The ‘touchscreen test’ as many of us know it, is being revised in several ways including clearer instructions, new questions and styles, one score to pass, and material to revise not memorise.
Up to date with current practice and legislation
All versions of the test have been reviewed, and where applicable the questions have been updated to keep up with current legislation.
The Operatives test in particular will have a substantial update to better reflect the range of day to day tasks and responsibilities an operative has on a site.
CITB has worked with construction health and safety managers and trainers with years of hands-on experience in making these changes, so that the revised HS&E test is up-to-date and fit for the needs of workers and employers.
Level playing field
Each person taking the revised Operatives test will have the same proportion of easy, medium and hard questions. The test will continue to serve up a random combination of questions to a candidate, but each combination will have the same level of difficulty.
We’ve worked with industry experts to make sure that all the test questions were rated for difficulty, so that the revised test is a ‘level playing field’ for operatives who take it.
One score to pass
Instead of two sections of questions to answer, candidates will only have one in the revised test. The behavioural case studies and accompanying questions will be taken out.
The test will still examine whether candidates know the right behaviours to demonstrate in the job – those behavioural elements will be incorporated into many of the 50 test questions.
As there will only be one section of questions, the score will be simpler to understand as a result.
With the new scoring, candidates will now need the following scores to pass the test:
- for the Operatives test, the pass mark is 45 out of 50
- for the Specialists test, the pass mark is 45 out of 50
- for the Managers and Professionals test, the pass mark is 46 out of 50.
New questions and a new style
New questions have been added to better cover the wide range of daily health, safety and environment tasks and responsibilities. So, instead of a limited variety of questions, each candidate will now get a wider selection.
A new question style has also been introduced to the Managers and Professionals (MAP) version of the test. In this new style, candidates will drag and drop the answers into the right order. This format helps test whether a candidate really knows the procedures for being safe on the job.
This new style joins the other styles that were added to the test over the last year. You can see a preview of these new styles on our sample questions platform by using the button below.
Please note that the questions platform is not a practice test and no score will be given when you try to answer a question.
Clearer instructions
Test centres reported that many workers struggled with the instructions on how to use the test equipment. CITB have improved the on-screen tutorial so that candidates can learn how to operate the equipment during the test.
Materials to revise, not memories
Revision materials, such as DVDs, books, downloads and apps, have all been updated alongside changes to the HS&E test. In the operatives version, we’ve replaced some questions and answer with short explanatory text and included more diagrams to make it easier for candidates to prepare and revise for the test.
The updated operatives revision material won’t have every single question and answer from the test. However, it will still cover all the information needed to revise for the test. Examples of the updated revision materials can be seen below.
These updates have been designed to help workers learn and be able to practise health and safety. When a worker passes the test, it should be because they know and practise safe working, not because they’ve memorised the answers but don’t really know how to be safe on the job.
The updated revision materials will be available to purchase and download from the CITB Shop (External link – Opens in a new tab or window) from 15 May 2019.
Please note, if you’re taking the test before 26 June 2019, you should purchase the 2018 version of the revision materials (not the updated 2019 version).
