Pipefitter, steamfitter and sprinkler fitter apprenticeship tests

The United Association covers several trades: the UA lists plumbing, pipefitting, steamfitting, sprinkler fitting, HVACR and welding among its apprenticeship tracks. A common question is whether each trade has its own entrance test. In practice the test depends on the local you apply to, not the trade. One local often trains several trades and uses one test for all of them.

One local, several trades, one test

Plumbers & Steamfitters Local 7's recruitment notice, filed with the New York State Department of Labor, advertises plumber and pipefitter, HVAC mechanic and industrial welder apprenticeships together, and asks every applicant to pass the "Wonderlic Basic Skills" test with a score of 50 or higher to be interviewed. Steamfitters Local 602's application flyer covers pipefitting, welding, heating, air conditioning and refrigeration, and gives every applicant an aptitude and/or math test on the day they apply.

Pipefitters and steamfitters

Steamfitter locals publish some of the clearest material. Local 602's sample math test covers whole numbers, decimals and fractions by hand, feet-and-inches and gallons-and-quarts division, BTUs, the pressure of a column of water, circles, percentages and solving for x. Local 342 in California, a plumbers and steamfitters local, tests math (numerical ability), spatial relations and mechanical aptitude with a 75% composite pass mark.

Steamfitting and pipefitting work involves heating, cooling and process piping, so the heat and pressure problems in Local 602's sample are a fair guide to the flavor, even where a local's test is a general aptitude battery.

Plumbers

Plumbing locals vary just as much. Plumbers Local 1 in New York City ranks applicants on an aptitude test approved by the state Department of Labor combined with an interview. It also sets a math bar on the application itself: grades of at least 70 or "C" in two high-school math courses, or a TABE math score as an alternative. Other plumbing locals use multi-section aptitude batteries or WorkKeys — UA Local 333 in Michigan, which trains plumbers, pipefitters and HVAC mechanics, asks for ACT WorkKeys scores in Workplace Documents, Applied Mathematics and Graphic Literacy.

Sprinkler fitters

Sprinkler fitters are organized differently from most of the UA: Sprinkler Fitters Local 669 runs its apprenticeship through one JATC whose training site describes a nationwide territory, rather than a local in each city. The qualifications it publishes — at least 18, a high school diploma or GED, physically fit for the work, and able to pass a drug test and medical — do not mention an aptitude test, and we could not find a public description of any entrance test. Read the JATC's current application instructions before you prepare. If a test is part of your application, the abilities other locals test — math by hand, reading and mechanical reasoning — are a sensible place to start.

HVAC-R service technicians

HVAC-R apprenticeships in the UA are usually run by the same locals as plumbing and pipefitting, as Local 7 and Local 333 show, and use the same entrance test. Expect math with heat and temperature problems: BTUs, tons of cooling and converting between Fahrenheit and Celsius.

What this means for your preparation

• Find your local's notice first. It tells you the test, the sections and the pass mark — they vary by local.
• Whatever the trade, practise math by hand: fractions, decimals, percentages, feet and inches, and simple formulas.
• If the notice names mechanical aptitude or spatial relations, practise those too. They are the sections people are least likely to have seen since school.

Our UA aptitude practice covers math, reading, mechanical and spatial reasoning, with a free sample of each.