NV-C1 Pass Rate 2026: What the Data Shows

Why There's No Official Published Pass Rate

Anyone searching for a hard percentage on the Nevada Plumbing and Heating Contractor (C-1) Trade Exam will come up empty from official sources. The Nevada State Contractors Board and its testing administrator, PSI Services LLC, do not release aggregate pass/fail statistics for the C-1 trade exam to the public. That's a meaningful data point in itself: instead of a headline number, the most reliable way to gauge your odds is to study the mechanics the Board and PSI actually publish - the scoring threshold, the item count, the domain weighting, and the rules governing retakes.

This article breaks down exactly what those mechanics say about difficulty and preparation, without inventing numbers that don't exist in the official bulletin. If you want the deeper context on how tough the exam is structurally, pair this with our complete difficulty guide.

What Passing Actually Requires: 84 of 120

The NV-C1 trade exam consists of 120 scored questions, and you need 84 correct answers to pass - exactly 70%. That's the entire scoring standard, and it's fixed; there's no curve, no rounding adjustment, and no partial credit. You have a five-hour limit to complete the exam, computer-administered and open-book.

One detail that trips up candidates who haven't read the bulletin closely: PSI may insert between one and ten additional unscored experimental questions into your exam. These questions count against your five-hour clock even though they don't count toward your score, and you have no way of identifying which questions are experimental. That means your actual working questions could total up to 130, all drawn from the same five-hour window. Budgeting your time per question - rather than assuming exactly 120 - is a small but important adjustment. For a full breakdown of the scoring mechanics, see our dedicated NV-C1 passing score guide.

Domain Weighting and What It Predicts

The PSI bulletin (updated March 25, 2026) allocates the 120 scored items across 23 content domains. This weighting is the single most useful predictor of where your study hours should go, because heavier domains simply give you more opportunities to gain - or lose - points.

Notice that Drain, Waste, and Vents alone is worth as much as several small domains combined. Four domains - Gas Systems, Water Supply, Traps and Interceptors, and Isometric Analysis/Plumbing Mathematics - each carry 8 items, forming a second tier of high-value content. Together with Hangers and Supports, these domains account for a substantial share of your 120 points, meaning weak preparation there disproportionately hurts your score compared to weak preparation on, say, Solar or Chilled Water Piping at 3 items apiece. Our complete guide to all 23 content areas goes deeper into what each domain actually tests.

Format Factors That Shape Outcomes

Beyond content weighting, the exam's format itself influences how prepared candidates perform. The NV-C1 trade exam is open-book, but only within tightly defined limits. Exactly five references are admitted into the testing room:

• UPC 2018
• UMC 2018
• NFPA 54 (2012)
• NFPA 58 (2014)
• NFPA 13 (2019)

The bulletin separately lists study references used to build the exam content that you cannot bring with you - don't confuse those with the five admitted books above. You're allowed to advance-highlight, underline, and add permanent tabs to your approved books before test day, but handwritten notes, loose papers, and temporary tabs are prohibited. If you're unsure which editions to buy or how to prep them, our first-attempt study guide covers reference preparation in detail.

Open-book access sounds like an advantage, but it can work against unprepared candidates: flipping through unfamiliar code books under a five-hour clock costs time you don't get back. Candidates who know their references cold - through prior tabbing and highlighting - convert the open-book format into a real edge. Candidates who treat the books as a safety net without practicing lookups tend to run out of time instead.

Registration, Fees, and Retake Rules

Outcome data aside, the financial and procedural structure around the NV-C1 shapes how many attempts candidates can realistically afford. PSI charges $95 for a single examination portion, or $140 when the trade exam is paired with the Contractor Management Survey (CMS) business-and-law exam at scheduling. Note that the CMS is a fully separate exam with its own 75% passing standard - its content should never be blended into your C-1 trade study materials. Board application fees ($300) and licensing costs ($600 for the initial two-year license, $600 again at each biennial renewal) sit on top of testing fees. Our full pricing breakdown walks through every fee line item.

If you fail, Nevada imposes a mandatory two-week wait before you can retest. More consequentially, three failed attempts void your entire application, forcing you to restart the Board approval process from scratch. This rule alone is a strong argument for treating your first attempt seriously rather than viewing the exam as low-stakes practice. Our eligibility and requirements guide explains what re-applying after a voided application involves, and our scheduling guide covers how Board approval timing affects when you can actually sit for the test.

Where Candidates Typically Lose Points

While no official item-level performance data is published, the structure of the blueprint itself points to predictable trouble spots. Domains with high item counts naturally cover more subtopics, which means more surface area for gaps in knowledge to surface.

• Gas Systems (8 items): Draws heavily on NFPA 54 (2012) for sizing, venting, and appliance connection rules - a reference candidates often under-tab.
• Water Supply (8 items): Sizing and pressure-loss questions rooted in UPC 2018 that require comfort with both code lookup and basic calculation.
• Traps and Interceptors (8 items): Frequently confused with general DWV content, but tested with its own distinct code sections.
• Fire Sprinklers (5 items) and Breathing Systems for Firefighters (5 items): Smaller but reliant on NFPA 13 (2019), a reference many trade candidates handle less often day-to-day than plumbing codes.

If any of these domains feel unfamiliar, don't wait until a practice exam to find out - work through targeted domain review using the full domain guide, then verify retention with realistic timed practice on our practice test platform.

A Blueprint-Aligned Study Timeline

Generic study techniques only help when they're mapped onto the actual NV-C1 blueprint. Below is a sample allocation that weights study weeks by item count rather than by personal comfort level - a common mistake is over-studying familiar small domains and under-studying unfamiliar heavy ones.

For a more granular week-by-week plan with source recommendations for each of the 23 domains, see our study guide built for first-attempt candidates.

Who Sits for the NV-C1 and Why It Matters

Candidates typically arrive at the NV-C1 with four years of qualifying journeyman, supervisory, or contractor experience within the preceding 15 years - Board-approved education can offset up to three of those years. This means most test-takers already have hands-on familiarity with several domains (like Fixtures and Equipment or Joints and Connections) before they open a study guide, but fewer have equal field exposure to lower-frequency domains like Solar, Chilled Water Piping, or Breathing Systems for Firefighters. That imbalance in real-world exposure - not raw exam difficulty - is often the real driver behind uneven performance across domains.

Financial, bond, and applicable insurance requirements also apply before and after licensure, and renewal happens every two years. If you're weighing whether the credential is worth the investment of time and testing fees, our ROI analysis and earnings guide put the licensing costs in context against long-term career outcomes.

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