The certification exams for construction trades in Quebec
A certification exam is the test a body imposes before it issues a competency certificate to a worker or a licence to a business. In Quebec, seven authorities share these exams — CCQ, RBQ, CMMTQ, CMEQ, MESS, CPA and the Red Seal program — and they do not publish the same information.
This page compares the sixteen exams covered by Metierium: duration, passing grade, number of questions when one is published, and the official document behind each of them. No figure is estimated: when a body does not publish a figure, the column stays empty.
The authorities, and what they publish
An exam is not hard only because it is long: it also depends on what the body makes public. Some publish the number of questions, others stop at the duration and the pass mark.
Commission de la construction du Québec (CCQ)
Published: Duration, pass mark, number of questions and section breakdown
For each trade the CCQ publishes an information sheet that gives the three figures: how long the exam runs, the pass mark and the number of questions. For the nine construction trades covered here that is three hours, 60%, and 60 or 61 questions worth one point each. The share of the points per section is published as well — 42% on ventilation systems for the sheet metal worker, 59% on laying bricks, blocks and stones for the bricklayer-mason. Registration costs $100, is not refundable, and remains valid for 12 months minus one day.
Published: Duration, pass mark, language and exam type — not the question count
The RBQ publishes no question count: its information sheets give the duration, the passing grade, the language of the exam and the type of questions (multiple choice). Durations run from 1.5 hours for construction site safety management to 3 hours for the administration, project and site management and subclass exams, and the passing grade is 60% — except the residential building inspector certificate, category 2: 2.5 hours and 75%, a figure published in the French sheet only. The RBQ does not examine employees: it qualifies the guarantor of a contractor licence.
Corporation des maîtres mécaniciens en tuyauterie du Québec (CMMTQ)
Published: Duration and pass mark per subclass — not the question count
The CMMTQ publishes the duration (3 hours) and the passing grade (60%) of each exam taken by the guarantor of a contracting business, subclass by subclass, and never a question count. For the plumber it is subclass 15.5 that applies; for heating, 15.1, where the exam is split into heating, oil burner and natural gas or propane modules.
Corporation des maîtres électriciens du Québec (CMEQ)
Published: Duration, pass mark and question format — not the question count
The CMEQ requires five exams of the business’s guarantor, including the one on the Québec Construction Code, Chapter V — Electricity, which runs three hours. Its guide describes the format — four-answer multiple-choice questions, one correct answer, all worth the same — and the 60% passing grade, but gives no figure for any of the five exams.
Ministère de l’Emploi et de la Solidarité sociale (MESS)
Published: Duration, pass mark and a RANGE of questions
For gas and refrigeration the qualification certificate comes from the MESS, not the RBQ — the RBQ only issues the contractor licence. The MESS publishes a range rather than a figure: 45 to 55 questions for TAG-1, 50 to 60 for SF-1, 30 to 40 for ITG and 35 to 45 for SF-2. Three hours and a 60% passing grade across the board, and $136 per registration as well as per retake.
Comités paritaires de l’industrie des services automobiles (CPA)
Published: Question count, duration and pass mark of the theory part
The CPA publish, in their qualification kit, the detail of the theory part of the heavy vehicle mechanic exam: 115 questions drawn from a bank, 150 minutes, and a 70% passing grade. The practical part is a separate exam — 120 minutes, 44 questions in three modules, with an overall pass mark of 60% and a 50% pass mark inside each module.
Published: EXACT question count, distributed by major work activity
The Red Seal program is the only body here that publishes the exact number of questions for each trade on its exam-information page: 125 for the welder, distributed by major work activity. The 70% pass mark and the four hours of writing time come from its exam preparation guide; the Quebec registration fee of $330 is set outside the program and is published in French only.
Each line gives what the body publishes, with no extrapolation. “—” means that no question count is published for that trade; “45 to 55” is a range published as such, not a rounded figure.
The trade pages are written in French only, so each link below — marked with its language — opens the French page for that trade.
60 questions in 3 hours, like eight other CCQ trades: what sets it apart is the published section breakdown — 42% of the points on ventilation systems.
Four exams, each passed separately at 60%: administration 3 hours, safety 1.5 hours, project and site management 3 hours, execution 3 hours — no question count published.
The sixteen exams do not look alike, even when they carry the same trade name. Six differences explain most of the gap in preparation.
The duration runs from 1.5 hours to 4 hours
The nine CCQ qualification exams all run 3 hours, whatever the subject. The RBQ goes down to 1.5 hours for construction site safety management and 2.5 hours for the residential building inspector; the Red Seal program goes up to four hours for the welder, and the CPA stop at 150 minutes.
The pass mark is not the same everywhere
60% for the CCQ, the RBQ, the CMMTQ, the CMEQ and the MESS; 70% for the Red Seal program and the theory part of the CPA; 75% for the residential building inspector certificate, category 2. The same 60% therefore does not mean the same margin from one trade to the next.
One trade can mean several exams
The general contractor must pass four separate exams, each at 60%: administration (3 hours), construction site safety management (1.5 hours), project and site management (3 hours) and the exam specific to the requested subclass (3 hours). The CMEQ requires five of the guarantor, and the residential building contractor licence comes on top of the three common-core exams.
The question count is published… or it is not
The CCQ, the Red Seal program and the CPA publish it; the MESS publishes a range; the RBQ, the CMMTQ and the CMEQ do not publish it. That is why three columns on this page stay empty: a figure that no official document states has no place in a comparison.
Two families of exam, two audiences
The employee’s competency certificate (CCQ, MESS) attests the gesture of the trade; the contractor licence (RBQ, CMMTQ, CMEQ) qualifies the guarantor of a business. Some trades combine both, others do not: a bricklayer-mason only has the CCQ exam, a residential building contractor only has the RBQ one.
A trade can have no certification exam at all
Health and safety coordination on construction sites is not among Quebec’s mandatory qualification certificates: there is no exam to compare, so that trade is not one of the sixteen.
Frequently asked questions about certification exams
How many questions are there in a trade certification exam in Quebec?+
It depends on the body. The CCQ publishes the exact number on each information sheet: 60 questions for the electrician, the sheet metal worker, the bricklayer-mason and the refrigeration technician, and 61 for the plumber, the fire protection mechanic and the elevator mechanic; for the heavy equipment operator it publishes five machine sheets, at 60 questions except the excavator one, which has 61. The Red Seal program publishes 125 questions for the welder, the CPA 115 for the heavy vehicle mechanic, and the MESS a range (45 to 55 for TAG-1, 50 to 60 for SF-1). The RBQ, the CMMTQ and the CMEQ publish no question count at all.
What mark do you need to pass?+
60% for most exams: those of the CCQ, the RBQ, the CMMTQ, the CMEQ and the MESS. Two frameworks are stricter: the Red Seal interprovincial exam and the theory part of the CPA both require 70%, and the RBQ residential building inspector certificate, category 2, requires 75%.
How long does an exam last?+
From 1.5 hours to 4 hours, depending on the exam. The nine CCQ qualification exams all run three hours, like the CMMTQ guarantor exams and the MESS certificates. The RBQ goes down to 1.5 hours for construction site safety management and 2.5 hours for the residential building inspector; the Red Seal program goes up to four hours for the welder.
How many attempts are allowed?+
None of the documents reviewed publishes a maximum number of attempts. What they do publish is the validity of the registration: at the CCQ it lasts 12 months minus one day from payment, and the $100 fee is not refundable. A failure therefore means a new registration, not a ceiling being reached. That particular detail is published in French only.
What is the difference between the CCQ exam and the RBQ exam?+
They are not aimed at the same person. The CCQ qualification exam gives the employee their competency certificate, which is mandatory to work on a site covered by the Act respecting labour relations, vocational training and workforce management in the construction industry. The RBQ exams qualify the guarantor of a contractor licence: they cover management, regulation and the execution of the business’s work, not the gesture of the trade.
Can one trade require two exams?+
Yes, and it is common. The plumber combines the CCQ exam (61 questions, 3 hours, 60%) and the CMMTQ licence exam (3 hours, 60%). The electrician combines the CCQ exam and the CMEQ exam on Chapter V. The refrigeration technician combines the CCQ exam and the MESS SF-1 certificate. The general contractor must pass four separate RBQ exams, each at 60%.
Why is there no question count for the RBQ exams?+
Because the RBQ does not publish one. Its information sheets give the duration, the passing grade, the language of the exam and the type of questions, and stop there. This page prints “—” rather than a number that no official document states.
How should you prepare for a certification exam?+
By working through the theory of the code that applies to the trade, then by timing yourself on practice exams that reproduce the duration and the format of the real one. Each trade page below leads to the theory and the practice exam for that trade. The trade pages themselves are published in French only.
Practise for the exam of your trade
Theory of the applicable code, timed practice exams and detailed corrections, trade by trade.