Studying for the Nevada Contractor Examinations

A Nevada contractor license applicant sits two examinations, prepared for in opposite ways. One is open book with a named manual behind it; the other is closed book except for whatever its own exam content outline admits. Those outlines are published by the Nevada State Contractors Board and are the nearest thing to a syllabus that exists.

Two examinations, not one

The Board’s License Examinations page states the structure:

Nevada requires each applicant to pass a general business and law or “CMS” examination, and a trade examination specific to the classification of license for which you have applied. An exam eligibility letter will be provided to you after your application has been filed with the Nevada State Contractors Board, and board staff has verified your experience.

The CMS examination is common to every applicant. The trade examination is not: it follows the classification applied for, so it cannot be identified before that classification is fixed on the application. The exam eligibility letter follows filing and the verification of experience.

The regulation behind this is narrower. NAC 624.600(1) provides:

If the Board requires an applicant or his or her qualified employee to take an examination, he or she must take and pass an examination administered by an independent testing service.

NAC 624.600(1) names no service. The Board’s own page does, and is the source for the name below.

What the Board publishes to study from

A candidate information bulletin and exam content outline can be obtained using the links below. The content outlines include the subject areas covered in each examination, and the number of questions asked in each subject area. Additionally, a list of reference material is provided that can be used to prepare for the exam.

Those links sit on the Board’s own License Examinations page. Each exam content outline carries three things: the subject areas, the number of questions in each, and a reference list. A weighting given as a question count is the closest thing to a published study priority.

On practice material:

Each of the exam content outline include a list of reference material that can be used to prepare for the exam. Nevada does not offer practice exams.

The reference list is the study material, and Nevada offers no practice examination.

Open book and closed book

For the business and law paper:

The general business and law or “CMS” exam is open book. You may use the Construction Business and Law Manual for Nevada.

For the trade paper:

Trade exams are closed book, with the exception of certain code references. You should refer to the exam content outline for your particular exam to determine which reference, if any, can be used during the exam.

That contrast decides the preparation. For the CMS examination the named text, the Construction Business and Law Manual for Nevada, may be in the room, so knowing where an answer sits in it counts for as much as recall. For a trade examination nothing is admitted but the code references its outline names, and the wording allows for an outline that names none.

What the Board says about licensing schools

On preparation courses, the Board states:

The Nevada State Contractors Board does not recommend or endorse any licensing school. It is the Board’s belief that if a candidate is qualified, possesses the required experience, and prepares for the examination, he or she will successfully complete the exam.

That applies to every school equally: none is approved, none is disapproved, and no course carries Board standing. The outlines and reference lists above come first because they are the only material the Board itself publishes for the purpose. A commercial course is a separate decision, taken on its own merits.

Attempts, and the intervals between them

On attempts, the Board’s License Requirements page states:

You have three attempts to pass each exam. A candidate who tests unsuccessfully must wait two weeks before retaking the examination. If the examination is failed three times, the application becomes void pursuant to NAC 624.600(3). The applicant may reapply with a new application and applicable fee after 30 days from the date of the last examination.

Three attempts run to each examination separately, and two intervals sit inside that: two weeks between attempts, and 30 days from the last examination before a new application may be filed. A third failure voids the application rather than barring the person who made it.

Scheduling, and when the result arrives

Sittings are offered seven days a week in the Las Vegas area, on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday in the Reno area, and on a limited schedule in Elko. Beyond Nevada, the Board’s page names the testing service:

PSI will also allow applicants to take the Nevada specific examinations at PSI owned sites in other states. Please contact PSI at 800.733.9267 to see if there’s a testing site near you.

On the result itself:

Your score will be given to you immediately following completion of the examination.

Immediate scoring is what makes the two-week interval usable: an attempt’s outcome is known the day it is taken.

Sources

Every statement above is the Nevada State Contractors Board’s own, from its License Examinations page and its License Requirements page, where the retake statement above appears in full. NAC 624.600(1) is published in the Nevada Administrative Code.

Not published here: the content of the outlines, the pass mark, or what the testing service charges. See what the examination is for what the regulation fixes, whether the examination is waived at all for the two routes on which it is not sat, the classification a license covers for which trade examination applies, how the application proceeds for the eligibility letter, and how Nevada contractor licensing works for the wider process.