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Georgia Residential – Light Commercial Contractor Practice Exam

What This Practice Exam Covers

The Georgia Residential – Light Commercial Contractor Exam consists of 90 questions answered in 230 minutes, with a passing score of 70% (63 correct). The exam spans nine topic areas, from sitework and concrete through OSHA safety requirements.

This practice exam is available in two formats:

Free practice exam — 10 questions per attempt, drawn from a limited question pool. You can retake it as many times as you like to get a feel for the format, question style, and timing pressure. It costs nothing and requires no commitment.

Full practice exam (paid) — 90 questions with a 230-minute time limit, exactly matching the real exam structure. Questions are pulled from a pool of 947+ items, so every attempt generates a unique exam — you won't see the same combination twice. Questions are built around the exact topic and subtopic breakdown provided by the official test provider, making this the closest available simulation of the real thing.

Start with the free exam to orient yourself, then use the full version for serious preparation.

What You'll Be Tested On

General Code and Construction Knowledge — 20 items

The heaviest topic on the exam. Expect questions on building permits, inspections, and certificates of occupancy — including when each is required. You must know IBC occupancy classifications (Groups A, B, E, F, H, I, M, R, S, and U) and be able to assign the correct group to a described use. Construction types and their fire-resistance rating requirements appear regularly, as do allowable building height and area calculations. Means of egress questions ask you to calculate occupant loads using Table 1004.5, determine minimum exit counts, and identify egress components. Fire wall, fire barrier, and exterior wall opening requirements — including rated assemblies — round out this section. With 20 items at stake, weak code knowledge is the single largest risk on this exam.

Carpentry — 16 items

The second-largest topic. You must know wall framing components cold: studs, plates, headers, cripple studs, and trimmer studs, and how they assemble around openings. Floor framing questions cover joists, girders, sill plates, subfloor construction, and bridging. Roof framing requires you to identify and calculate common, hip, valley, and jack rafters, and distinguish ridge boards from ridge beams. Wood truss questions are heavily tied to BCSI requirements for installation, temporary restraint, and permanent bracing — these references appear throughout the question bank. Engineered wood products (LVL, glulam, I-joists, OSB, and plywood grading) are fair game, as are IRC braced wall panel methods and sheathing requirements.

Roofing — 10 items

Questions cover basic roof styles (gable, hip, shed, gambrel, mansard), common rafter sizing using IRC R802 span tables, and rafter length calculations for hip, valley, and jack members. Wood sheathing grades and installation rules are tested. Roof covering questions require you to know minimum slope requirements for asphalt shingles, tile, metal panels, wood shakes, and slate. Underlayment type and application — including ice barrier requirements — appears on the exam. Estimating questions (waste factors, squares, bundles, pallets) are common and require accurate multi-step arithmetic.

Associated Trades — 10 items

This section tests gypsum board product types (standard, moisture-resistant, fire-code), drywall fastening methods, and framing requirements for horizontal vs. vertical application. Joint treatment finishing levels — particularly Levels 1, 4, and 5 as defined in the Gypsum Construction Handbook — are directly tested. Trim accessories (corner beads, control joints) and joint compound types (setting-type vs. drying-type) appear here. Interior plaster and veneer plaster systems are included. Thermal and acoustical insulation questions require you to know R-values, material types, and installation requirements including crawl-space ventilation and radiant heat barriers.

OSHA Safety — 7 items

Questions are tied to specific CFR 1926 subparts. Fall protection (Subpart M) is the most common subtopic: guardrail height, top rail load capacity, and truss installation fall protection under 29 CFR 1926, §1926.501(b)(13). Scaffold capacity is governed by 29 CFR 1926, §1926.451(a)(1). Ladder and stairway safety falls under 29 CFR 1926, §1926.1051(a). Excavation questions reference 29 CFR 1926, §1926.651(c)(2) and protective system requirements. Flammable liquid storage is governed by 29 CFR 1926, §1926.152(b)(1). Know the thresholds (heights, loads, distances) — the exam tests specific numbers, not general concepts.

Sitework, Footings and Foundation — 8 items

Footing size, depth, and frost protection requirements. Soil classification and presumptive load-bearing values from IRC Table R401.4.1. Foundation wall types — concrete, masonry block, wood, and precast — and their respective code requirements. Site grading and drainage rules under IRC Section R401.3. Dampproofing vs. waterproofing — when each applies — and subsurface drainage systems. Soil compaction testing vocabulary (Proctor test, field density) appears in this section.

Concrete and Concrete Reinforcement — 8 items

Portland cement types from Carpentry and Building Construction, Chapter 8 — Table 8-1 are directly tested. Water-cement ratio, admixture types (air-entraining, accelerating, retarding, water-reducing), and slump testing procedures all appear. Steel reinforcement questions require you to read rebar markings and know grade designations. Formwork design, material selection, and safety requirements round out this section.

Masonry — 6 items

Brick, CMU, and stone classifications. Mortar type proportions and when each type is specified. Laying procedures — spreading mortar, forming joints, establishing leads, and running mason's line. Wall system types (solid, cavity, hollow, composite, anchored veneer) require you to distinguish one from another. Masonry foundation requirements including footings and dampproofing are also tested.

Metals — 5 items

Steel deck profiles (composite floor, roof, form, cellular, acoustic) and fastening methods (arc spot welds, screws, powder-actuated pins, side-lap connections). Open web steel joist series designations — K-, LH-, DLH-, CJ-Series, and joist girders — and their erection bridging requirements under SJI standards. Cold-formed steel framing member designations and construction methods (stick-built, panelized, pre-engineered). Receiving, unloading, and jobsite storage of steel joist and deck products.

Worked Sample Questions

Question 1 — General Code and Construction Knowledge

You need to excavate 5,000 cubic yards of soil. The material has a swell factor of 25%. How many cubic yards must be hauled away?

• A. 5,500
• B. 6,000
• C. 6,250
• D. 6,500

Correct Answer: C — 6,250 cubic yards

Bank yards expand when excavated. Apply the swell factor directly: 5,000 × 1.25 = 6,250 cubic yards. This is a one-step conversion, but candidates lose points by adding 25% of a wrong base number or confusing bank yards with loose yards. The relationship between bank material and hauled (loose) material is a recurring theme in sitework estimating.

Question 2 — Carpentry

Using Figure RF-2: How far does the ridge rise above the top plate (total rise)?

• A. 4'-4"
• B. 13'-8"
• C. 5'-0"
• D. 8'-8"

Correct Answer: A — 4'-4"

Total rise is calculated as: Run × Unit Rise ÷ 12. With a run of 13 feet and a unit rise of 4 inches per foot: 13 × 4 ÷ 12 = 4.33 ft = 4'-4". The overhang extends below the plate line and contributes nothing to the rise — a common trap that pulls candidates toward the larger answer choices. Source: Carpentry and Building Construction — Ch. 19, Estimating Rafters and Roof Sheathing.

Question 3 — Roofing

A roof has 4,800 sq ft of area. Allow 10% waste. Shingles come in 3 bundles per square and are sold in pallets of 42 bundles. How many pallets must be ordered?

• A. 4
• B. 5
• C. 6
• D. 7

Correct Answer: A — 4 pallets

Work through the steps in order:
1. Convert to squares: 4,800 ÷ 100 = 48 squares
2. Add waste: 48 × 1.10 = 52.8 squares
3. Convert to bundles: 52.8 × 3 = 158.4 bundles
4. Convert to pallets: 158.4 ÷ 42 = 3.77 → round up to 4 pallets

Always round up on materials — you cannot order a fraction of a pallet. Missing any one step, or rounding down at the end, produces a wrong answer.

How to Read Your Score

The passing threshold is 70%, meaning 63 correct answers out of 90 on the real exam.

Treat your first practice attempt as a diagnostic, not a verdict. A first-attempt score below 70% tells you which of the nine topic areas need focused work — it does not tell you that you cannot pass. Use the topic-by-topic breakdown to prioritize: a weak score in General Code and Construction Knowledge (20 items) hurts more than a weak score in Metals (5 items), so weight your study time accordingly.

A score of 70–75% on practice should not be read as exam-ready. Real exam conditions — unfamiliar wording, time pressure, no ability to look back at notes — tend to push scores slightly lower than practice. Aim for consistent 78%+ across multiple full-length attempts before scheduling your exam. If you're scoring above 85% on the full 90-question practice exam with a variety of question sets, that's a strong indicator of readiness.

Retake the full practice exam multiple times: the 947+ question pool means each attempt surfaces different questions, preventing memorization and giving you a truer picture of your knowledge.

Where Candidates Lose Points

Multi-step calculation errors are the most common problem. Roofing and sitework questions require three or four sequential conversions — squares to bundles to pallets, or bank yards to loose yards — and an error at any step cascades. Write out each step rather than trying to chain them mentally.

Wrong table or code section — General Code questions often hinge on whether you use the IBC occupancy table, the egress width table, or the fire-resistance table. Grabbing the right concept but the wrong table costs the point.

Confusing similar rafter types — in Carpentry and Roofing, candidates mix up hip rafter run vs. common rafter run, or apply the common rafter rise formula to a valley rafter. Know which formula applies to which member.

Swell vs. shrinkage — Sitework questions distinguish between soil that swells when excavated (loose yards > bank yards) and fill that compacts (fewer yards needed than delivered). Mixing these up reverses your answer.

OSHA threshold numbers — OSHA Safety questions are often a test of specific numbers: the 6-foot fall protection trigger on residential construction (29 CFR 1926, §1926.501(b)(13)), the 4-foot trigger on general industry work, scaffold capacity per 29 CFR 1926, §1926.451(a)(1). Study the numbers, not just the concepts.

Time management on the code section — With 20 General Code items and complex egress/fire-resistance questions, candidates who spend too long early run out of time near the end.

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