The UA apprenticeship aptitude test explained

If you apply to a United Association (UA) apprenticeship — plumber, pipefitter, steamfitter, sprinkler fitter, HVAC-R service technician or welder — you will almost certainly sit a written aptitude test before you are interviewed. The UA describes its apprenticeships as typically lasting five years. What it does not have is one national entrance test. Each local's apprenticeship committee (usually called a JATC) chooses its own, so the sections, timing and pass mark vary by local — check your local's notice.

This guide sets out what locals publish about their tests, and marks clearly where something is a prep provider's description or our own advice rather than an official rule.

What locals say they test

A few locals publish enough to see the pattern. These are examples, not a complete list:

Local	What its own notice says
Plumbers & Steamfitters Local 342 (California)	Qualifying test in math (numerical ability), spatial relations and mechanical aptitude; minimum passing score a 75% composite grade; passing applicants are then interviewed
Plumbers & Pipefitters Local 396 (Ohio)	Aptitude exam held on one morning; 70% or higher to move on to the interview; applicants then placed on a ranking list on their overall score
Steamfitters Local 602 (Maryland/Virginia)	An aptitude and/or math test on the day you apply; publishes a sample math test
Plumbers & Steamfitters Local 7 (New York)	The "Wonderlic Basic Skills" test, with a score of 50 or higher needed to be interviewed
Plumbers Local 1 (New York City)	An aptitude test approved by the New York State Department of Labor plus an interview, combined into one score for the ranked list
Plumbers & Pipefitters Local 189 (Ohio)	"A Differential Aptitude Test and Ramsay Aptitude Test or other validated aptitude test" given by a third-party testing agency
UA Local 333 (Michigan)	ACT WorkKeys scores in Workplace Documents, Applied Mathematics and Graphic Literacy, at least 4 in each and 14 in total

So two locals a few hundred miles apart can set completely different tests. Math is the common thread: every notice above that names its test or lists its sections includes math, either as a section of its own or as part of the named test.

The "140-question" test

Prep providers describe a single battery that many UA locals use: Psychometric Success, for example, describes 140 questions in six timed sections — reading comprehension, numerical computation, numerical reasoning, folding, problem solving and mechanical comprehension — in 120 minutes. Locals do not publish those details on the pages we found, so treat them as a description of what to expect, not an official blueprint. If your local's notice names the test or its sections, that is what counts.

What the math looks like

Steamfitters Local 602's published sample math test is the clearest public example of what locals mean by math. It starts with plain arithmetic — adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing whole numbers, decimals and fractions, with divisions carried to the hundredth or thousandth — and moves on to trade-flavored problems:

• dividing a length in feet and inches, and a volume in gallons and quarts, with no fractions or decimals in the answer;
• converting meters to feet and kilometers to miles;
• BTUs needed to heat a weight of water;
• the pressure of a column of water, given that 2.31 feet of water exerts 1 psi;
• the circumference and area of a circle;
• percentages, simple interest and solving for x;
• reading a ruler.

Our UA math practice covers the same ground with original questions, and our pipe offset math guide covers the arithmetic fitters use most.

Pass marks and ranking

Where locals publish a pass mark, the ones we found are 70% (Local 396) and 75% (Local 342), and Local 7 uses a minimum Wonderlic score of 50. Passing is usually the gate to an interview, not a place. Local 396 ranks applicants on their overall score after the interview, and Local 1 combines its aptitude test and interview into one score for its ranked list. A higher score can therefore matter even when you have already passed.

Calculators and timing

Locals rarely say in their public notices whether a calculator is allowed or how long each section lasts. Local 602's sample test is built to be worked by hand. Our advice: practise without a calculator and against a clock, then follow the instructions on your own test day. (For comparison, one New York local's math alternative, the TABE, has a 40-question computation part that is taken without a calculator in 25 minutes.)

How to find out what your local uses

1. Find your local's apprenticeship or training-center page, or the recruitment notice it files with your state's apprenticeship agency.
2. Look for the test's name (WorkKeys, Wonderlic, Wiesen, or "aptitude test"), the sections it lists, and the pass mark.
3. If it is not stated, call the training center. They field this question every recruitment.

How to prepare

Whatever your local uses, the same few skills carry most of the score: arithmetic by hand, reading carefully, mechanical common sense and seeing shapes in three dimensions. Our how to pass the UA aptitude test guide has a four-week plan, and the UA practice tests have a free sample for each section.