MN General Contractor study plan
MN General Contractor · Give each week a clear focus.
8 weeks · About 7 hours per week
Building Codes and Construction Technology & Contract Law, Liens, and Project Administration
Map each major code chapter (footings, foundations, floor/wall/roof framing, egress, stairs, guards, glazing) to its exam weight and flag the ten highest-yield sections
Reconstruct Minnesota lien law from memory into a dated timeline: pre-lien notice, lien recording window, foreclosure deadline, and waiver types
Build a 60-question practice set on footings, foundations, and framing, then grade and annotate every miss
Draft a 40-card flashcard deck on contract formation, breach, damages, and remedies
Your checkpoint
A two-page reference sheet pairing the code chapter-to-exam map with a dated Minnesota mechanic's lien timeline, reproduced from memory with no notes.
Building Codes and Construction Technology & Contract Law, Liens, and Project Administration
Work load/span tables, stair geometry, guard and handrail dimensions, and safety glazing locations, self-quizzing each block until errors drop to zero
List the required elements of a written home improvement contract under state law and compare against two sample contracts
Complete 80 mixed code and contract-law questions and log every miss by root cause (misread, unknown rule, unit error)
Distinguish conditional vs. unconditional and progress vs. final lien waivers and state when each protects the owner
Your checkpoint
An error log of 80 practice questions with every miss categorized by cause and a corrected one-sentence rule statement for each.
Business Management and Financial Operations & Contract Law, Liens, and Project Administration
Build a 12-month cash-flow and job-costing spreadsheet for a small contracting business using realistic overhead and labor burden
Compute markup versus margin on ten sample jobs and identify which bids would have lost money
Recite contractor licensing, insurance, and bond requirements from memory without prompts
Outline the dispute-resolution ladder from punch list through mediation to lien foreclosure
Your checkpoint
A working spreadsheet with ten job-cost scenarios, markup/margin checks, and a one-page licensing, insurance, and bonding checklist.
Business Management and Financial Operations & Building Codes and Construction Technology
Calculate footing, concrete, and framing quantities across three takeoff exercises and reconcile against an answer key
Read a sample income statement and balance sheet and identify three warning ratios
Sequence the inspection phases for a residential project and state who must be licensed or insured at each phase
Score at least 70% on a 50-question mixed Domain 1/2 quiz
Your checkpoint
A takeoff packet for three practice jobs plus a one-page quarterly financial review with ratio flags.
Jobsite Safety, Labor, and Environmental Compliance & Business Management and Financial Operations
Memorize the OSHA Focus Four hazards and the required abatement for each
Write a site-specific fall protection, ladder, and scaffold plan for a two-story remodel
Compute how a workers' compensation experience modifier changes a bid price on two sample jobs
Summarize injury recordkeeping and reporting thresholds and who is responsible on site
Your checkpoint
A written site safety plan covering fall protection, ladders, scaffolding, and excavation, with the governing standard cited for each control.
Jobsite Safety, Labor, and Environmental Compliance & Contract Law, Liens, and Project Administration
Map environmental obligations: lead-safe renovation, asbestos handling, stormwater permits, and jobsite waste disposal
Draft a subcontractor clause set covering indemnity, insurance, safety responsibility, and payment timing
Create a 25-item jobsite audit checklist and score a mock walk-through against it
Apply the worker-classification test to three scenarios and state the payroll consequences of misclassification
Your checkpoint
A 25-item jobsite audit checklist plus a subcontractor clause matrix scored against three scenario fact patterns.
Business Management and Financial Operations & Building Codes and Construction Technology & Contract Law, Liens, and Project Administration & Jobsite Safety, Labor, and Environmental Compliance
Re-attempt every missed question from weeks 1-6 and reach 90% or better
Take one 150-question timed practice exam and analyze scores by domain
Rewrite weak-topic notes into a single condensed review document
Rehearse exam-day time budgeting and question-triage strategy
Your checkpoint
A five-page condensed review sheet and a ranked list of the ten weakest topics with a specific remediation action for each.
Business Management and Financial Operations & Building Codes and Construction Technology & Contract Law, Liens, and Project Administration & Jobsite Safety, Labor, and Environmental Compliance
Take two full-length timed practice exams under exam conditions and score 80% or better on both
Review only flagged and missed items, closing each with a written correction
Consolidate all numeric values (deadlines, thresholds, ratios, clearances) onto one final sheet
Restate the four domain weightings and confirm preparation is balanced across them
Your checkpoint
Two scored full-length exams with every miss corrected in writing and a final one-page numbers-and-deadlines sheet.
Milestones
Week 2: Score 65% or better on a 60-question mixed Domain 2/3 quiz and show a completed error log with causes assigned.
Week 4: Score 65% or better on a 100-question mixed exam covering Domains 1-3, with no single domain below 55%.
Week 6: Score 70% or better on a 75-question mixed exam covering Domains 1 and 4, and produce both the safety plan and the audit checklist.
Week 8: Score 80% or better on two consecutive full-length timed practice exams, with all four domain scores at 70% or above.