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Tennessee BC-A, B Combined Residential/Commercial Contractor Practice Exam

What This Practice Exam Covers

The real Tennessee BC-A, B Combined exam is 100 questions, 300 minutes, and requires a 73% to pass. It covers nine topic areas spanning everything from sitework and concrete to OSHA safety and code compliance.

This practice exam gives you two options.

Free practice exam: 10 questions per attempt, drawn from a limited pool. You can retake it as many times as you want. It's a good way to see how questions are worded and what level of detail the exam demands before you commit to anything.

Full practice exam: 100 questions, 300-minute time limit — mirrors the real thing exactly. Questions are pulled from a pool of 766+ items, so no two attempts are identical. Every retake gives you fresh questions. This is where serious prep happens.

Start with the free exam to get oriented. Use the full exam to actually get ready.

What You'll Be Tested On

General Code, Plan Reading, and Estimating — 27 items
This is the heaviest section. It covers IBC occupancy classifications, building height and area limits by construction type, means of egress calculations, and occupant load tables. Expect math: calculating gross floor area, egress widths from IBC Section 1005.3.1, and occupant loads using IBC Table 1004.5. Plan reading questions require you to extract dimensions, identify symbols, and interpret schedules from architectural drawings. Estimating covers labor cost calculations, board-feet, material takeoffs, and volume calculations — including the truncated prism method for excavation.

Concrete and Concrete Reinforcement — 15 items
Know your mix design: water-cement ratios, admixture types, and durability exposure categories from ACI 318-11 Table 4.4.1 and Table 4.4.2. Curing methods and their time requirements are tested. Reinforcement coverage requirements are in ACI 318-11 — you need to know minimum cover for various exposure conditions (Page 93, Section 7.7.1). Splicing, seismic requirements, and post-tensioning basics also appear. Rigging for precast concrete erection has shown up as well.

Sitework, Footings, and Foundation — 10 items
Drainage slope requirements, soil classification, and presumptive load-bearing values are all fair game. Know that grade must slope away from a foundation at a minimum 5% for 10 feet per IBC Section 1804.4 (now cited as IBC Section 1804.6 in the question bank). Footing depth for frost protection, footing reinforcement rules, and seismic design requirements for footings round out this section. Batter board setup and excavation layout methods also appear.

Masonry — 10 items
You need to know mortar types M, S, N, O, and K — their proportions and when each is used. Masonry unit types (brick, CMU, stone, AAC) and their properties are tested. Wall system types — solid, cavity, composite, veneer, reinforced — require you to know the differences, not just the names. Grout installation and reinforcement placement rules come from ACI 530/TMS 402. The three structural design methods (allowable stress, strength, empirical) are all in scope, and empirical design limits are tested specifically.

Metals — 10 items
Steel joist designations matter: K-Series, LH-Series, DLH-Series, joist girders, and CJ-Series composite joists each have different span and load characteristics. Bridging requirements — including when erection bridging must be installed and the difference between diagonal and horizontal bridging — are tested from the SJI Technical Digest. OSHA Subpart R governs column anchorage and structural steel assembly. Metal decking types, fastening methods, and cold-formed steel framing tools and members are all covered.

Associated Trades — 10 items
This section crosses five trade areas. Plumbing: water supply, DWV systems, trap requirements, and backflow prevention. Fuel gas: piping and appliance venting. HVAC: duct installation requirements from IRC Section M1601.1.1, equipment clearances, and exhaust systems. Electrical: GFCI and AFCI protection locations, branch circuit requirements, and receptacle placement rules. Gypsum board: types, fastener schedules, and finish levels — including the difference between Level 1 and Level 5 finishes from the Gypsum Construction Handbook.

Carpentry — 6 items
Lumber grading, moisture content, and species groups are tested. Wall framing components — studs, plates, headers, rough openings — and floor framing span tables appear. Roof framing math includes common rafter length, ridge board sizing, and hip/valley/jack rafter geometry. Know engineered wood products: plywood, OSB, LVL, glulam, and I-joists and where each is appropriate.

Roofing — 6 items
Slope, pitch, span, and run calculations are all tested — know how to convert between them. Sheathing requirements for solid vs. spaced decking appear. Asphalt shingle installation specifics: starter course placement, exposure, and UL fire ratings. Underlayment types and ice barrier requirements come from IRC Section R905.2.2.

OSHA Safety — 6 items
Fall protection triggers at 6 feet in construction per 29 CFR 1926 §1926.501(b)(1). Scaffold capacity is 4x the intended load per §1926.451(a)(1). Excavation and trench cave-in protection, asbestos classification under §1926.1101, and lead exposure requirements under §1926.62 are all tested. Know your PPE and lockout/tagout basics.

Worked Sample Questions

Question 1 — Payroll Calculation

A laborer earns $22/hr working 12-hour shifts, 6 days a week. What is the weekly gross pay?

• A. $1,452
• B. $1,584
• C. $1,584
• D. $1,716

Correct Answer: B

Multiply straight across: 12 hours × 6 days = 72 hours per week. Then 72 × $22 = $1,584. No overtime adjustment is asked for — this is a gross pay calculation only. Options B and C are identical here, but B is the credited answer. Don't let duplicate choices throw you; just work the math.

Question 2 — Custom Rigging for Precast Erection

Before a custom-made lifting apparatus is used as standard equipment on a precast erection project, what is required?

• A. Its capacity shall be clearly labeled
• B. It shall be registered with the crane supplier
• C. It shall be load-tested at 150% capacity
• D. It shall be painted a distinct color

Correct Answer: A

Per the PCI Erectors' Manual, Division 2, Section 2.2.2, custom-made rigging components must be designed by a competent person or professional engineer. Before that apparatus becomes standard equipment, its capacity must be clearly labeled for future reference. Load testing at 150% is a common distractor — it applies to other rigging scenarios, not this one.

Question 3 — Foundation Drainage Slope

The ground adjacent to a building foundation must slope away at a minimum 5% for what minimum horizontal distance?

• A. 10 feet
• B. 15 feet
• C. 8 feet
• D. 6 feet

Correct Answer: A

Per IBC Section 1804.4, grade must slope away from the foundation at not less than 5% for a minimum of 10 feet measured perpendicular to the wall face. Six feet is a common wrong answer — that number appears elsewhere in drainage rules but not here. Memorize the pairing: 5% slope, 10 feet minimum.

How to Read Your Score

Passing is 73% — that's 73 correct out of 100.

Your first practice score is a diagnostic, not a verdict. Most candidates score lower on their first full attempt than they will on exam day, because they haven't identified the gaps yet. That's the point of the first run.

Look at your score topic by topic, not just overall. A 60% on General Code, Plan Reading, and Estimating costs you more than a 60% on Roofing because that section carries 27 questions. Fix the high-weight sections first.

If you're scoring in the 70–75% range on practice, you're close — but close is not a pass. Candidates who score just above the threshold on practice frequently fail the real exam because question wording on test day is slightly different and they haven't built enough margin. Aim for 80%+ on the full practice pool before you sit.

The 766+ question pool means every retake tests different material. Use that. Run the full exam multiple times and watch which topics keep dropping your score.

Where Candidates Lose Points

General Code and Estimating is where most points are dropped, simply because it has the most questions. Candidates misread the occupant load table, apply the wrong egress width factor, or confuse gross area with net area. Slow down on these — one wrong assumption cascades through a multi-step calculation.

Concrete questions require you to know which ACI 318-11 table applies to which condition. Mixing up exposure categories — or forgetting minimum cover requirements — is a common mistake.

Metals questions on joist bridging catch candidates who haven't read the SJI Technical Digest. The distinction between erection bridging and permanent bridging, and when each must be in place, is specific and not intuitive.

OSHA Safety questions lose points when candidates mix up the trigger heights, capacity multipliers, or slope ratios for different hazard types. These are exact numbers — approximations don't pass.

Roofing math — slope, pitch, run, and span — requires clean arithmetic. Know the definitions cold before you try to calculate anything.

Time management matters too. 300 minutes for 100 questions is 3 minutes per question. Estimating problems and code table lookups can eat 5–6 minutes each if you're not careful.

Exam Quick Facts