10 exam-style questions with answers and explanations, straight from our 1,030-question bank. Tap an answer to check yourself. When you're ready, take the scored version in the free practice test.
The CFWE exam has 100 questions and runs 2 hours.
These 10 free CFWE questions are organized by exam domain, so you can see how each part of the Footwear Certification (CFWE) blueprint is tested. Reveal the answer and explanation under each question.
A shoe contacts a thin layer of wet paint on glass and removes paint in an outsole pattern. The remaining paint later dries, and the glass itself has not been deformed. Classify the resulting impression by transfer mechanism, dimensionality, and origin.
Correct answer: D - Negative, two-dimensional, wet-origin.
On polished flooring, a faint shoe mark appears only under low-angle light. Different portions become visible as the light moves around it. How should the non-contact search continue?
Correct answer: B - Examine and photograph the area with oblique light from several directions.
A footwear impression consists of loose, dry plaster dust on a smooth vinyl floor that cannot be removed. Scaled photographs are complete. The examiner has suitable equipment for each of the following methods. Which recovery attempt should come first to retain the greatest range of later options?
Correct answer: A - Electrostatic lifting with fresh film, black side against the impression.
Two examination photographs have valid same-plane scales and no perspective distortion. In the questioned-impression image, a 40 mm scale spans 1,000 pixels and two heel-block corners are 360 pixels apart. In the known-test image, a 50 mm scale spans 1,500 pixels and the corresponding corners are 432 pixels apart. Which interpretation correctly uses both calibrations?
Correct answer: D - Both distances are 14.4 mm; the spacing agrees but does not establish source.
Dental stone has lifted a two-dimensional muddy footwear deposit from smooth tile. The hardened lift has a thin brown tread pattern on an otherwise smooth face. In the laboratory, a technician proposes washing it as though it were a cast of a depression in soil. Which instruction preserves this evidence?
Correct answer: C - Retain the patterned residue intact; it carries the recovered impression.
Which blood-enhancement reagent is recorded by photographing its rapidly fading blue-white emission in darkness, rather than by supplying an external excitation light?
Correct answer: D - Luminol, recorded by chemiluminescence.
A narrow interruption crosses two tread blocks in a dust impression on painted floorboards. Under oblique light, it follows a shallow scratch in the floor that continues beyond the outsole border. The interruption is most consistent with:
Correct answer: A - Substrate relief interrupting the transfer of dust.
A well-recorded heel impression and a submitted shoe share eight rectangular tread blocks. At the outer border, however, the impression records three complete chevrons where the shoe has a single circular lug. Examination confirms a genuine design difference, not a scale, orientation, or transfer artifact. No acquired detail is resolved. What should the examiner do?
Correct answer: C - Exclude the shoe on the confirmed design incompatibility.
An unscaled photograph clearly records a heel design shared by a submitted shoe, but no acquired detail is visible. The impression and scene are no longer available, and there is no reliable dimensional reference. No confirmable differences are observed. Under SWGTREAD (2013), what specifically prevents advancing from 'limited association of class characteristics' to 'association of class characteristics'?
Correct answer: B - Correspondence in physical size cannot be established.
Three unworn soles from the same mold reproduce a crescent-shaped ridge initially labeled 'acquired damage' on a submitted shoe. A corresponding feature is visible in the questioned impression. This discovery means the examiner should:
Correct answer: B - Treat it as shared manufacturing detail rather than shoe-specific acquired damage.
The CFWE exam also covers these domains. Drill them in the full free practice test:
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