In my last column I mentioned in passing the RIBA pilot health and safety test. I’ve now taken it. I am tentatively in favour of competence testing but I hate multiple choice questions with a passion. My brain has an annoying tendency to distrust certainty, so does not respond well to four statements of which two “could” be correct, but only one is. As a result I tend to overthink multiple choice questions and fail them. I did, though, pass this one.

The pilot test is 40 questions in two sections – 20 covering personal site safety, 20 covering design risk management. To pass you need to correctly answer a minimum of 18/20 in each section within two hours. It reminded me of the test for the Construction Skills Certification Scheme (CSCS), which is also multiple choice. The comparison between the two is also helpful as CSCS also seeks to periodically assess basic competence and there is considerable overlap of content. To pass the test for CSCS you need to answer 50 questions in 45 minutes and get 46 correct.

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