1. (a) The administration of examinations for certification, including performance skill evaluations, shall be conducted in compliance with commission and International Fire Service Accreditation Congress (IFSAC) regulations. It is incumbent upon commission staff, committee members, training officers and field examiners to maintain the integrity of any state examination (or portion thereof) for which they are responsible.
2. (b) Exams will be based on curricula as currently adopted in the commission's Certification Curriculum Manual. The state test can consist of only a written test or it can consist of a test that contains both a written portion and a performance skills portion. If the training program is conducted in the phase format, the examination will be based on the curriculum in effect at the time of the examination.
3. (c) If performance skills are required as part of a certification examination, the entity applying for the certification examination shall be responsible for providing the required number of approved field examiners. The number of field examiners shall be determined by the commission.
4. (d) Commission examinations that receive a passing grade shall expire two years from the date of the examination.

5. (e) The commission shall prescribe the content of any certification examination that tests the knowledge and/or skill of the examinee concerning the discipline addressed by the examination.

   1. (1) An examination based on Chapter 1, ''Basic Fire Suppression Curriculum'' as identified in the Certification Curriculum Manual may consist of four sections: Fire Fighter I, Fire Fighter II, First Responder Awareness, and First Responder Operations.
   2. (2) An examination based on Chapter 4, ''Basic Fire Inspector Curriculum'' as identified in the Certification Curriculum Manual may consist of three sections: Inspector I, Inspector II, and Plan Examiner I.
   3. (3) All other state examinations consist of only one section.
   4. (4) The Head of Department examination will be based on NFPA 1021, Chapter 7.
6. (f) An individual who fails to pass a commission written examination for state certification will be given one additional opportunity to pass the examination or section thereof. This opportunity must be exercised within 180 days after the date of the first failure. An individual who passes the applicable state certification examination but fails to pass a section thereof for an IFSAC seal(s) will be given one additional opportunity to pass the section thereof. This opportunity must be exercised within two years after the date of the first attempt. An examinee who fails to pass the examination within the required time may not sit for the same examination again until the examinee has re-qualified by repeating the curriculum applicable to that examination.
7. (g) An examinee who fails a state performance skill evaluation may be allowed a retest at a time and place to be determined by the lead examiner. If the candidate fails the retest, remedial training conducted by a certified instructor who is approved to teach in that specific subject area is required for a second retest. Remedial training must be of a duration no less than the recommended curriculum instructional hours for the section in which the failed skill(s) is reflected. An examinee being retested on a performance skill must be retested on any skill, randomly selected by the lead examiner, from the same subject area as the performance skill objective that was failed. If the examinee fails the final retest as part of a state performance skill evaluation, the examinee must requalify by repeating the entire curriculum applicable to the examination.

Source Note:The provisions of this §439.1 adopted to be effective March 27, 2006, 31 TexReg 2700; amended to be effective December 3, 2006, 31 TexReg 9619.