Preparing for a Trades Exam
There are many resources available to help you prepare for your trades exams. Learning supports are not one-size-fits-all. When you learn more about your own study habits, course work, and testing approaches, you will be able to better assess what supports will be the most helpful. Make the connections with tutors, mentors, and peers and find the resources that will work best for you. This page offers key information as well as links to available resources.
Registering for an Exam and Information about Exam Day
To find out about eligibility and the steps to register for an exam and for answers to frequently asked questions about what to bring to an exam sitting and the cancelation policy, check out the NSAA Training and Exams webpage.
Exam Basics
All written exams contain 100 to 150 multiple-choice questions.
Exams usually take 4 hours to write.
Not all the material on the certification exam is covered in the technical training sessions. Technical Training accounts for 15% to 20% of your apprenticeship journey. It is expected that you will learn 80% to 85% of your trade on the job. Red Seal Exam questions are created from the tasks in your logbook, so the questions come from your hands-on experience as much as from book-learning.
A passing mark on all certification exams and level exams is 70% or above.*
*With the exception of Power Engineer which is 65% or above.
For some trades exams, such as construction electrician and plumbing, you will be supplied with a codebook and/or a formula sheet and a calculator.
Staff are required to set up and monitor exam conditions closely to prevent the possibility of cheating, so you will be asked to follow specific procedures when you write. Check out the NSAA Cheating Policy in the Exam page FAQs.
Tips for Writing Multiple-Choice Exams
- Read each question carefully and completely. Do not assume you know what the question is asking after you’ve read only part of it.
- Separate long questions into smaller parts to make them easier to understand.
- Try to answer the question without looking at the four responses, then look for the option that matches your answer.
- As you read through the choices of four (4) possible answers, make a note of those you know are wrong to narrow your options.
- If you are answering a question that involves calculation, it is useful to have an estimate of what the correct answer is so that once you calculate the answer, you can decide whether it seems right.
- Draw a diagram or jot down a formula if it helps answer a question.
- If you don’t know the answer, move on and come back later. It’s better to finish the easier questions first and come back to the more difficult ones later. (Each exam question is weighted with the same value, no matter if it is easy or difficult.)
- Manage your time - it might be helpful to determine how much time you have for each question. For instance, if the exam has 120 questions and the maximum sit time for the exam is 4 hours, then you have approximately 2 minutes per question. At the halfway point of the exam, determine if you have completed approximately half of the exam, and adjust your pace accordingly.
- Answer all questions, even if you guess (you have at least a 25% chance of guessing correctly). Do not leave any question unanswered.
- Keep a positive mindset. Exams are not written to 'trick' apprentices and there is only one correct answer for each question. Exams are developed by teams of journeypersons to be fair and reliable so that apprentices can demonstrate their knowledge, understanding, and problem-solving abilities.
The Red Seal Site and Resources
The occupational standard is an essential reference tool for anyone preparing for a Red Seal certification exam.
Your trade's Red Seal Occupational Standard (RSOS) defines "the full scope of the trade." The RSOS divides skills into blocks of major work activities, then further lists the tasks and subtasks of the trade. These listed subtasks are the source of all exam questions and are also used for your logbook.
The occupational standard also includes:
- a list of tools used in the trade
- a glossary of terms
- a list of common acronyms
- commonly-used industry language
- a breakdown of how many questions come from each section
Make sure you are familiar with the terminology of your trade that will be used on the exams and not just the slang terms.
The Red Seal site also offers sample exam questions for each Red Seal trade, as well as an exam prep guide.
Check Out the Red Seal Site and Resources and Practice Exams
Provincial Trades, Curriculum Standards, and Level Exams
For Red Seal trades, certification exams are the same across Canada. In contrast, level exams in Red Seal trades are developed and administered provincially.
Your trade's Curriculum Standard divides and orders the Occupational Standard into levels, defining the scope for each technical training session and each level exam. While this document is intended for instructors, it contains valuable information about what to expect in each level exam because the provincial level exams are based on what is taught in technical training classes.
Many trades are part of the Atlantic Harmonization initiative so that apprenticeship training programs and level exams in all four Atlantic provinces will align with each other. For provincial trades for certification exams, and for all level exams, the Provincial Exam Counselling Sheets state out how many exam questions to expect from each section of the Occupational Standard.
Check Out Your Trade's Curriculum Standard on the NSAA Trades Page
Trade-Specific Study Resources
You can find trade-specific study resources on the NSAA Trades page.
Practice Exams
Additionally, several private training-providers offer practice exams and prep courses for purchase. (The Nova Scotia Apprenticeship Agency neither endorses nor recommends the use of the following materials. They are provided merely as a guide to known available resources.)
Examapps.com Study materials and practice exams (For purchase, online and on cd-rom)
Trades.exambank.com Practice exams (For purchase, online)
NSAA Trades Math Modules
These self-directed modules introduce core concepts of fractions, decimals and algebra through exploring how to use a measuring tape. The modules cover the standard imperial system of inches and feet, the metric system of metres and centimetres, and conversions between the two.