This Florida HVAC study guide covers all 10 trade-knowledge areas with the answer and a written explanation visible on every question. Because the real exam is open book, the guide also teaches you to tab and index your reference books so you can find code and tables fast. It prepares you for the Class A Trade Knowledge exam; the separate Business & Finance exam is covered too.
What this Florida air conditioning contractor exam study guide covers
The Florida Air Conditioning Contractor (Class A/B) exam is administered by Professional Testing, Inc. for the Florida DBPR / CILB. It is open book and multiple choice, and you need 70% to pass each exam. The Class A Trade Knowledge exam runs 130 questions across two open-book sessions of 65 scored questions each, with about 4.75 hours per session. There is also a separate Business & Finance exam of 120 questions, also open book, required of every AC applicant.
This study guide is built to match that scope. It runs through 341 original practice questions, each with a plain-English explanation, organized into the 10 content areas the exam draws from:
- Refrigeration Cycle & Components
- Electrical, Motors & Controls
- Heat Load, Airflow & Duct Design
- Florida Building/Mechanical & Energy Code
- Installation & System Startup
- Service, Diagnostics & Troubleshooting
- EPA 608, Refrigerants & Recovery
- Safety & OSHA
- Business, Law & Licensing (Ch. 489)
- HVAC Tools & Measurement
Understand it, do not just memorize it
Memorizing answer keys fails on this exam because the questions are reworded and the numbers change. The whole point of an open-book test is that you cannot pass on recall alone. That is why every item in this hvac contractor exam prep Florida guide shows the correct answer next to a written explanation: you learn why a discharge line runs hot, why a low-side reading points to a specific fault, or why a duct sizing answer is right. When you understand the underlying mechanism, you can answer a question you have never seen before, and you can sanity-check what your reference book tells you.
Work the guide in study mode first, where explanations stay visible, then switch to the free quiz and timed drills once the concepts hold. The goal is comprehension you can defend, not a pattern you half-remember.
Where the weight is: refrigeration, electrical, and code
Not every area carries the same load on test day. Three deserve the most of your study time:
- Refrigeration Cycle & Components — pressures, temperatures, superheat and subcooling, and how a fault in one component shows up across the system. This is the backbone of diagnostics questions too.
- Electrical, Motors & Controls — wiring, contactors, capacitors, motor types, and control sequences. A large share of service questions are really electrical questions in disguise.
- Florida Building/Mechanical & Energy Code — code questions are pure open-book lookups, so points here come from knowing where to find the answer fast rather than memorizing the text.
Spend your last week heavy on these three, and use the full practice test to confirm the other seven areas are at or above 70%.
Open-book does not mean easy. With roughly 4.75 hours and 65 scored questions per session, you have time to look things up only if you already know which book and which section to reach for. Slow page-flipping is what runs candidates out of time.
How to use your open-book references effectively
Because the exam is open book, organizing your references is itself a skill worth practicing. Before test day:
- Tab the high-traffic sections — mechanical code tables, energy code, refrigerant charts, and the Ch. 489 licensing rules you will be asked about.
- Build a short index of where each content area lives so you can jump straight to the right page instead of skimming.
- Practice the lookup, not just the answer. While you work the questions in this guide, physically find the supporting table or rule in your book so the motion is automatic under time pressure.
If you want the topic-by-topic breakdown of what shows up, the exam questions overview maps question styles to each area, and the exam format guide walks through both sessions and the Business & Finance portion.
Trade knowledge now, business and finance next
This guide focuses on the Trade Knowledge exam, but remember you must also pass the separate Business & Finance exam (120 questions, open book) to qualify. Plan to study it on its own track once your trade scores are steady. For the bigger picture of licensing steps, eligibility, and applications, see the license requirements page and the how-to-pass walkthrough. When you are ready, open study mode and start working the areas above one at a time.
Start studying the smart way
Work all 10 areas with the answer and explanation in front of you, then test yourself. 341 practice questions, $49 for 3 months or $89 lifetime.