Contractor Envy

General Contractor Exam Strategy: Flag It, Move On, Finish Early

Two and a half minutes and he moved on. He finished 100 questions with 11 flagged and 48 minutes still on the clock.

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Specifications vs Building Codes - Where to Look It Up | GC Exam Live Class

"Blank determine the type of materials or methods used." Specifications? Building codes? References? UL?

Before you flip a single page, you have to answer a different question first: which part of the book is this even in?

In this cut from our live GC exam class:
• The Business & Law book splits into three — getting the business off the ground, in the field, in the office
• Categorizing the question into one of those three before you touch the table of contents
• Landing on bidding and estimating, then project documents, then specifications
• Why "what is this question asking me, and why" comes before every other step

And a reminder a lot of people don't want to hear: every state you register a business in, you're taking a business and law exam. NASCLA doesn't get you out of it.

We run these live every week inside Study Buddy Pro, and every one gets recorded so you can come back to it.

Come sit in on the next one — studybuddypro.app

General Contractor Exam: The SJI Book Has No Index

Half the NASCLA stack has no index. The SJI book is a novel. Here is how he handled the books you cannot look things up in.

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CSI MasterFormat: How Technical Specifications Are Organized | GC Exam Live Class

AIA. EIE. EEE. CSI. Four acronyms, one answer, and if you don't know what any of them stand for you're guessing.

In this cut from our live GC exam class:
• What CSI MasterFormat is and why technical specifications are organized by it
• Plugging each answer back into the question instead of reading the question four times
• Where this lives in the Business & Law book, and how the dark marks get you there
• How MasterFormat divisions turn into a real job cost code system on your own projects

The part most people skip: this isn't just an exam answer. The same numbering your specs use is the numbering your cost codes should use. That's how you find out where your margin actually went.

We run these live every week inside Study Buddy Pro, and every one gets recorded so you can come back to it.

Come sit in on the next one — studybuddypro.app

General Contractor Exam Prep: Stop Fooling Yourself on Practice Tests

It is a you versus you game. Scoring 100 percent means nothing if you paused the timer and took your time getting there.

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The WAIT Method and the 60-60-60 Rule | GC Exam Live Class

There are four OSHA questions on the North Carolina exam. Four. So why do people spend three weeks in the OSHA book?

In this cut from our live GC exam class we lay out how to decide where your study time actually goes:
• The WAIT method — sorting your books into buckets so you know what lives where
• The 60/60/60 drill: 60 seconds to the right book, 60 seconds to the section, 60 seconds to mark it
• Reading the PSI bulletin to see how many questions each category is actually worth
• Bucket-finder and book-finder drills, and why repetition is the only thing that makes them fast

The uncomfortable part: most people study the book they're most comfortable in, not the book the exam weights the heaviest. Look at your bulletin before you open another book.

We run these live every week inside Study Buddy Pro, and every one gets recorded so you can come back to it.

Come sit in on the next one — studybuddypro.app

General Contractor Exam Prep: Repetition Is What Made It Click

Repetition is what made the books click. He found out decking questions were answered in the gypsum book, not where he expected.

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The I-9 Question: What Actually Proves Work Authorization | GC Exam Live Class

A driver's license proves who you are. It does not prove you're allowed to work here. That one distinction is a whole exam question.

In this cut from our live GC exam class we work an I-9 question live, get it wrong out loud, and then find out why:
• Documents that establish identity vs documents that establish employment eligibility
• Why the list splits into A, B and C — and why one document can cover both columns
• What the I-9 actually is and when a contractor has to fill one out
• Using the reference back to the NASCLA Business, Law and Project Management guide instead of guessing

The reason this one catches people is that all four answers look like real government documents. They are. Only one of them fails the specific thing the question asked.

We run these live every week inside Study Buddy Pro, and every one gets recorded so you can come back to it.

Come sit in on the next one — studybuddypro.app

General Contractor Exam: The FRAME IT Method for Finding Code Answers

Find out what the question is asking, pull the keywords, know which book and chapter it lives in. A thermal barrier is not in the insulation section.

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Workers Comp, Unemployment, COBRA or HIPAA? How to Categorize the Question

A billion dollar company put a candidate through 26 interviews, then took him to dinner. He salted his food before he tasted it. He didn't get the job.

That's the whole lesson. Most people lose exam questions because they answer out of habit instead of reading what's actually in front of them.

In this cut from our live GC exam class:
• Why "find the keyword" is a step inside a method, not the method itself
• Reading every answer choice before you go looking — workers' comp, unemployment, COBRA, HIPAA
• Categorizing the question into part 1, 2 or 3 of the Business & Law book before you flip a page
• Walking it down to Providing Benefits and getting there by elimination, not by guessing

Here's what trips people: the question says "pays a worker when he or she is laid off." If you only know what workers' comp is, you'll pick workers' comp. Knowing all four answers is what makes it easy.

We run these live every week inside Study Buddy Pro, and every one gets recorded so you can come back to it.

Come sit in on the next one — studybuddypro.app