Many home inspectors in Washington State are now busy taking the state licensing test. The state test consists of 175 questions on the national part, which is the National Home Inspector Exam. The state component consists of 35 questions that encompass standards of practice, records retention, license renewal and basics that are written into the law.
The two-part exam, which is taken at testing centers in various parts of the state, is done while sitting at a computer and the questions are multiple choice with four possible answers. Anyone who has read National Home Inspector Exam study guides should be reasonably familiar with the format. If you have never seen any such practice exams, I suggest that you find some and study. While I do not consider it hard to pass the exam, questions go to enough detail that someone who was not prepared would almost assuredly fail. It is hard to skate by on specific questions about air conditioning, heat pumps, furnaces, etc.
Once you take the tests, you are told on the spot whether you passed or failed. You are not told exactly what questions you got right or wrong, but you are given a score based on category. For example, a candidate might have gotten 85% in electrical and 96% in structural content. Many questions involve common sense, ethics and the candidate's depth of understanding of the whole process.
After completing the test, if you passed, you go out to the office where they give you two forms -- one showing you passed the national portion and another for the state portion. These official forms must be submitted to the state with the licensing fee. The forms have built-in state-of-the-art high security. To prevent fraud, prior to taking the test, the test taker must prove his or her identity with photo I.D. -- so people are not paying someone like Charles Buell to skate through the test for them with his eyes closed. The candidate is fingerprinted and they take a photo on the spot -- prior to the candidate going into the testing center. They want a guarantee that the person posing for the photo, taking the test, is the candidate who will receive a license.
These procedures assure an honest test and also assure that the person who took the test is the one who is applying for and will be working under the license. There is no chance of a smart buddy taking the test for a dim bulb.
I am happy to say that I passed both sections with good scores and the official form that they provided to me is displayed below. I am ready to be licensed.
Steven L. Smith
Bellingham WA Home Inspections
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