CSCS mock test
Free practice questions for the CITB Health, Safety and Environment test — the test you have to pass before you can get most CSCS cards. Every answer comes with an explanation, because knowing why an answer is right is what gets you through the case study questions.
Practice test
20 questions drawn at random from 53, with an explanation after every answer. You need 90% here to pass.
- Questions
- 50
- Time
- 45 minutes
- Pass mark
- 45 out of 50
- Booked through
- CITB
What the test covers
53 practice questions across the six syllabus areas. Each attempt draws a fresh set, so you are learning the material rather than the order of one paper.
- Legal and management
- Your duties and your employer's, risk assessments and method statements, and what safety signs mean.
- Health and welfare
- Asbestos, dust and silica, noise, vibration, hazardous substances, manual handling, and the welfare facilities you are entitled to.
- General safety
- Electrical safety, fire, working at height, excavations, site transport, first aid, and reporting under RIDDOR.
- High risk activities
- Lifting operations, buried services, abrasive wheels, MEWPs, permits to work, and hot works.
- Environment
- Spills and pollution, waste duty of care, protected species, and controlling noise near neighbours.
- Specialist activities
- Lone working, face-fit testing, refusing unsafe work, and near-miss reporting.
Which CITB test your CSCS card needs
The test is matched to the card, not to the person. Most cards take the Operatives test; supervisors and managers sit a longer paper. Check the card you are applying for before you book, because a pass in the wrong test does not transfer.
| Card | CITB test | Also needs |
|---|---|---|
| Green — Labourer | Operatives | Level 1 Award in Health and Safety in a Construction Environment, or an equivalent, plus the HS&E Operatives test. |
| Blue — Skilled Worker | Operatives | An NVQ or SVQ Level 2 in the trade, plus the Operatives test. |
| Gold — Advanced Craft | Operatives | NVQ or SVQ Level 3, or a completed approved apprenticeship, plus the Operatives test. |
| Gold — Supervisor | Specialists (Supervisory) | An NVQ or SVQ Level 3 or 4 in a supervisory occupation, plus the Supervisory test. |
| Red — Trainee, Apprentice, Experienced Worker | Operatives | Temporary cards while a qualification is in progress; each has its own route, all need the Operatives test. |
| Black — Manager | Managers and Professionals | NVQ or SVQ Level 6 or 7 in construction management, plus the MAP test. |
| White — Academically or Professionally Qualified Person | Managers and Professionals | A construction-related degree, HND or HNC, or membership of an approved professional body, plus the MAP test. |
Card routes are set by CSCS and change — the Industry Accreditation (grandfather) route has closed, and several specialist cards have been withdrawn. Confirm the current requirement on the CSCS site before applying.
How the real test runs
The Operatives test is 50 multiple-choice questions in 45 minutes at a Pearson VUE centre, and you need 45 right to pass — 90%, with no partial credit. Twelve of the questions are behavioural case studies: a short scenario in three parts, asking what you would do, and marked on judgement rather than recall.
That pass mark is the thing to plan around. Five wrong answers fail you, so the goal is not to know most of the syllabus but to have no weak area at all. Use the practice set above to find the topic you keep dropping, then revise that topic specifically rather than re-sitting the whole thing.
Allow under a minute a question and you will finish with time to go back. Read every option before answering — several questions have one answer that is partly right and one that is completely right, and the completely right one is nearly always the one that stops work and reports.
Common questions
- What is the CSCS test?
- To get most CSCS cards you must pass the CITB Health, Safety and Environment test. The operatives test is 50 questions in 45 minutes, and you need 45 correct to pass. It is taken at an approved test centre, and you book it through CITB.
- Are these the real exam questions?
- No, and be wary of any site claiming otherwise. The official question bank is copyright CITB and cannot be republished. These are original practice questions written against the same published syllabus areas, so they test the same knowledge without reproducing the exam.
- How many questions do I need right to pass?
- 45 out of 50 on the operatives test — 90%. This practice test uses the same 90% bar over a shorter set, so a pass here means you are roughly where you need to be.
- How much does a CSCS card cost?
- There are two costs: the CITB Health, Safety and Environment test, and the card application itself. Both are set by CITB and CSCS respectively and change from time to time, so check the current fees on the official sites before you book. Be careful of third-party sites charging a premium to book it for you.
- How do I check whether a CSCS card is genuine?
- Use the official CSCS card checker, or the Go Smart app, which reads the card and confirms it against the CSCS database. A card that cannot be verified should be treated as invalid — checking takes seconds and is the only reliable way to confirm someone holds what they claim.
- How long is a CSCS card valid?
- Most cards run for five years, and renewal normally means passing the Health, Safety and Environment test again along with holding the required qualification. Start the process before your card expires — working without a valid card will stop you getting on site.
- Is there a 50-question CSCS mock test here?
- Each attempt draws 20 questions from a bank of 53, so a few runs cover more ground than a single fixed 50-question paper and you cannot learn the answer order. The real operatives test is 50 questions in 45 minutes; keep to under a minute a question here and you are practising at the real pace.
- Which test do I need for a green, blue, gold or black card?
- The Green Labourer card, and the Blue, Gold and Red skilled cards, all need the Operatives test. Supervisors applying for a Gold Supervisory card sit the Specialists (Supervisory) test. The Black Manager card and the white Academically or Professionally Qualified Person cards need the Managers and Professionals (MAP) test, which is longer and goes further into CDM and management duties. The card-type guide below sets it out.
- How do I book the CITB test?
- Book directly on the CITB website or by phone, choose Operatives, Specialists or Managers and Professionals, pick a Pearson VUE test centre, and bring photo ID on the day. Results are given at the centre. You need the pass before you can apply for the card, and the pass is valid for two years for that purpose.
- Is this CSCS mock test free and up to date for 2026?
- Yes, and no sign-up. The questions are written against the current CITB syllabus areas and checked against present-day UK health and safety law — action values, CDM 2015 duties, sign shapes and the hierarchy of control have not moved. Anything that changes with regulation is reviewed before it is republished.
- What should I revise?
- The syllabus covers legal and management duties, health and welfare, general safety, high-risk activities, environment, and specialist activities. The behavioural case study questions catch people out most — they test judgement about stopping work and reporting, not memorised facts.
These are original practice questions written against the published CITB syllabus areas. They are not the official CITB questions, which are copyright and cannot be republished. Book the real test and check current fees through CITB and CSCS directly.