Building Codes and Standards (BC) Practice Exam
Building Codes and Standards (BC) Practice Exam
About the Building Codes and Standards (BC) Practice Exam
The Building Codes and Standards (BC) module is one of the 3 exams developed for candidates who wish to pursue a career as a Certified Building Official (CBO). Now, to obtain the CBO, you will be required to also qualify the Legal module (MG) exam and the Management module (MM) exam.
Skills Acquired
The Certified Building Official is responsible to perform for the following tasks -
- Development, administration, interpretation, application, and enforcement of the codes adopted by their jurisdiction.
- Manage their department's budget and the certification and training of inspection staff
- Understanding of laws and regulations pertaining to human resources
- Thorough knowledge of customer service
- Develop and maintain effective relationships with all client groups
- Ability to effectively communicate with contractors, homeowners, subordinates, superiors, news media, elected officials, and civic organizations.
Roles and Responsibilities
As a Certified Building Official (CBO), you will be responsible for -
- Development and implementation of programs that provide for the review and inspections of all occupancies including, fire and life safety, interior finish, occupancy type, height and area limitations, construction type, and general fire safety, in accordance with Codes and Standards adopted by their respective jurisdictions.
- Responsible to develop and implement programs for plan review, permitting and enforcement to ensure compliance with adopted Codes and Standards.
Course Outline
The Building Codes and Standards (BC) Exam covers the following topics -
Domain 1 - Architectural Plan Review 31%
Use and Occupancy Classification - 4%
- Determine use and occupancy classification of structures for building code compliance.
Construction Classification - 4%
- Determine required construction classification for code compliance.
Means of Egress Provisions - 6%
- Determine compliance of the means of egress provisions of the structure with the building code.
Light, Ventilation, and Sanitation Provisions - 3%
- Determine compliance with light, ventilation, and sanitation provisions of the structure with the building code.
Fire Resistance and Fire Protection Provisions - 5%
- Determine compliance with fire resistance provisions of the structure with the building code. Determine compliance with fire protection provisions for the structure with the building code.
Accessibility Provisions - 5%
- Determine compliance with provisions for accessibility for the structure with the building code.
Environmental and Natural Hazard Provisions - 2%
- Determine location for risk of, floodplain, seismic, wind, and snow of the structure with the building code.
Special Use/Occupancy Provisions - 2%
- Determine compliance with special use occupancy provisions of the structure with the building code.
Domain 2 - Structural Plan Review 13%
Structural Provisions - 8%
- Evaluate building elements for compliance with required structural loads including wind, seismic, soil bearing capacity, and snow loads.
Material Standards and Construction Methods - 5%
- Determine compliance for building materials and required methods of construction.
Domain 3 - Building Systems Plan Review 19%
Mechanical Provisions - 4%
- Determine compliance with the mechanical and fuel gas code.
Plumbing Provisions - 4%
- Determine compliance with the plumbing code.
Electrical Provisions - 4%
- Determine compliance with the electrical code.
Fuel Gas Provisions - 4%
- Determine compliance with the fuel gas code.
Energy Provisions - 3%
- Determine compliance with the energy code.
Domain 4 - Field Inspection 37%
Site Inspection - 2%
- Evaluate site for soil conditions, excavation, and public protection with the code and approved plans.
Foundation Inspection - 4%
Structural Frame Inspection - 4%
- Evaluate structural frame with the code and approved plans.
Building Envelope Inspection - 2%
- Evaluate building envelope, insulation, and finishes with the code and approved plans.
Electrical Inspection - 5%
- Evaluate electrical installation with the code and approved plans.
Plumbing Inspection - 5%
- Evaluation plumbing installation with the code and approved plans.
Mechanical Inspection - 4%
- Evaluate mechanical installation with the code and approved plans.
Fire Protection Inspection - 4%
- Evaluate fire protection, smoke control, suppression, and alarm systems with the code and approved plans.
Final Building Inspection - 4%
- Evaluate the completed structure and systems with the code and approved plans.
Special Inspection - 3%
- Evaluate the project for compliance with special inspection requirements.
Exam Details
- Exam Name: Building Codes and Standards
- Exam ID: BC
- StateL National / All
- Type: National Certification
- Code: 2018
- Total Questions: 80 Questions
- Exam Duration: 2 hours
- Exam Type: Open Book
- Passing Score: 75 and above
- Exam Conducted: Proctored Online Testing
Building Codes and Standards (BC) FAQ
What type of question format will be used in the exam?
Test questions are in four-option, multiple-choice format, with one answer on each question scored as correct.
What references or code books are the exams based on?
The approved references for each exam are listed when you search for your exam on the Exam Catalog.
Are the exams open-book?
Most exams are open book. Examination information, including whether your exam is open- or closed-book, can be found in the applicable exam information by searching for your exam in the exam catalog.
Can I just look up the answers in the book during the exam?
ICC Exams are designed to test minimal competency on the subject matter. Simply being able to locate information in a reference is not sufficient to demonstrate this competency, and time constraints are set in consideration of this fact.
There is not enough time on any exam to look up every question on an exam.
Reference materials are allowed and encouraged to supplement knowledge of a subject. We recommend becoming very familiar with all reference material in order to minimize time searching for answers.
How often can I test?
You will have six exam attempts within a six-month period.
You are responsible for paying the exam fee at every attempt.
Once you have attempted an exam six times, you must wait six months from the first attempt to register again.
When will I get my results?
Results for examinations taken online or at a testing site are available immediately after completion of the examination.
What score do I need to pass?
Generally speaking, a contractor/trade exam requires a score of 70 to pass whereas certification exams require a 75. We strongly recommend you read below for more detailed information on passing scores:
Certification Exam Scores
A passing score is the score set by the ICC and/or/with the Exam Development Committee (EDC) as the minimum score needed to pass the exam. This score is technically called a scale score and is set as 75 for the National Certification exams.
Contractor/Trades Exam Scores
Most Contractor/Trades examinations require a candidate to answer at least 70 percent of their questions correctly in order to pass the exam. The Master Electrician examination requires 75 percent of the questions to be answered correctly to pass. It is important that you carefully read the relevant bulletin or contact the licensing agency for information regarding their minimum passing requirement.
For all exams, if you achieve a passing score, you will be notified with the word “PASS.” No numerical score is provided to passing candidates. Your score report will include a Code Council ID number which participating jurisdictions can use to verify your passing status
What is a scaled score?
A scaled score transforms a raw test score (the number of test questions answered correctly) into other measurement units, called a scale score. However, please know that a scale score is not the number of questions answered correctly, nor the percentage of questions answered correctly.
Reference: https://support.iccsafe.org/?ht_kb=what-is-a-scaled-score
Why scale the scores?
If we simply reported the total number of questions answered correctly (the raw score), there would be a different passing score for each form of the test (because of those differences in difficulty). This would be confusing to candidates. So, we convert these raw scores to a constant scale such that, say, the designated 75 continues as the minimum score required to pass regardless of the form administered, knowing the number of correct answers needed to pass varies from form to form and from year to year.
Can my exam score be cancelled?
The Code Council reserves the right to revoke or withhold any examination scores if, in its sole opinion, there is adequate reason to question their validity.
What do we offer?
- Full-Length Mock Test with unique questions in each test set
- Practice objective questions with section-wise scores
- An in-depth and exhaustive explanation for every question
- Reliable exam reports evaluating strengths and weaknesses
- Latest Questions with an updated version
- Tips & Tricks to crack the test
- Unlimited access
What are our Practice Exams?
- Practice exams have been designed by professionals and domain experts that simulate real-time exam scenario.
- Practice exam questions have been created on the basis of content outlined in the official documentation.
- Each set in the practice exam contains unique questions built with the intent to provide real-time experience to the candidates as well as gain more confidence during exam preparation.
- Practice exams help to self-evaluate against the exam content and work towards building strength to clear the exam.
- You can also create your own practice exam based on your choice and preference
