How to prepare for the RBQ exams: a 4-week study plan

This guide answers one practical question: how do you split four weeks across the three RBQ management exams without walking into the room with a module you never opened? The plan is a suggestion from RBQexam. The Board recommends no study time, and this guide does not claim otherwise.

The logic of the plan: one week, one exam

The three exams are not the same size. Administration has 4 modules and 24 competency elements, Project and site management has 5 modules and 26 elements, and Safety management has 4 modules and 33 elements. The plan gives each exam one week, in that order, then devotes a fourth week entirely to simulations. That order puts the shortest exam (Safety management, 1 hour 30 minutes) at the point where you are already used to reading legal texts.

The PDF does more than tell you what to read. It sets a daily rhythm in four blocks: 15 minutes to review yesterday’s material from memory, 45 to 60 minutes on the day’s topic, 30 minutes of timed questions, and 5 minutes to note two mistakes with the correct rule. Five study days a week leave two days to go back over weak spots.

Learning to time yourself

This is the angle that sets this guide apart. Each week ends with a timed quiz: one hour on the modules covered for Administration and Project and site management, 45 minutes for Safety management. Week 4 then moves to full simulations at the real exam length, with no notes and only the documents the Board provides.

After each simulation, the guide asks you to sort every mistake into one of four categories: calculation, forgotten rule, misreading, or running out of time. The distinction changes how you revise. Running out of time is fixed by practising how to locate an article in a supplied text; a forgotten rule is fixed by rereading. The guide also explains why aiming for 60% is a mistake: it is the minimum, not the goal.

A look inside

• A table of what the Board publishes (lengths, the 60% passing mark, modules, documents provided) and what it does not (number of questions, weight per module, pass rate per exam).
• The day-by-day plan for weeks 1 to 3, with the modules to master each day.
• Week 4: one simulation per exam, then your weak points.
• Variants for a single exam, for only two weeks, or for more than four weeks.

The guide also relies on one figure from the Board’s 2024-2025 annual management report: 49% of the exams administered were new versions. Memorizing questions is therefore not a strategy. For a wider view of preparation, read our article on how to prepare for the RBQ exam.

Who it is for, and what it leaves out

It is written for the future guarantor who must sit Administration, Project and site management and Safety management, and who wants a calendar rather than a reading list. It does not cover the detailed content of each module: the exam-by-exam cheat sheets go further. It does not cover the construction work exams 1.1.1, 1.1.2, 1.2 and 1.3 either, which are open-book against the code and have their own cheat sheet, nor exemptions through a recognized training program.

Last checked: October 7, 2026. Next review planned: December 15, 2026. Once you finish week 3, measure yourself with a free practice exam.