The General Trade Knowledge exam is open book using the state's approved reference list — one copy of each title. Highlighting and underlining are permitted. Handwritten notes are not. Writing in a book during the exam is treated as a criminal offense under section 455.2175, Florida Statutes. Pull the current list from the DBPR before you buy anything.
The list is specific, and it is the only list
Florida publishes an approved reference list for each construction examination, and only the titles on it may be brought to the test center. The DBPR maintains these lists at myfloridalicense.com under Construction Examinations Reference Lists. Check the list for the exact examination you are sitting, on the date you are sitting it.
Two things about that list cost candidates money. First, it names specific editions. Second, it is revised over time. A second-hand set assembled for an earlier exam cycle is the classic expensive mistake: the discount looks good, the editions are superseded, and you buy the set twice.
What you may mark, and what you may not
You may highlight and underline. That is genuinely useful — a highlighted table you have used a dozen times in practice is found far faster than a clean one.
You may not bring handwritten notes. Notes written in the margins, formulas copied onto a blank page, a cheat sheet tucked between pages: all of it is outside the rules, and books are inspected.
The rule people underestimate. Writing in your reference book during the examination is not merely a rule violation. Under section 455.2175, Florida Statutes it is treated as a criminal offense. Do your marking at home, well before exam day, and once you are seated the pen stays on the answer, not the page.
How to tab so the books actually help
Tabbing is where an open-book exam is won or lost. Five hours for 80 questions is about three and three-quarter minutes each — enough to confirm what you already believe, nowhere near enough to read a chapter cold.
- Tab by content area, not by chapter. The exam is organized into nine areas. Your tabs should map to them, so "single ply seaming" takes you to a page rather than to a book.
- Tab the tables first. Numeric limits — slopes, weights, thermal values, fastener schedules, flow rates — are what you will actually look up. Prose you either know or do not.
- Use your tabs during practice. A tab you have never used under time pressure is decoration. Work our timed simulation with the books beside you and you will find out fast which tabs are in the wrong place.
- Keep tabs permanently attached and inside the page edge so nothing detaches or looks like an insert.
Verify the rules for your own exam date
Reference lists, permitted materials and test center rules are set by the DBPR and the examination vendor and are revised periodically. The Candidate Information Booklet issued for your examination is the controlling document for what you may bring and what happens if you breach it. Read it, and confirm anything you are unsure of with Professional Testing, Inc. before the day rather than at the door.
The stronger your grasp of the material, the less any of this matters — which is the real argument for working the study guide before you worry about tab colors. See also how to pass on your first try.
Books confirm answers. They do not find them for you.
Know the material first and the references become a check rather than a search. Start with the free questions.