Last fall, 46,000 people took the test to become a city firefighter. Long criticized for a lack of diversity, the city fire department boasted that, for the first time, more than half of the test-takers were non-white. Nearly 27 percent were Hispanic, and 25 percent were black.

"We had a great group of young people who took this exam," Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro said.

The city said the scores would be posted as soon as April 4.

But it's late-May and the FDNY still has not released the results.

Instead, applicants have received emails saying, "We will continue to keep you informed of the scheduled release date when that information becomes available."

"The court has it, the federal monitor has it. They're looking through it, and we're hopeful that very soon they will release it to us and everyone will be able to see how they did," Nigro said.

Four years ago, the department agreed to overhaul its hiring to settle a discrimination lawsuit brought by black firefighters.

The department boosted the recruiting of black, Hispanic, and female applicants, and retooled the entrance exam.

The city hoped that blacks and Hispanics would make up about 30 percent of those eligible to be hired from the fall exam.

But sources say the actual number is closer to 20 percent, causing the FDNY to delay releasing the scores.

On Friday, NY1 asked the fire commissioner what happened: "I haven't seen the results of the test," Nigro said. "I'm not sure what they will be, but we're hopeful that the test received the results we hoped for."

The department appears to be taking an extraordinary step, seven months after the exam, to boost those disappointing numbers. Earlier this month, its recruitment unit posted a video featuring an African-American firefighter:

"We noticed that you sat for your firefighter exam. However, you did not complete your application," the firefighter said in the video.

The FDNY says some of the "incomplete" applications are due to missing paperwork, such as proof of residency, which adds five points to exam scores. If more black and Hispanic applicants file such certifications, more likely will be eligible for hiring, bringing the FDNY closer to its diversity goals.

The city agency that administers the exam declined to comment.