Mississippi Excavation and Grading

Mississippi Excavation and Grading Exam: Complete Study Guide (2026)

You've got work to do — and a license to earn before you can do it legally in Mississippi. The Mississippi Excavation and Grading exam is a 40-question, open-book test administered by PSI. Pass it, and you're cleared to operate as a licensed excavation and grading contractor in the state. Fail it, and you're back to waiting. This guide covers everything you need to know: what's on the exam, what reference books to bring, sample questions, and how to study smart. Start with our free practice exam to see where you stand right now.

Mississippi Excavation and Grading Exam Overview

Here are the basics, straight from the official exam bulletin:

• Questions: 40 scored questions
• Time limit: 120 minutes (2 hours)
• Passing score: 70% — that's 28 correct answers out of 40
• Format: Open book; you bring your own approved references
• Administered by: PSI
• Cost: $120 per exam attempt (non-refundable)

Because it's open book, the exam isn't testing your memory. It's testing whether you can find the right answer in your references — fast. Candidates who tab their books and know exactly where to look have a real advantage over those who waste time flipping around. You have two hours, which sounds like a lot for 40 questions, but finding information in multiple references takes time. Don't assume you'll coast.

Topics Covered on the Exam

The exam pulls from three subject areas. Here's how they break down by item count — which tells you exactly where to focus your prep time.

Excavating and Grading — 20 items (heaviest weight)

This is the biggest section. It covers Mississippi 811 notification procedures, excavation classifications (unclassified, rock, muck, borrow, excess, surplus), embankment construction and compaction requirements, cut and fill quantity estimation methods (cross-section, average end area), and site preparation including clearing and grubbing. Half the exam lives here. Know this material cold.

General Regulations and One Call — 15 items

This section covers the legal side of excavation in Mississippi: one-call notification requirements and procedures under Mississippi 811, advance notice timeframes, locate request ticket validity, key definitions under state excavation law, excavator duties within the tolerance zone, pre-marking requirements, and rules for emergency excavation exceptions. Fifteen questions means you cannot afford to treat this as a secondary priority.

Safety — Code of Federal Regulations — 5 items

Five questions drawn from 29 CFR Part 1926. Topics include cave-in protection methods (sloping, benching, shoring, shield systems), competent person duties and daily inspection requirements, soil classification for protective systems, underground utility protection, and hazardous atmosphere testing. Fewer questions, but don't skip it — every point counts at 70%.

Sample Excavation Exam Questions

Here are five questions similar to what you'll see on the real exam. Work through them before you look anything up — see what you actually know.

Question 1 — General Regulations and One Call
During excavation within the tolerance zone, an excavator must provide what type of support for underground utility lines and underground facilities in and near the excavation area, including during backfilling operations?
- A) Support as required by OSHA trench safety standards only
- B) Such support as may be reasonably necessary for the protection of the facilities
- C) Temporary steel shoring certified by a licensed professional engineer
- D) Support specified by the operator's engineering department

Question 2 — General Regulations and One Call
Before providing advance notice to Mississippi 811, Inc., how must an excavator identify the proposed excavation area?
- A) By marking the boundary with orange paint in accordance with APWA standards
- B) By submitting GPS coordinates to the operator for each underground facility
- C) By pre-marking the approximate boundary with white paint, flags, stakes, or electronic pre-marking
- D) By filing a site plan with the local building department

Question 3 — Excavating and Grading
You are a contractor bidding a grading project. The site plan shows that 6 inches of topsoil will be stripped but only 4 inches will be replaced. The site plan indicates an average cut depth of 1.63 feet at a particular prism. What is the net cut depth at that prism after accounting for the topsoil difference?
- A) 1.47 feet
- B) 1.63 feet
- C) 1.79 feet
- D) 1.13 feet

Question 4 — Safety - Code of Federal Regulations
When a protective system is designed using a manufacturer's tabulated data, under what condition may the employer deviate from the manufacturer's specifications?
- A) When the deviation reduces the depth of the excavation by at least 20 percent
- B) When a competent person determines the deviation is safe based on a site inspection
- C) When a registered professional engineer approves the deviation in writing
- D) Only after the manufacturer issues specific written approval of the deviation

Question 5 — Safety - Code of Federal Regulations
Under what conditions is excavation of earth to a level no greater than 2 feet below the bottom of a shield permitted in a trench excavation?
- A) Only when a registered professional engineer approves the configuration in writing prior to excavation
- B) Only when the shield is designed to resist forces calculated for the full depth of the trench and there are no indications of soil loss from behind or below the shield
- C) Only when the trench is in Type A soil and is less than 10 feet deep
- D) Only when a competent person is present continuously during excavation below the shield bottom

Not sure on a few of these? That's normal. Try our free practice exam to test your knowledge across all three topic areas before you sit for the real thing.

What Types of Questions to Expect

Knowing the topic breakdown is one thing. Knowing what the questions actually ask is another.

General Regulations and One Call (76 practice questions available): Questions here test your knowledge of Mississippi's one-call law — notice timelines, what counts as a valid locate ticket, the definition of a tolerance zone, and what an excavator must do before breaking ground. Expect scenario-based questions where you have to apply the law to a specific situation.

Excavating and Grading (115 practice questions available): This is where you'll see math. Questions on average end area calculations, cut and fill volumes, topsoil stripping adjustments (like Question 3 above), and compaction specs. You'll also see classification questions — identifying whether material is borrow, muck, or unclassified — and procedural questions on clearing, grubbing, and embankment construction.

Safety - Code of Federal Regulations (135 practice questions available): These questions pull directly from 29 CFR 1926 Subpart P. Expect questions on soil type classifications (Type A, B, C), when sloping versus shoring is appropriate, what a competent person is required to inspect and how often, and the specific conditions required before excavating below the bottom of a shield system.

In total, we've built 326 practice questions across all three topic areas to help you prepare.

Study Materials: What to Bring and Where to Get It

This is an open-book exam, so your references are your tools. Bring the right ones and know how to use them.

Approved references for the Mississippi Excavation and Grading exam:

1. Pipe and Excavation Contracting (Dave Roberts, 2011) — This is your primary resource for the Excavating and Grading section. It covers classification types, quantity estimation methods, embankment construction, and site prep. Tab the chapters on cut/fill calculations and earthwork classification before test day.

2. OSHA 29 CFR 1926 — The federal safety standards. You need Subpart P (Excavations) for the safety section. Tab the soil classification appendices and the protective system tables. Five questions reference this book, so know exactly where those pages are.

3. State of Mississippi Regulation of Excavation — Chapter 13. This covers the legal framework for the General Regulations and One Call section. Read it front to back at least once, then tab key definitions, notice requirements, and the tolerance zone rules.

You'll also want to have the Mississippi Standard Specifications for Road and Bridge Construction (2004) on hand — it's on the approved list and may come up in grading questions. You'll need to source that one separately.

A Mississippi excavation PSI study guide or an excavation and grading exam PDF of practice questions can supplement your reference reading, but there's no substitute for working through the actual approved books and knowing where everything lives.

Study Tips That Actually Work

Give yourself three to six weeks. Use the official exam bulletin as your roadmap. Don't study random excavation topics — study what's actually tested.

Practice finding, not memorizing. Since it's open book, drill yourself on locating answers fast. Time yourself. If it takes more than two minutes to find something, you need a better tab system.

Set your bar at 80%. The real cutoff is 70%, but if you're hitting 80%+ on practice exams consistently, you've got a real margin on test day. Aim for three clean passes at 80% or above before you schedule.

Don't fall for familiar-looking wrong answers. On tough questions, you might only recognize the words in one answer choice. Don't pick it automatically — evaluate it. If it's wrong, eliminate it and work through the rest. Eliminating even one bad choice improves your odds.

Every attempt at the full practice exam is different. Questions rotate, order changes. That's by design — the real exam works the same way. Take multiple attempts to build both knowledge and composure.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many questions are on the Mississippi Excavation and Grading exam?
The exam has 40 scored questions.

How long do I have to complete the exam?
Two hours (120 minutes).

What is the passing score?
You need a minimum of 70% — that's 28 correct answers out of 40.

How much does it cost?
$120 per attempt. That fee applies whether it's your first time or a retake, and it's non-refundable.

How do I register?
You must first be approved by the Mississippi Contractor Licensing Board. Once approved, PSI will be notified of your eligibility. You can then register through the exam registration page or by calling PSI at (855) 557-0619. Check the state licensing website for application requirements.

What's the retake policy?
If you fail, you can retest as many times as needed within your 6-month eligibility period. Miss that window and you'll need to reapply with the Mississippi Contractor Licensing Board.

Is the exam open book?
Yes. You bring your own approved references to the test center. Nothing is provided for you.

What references are allowed?
The approved list includes Pipe and Excavation Contracting, OSHA 29 CFR 1926, the State of Mississippi Regulation of Excavation Chapter 13, and the Mississippi Standard Specifications for Road and Bridge Construction (2004). Bring your own copies.

What topics are on the exam?
Three areas: General Regulations and One Call (15 items), Excavating and Grading (20 items), and Safety - Code of Federal Regulations (5 items).

What ID do I need to bring?
One valid, non-expired government-issued photo ID that also has your signature — a driver's license, state ID, U.S. passport, military ID, alien registration card, or Canadian government-issued ID. The name on your ID must exactly match your exam registration.

Get Started Now

The Mississippi Excavation and Grading exam is straightforward if you know your references and put in the work ahead of time. Forty questions, two hours, 70% to pass. You've handled harder jobs than this.

Start with our free practice exam — 10 questions, no account required, no payment. See where your gaps are. Then move to the full practice exam for topic-by-topic scoring and full exam simulation. Your license is worth the prep time.