Four options, one correct answer, all questions weighted equally. Contract Administration and Project Management carry 60 scored questions each, 4.5 hours each, open book, 70% to pass. Unscored pilot questions may also appear and do not count toward your result.
What a real exam question looks like
There is no essay, no fill-in-the-blank and no partial credit. Each item gives you a stem — a situation, a drawing reference or a calculation — followed by four alternative answers, exactly one of which is correct. A question about trench sloping is worth the same as a question about markup on a $2 million contract, so there is nothing to be gained by lingering on the hard ones.
In practice the items fall into three rough types. Recall questions test something you either know or do not: the difference between a field order and a change directive, or which activities need a permit. Lookup questions are written on the assumption that you will open a book — they name a condition and expect you to find the matching table or clause. Calculation questions ask for a number: quantities, conversions, margins, payment amounts. On an open-book exam the lookup and calculation items are where the clock does its damage, which is why speed matters as much as knowledge.
Three sample questions
These are original practice questions written for this site, not leaked exam items. Nobody publishes real DBPR questions, and any site claiming to have them is selling you something else. What we can do is match the format, the difficulty and the Florida-specific content.
1 — Estimating. A slab-on-grade measures 40 ft by 60 ft and is 4 in thick. The estimator allows 5% for waste and over-excavation. How much concrete should be ordered?
- 29.6 cubic yards
- 31.1 cubic yards
- 32.6 cubic yards
- 88.9 cubic yards
Answer: B. 40 × 60 = 2,400 sq ft; 4 in is 0.333 ft, so 800 cubic feet; divided by 27 that is 29.63 cubic yards, and 5% waste brings it to 31.1. Option A is the same arithmetic with the waste allowance left off. Option C applies 10% instead of 5%. Option D divides by 9 instead of 27 — the single most common unit error on the exam.
2 — Project contracts. A lump-sum contract is worth $840,000. Work in place at the end of the month is 45% complete, and $20,000 of material is stored on site. The contract holds 10% retainage on all amounts earned, including stored material. Previous payments total $250,000. What is due on this draw?
- $358,200
- $148,000
- $110,200
- $108,200
Answer: D. Earned to date is 45% of $840,000, or $378,000, plus $20,000 stored = $398,000. Retainage of 10% leaves $358,200, less $250,000 already paid = $108,200. Option A stops before deducting prior payments. Option B forgets retainage entirely. Option C exempts the stored material from retainage, which this contract does not.
3 — Safety. A crew is hand-digging a 7-foot-deep footing trench in Type C soil, common in much of Florida. The sides will be sloped rather than shored. What is the maximum allowable slope under the OSHA excavation standard?
- 3/4 horizontal to 1 vertical
- 1 horizontal to 1 vertical
- 1-1/2 horizontal to 1 vertical
- 2 horizontal to 1 vertical
Answer: C. Type C soil slopes back at 1-1/2:1, roughly 34 degrees. Options A and B are the correct figures for Type A and Type B soil, which is the trap: a candidate who remembers that a table exists but not which row applies will pick one of them. Option D is safer than required but not the standard.
How the distractors are written
Wrong options are not random. Each one is usually the answer you would reach by making a specific, realistic mistake — skipping a step, using the wrong table, or confusing two terms that sound alike. That is why an answer that "looks right" is the least trustworthy signal on this exam.
Classic pairs the questions exploit: markup versus margin; substantial completion versus final completion; retainage versus a partial release of lien; a field order versus a change order versus a construction change directive. Half-knowing the topic is enough to land on the distractor, which is exactly what it was built for. Work the reasoning, not the recognition — our study guide is organised around those distinctions.
Scoring and pilot questions
The DBPR includes unscored pilot questions on construction exams. These are new items being trialled for future forms, they are not identified on screen, and they do not affect your score. There is nothing to do about them except answer everything — you cannot tell which is which, and an unusually odd question is not evidence that you are failing.
Scoring is straightforward: 70% of the scored questions, with the state stating plainly that construction exam scores are not rounded to the nearest percent. On a 60-question part there is no near miss that gets rounded up. Two of the three exams required for a Florida CGC licence use this format at 60 questions each; the Business & Finance exam runs 120 questions in 6.5 hours.
Our bank holds 352 practice questions across the eleven content areas, weighted from the state's published content outlines, each with a plain-English explanation of why the right answer is right and why the near-miss is not. Start with the practice test, drill a single part on the Contract Administration or Project Management pages, then sit the timed 60-question simulation once you are scoring comfortably above the bar.
Try the questions yourself
First 5 questions free, no account and no payment. Full access opens all 352 plus the timed simulation.