Florida Contractor Exam Passing Rates
Often, potential students tell me that they talked to this school or that school and they were told by an instructor that the State Exams only have a 33% passing rate. So ask them, “What do you think that is based on?” We chit-chat back and forth and then I tell them what the average was for their trade for a certain period. For example, this morning I was talking with a window/door installer who was told that most people fail the glass and glazing exam.
Well, the average over all fail rate in 2014 for the Glass and Glazing trade exam was 22%, with a 26% fail rate for first time test-takers. That number is far from “most people”… How do I know this? It’s public record available from myfloridalicense.com: https://www.myfloridalicense.com/Dbpr/servop/testing/CBTStatistics.html. You can check on exam statistics for your trade or business exam. Now, the Sheet Metal exam had a 100% fail rate for the CBT testing in 2014, but only 1 person took that CBT exam (hmm…).
Statistics can be helpful or scary to a potential student; often, we are suckered in by numbers that we do not understand. Don’t worry too much about them and get super-stressed before your exam. I’m a Dune fan and swear by the mantra, “Fear is the mind killer.” Do not get worked up over pass/fail rates because a lot of factors go into who passes or fails. Say you have a pool service guy who has never built a pool sitting next to you in class for pool builder…He’s out of his experience/exposure – it’s not likely he will be able to pass his exam, let alone, get through the application process. Once, I had a GC/roofer who was sitting on 4 PHD’s pass GC, Roofing, and Business back-to-back with a 98% passing score on each portion of his exam. I had another student sitting on an engineering degree fail his GC project management exam – he was running a project from his cell phone/laptop instead of participating in class.
If you study hard, understand the books, have a good understanding about your trade and business, you can pass the exam. Schools help you focus on the areas of the books where the questions tend to be pulled from and can really help you achieve a passing exam score. Do the schools have the exams? They better not – exam questions are copy written. Never focus on practice questions, focus on how to use the books to get to the information you need to answer the question. Be organized; long, story questions get answered last-never spend too much time on one question. Classes cover tips to help you stay on track in the exam.
How do I feel about passing rates posted? Just okay…I post them because all the competition does, but when asked by a student about passing rates, I tell them that whether or not they pass the exam is up to them, their experience/exposure in their trade, and his or her ability of organizing/tagging/processing incoming information.
Check out our classes coming up here: https://www.needfloridalicense.com/services/prep-classes/ or at www.examprep.org We are here to help!
Have a Fabulous Day!
