level 1 Certified Fire Engineer examination.