Georgia licenses contractors through several boards, uses PSI for every examination, and structures most of its trade exams in two parts. If you are trying to work out which exam you actually sit, how long it runs, and how many questions you need to answer correctly, the details below come from the PSI candidate information bulletins rather than from summaries of them.
Which board licenses you
Georgia splits contractor licensing across boards rather than running everything through one agency:
- General and residential contractors are licensed by the Georgia State Licensing Board for Residential and General Contractors.
- Electrical, plumbing, and conditioned air contractors are licensed by the Construction Industry Licensing Board.
The practical consequence is that the trade you are entering determines not just your exam but your application route, your experience requirements, and who you call when something goes wrong with your file.
Almost everyone sits two exams
Georgia separates trade knowledge from running a business. Most candidates take a trade examination and, separately, the Business and Law examination.
The Business and Law paper is 50 questions in two hours, open book, with 70 percent to pass. It is drawn from the NASCLA Georgia Contractors Guide to Business, Law and Project Management. Candidates routinely underestimate this exam because it is short and not about their trade. It covers lien law, contracts, tax and payroll obligations, insurance and bonding, estimating, and project management, and a competent tradesperson who has never run a business can fail it comfortably.
The exams, with real numbers
| Examination | Questions | Time | Pass |
|---|---|---|---|
| Business and Law | 50 | 2 hours | 70% |
| General Contractor (and Limited Tier) | 115 | 330 minutes | 70% (81 correct) |
| Residential-Light Commercial | 90 | 230 minutes | 70% (63 correct) |
| Electrical Contractor (Class II Unrestricted) | 162 presented | 2 parts, 8 hours | 70% |
| Master Plumber (Class 2 Unrestricted) | 168 presented | 2 parts, 7 hours | 70% |
| Conditioned Air Contractor | 120 presented | 2 parts, 7 hours | 70% |
| Journeyman Plumber | 120 presented | 2 parts, 5 hours | 70% |
All of these are open book.
Presented questions versus scored questions
This is the single most confusing thing about Georgia’s exams, and almost nobody explains it before exam day.
Several Georgia papers present more questions than they score. The Conditioned Air exam presents 120 questions, but only 100 of them count toward your result. The other 20 are pretest items being trialed for future exams. The Master Plumber Class 2 exam presents 168 questions and scores 140. The Electrical Contractor Class II exam presents 162 and scores 140, split as 30 regulations, laws and administration questions plus 110 technical.
Two things follow from that.
First, you cannot tell which questions are scored. They are not marked. You answer all of them as though they count, because for all you know they do.
Second, the pass mark applies to the scored questions only. Seventy percent of 140 is 98 correct answers, not 70 percent of 168. Candidates who calculate their target against the presented total set themselves a harder goal than the exam actually sets.
It also explains why the time allowances look generous. Eight hours for the electrical exam is not padding. It is a two-part exam with 162 questions to work through, in an open-book format where you are expected to look things up.
Two parts means two sittings of concentration
The electrical, plumbing and conditioned air exams run in two parts. That is a stamina problem as much as a knowledge problem. A candidate who has only ever practiced in 45-minute bursts will find the second half of a seven-hour day considerably harder than the first, regardless of how well they know the code.
If you are preparing for one of the two-part exams, sit at least one full-length timed practice run before exam day. Finding out how you perform in hour six while it still costs you nothing is worth more than another evening of reading.
Open book is a skill, not a safety net
Every Georgia contractor exam listed above is open book, and the electrical exam is referenced to the 2020 NEC. That helps only if you can find things quickly. The reference material has to be tabbed and marked before you walk in, because writing in your books during the exam is prohibited and will get them confiscated.
Practice the lookup itself, not just the answer. On an exam with 162 presented questions and a fixed clock, the difference between knowing roughly where a provision lives and knowing exactly where it lives is the difference between finishing and running out of time.
Georgia exam prep
We build practice exams to the real length, time limit and pass mark of the exam you are actually sitting, with an answer explanation for every question and a full study guide.
- Georgia Business & Law Exam Prep
- Georgia General Contractor Exam Prep
- Georgia General Contractor (Limited Tier) Exam Prep
- Georgia Residential-Light Commercial Exam Prep
- Georgia Residential Basic Contractor Exam Prep
- Georgia Electrical Contractor Exam Prep
- Georgia Master Plumber Exam Prep
- Georgia Journeyman Plumber Exam Prep
- Georgia Conditioned Air Contractor Exam Prep
Before you register
Bulletins are revised, and the numbers above reflect the current ones at the time of writing. Three things worth confirming on the bulletin for your specific exam before you pay:
- The presented and scored question counts, so you know what your pass mark is measured against.
- The code edition named for your trade exam, which is pinned rather than “latest”.
- Whether your license class changes the exam. Georgia’s electrical and plumbing licenses have restricted and unrestricted classes that sit different papers.