Firefighter recruitment
SDIS 35 volunteer firefighter maths test: the 2024 paper
The Ille-et-Vilaine fire and rescue service (SDIS 35), in France, tests volunteer firefighter candidates with a 30-minute maths paper. This guide breaks down the paper of 21 May 2024: its format, what the service says it marks, the question mix and what to practise.
Archived edition at a glance
Which paper this guide covers
This guide covers the mathematics test that SDIS 35, the fire and rescue service of Ille-et-Vilaine in Brittany, set at its volunteer firefighter welcome and recruitment day on 21 May 2024. SDIS 35 publishes the paper and its official correction on its website. The page lists the paper under both 2022 and 2024, but it is dated 21 May 2024 and matches the 2024 correction.
The archived edition in Cognik keeps every answer of the official correction. Counts and timings describe this paper and do not predict a later test.
How many questions and parts are there?
The paper has a single part: 20 questions in 30 minutes, without a calculator. Each question prints four options. Question 9 prints the same wrong option twice, so Cognik shows it once.
| Part | Questions | Minutes |
|---|---|---|
| Mathematics (1–20) | 20 | 30 |
What SDIS 35 says the test marks
The SDIS 35 recruitment day includes two written tests at the level of the French cinquième, a school year for pupils aged 12 to 13: a 30-minute text comprehension test, which also marks spelling and writing, and the 30-minute maths test. Each is marked out of 20.
The recruitment page describes the current process and does not say which skill each 2024 question counted towards. For the maths test, it lists these points:
| Skill | Points |
|---|---|
| Unit conversions | 3 |
| Simple calculations | 5 |
| Rule of three (proportions) | 4 |
| Simple problem solving | 5 |
| Time calculations | 3 |
Which question types appear?
We grouped each question by its main task and counted it once. This is an editorial classification for planning practice, not an official syllabus or a breakdown of marks. The question numbers let you check each group in the archived edition.
All 20 questions are calculations set in fire and rescue situations: staff numbers, calls and interventions, hoses and water reserves, journeys and running times. Percentages and fractions form the largest group. Many questions change units along the way, between litres and cubic metres or between minutes and hours.
| Main task | Total | Numbers |
|---|---|---|
| Counts and costs | 5 | 1, 5–6, 8–9 |
| Percentages and fractions | 7 | 2–4, 7, 11, 14–15 |
| Flows and volumes | 4 | 10, 12, 16–17 |
| Speed, distance and time | 4 | 13, 18–20 |
How much time is there per question?
30 minutes for 20 questions is an average of 90 seconds each. That is an arithmetic average, not a limit for every question: a total of three numbers takes less, while a flow or a time with conversions takes more.
Without a calculator, estimate first to rule out options that are ten times too large or too small, then calculate exactly. A wrong answer loses nothing, so answer every question before time runs out.
An original practice example
This new example practises a time calculation. It is not a question copied from the archived paper.
Scores and answer-key cautions
Each correct answer is worth one point and a wrong answer loses nothing. The paper prints no pass mark, so Cognik shows your score on the archived paper without a pass estimate.
The SDIS 35 recruitment page states that an average of 10/20 across the two written tests is a precondition for recruitment, so a maths score alone does not settle the result. In question 20, the paper’s wording contradicts the runner’s total time; the archive follows the reading the official answer requires and says so in its editorial note, along with a few corrected printing slips.
What to practise from this paper
The test rewards careful units more than advanced maths. Cognik’s Applied calculations exercise generates new problems of the same kind, from a total of two numbers to multi-step flows and times, and explains why each wrong option fails.
- Learn the conversions these problems use: 1 m³ = 1,000 L, 1 h = 60 min, 1 ha = 10,000 m² and 1 m = 100 cm.
- Work out percentages and fractions of large numbers on paper, and round only at the end, as the question asks.
- Turn decimal times into minutes and seconds before choosing: 0.25 h is 15 min and 2.5 min is 2 min 30 s.
Sources and current recruitment information
The format comes from the 2024 paper itself; the skills, points and the 10/20 condition come from the SDIS 35 recruitment page, which also links the maths papers and corrections of earlier recruitment days. Each fire and rescue service runs its own volunteer recruitment, and its rules can change: check with the service you are applying to.
Put it into practice
Explore more questions and step-by-step explanations in Cognik.
