Louisiana Building Construction Practice Exam
Free Practice Exam
Test your knowledge with 10 questions from our pool of 20 free questions.
- 10 questions per attempt
- 30 minute time limit
- Unlimited attempts
- A new mix each time
- Instant results
Full Practice Exam
Complete exam simulation matching the real PSI test format.
- 80 questions (same as real exam)
- 180 minute time limit
- 10 topic areas covered
- 762 questions in pool
- Detailed explanations
Texts preferred · 9am–9pm Central
Louisiana Building Construction Practice Exam Guide
What's on the exam
Questions per topic, out of 80The Louisiana Building Construction exam is given by PSI and is open book. The official outline runs across ten areas, from site layout and concrete through metals, carpentry, roofing, finishes, safety, and code plan reading and estimating. The real exam is 80 questions in 3 hours.
Two ways to practice here:
- Free practice exam — 10 questions per attempt, retake it as often as you like. Good for sampling question style and checking how quickly you can find a rule in your references.
- Full practice exam — 80 questions, timed to 3 hours, drawn fresh from our question bank on every attempt, so repeat sittings are not the same paper twice.
Both mirror the outline's topic weights, so your topic breakdown points at the chapters and code sections worth your study hours.
Sitework 7 items
Our verified items here center on layout and instrument work; the outline also lists soils, excavation and trench shoring, compaction, grading and drainage, and sewer and stormwater pipe installation. Questions ask you to use an existing street or property line as a reference line for staking (Carpentry and Building Construction, Chapter 9 — Basic Techniques / Measuring From a Reference Line), identify a theodolite by its electronic angle readout and LCD display (Chapter 9 — Types of Instruments), level a transit head over one pair of screws and then rotate 90° (Chapter 9 — Setting Up a Transit or Level / Leveling a Transit Head), zero the 360° scale on a base line to turn a right angle, and set batter-board stakes at least 4 feet beyond foundation lines.
Concrete 13 items
The heaviest technical topic. Expect mix and cover values: the five-bag minimum mix (Carpentry and Building Construction, Section 8.2, Page 226), 3 inches of cover over footing rebar (Section 8.2, Page 230), and consolidation as the process that drives out air pockets (Section 8.2, Page 227). Foundation detailing matters too — keyways (Section 10.1, Page 258), 2-foot stepped-footing risers (Section 10.1, Page 260), cold joints (Section 10.2, Page 266), ½-inch beam-pocket clearance (Section 10.2, Page 271), Type M mortar below grade, and thickened slabs trenched into the subgrade.
Masonry 7 items
Proportions and rules of thumb. Verified items cover the 5% minimum total air content for freeze-thaw exposure (Modern Masonry, Page 385), coarse aggregate no larger than one-fifth the finished wall thickness (Modern Masonry, Page 384), footing width at twice the wall thickness (Modern Masonry, Chapter 15, Section 15.2.1 Footings), ½-inch parging in two ¼-inch coats (Chapter 15, Section 15.3.1 Dampproofing and Waterproofing Basement Walls), and ½-inch sill anchor bolts spaced not more than 8 feet apart (Chapter 15, Section 15.3.3 Foundation Anchorage).
Metals 10 items
Five of the outline's eight Metals subtopics concern steel joists (series, erection bridging, bearing seats, handling); our verified items here cover cold-formed steel framing. Questions test box header assembly with track cut 2 inches longer (Carpentry and Building Construction, Section 29.3, Box Header Assembly), the ban on punching flanges (Section 29.3, Builder's Tip - Punchouts), 1½ inches extra per side for wood studs at nonload-bearing door openings, 12 inches of added width in panelized wall openings, sheathing run with its long dimension parallel to studs (Section 29.3, Page 852), ¾-inch T&G subfloor at 24-inch spacing (Section 29.3, Page 849), and the 1/8-inch joist-to-track gap.
Carpentry 7 items
The outline covers wood properties, engineered wood, tools, framing systems, floor, wall, and roof framing, and stair construction; our verified items here lean on residential code minimums. Foundation walls extend not less than 6 inches above finished grade in general (IRC R404.1.6). Our verified items also include mechanical questions: building load calculations by ACCA Manual J (IRC, Page 14-1 (Section M1401.3)), auxiliary drain pans under attic coils discharging to a conspicuous point (IRC, Page 14-5 (Section M1411.3.1)), the 35-foot dryer duct limit without fittings (IRC, Page 15-2 (Section M1502.4.6.1)), and equipment supported 3 inches above adjoining ground (IRC, Page 13-2 (Section M1305.1.3.1)).
Thermal and Moisture Protection 7 items
Mixed math, code, and material selection. Expect a squares conversion (100 sq ft per square), the reroofing rule that aggregate surfacing may not be reinstalled while sound slate, clay, or cement tile may (International Building Code (IBC) 2024, Section 1512.4 (2018 ed.: Section 1511.5)), crawl-space venting at 1 square foot per 150 square feet (Carpentry And Building Construction, Section 31.1 — Crawl-Space Ventilation), the 1-inch air space under a draped radiant barrier, and XPS for below-grade foundation use.
Doors and Windows 3 items
Few items, but a broad outline: doors, door hardware, safety glazing, and skylights as well as windows. Verified questions cover the casement's full-area ventilation advantage and window type identification (Windows & Skylights chapter, Types of Windows section), muntin versus mullion (Windows & Skylights chapter, Double-Hung Windows section), egress opening minimums of 5.7 sq. ft., with 5.0 sq. ft. on the grade floor (Windows & Skylights chapter, Design Requirements section), and reading U-values, where lower means better insulating performance (Windows & Skylights chapter, Energy Efficiency - Ratings section).
Finishes 3 items
Materials identification and layout sequence. Questions cover finger-jointed trim as paint-grade only (Carpentry & Building Construction, Chapter 26 (Molding & Trim)), starting base-cabinet layout from the highest point of the floor (Chapter 27 (Cabinets & Countertops)), 5/8-inch Type-X drywall with glass fibers versus vermiculite-filled Type-C (Carpentry And Building Construction, Chapter 32, Fire-Code Drywall section), and Type-S narrow-thread screws for steel framing versus Type-W for wood (Chapter 32, Drywall Fasteners section).
Safety 8 items
OSHA construction standards plus jobsite practice. Verified items include trench egress within 25 feet of lateral travel at 4 feet or more of depth (29 CFR 1926, §1926.651(c)(2)), fire extinguisher coverage and the 100-foot maximum travel distance (29 CFR 1926, §1926.150(c)(1)(i)), Class B extinguishers for grease, oil, and chemicals (Carpentry and Building Construction, Construction Safety & Health, Page 81), MSDS content and access (Construction Safety & Health, Book Page 92), the 4×4 minimum solid wood post (Carpentry and Building Construction, Page 396), and OSHA penalty scale for repeat serious violations.
General Code Plan Reading and Estimating 15 items
The largest topic, and the most mixed. Plan reading questions ask what appears on a room-finish schedule (Carpentry and Building Construction, Section 2.3, Page 57), a floor framing plan (Section 2.3 Reading Architectural Plans, Page 51-52), a wall-framing elevation (Page 54), and a roof framing plan (Page 52). Estimating covers labor burden math and board-foot tables (Section 1.2, Table 1-2). Code items include reroof coatings (International Building Code (IBC) 2024, Section 1512.3 (2018 ed.: Section 1511.3.1)), classified roof coverings in Types I and II (Section 603.1, Item 4), and combustible roof insulation (Section 720.5).
Sample 1 — General Code Plan Reading and Estimating
Question: Labor burden: $30/hr wage, 25% burden. Total cost?
- A. $37.50
- B. $35
- C. $45
- D. $40
Correct Answer: A
Multiply the base wage by 1 plus the burden rate: $30 × 1.25 = $37.50. The common error is adding a flat dollar figure or applying the percentage to the wrong base. Write the multiplier down first, and confirm the answer is larger than the base wage.
Sample 2 — Concrete
Question: You are reinforcing a concrete slab for a home addition and need to support welded-wire fabric at the proper height within the slab. What is the recommended method for positioning the wire mesh?
- A. Attach the mesh to the formwork with nails
- B. Support the mesh on wire chairs so concrete can flow under it
- C. Support the mesh on chunks of broken brick placed on the subgrade
- D. Lay the mesh flat on the subgrade and pour concrete over it
Correct Answer: B
The precise technique is supporting the fabric on wire chairs so concrete flows beneath it; chairs for this purpose usually run 2 to 4 inches high. Broken brick and similar improvised supports are specifically cautioned against because they can draw moisture from the soil and cause corrosion. Citation: Carpentry and Building Construction, Chapter 8 — Reinforcing Mesh section.
Sample 3 — Metals
Question: What is the maximum total weight of a bridging bundle that may be landed on unbridged steel joists during erection?
- A. 2,000 pounds
- B. 4,000 pounds
- C. 1,000 pounds
- D. 500 pounds
Correct Answer: C
A bundle of bridging landed on joists shall not exceed 1,000 pounds total. Two placement conditions travel with that limit: the bundle must rest on a minimum of three joists and sit within one foot of a secured end. Citation: SJI Technical Digest / Erector's Manual, Chapter 8 - Bridging and Placing of Construction Loads.
Treat your first full attempt as a diagnostic, not a verdict. The number to compare against is 56 correct answers out of 80 scored questions — match your raw result to that standard rather than to a percentage in your head.
Then ignore the total and read the topic breakdown. A score sitting just under the line usually comes from two or three weak areas, not from a uniform gap. Heavy topics move your total most: General Code Plan Reading and Estimating (15 items), Concrete (13), and Metals (10) together account for nearly half the scored questions, so a 50% showing in any one of them costs more than a total miss on Doors and Windows (3 items) or Finishes (3).
Rank your topics by items lost, work through the cited chapter or code section for each miss, then retake. Because each attempt draws a fresh set, an improved score on the second sitting reflects the material rather than memory of specific items. Track your timing too — finishing early with a low score usually means you skipped the lookup, while running out of time means you are searching your references too slowly.
Improvised supports read as practical. In Concrete, the broken-brick option for holding welded-wire fabric sounds like real jobsite practice, and that is the trap. Wire chairs are the recommended method (Carpentry and Building Construction, Chapter 8 — Reinforcing Mesh section). Pick the specified method, not the field workaround.
Instrument names blur together. Sitework items offer builder's level, automatic level, laser level, and theodolite in the same list. The electronic angle readout with an LCD screen belongs only to the theodolite (Carpentry and Building Construction, Chapter 9 — Types of Instruments). Sequence questions do the same thing: the step after centering the first bubble is rotating 90°, not clamping or plumbing.
Table values get estimated instead of looked up. Estimating questions supply distractors drawn from adjacent rows of the same table — 2×6 ceiling plank at 16 inches on center is 88 board feet per 100 square feet, while 63, 42, and 117 are other spacings and sizes (Carpentry and Building Construction, Section 1.2, Table 1-2). Open the table.
Reroofing exceptions are narrow. Candidates generalize "existing roofing may stay." Aggregate surfacing materials may not be reinstalled, while undamaged slate, clay, or cement tile and sound metal counterflashings may (International Building Code (IBC) 2024, Section 1512.4 (2018 ed.: Section 1511.5)). Read which material the stem names before choosing.
Pacing collapses when lookups run long. 80 questions in 3 hours is about 2 minutes 15 seconds per question. Because the exam is open book, the winning habit is knowing which reference holds which rule, then answering recall items fast to bank time for the code and table questions.
| Questions | 80 questions |
| Time limit | 3 hours |
| Passing score | 56 correct answers out of 80 scored questions |
| Books in the exam room | Open book |
Source: Building Construction Examination. Check the bulletin before test day: fees and rules can change.