Gold Seal exam

The exam is offered four times a year (March, June, September and November)

Exam dates

Exam information

The Gold Seal Certification exam is multiple-choice and is written at the applicants’ home or office. Since this is primarily an experience-based exam, there is no study guide. However, applicants are encouraged to review previous course material, company policies and procedures, the sample exam questions and the competency self-assessment.

Eligibility 

• To be eligible to write the exam, applicants must enroll in the Gold Seal Certification Program and be approved as a Gold Seal Intern (GSI). As a GSI, they have up to five years to meet the requirements, submit their GSC application and be approved to write the Gold Seal exam.
• Only applicants with an approved GSC application will be invited to select their exam date and write the exam. 
• Note that approved and conditionally approved applicants must write the Gold Seal exam within one year of the application approval date. Similarly, those who wish to rewrite the exam must do so within one year from the last attempt. Applicants who do not write within the year must restart the application process.

Exam preparation

• The exam prep webinar recording is available on our YouTube channel. After watching the webinar, writers can contact the Gold Seal team at goldseal@cca-acc.com with any questions.
• One week before the exam, the Gold Seal team will send an email confirming the date and time of the exam, as well as the login information for the exam platform.  
• If writers need to reschedule their exam, they must email goldseal@cca-acc.com.
• If writers do not attend the exam on the selected date, they must book a rewrite for $125 (plus applicable taxes).

The exam 

• The exam is available at noon Eastern time.  If applicants require accommodation for the exam, they are welcome to speak with the Gold Seal team. The type of accommodation varies and can include, i.e., additional time.
• The exam features randomized questions and answers. 
• The Estimator, Foreperson, and Safety Practitioner exams are 3 hours long, with 150 questions​. 
• The Owner’s Construction Manager, Project Manager, and Superintendent​ exams are 3.5 hours long, with 180 questions. 
• The passing mark is 70% and above. Exam marks are final.  
• Writers will receive their exam marks immediately upon completion.
• GSC certificates are shipped within 3-4 weeks after the exam.
• Applicants who fail the exam are welcome to book a rewrite for $125. There is no limit to the number of times applicants can rewrite the exam.

Competencies tested in the exam

The Gold Seal Certification Program has worked with adult learning professionals, industry experts and groups of volunteer industry practitioners to define the knowledge, skills, and abilities that construction professionals working in Gold Seal designations should have. Applicants are encouraged to use the competency self-assessment tool to evaluate themselves against the competencies tested in the exam and to identify improvement areas.

Sample questions

These 20 sample questions for each designation include examples of the types of questions and content that will appear on the Gold Seal exams.

Note that all exam questions and answers are the property of the Canadian Construction Association.

• Estimator
• Foreperson
• Owner’s Construction Manager
• Project Manager
• Safety Practitioner
• Superintendent

Technical requirements

• Browser: Up-to-date version of Chrome, Internet Explorer, Firefox or Edge.
• Monitor: 11” or larger
• Mouse, touchpad
• The use of a non-programmable calculator is permitted.

Support materials

• Exam support document
• Glossary