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Mississippi Residential Remodeler Practice Exam

What This Practice Exam Covers

The Mississippi Residential Remodeler licensing exam is 50 questions, 150 minutes, and you need a 70% (35 correct) to pass. It pulls from 8 topic areas spanning safety, carpentry, roofing, masonry, concrete, and associated trades.

You have two ways to practice here:

Free practice exam — 10 questions per attempt, drawn from a limited pool. Retake it as many times as you want. It's a good first look at how questions are worded and what they actually ask you to do.

Full practice exam — 50 questions, 150-minute timer, mirrors the real thing exactly. Drawn from a pool of 384+ questions, so every attempt gives you a different set — no memorizing one fixed exam. Questions are built from the same topic blueprint the official test provider uses.

Start free. If you're serious about passing, move to the full exam.

What You'll Be Tested On

Rough Carpentry — 11 items (heaviest topic)
This is the biggest section, so don't shortchange it. You need to know wall framing components cold: plates, studs, headers, cripple studs, trimmer studs, and how they fit together. Floor framing questions test sill plates, girders, joist layout, bridging, and subfloor attachment. Roof framing covers common, hip, valley, and jack rafter layout, plus ridge board sizing. Expect questions on sheathing fastening patterns and stair framing — stringers, treads, risers, and stairwell rough opening dimensions. Lumber grades, species, and engineered products (LVL, I-joists, glulam, OSB, plywood) also show up. Know your window and door schedules — these are the charts on building plans that list rough-opening sizes, per Carpentry and Building Construction, Section 16.2, Page 440.

Residential Roofing — 8 items
Second-heaviest topic. You'll calculate material quantities using waste factors (hip and valley roofs typically require 15% waste). Know sheathing span ratings, rafter sizing from span tables, and minimum slope requirements by product type — shingles, metal, tile, and roll roofing all have different minimums. Underlayment application, ice barrier requirements, and flashing at valleys, chimneys, sidewalls, and penetrations are all tested. Attic ventilation ratios are fair game too.

Finish Carpentry — 6 items
Molding installation is heavily tested: base, crown, chair rail, and picture rail. Know the difference between a coped joint and a mitered joint for inside corners — and why coping holds up better long-term (Cutting and Attaching Moldings, Chapter 10 — Coping Large Moldings section). Hardwood and engineered-wood flooring installation, cabinet layout and leveling, wall treatments (tongue-and-groove wainscot, frame-and-panel wainscot, sheet paneling), and stair trim-out components (skirt boards, balustrades) round out this section.

Associated Trades — 6 items
Six questions spread across plumbing, gas, HVAC, ductwork, exhaust, and electrical. You won't need journeyman-level depth, but you do need to know materials and system basics. For gas piping, know sizing, materials, and pressure testing requirements from IRC Sections G2417.4.1 and G2417.4.2. Electrical questions focus on circuits, service panels, and dwelling wiring — IRC E3406.3 and E3406.4 are cited references. HVAC clearances, duct sealing, and exhaust system requirements for dryers and cooking equipment also appear.

Safety — 5 items
Fall protection systems — guardrail, safety net, and personal fall arrest — are tested directly. Ladder classifications and scaffold capacity questions require you to know specific numbers, not just general concepts. Fire extinguisher selection (matching extinguisher class to fire type) is a common question. PPE selection for specific hazards, and exposure limits for asbestos, silica, and lead round out this topic.

Concrete — 5 items
Mixture proportioning, water-cement ratio, and admixture selection are tested. Formwork questions cover job-built, prefabricated, gang, ICF, and slipform types. Foundation and footing sizing — frost depth, soil bearing capacity — is tested alongside rebar placement and cover requirements. Finishing operations (screeding, floating, troweling, curing sequence) also appear. Reference: The Contractor's Guide to Quality Concrete Construction throughout.

Masonry — 5 items
Mortar types and their proportions, brick and CMU classifications, and wall system types (solid, cavity, composite, veneer, reinforced) are all tested. Laying technique — leads, coursing, proper bond patterns — is fair game. Flashing, weep holes, and moisture control are specifically listed subtopics. Wall ties, anchors, and joint reinforcement also appear.

Windows and Doors — 4 items
Rough opening sizing, shimming, plumbing a door, and clearance requirements. Know door construction types (solid-core vs. hollow-core, raised-panel vs. flat-panel) and window operational styles (double-hung, casement, awning, hopper, sliding, stationary). Trim installation details — casing styles, stool and apron, extension jambs, reveals — close out this section.

Worked Sample Questions

Question 1 — Rough Carpentry

When laying out wall plates, building plans include charts that provide rough-opening sizes for windows and doors. What are these charts called?

• A. Schedules
• B. Detail sheets
• C. Specification indexes
• D. Elevation notes

Correct answer: A — Schedules

Building plans use window and door schedules as standardized charts that organize rough-opening dimensions, door and window types, and other key data needed during layout. Detail sheets show enlarged construction details, specification indexes organize written specs, and elevation notes describe finish heights — none of these serve as the chart for rough openings. Source: Carpentry and Building Construction, Section 16.2, Page 440.

Question 2 — Residential Roofing

A 3,200 sq ft hip roof with valleys requires 15% cut waste. How many squares should be ordered?

• A. 37
• B. 35
• C. 41
• D. 39

Correct answer: A — 37 squares

Work it step by step. Convert square footage to roofing squares: 3,200 ÷ 100 = 32 squares. Apply the 15% waste factor: 32 × 1.15 = 36.8. Always round up when ordering materials — you can't install 0.8 of a square. That puts you at 37 squares. Rounding down to 35 or 36 leaves you short on a job with valley cuts.

Question 3 — Finish Carpentry

When attaching crown molding at an inside corner of a room, what joinery method produces a gap-free joint even if the molding or wall shifts over time?

• A. A splined miter joint
• B. A butt joint
• C. A coped joint
• D. A biscuit-reinforced miter

Correct answer: C — A coped joint

One piece runs full length into the corner. The second piece is cut (coped) to follow the profile of the first, so it overlaps it face-to-face. If either piece shifts slightly — due to humidity changes, settlement, or wall irregularity — the overlap hides the movement. A miter joint opens visibly at the tip when either piece moves even a little. Source: Cutting and Attaching Moldings, Chapter 10 — Coping Large Moldings section.

How to Read Your Score

Passing requires 35 out of 50 correct — 70%. Here's what your practice score actually tells you:

Below 60% — You have real gaps. Use the topic breakdown to find which sections are costing you the most points. Rough Carpentry (11 items) and Residential Roofing (8 items) together make up 38% of the exam — weak scores there hurt you the most.

60–69% — You're close but not there. One bad day or a few tricky calculation questions will put you under the line. Identify which 2–3 topics are dragging your score and drill those specifically.

70–79% — You're at passing on practice. That's a reasonable place to be, but practice questions are not identical to exam questions. Give yourself more margin before you sit.

80%+ — You're in solid shape. Focus any remaining prep on topics where you missed questions, not on reviewing what you already know.

Your first attempt is a diagnostic. Don't read too much into the number — read the topic breakdown. That's where the real information is.

Where Candidates Lose Points

Multi-step calculation errors. Roofing quantity questions require you to convert square footage to squares, apply a waste percentage, and round up. Candidates skip the round-up or apply waste to the wrong number.

Wrong document for the question. This exam pulls from IRC code sections, OSHA standards, and multiple carpentry references. Mixing up which code applies — for example, using a wall framing rule for a roof framing question — costs you.

Rafter and joist layout details. Rough Carpentry has 11 items. Questions about cripple studs vs. trimmer studs, header sizing for load-bearing vs. non-load-bearing walls, and bridging requirements trip up candidates who learned the basics but not the specifics.

Inside-corner joinery. Finish Carpentry questions consistently catch people who confuse when to miter and when to cope. The rule is simple — inside corners get coped — but exam distractors are written to look plausible.

Mortar type selection. Masonry questions ask you to match mortar type to application. Guessing costs you. Know Types M, S, N, and O and where each is appropriate.

Time management on the heavy sections. Rough Carpentry and Roofing together are 19 questions. If you spend too long on calculation problems, you run short on time for the Associated Trades and Safety sections. Practice under the 150-minute limit so you know your pace.

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