What's on the FDNY S-95 Exam: NFPA 72 and NYC Fire Code Chapter 9
FDNY S-95 practice tests topic breakdown — NFPA 72 (2010), NYC Fire Code Ch. 9, 3 RCNY §901-01, NYC BC §907, and FDNY Bulletins. Study plan for the touchscreen exam.
Contents
What's on the FDNY S-95 Exam: NFPA 72 and NYC Fire Code Chapter 9
The FDNY S-95 Certificate of Fitness exam is a written multiple-choice exam delivered on touchscreen at FDNY HQ, 9 MetroTech Center in Brooklyn, with a 70% passing score. The reference set is narrow but dense: NFPA 72 (2010 edition, per FDNY adoption), NYC Fire Code Chapter 9, 3 RCNY §901-01, NYC Building Code §907, and FDNY Fire Alarm Bulletins.
This post breaks down what each reference contributes, where the question weight typically falls, and how to structure a study plan that accounts for both the NFPA technical core and the NYC-specific overlay. Targeted FDNY S-95 practice tests built from the published reference set are the cleanest way to drill the NFPA portion under exam-like conditions.
Exam format at a glance
| Spec | Value |
|---|---|
| Delivery | Touchscreen at 9 MetroTech Center, Brooklyn |
| Format | Written multiple-choice |
| Passing score | 70% |
| Question count | Multiple-choice (FDNY does not publish the exact count for S-95) |
| Reference set | NFPA 72 (2010), NYC FC Ch. 9, 3 RCNY §901-01, NYC BC §907, FDNY Bulletins |
A note on the question count: FDNY publishes study materials for each Certificate of Fitness but does not always publish the exact number of items on the live exam. Plan as if the format is standard FDNY (multi-choice, fixed time, 70% pass) and don't anchor your prep to a specific number you read on a third-party site.
NFPA 72 (2010) — the technical core
The NFPA 72 portion of the S-95 follows the chapter structure of the 2010 edition. (FDNY's adoption lags the current NFPA cycle — the 2010 edition is still the tested version. Verify on the current FDNY S-95 study materials before exam day in case FDNY updates.)
Chapter 17 — Initiating Devices. Smoke detector spacing (the 30-foot rule, beam spacing, smooth vs. joist ceiling adjustments), heat detector classifications, manual pull station mounting heights, duct detector requirements. Expect numerical recall questions.
Chapter 18 — Notification Appliances. Candela ratings for strobes, mounting heights, audibility requirements (15 dBA above ambient, 5 dBA above the maximum sound level for 60 seconds), sync requirements for strobes in the same field of view.
Chapter 23 — Protected Premises Fire Alarm Systems. Circuit class definitions, monitoring for integrity, supervisory and trouble signal requirements, the differences between IDC, NAC, and SLC circuits.
Chapter 14 — Inspection, Testing, and Maintenance. ITM frequencies and what gets tested. This chapter overlaps directly with the S-97/S-98 ITM certs, so techs going for the full credential stack get reuse out of mastering it through FDNY S-95 practice tests.
NYC Fire Code Chapter 9 — the city overlay
NYC Fire Code Chapter 9 controls when fire alarm systems are required by occupancy in NYC (often stricter than IFC), the FDNY plan-review and acceptance process, and impairment notification requirements when systems go out of service.
3 RCNY §901-01 and NYC BC §907
Rules of the City of New York §901-01 covers the regulatory framework that gives FDNY authority over fire alarm work in NYC — including the Certificate of Fitness requirement itself. NYC Building Code §907 is the construction-side counterpart to Fire Code Ch. 9 (manual pull stations, smoke detection in specific occupancies, notification coverage). Both are reliably testable.
FDNY Fire Alarm Bulletins
FDNY periodically issues Fire Alarm Bulletins that clarify Ch. 9 application or set procedural expectations (acceptance testing, central station registration). These don't carry the same testable weight as NFPA 72 or Ch. 9, but a question or two is common.
Topic-by-topic study plan
A 4-week plan that respects the NFPA / NYC split:
| Week | Focus | Reference |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Initiating devices, fundamentals | NFPA 72 Ch. 10, 17 |
| 2 | Notification, circuits, ITM | NFPA 72 Ch. 14, 18, 23 |
| 3 | NYC Fire Code Ch. 9 + §907 | NYC FC Ch. 9, NYC BC §907 |
| 4 | 3 RCNY §901-01 + FDNY Bulletins + full-length practice | 3 RCNY, Bulletins |
Honesty on coverage: our current FDNY S-95 practice tests drill the NFPA 72 portion (Weeks 1-2) thoroughly with full answer explanations. The NYC-specific overlay (Weeks 3-4) is in a follow-up release — those are NYC-proprietary materials and we're building that layer carefully rather than trafficking in leaked exam stems. For the NYC overlay today, FDNY's official S-95 study materials at nyc.gov are the published reference.
What to do next
The S-95 is the broadest practitioner cert in the NYC fire alarm stack. The NFPA 72 portion of the exam is straightforward if you've drilled it; the NYC overlay rewards reading the published Ch. 9 and §901-01 text directly.
Our FDNY S-95 practice tests cover the NFPA 72 (2010) technical chapters above — initiating devices, NACs, ITM, circuits, fundamentals — with the NYC code overlay coming in a follow-up release. Every question includes detailed answer explanations with codebook references — built around the same standards the official exam uses.
Want to gauge your readiness first? Take our free 10-question FDNY S-95 sample test — no commitment, just a quick calibration before committing to the full study path.
Ready to pass NYC FDNY S-95?
Start your prep with unlimited practice tests and codebook-referenced answers.
Start Studying →
