Question About Florida Class-B HVAC Exam

[SKal]

Hello all,

Glad to join the board. I will be taking the Florida Class-B Air Conditioning exam coming up soon, and I can see how there are several books that are from the Florida Building Code (Building, Fuel, Mechanical) and the OSHA Code of Federal Regulations. There are also the texts which are HVAC focused like the Modern Refrigeration and Air Conditioning book, Manual D – Residential Duct Systems, Manual J – Residential Load Calculation, Pipefitters Handbook, Fibrous Glass Duct Construction Standards.

I can also see that the number of questions on the exam are laid out like this:

HARV General 23
Air Conditioning 19
HARV Controls 13
Fuel Gas Systems 12
Ducts 12
Warm Air Heating 10
HARV Load Calculations 6
Safety 5

Because these exams seem to be more about how quickly you can access the correct reference book, I’m wondering whether these test questions are tricky in that they make you think an answer might be found in one book but is actually in another (i.e you’d think a question around safety would be found in the OSHA book, but in fact it is really somewhere in a specific section of the Florida Building Code, for example).

It looks like the majority of questions are in that “HARV General” category, which sounds like they could be questions about anything from any book/topic? Is that correct?

Also, do you guys think doing this $25 3-hour practice exam would be beneficial and help me see where I need to improve? ( http://www.palm-school.com/htm/ExamP...ditioningb.htm).
Any suggestions for another quick practice exam from another site?

I would appreciate any help you could provide for test prep.

Thanks You!

[SkullMonkey]

The test is about your ability to find the answers in a timely manner, this is where highlighting and tabbing the books comes into play.
The test has 2 parts the Business and Finance and the Mechanical (trade) part.

In addition to any practice exams I would recommend some type on prep course for the test. The practice exams are great for helping you gauge your progress and also helps you learn to find the answers in the book.

Modern Refrigeration is not one of the exam books, they use 2 trane books .

I am enrolled in a prep course for the Florida B license right now. I have found the course very useful compare to trying to self study.

There are questions to which the answers are not easy to find, they make no reference in the index or table of contents of the book(s).

[SKal]

Yeah, it's a little late to do a prep course. So I'll just take the practice exam and gauge my progress from there.

Which two Trane books are you seeing. Prometric is the company that administers the exam for Pasco County, and this is the list of books you can bring into the exam:

References

The following references are allowed in the testing
center.

1. Code of Federal Regulations, Title 29, Part 1926
(OSHA), Revision July 1, 2008, Superintendent of
Documents, P.O. Box 371954, Pittsburgh, PA
15250-7954, www.access.gpo.gov.

2. 2007 Florida Building Code: Building Volume,
2008, International Code Council (ICC), 4051 West
Flossmoor Road, Country Club Hills, IL 60478-
5795, www.iccsafe.org.

3. 2007 Florida Building Code: Fuel Gas Volume,
2008, International Code Council (ICC), 4051
West Flossmoor Road, Country Club Hills, IL
60478-5795, www.iccsafe.org.

4. 2007 Florida Building Code: Mechanical Volume,
2008, International Code Council (ICC), 4051 West
Flossmoor Road, Country Club Hills, IL 60478-
5795, www.iccsafe.org.

5. ACCA Duct Slide Rule, Air Conditioning Contractors
of America, 2800 Shirlington Road, Suite 300,
Arlington, VA 22206, www.acca.org.

6. Fibrous Glass Duct Construction Standards,
Fifth Edition, 2002, North American Insulation
Manufacturers Association (NAIMA), 44 Canal
Center Plaza, Suite 310, Alexandria, VA 22314,
www.naima.org.

7. Manual D – Residential Duct Systems, 1995
Edition, Air Conditioning Contractors of America,
2800 Shirlington Road, Suite 300, Arlington, VA
22206, www.acca.org.

8. Manual J – Residential Load Calculation, Eighth
Edition, 2002, Air Conditioning Contractors of
America, 2800 Shirlington Road, Suite 300,
Arlington, VA 22206, www.acca.org.

9. Modern Refrigeration and Air Conditioning,
Eighteenth Edition, 2004, Goodheart-Willcox
Company, Inc., 18604 West Creek Drive, Tinley
Park, IL 60477-6243, www.g-w.com.

10. Pipefitters Handbook, Third Edition, 1967,
Industrial Press, Inc., 989 Avenue of the Americas,
New York, NY 10018, www.industrialpress.com.

[SkullMonkey]

Florida Building Code 2010 Mechanical
Florida Building Code 2010 Plumbing
Florida Building Code - Energy Conservation, 2010
OSHA Title 29 Part 1926, 2012
Air Conditioning & Refrigeration Troubleshooting Handbook, 2nd Ed.
NFPA 90A Standard for the Installation of A/C & Ventilating Systems
NFPA 90B Standard for the Installation of Warm Air Heating & A/C Systems
NFPA 91 Standard for Exhaust Systems for Air Conveying of Vapor, Gases, Mists & Non-combustible Particulate Solids
NFPA 96 Standard for Ventilation Control & Fire Protection of Commercial Cooking Operations
Pipefitter's Handbook, 3rd Ed.
SMACNA Fibrous Glass Duct Construction Standard, 7th Ed.
SMACNA HVAC Duct Construction Standard, Metal & Flex, 3rd Ed.
SMACNA Energy Systems Analysis & Management Manual, 1st Ed.
Energy Efficient Bldg Construction in Florida, 2012
Air Conditioning Manual Trane, 6th. Ed.
Trane Ductulator
Trane Reciprocating Refrigeration, Rev. March 1999
Florida Contractors Manual, 2009�(Includes Florida Statutes Ch. 455)

[SKal]

So, with regards to tabbing the books, it's just tabbing them ONLY and not writing anything on the tabs themselves, correct? At least that is what I gathered from my end.

[SkullMonkey]

You are allowed to put printed tabs or hand written tabs as long as they are written in ink.

[Brenster]

I know this thread is VERY old but...

I will be taking the mechanical test on Sept 13, my only question is " how were you able to show your experience?" i have 16 years and i was stupid in not saving all my W-2's , the last 3 years wont be difficult to get. any other ways?

[SBKold]

I know this thread is VERY old but...

I will be taking the mechanical test on Sept 13, my only question is " how were you able to show your experience?" i have 16 years and i was stupid in not saving all my W-2's , the last 3 years wont be difficult to get. any other ways?

You just put it on the application and they may or may not even verify it.