To pass the Florida Air Conditioning Contractor exam you need 70% on each open-book test, but the real challenge is speed: you have to find answers in your reference books fast. This study plan walks you through getting and tabbing your approved books, drilling questions by content area and then mixed, building pace with the timed mock, and hitting 80%+ on practice before you schedule. It also keeps the separate Business & Finance exam on your radar.
Step 1: Understand the exam you are trying to pass
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 Trade Knowledge exam is 130 questions delivered in two open-book sessions of 65 questions each, with about 4.75 hours per session. There is also a separate Business & Finance exam of 120 questions, also open book, that every applicant must pass. Knowing this format up front shapes everything else in your plan: open book rewards organization and speed far more than raw memorization. If you want the full breakdown of sessions and timing, read the exam format guide first.
Step 2: Get and tab your approved reference books
Because the test is open book, your reference books are the most valuable tool you own, and an untabbed book is almost useless under time pressure. Buy the exact editions on the approved reference list early, then prepare them:
- Tab the high-traffic sections with sticky tabs: mechanical and energy code tables, refrigerant charts, electrical references, and the Ch. 489 licensing rules.
- Build a one-page index that maps each content area to the book and section where its answers live, so you reach for the right page instinctively.
- Highlight key tables and formulas you expect to use repeatedly, like superheat/subcooling references and duct-sizing charts.
A well-tabbed book turns a frantic page-flip into a five-second flip-and-confirm. That difference is the margin between finishing on time and running out.
Step 3: Drill by content area, then go mixed
Start your question practice one topic at a time so you can build understanding and find each topic's home in your books. Work all 10 content areas the exam draws from, and for every question, physically locate the supporting table or rule in your reference so the lookup becomes automatic. This site gives you 341 practice questions across those 10 areas, each with a written explanation of why the answer is correct.
Once a topic is solid, switch to mixed practice that jumps between areas the way the real exam does. Mixed drills train you to recognize what kind of question you are looking at and which book to open, which is exactly the decision you make 130 times on test day. Use study mode for the topic-by-topic phase and the full practice test for mixed work.
Open-book time math: with roughly 4.75 hours for 65 questions, you average well under four minutes per question, and many you will simply know. Budget your lookups: if you cannot find an answer in about a minute, flag it, mark your best guess, and move on. Coming back later beats burning ten minutes on one item.
Step 4: Prioritize the heavily weighted areas
Not every area carries the same weight, so concentrate your effort where the points are:
- Refrigeration — the cycle, pressures, superheat and subcooling, and how a single fault ripples across the system. It anchors most diagnostics questions too.
- Electrical, motors and controls — wiring, contactors, capacitors, and control sequences; a large share of service questions are really electrical questions.
- Florida building, mechanical and energy code — these are pure open-book lookups, so points come from knowing exactly where to find the rule, fast.
Spend your final week heavy on these three while keeping the other seven at or above 70%. The study guide explains the reasoning behind each area in plain English.
Step 5: Build pace with the timed mock and do not forget Business & Finance
Knowledge without pace still fails this exam, so take the timed mock at least once under realistic conditions: books closed except for your tabbed references, a clock running, no interruptions. The mock shows you whether your lookups are fast enough and where you stall, then you fix those spots and run it again. Aim to score 80%+ on full-length practice before you schedule the real thing; that cushion keeps a few unexpected questions from dropping you under the 70% line.
Finally, do not neglect the separate Business & Finance exam (120 questions, open book). Study it on its own track once your trade scores are steady, and tab its reference book the same way. For the licensing steps around both exams, see the license requirements page.
Start your study plan today
Work all 10 content areas with explanations, then build pace with the timed mock. 341 practice questions, $49 for 3 months or $89 lifetime.