Plumber and pipefitter apprenticeship test practice questions

Question 1. A 45° offset has a set of 20 inches. Using travel = set × 1.414, what is the travel?

1. 28.28"
2. 21.41"
3. 34.14"
4. 14.14"

Question 2. A pipe 18 feet long falls 1/4 inch per foot. What is the total fall?

1. 4 1/4"
2. 72"
3. 3 1/2"
4. 4 1/2"

Question 3. A pressure of 1 psi supports a column of water 2.31 feet high. How high a column will 40 psi support?

1. 42.3 ft
2. 924 ft
3. 92.4 ft
4. 17.3 ft

Question 4. Add 3 ft 7 in and 5 ft 9 in.

1. 9 ft 4 in
2. 8 ft 4 in
3. 9 ft 6 in
4. 8 ft 16 in

Question 5. A 40-gallon tank of water (8.33 lb per gallon) is heated from 50 °F to 120 °F. One BTU raises 1 pound of water by 1 °F. How many BTUs does that take?

1. 23,324 BTU
2. 2,800 BTU
3. 39,984 BTU
4. 16,660 BTU

Question 6. What number comes next? 5, 9, 14, 20, ___

1. 29
2. 27
3. 26
4. 25

Question 7. The apprenticeship

An apprenticeship combines paid work with classroom training. Apprentices spend most of their time on job sites, working alongside experienced journeyworkers and earning a wage that rises as they progress. Several times a year they attend classes at a training center, where they study subjects such as blueprint reading, code requirements and welding. Because the classroom hours are spread over several years, an apprentice who falls behind in one term can usually catch up in the next. What is harder to recover from is a poor attendance record on the job, which employers notice quickly.

According to the passage, which is harder to recover from?

1. Missing a blueprint reading lesson
2. A poor attendance record on the job
3. Falling behind in one term of classes
4. Failing a welding class

Question 8. Reading a drawing

An isometric drawing shows a piping system in three dimensions on a flat sheet. Vertical pipes are drawn straight up and down, while pipes running in the two horizontal directions are drawn at 30 degrees to the bottom of the page. The drawing is not to scale, so a fitter cannot measure a pipe on the paper and expect the length to be right. Instead, each length is written on the drawing as a dimension. Learning to read these drawings takes practice, but once the system of angles is understood, a single sheet can describe an entire run of pipe.

Why can't a fitter measure a pipe on the paper to find its length?

1. The paper shrinks
2. The lines are too thin to measure
3. The angles are always wrong
4. The drawing is not to scale

Question 9. Refrigerant

An air conditioner does not make cold. It moves heat from inside a building to the outside. A fluid called refrigerant does the carrying. Indoors, the refrigerant evaporates in a coil and absorbs heat from the air blown across it. Outdoors, a compressor raises the refrigerant's pressure and temperature, and it gives up that heat as it condenses back into a liquid in a second coil. Because some refrigerants harm the environment if released, technicians who handle them in the United States must be certified.

According to the passage, what does an air conditioner do?

1. Makes cold air from nothing
2. Moves cold air from outside to inside
3. Removes water from the refrigerant
4. Moves heat from inside to outside

Question 10. Two tanks are filled with water to the same depth of 10 feet. One is a narrow pipe, the other a wide tank. Where is the pressure at the bottom greater?

1. In the narrow pipe
2. It is the same in both
3. In the wide tank

Question 11. Air gets into a water line that runs up and down over a building. Where will the air bubbles collect?

1. At the pump
2. At the high points
3. At the low points
4. Evenly along the pipe

Question 12. Gear A is turned in the direction shown. Which way does gear B turn?

1. Clockwise
2. Counterclockwise
3. It cannot turn

Question 13. A square sheet of paper is folded twice (left side over to the right, then bottom up over the top) and then a hole is punched through every layer, as shown. Which picture shows the sheet when it is opened out flat again?

Choose A, B, C or D from the figure.

Question 14. Which shape is the shape in the blue box turned around, without being flipped over?

Choose A, B, C or D from the figure.

Question 15. How many cubes are in this stack? Every cube that sits on the floor or on another cube is there, even where you cannot see it.

1. 8
2. 6
3. 5
4. 7

Question 16. This flat pattern is folded along the lines to make a cube, with the letters on the outside. Which letter ends up on the face opposite R?

1. E
2. G
3. H
4. A