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Tennessee BC Combined Residential/Commercial/Industrial Contractor Practice Exam

What This Practice Exam Covers

This practice exam prepares you for the Tennessee BC Combined Residential/Commercial/Industrial Contractor licensing exam — 100 questions, 300 minutes, 73% to pass.

Two options are available here:

Free practice exam: 10 questions per attempt, drawn from a limited pool. You can retake it as many times as you want. It gives you a feel for the question style and format before you commit to anything.

Full practice exam: 100 questions, timed at 300 minutes — exactly mirroring the real exam. Questions are pulled from a pool of 752+ items, so every attempt is different. No duplicate exams. Topics match what the official test provider specifies. If you're serious about passing, this is where you do your real prep work. Start with the free exam to get oriented, then move to the full exam when you're ready to train at full intensity.

What You'll Be Tested On

General Code, Plan Reading, and Estimating — 27 items

This is the heaviest section and where most candidates gain or lose the exam. You need to read architectural and structural drawings, calculate occupant loads using IBC Table 1004.5, apply egress width rules from 2021 IBC Section 1005.3.1, and determine allowable building height and area by construction type. Occupancy classification under IBC use groups is tested directly. Estimating questions require multi-step math: board feet, material quantities, change order pricing with markup, and volume calculations for concrete, excavation, and framing. Expect to move between a plan figure and a calculation — sloppy unit conversion here costs points fast.

Concrete and Concrete Reinforcement — 15 items

This section goes beyond "what is concrete." You need to know mix design and proportioning, water-cement ratios, compressive strength requirements, and how admixtures change concrete behavior — air-entraining agents, water reducers, set accelerators, and retarders each have specific use cases. Supplementary cementitious materials (fly ash, slag cement, silica fume) show up as questions about durability and exposure categories. Reinforcement questions test bar cover requirements per ACI 318-11, Page 93 (Section 7.7.1), and spiral reinforcement rules per ACI 318-11, Page 99 (Section 7.10.5.1). Concrete volume estimating — converting cubic feet to cubic yards for footings — is a reliable question type here.

Sitework, Footings, and Foundation — 10 items

You need to know soil classification and bearing capacity, excavation safety under OSHA Subpart P, and how soil type determines which protective system is required. Footing depth, size, and concrete mix requirements come from both IBC and IRC — know 2021 IBC Sections 1803.5.3, 1803.5.8, and 1809.6. Rock classification matters: igneous, sedimentary, and foliated metamorphic rock behave differently during excavation and ripping. Lateral earth pressure on foundation walls is addressed in 2021 IBC Section 1610.1. Expect calculation questions on excavation volume using the truncated prism method.

Masonry — 10 items

Know your mortar types cold — Types M, S, N, O, and K differ in compressive strength and application. Grout placement rules (low-lift vs. high-lift grouting) are tested per ACI 530/530.1-11, TMS 602 Specification Part 2, Article 2.6 A.1. Wall system types — solid, cavity, composite, veneer, reinforced — require you to know how each is assembled and where each is appropriate. Allowable stress design and strength design of masonry pull from ACI 530/530.1-11 (TMS 402). AAC block and CMU material properties also appear. Masonry estimating questions (brick quantities per square foot) show up here as well.

Metals — 10 items

Steel joist designation systems are heavily tested. Know the difference between K-Series, LH-Series, DLH-Series, CJ-Series composite joists, and joist girders — what each designation means and where each type is used. Erection bridging requirements and the conditions under which hoisting cables can be released are tested per SJI Technical Digest / Erection Manual references. Steel deck types — composite floor deck, roof deck, form deck, cellular deck — and their fastening methods (welding, mechanical fasteners, shear studs, side-lap connections) are fair game. OSHA Subpart R requirements for column anchorage also appear.

Associated Trades — 10 items

Six subtopics spread across 10 questions. Plumbing supply and DWV systems, trap and vent requirements, HVAC duct construction and combustion air, fuel gas piping and venting, electrical branch circuits with GFCI and AFCI protection, and insulation R-values with vapor retarder placement. Gypsum board finishing levels — Level 1 through Level 5 — are tested per the Gypsum Construction Handbook. Don't try to memorize everything; know the core rules for each trade category and where the distinctions matter.

Carpentry — 6 items

Platform framing vs. balloon framing vs. post-and-beam — know what makes each system different structurally. Floor framing components (joists, girders, sill plates), wall framing (studs, plates, headers, cripples), and roof framing (common, hip, valley, and jack rafters; trusses) are all in play. Engineered wood products — LVL, glulam, I-joists, OSB, plywood — appear both as identification questions and as estimating problems. Sheathing and bracing requirements come from IBC and IRC sections on wood construction.

Roofing — 6 items

Rafter layout and span relationships, roof slope factors, and estimating shingle quantities using equations from Roofing Construction & Estimating are tested. Know underlayment application rules, ice barrier requirements, and flashing installation at valleys, chimneys, and parapet walls. Roof covering installation for asphalt shingles, tile, slate, metal, built-up, and elastomeric systems each have code-specific installation requirements. Roof area calculation — accounting for slope factor and waste — is a reliable calculation question.

OSHA Safety — 6 items

Fall protection thresholds, guardrail specs, and personal fall arrest system requirements are tested against 29 CFR 1926 §1926.501(b)(1) and §1926.502(b)(3). Scaffolding erection rules — maximum plank overhang, access requirements — come from 29 CFR 1926 §1926.451. Excavation and trenching protective systems tie back to soil classification from Subpart P. PPE selection, hazard communication, and flammable materials storage rules round out the section.

Worked Sample Questions

Question 1 — Change Order Markup

A change order includes $9,000 in materials and $5,000 in labor. The contract allows a 15% markup on cost. What is the total change order amount?

• A. $15,000
• B. $15,500
• C. $16,000
• D. $16,100 ✓

Why D is correct: Add the direct costs first: $9,000 + $5,000 = $14,000. Apply the 15% markup: $14,000 × 1.15 = $16,100. The trap here is applying markup to only one cost component, or forgetting to add the markup at all. Every dollar of cost — labor and material — gets marked up before the total is stated.

Question 2 — Continuous Footing Volume

How many cubic yards of concrete are in a continuous footing (net, to two decimals)? (Figure FN-1)

• A. 3.79 cu yd
• B. 5.61 cu yd
• C. 2.55 cu yd
• D. 5.10 cu yd ✓

Why D is correct: The footing runs the outside perimeter: 2 × (30 + 32) = 124 linear feet. Convert dimensions — 16 inches wide = 1.333 ft, 10 inches deep = 0.833 ft. Volume = 124 × 1.333 × 0.833 = 137.78 cubic feet. Divide by 27 to convert to cubic yards: 137.78 ÷ 27 = 5.10 cu yd. Candidates who use the inside perimeter or forget to divide by 27 land on wrong answer choices. Source: Carpentry and Building Construction — Ch. 10, Estimating Footings, Foundation Walls and Concrete Block.

Question 3 — Rock Classification

Which type of rock is generally the MOST difficult to rip due to its homogeneous nature and few planes of weakness?

• A. Caliche
• B. Igneous rock ✓
• C. Foliated metamorphic rock
• D. Sedimentary rock

Why B is correct: Igneous rock forms from cooled magma and has a uniform, consistent structure throughout — no distinct layers or planes of weakness. Sedimentary rock is layered and responds well to ripping. Foliated metamorphic rock has visible mineral bands that create natural weakness planes. Igneous rock gives the ripper nothing to grab. Source: Pipe and Excavation Contracting, Pages 275–279.

How to Read Your Score

Passing is 73 out of 100 questions correct. That's 73 points — no curve, no partial credit.

Your first practice attempt is a diagnostic, not a verdict. It tells you where your knowledge gaps are, not whether you'll pass. Most working contractors score in the 55–65% range on their first full attempt because the exam tests code detail and math precision, not just field experience.

A score below 65%: you have meaningful gaps across multiple topic areas. Focus on your lowest-scoring sections first — General Code/Estimating and Concrete together account for 42 of the 100 questions.

A score of 65–72%: you're close, but close doesn't pass. Find the specific question types you're missing and drill those. One additional wrong answer per topic section is the difference between passing and retesting.

A score of 73%+: you're in range, but don't stop. Real exam questions pull from a larger pool, and a comfortable practice margin is better than squeaking by. Retake with a fresh 100-question set to confirm consistency.

Where Candidates Lose Points

Unit conversion errors on estimating questions. Cubic feet to cubic yards (÷27), board feet from linear feet, square feet to squares for roofing (÷100) — these are single-step mistakes that kill otherwise correct setups. The General Code/Estimating section has 27 questions. Sloppy math on half of those is a failing score by itself.

Wrong code section or wrong table. Occupant load, egress width, and construction type allowances each pull from different IBC tables. Grabbing the right table for the wrong occupancy classification is a common miss.

Skipping a step in multi-step calculations. Change order markup problems require you to sum all costs before applying the percentage. Footing volume problems require you to use the correct perimeter (outside, not inside). Candidates who rush through the setup lose points even when they know the formula.

Confusing steel joist series designations. K-Series, LH-Series, and joist girders are not interchangeable. Mixing them up on erection or bridging questions costs points in the Metals section.

Running out of time on the back half. At 300 minutes for 100 questions, you have 3 minutes per question — enough time if you don't get stuck. Candidates who linger on hard Concrete or Masonry questions arrive at General Code estimating problems with no time to work through the math. Practice at full length and real time pressure.

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