CSCS Practice Tests: Free Topic-by-Topic Practice for 2026

What CSCS practice mode is, and what it is not

CSCS practice mode is the part of your revision where you actively learn. You pick a single topic, Working at Height, COSHH, Manual Handling, Fire Prevention, and answer ten or twenty questions in a row, getting the right answer and a short written explanation immediately after each one. The aim is not to score; the aim is to identify where your knowledge has gaps and to close them before they cost you in the real exam.

This is different from a full mock test, which is a 50-question, 45-minute simulation with no feedback until you finish. Mock tests are the rehearsal, they tell you whether you are ready to book the live CITB Health, Safety and Environment test at Pearson VUE. Practice tests are the training that gets you to that point. Most candidates who pass first time use both: 4-6 hours of topic practice, then 2-3 full mock tests in the final week before booking.

Why topic-by-topic revision beats random testing

The CITB syllabus contains a small number of high-yield facts that get tested over and over again in different wording, the 950mm guardrail height, the 85 dB(A) hearing protection zone trigger, the 75° ladder angle, the TILE approach to manual handling, the difference between an improvement notice and a prohibition notice. Random 50-question tests sprinkle these across the whole syllabus and you may never see the same fact twice in a single sitting. Topic-by-topic practice forces you to face every variant of every fact in a single concentrated session, which is how it sticks.

There is a body of cognitive science behind this called “massed practice with interleaving”. You start with a single topic until you are scoring above 90% on it, then move to a different topic the next day. After a week of single-topic days you switch to mixed-topic mock tests, which forces your brain to retrieve the right knowledge from the right topic under exam pressure. This sequence, drill, drill, drill, then mix, produces dramatically better retention than people who only ever do random mock tests.

The other advantage of topic practice is that it surfaces your weak areas explicitly. Plenty of candidates discover, halfway through a mock test, that they have never properly understood the colours on a CSCS site sign or the difference between a Class C and a Class D fire. By the time you spot the gap, the test is half over. Topic practice surfaces those gaps in the safety of revision, where you can stop and read the explanation, not in the timed exam.

All 21 CITB syllabus topics, covered free

Our practice tool covers every one of the 21 detailed topics in the official CITB Health, Safety and Environment syllabus, drawn from a question bank of over 3,000 exam-style questions. The Operatives test (Green Card route) examines the first sixteen topics below; the Supervisors test (Gold Card) adds CDM Regulations and Mental Health; the Managers & Professionals test (Black/White Card) adds Leadership, Demolition and Highway Works. Whatever card you are working towards, you can drill the relevant topics here free.

• Accident Reporting, RIDDOR thresholds, accident book entries, near-miss reporting and the legal duty to report.
• Electrical Safety, Buried and overhead cables, 110V CTE on site, RCD protection, safe isolation procedures.
• Emergency Procedures, Alarms, evacuation routes, assembly points, first-aid response and fire-drill expectations.
• Environmental Awareness, Duty of care, waste transfer notes, spill response and pollution prevention on construction sites.
• General Responsibilities, Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 duties, site induction, challenging unsafe behaviour.
• Health & Welfare, Welfare facility requirements, occupational health, drinking water, rest and changing facilities.
• Manual Handling, The TILE approach, mechanical aids, team-lifting and risk assessment.
• Hazardous Substances, COSHH assessments, safety data sheets, control measures and asbestos awareness.
• Safety Signs, Prohibition, warning, mandatory and safe-condition sign colours and meanings.
• Noise & Vibration, Lower (80 dB(A)) and upper (85 dB(A)) action values, hearing protection zones, HAVS monitoring.
• PPE, Hard hats, hi-vis, safety footwear, gloves, eye protection, selection, inspection and use.
• Respiratory Risks, Silica dust controls, water suppression, on-tool extraction and RPE face-fit testing.
• Site Transport, Pedestrian segregation, banksmen signals, exclusion zones and reversing controls.
• Working at Height, Work at Height Regulations 2005, ladders (75°, 1:4), scaffold inspection, guardrails at 950mm.
• Excavations, Shoring requirements, trench safety, locating buried services and confined-space rescue plans.
• Fire Prevention, Fire triangle, extinguisher classes A-F, hot-work permits and emergency response.
• CDM Regulations, CDM 2015 duty holders, client, principal designer, principal contractor, and their responsibilities.
• Mental Health, Stress awareness, suicide prevention, supporting colleagues and the cost of poor wellbeing on site.
• Leadership, Leading by example, safety culture, behavioural safety observations and just-culture principles.
• Demolition, Demolition surveys, sequencing methods, asbestos checks and exclusion zones.
• Highway Works, Chapter 8 traffic management, temporary signs, cones, barriers and pedestrian routing.

A 4-week practice routine that works

If you have four weeks before your booked CITB test, this is the routine that consistently produces first-time passes. It assumes around 30-45 minutes of practice a day, which is realistic on most working schedules.

• Week 1, High-yield topic drill.One topic per day from the “big five”: Working at Height, Manual Handling, COSHH, Fire Prevention, Electrical Safety. Aim for 90%+ on a 20-question practice set before moving on.
• Week 2, Medium-yield topics.PPE, Safety Signs, Noise & Vibration, Accident Reporting, Emergency Procedures, Site Transport. Same 20-question practice sets, same 90% threshold. By the end of week 2 you have hit 11 of the 16 Operatives topics.
• Week 3, Remaining topics + first mock. Mop up Excavations, Health & Welfare, Environmental Awareness, Respiratory Risks, General Responsibilities, Hazardous Substances depth. End of week 3, take your first full 50-question mock test. Use the result to find weak topics.
• Week 4, Mock, weak-topic patch, mock. Take a full mock on day 1, drill the bottom-three weak topics on days 2-4, take a second mock on day 5, drill again on day 6, take a final mock on day 7. If your last two mocks are both 45+/50, you are ready to book.

Five sample CSCS practice questions and explanations

Here are five real-format CSCS practice questions covering the breadth of the CITB syllabus. Each one shows the correct answer and the kind of short explanation you would see after picking an answer in practice mode. They are deliberately picked from different topics to give you a flavour of the range.

Practice for Operatives, Supervisors and Managers & Professionals

The same practice tool serves every CSCS card route. The Operatives test (Green Labourer Card, Blue Skilled Worker Card, Red trainee cards) draws from the first sixteen topics on the list above. The Supervisors test for the Gold Card adds CDM 2015 duty-holder roles and mental health awareness. The Managers & Professionals (MAP) test for the Black or White Card adds Leadership, Demolition planning and Highway Works (Chapter 8). All three tests share the same 50-question, 45-minute format and the same 90% pass mark since the 2025 standardisation.

If you are not sure which route applies to you, see our guides for the Green Card, the Supervisor test and the Managers & Professionals test. Each guide explains who the card is for, what qualification you also need, and what the test covers, all in plain English.

Free vs Premium practice, what is unlocked

All 3,000+ CSCS practice questions across all 21 topics are available free. They are free to start drilling straight away, with no payment needed. Free users get topic-by-topic practice, the full mock test, instant feedback after each question and a score breakdown at the end. Premium adds three things, unlimited daily attempts (free is one full mock per day), AI-generated explanations on every wrong answer that reference the specific regulation, and progress tracking that surfaces your weakest topics over time so you do not have to remember.

Premium plans start at £2.99/week, with a £4.99/month option and a £24.99 one-off lifetime plan that never expires. There is no free trial gating, if you want to try Premium for a day you can subscribe and cancel inside the dashboard with no penalty. Most people who pay are within two weeks of their booked test and want the AI explanations on tap; otherwise the free tier is more than enough.