- HI-GEC is the site identifier for Hawaii's "A" General Engineering Contractor license exam, administered through PSI Services LLC.
- The exam has 100 scored questions plus up to 10 unscored items, delivered in 240 minutes with a 75% passing score.
- Exam fee is $85 per attempt; combined with the $80 Business and Law exam, new applicants pay $165 in exam fees alone.
- Excavation including Blasting is the largest of the 11 domains, weighted at 13 questions.
What HI-GEC Literally Stands For
HI-GEC refers specifically to the Hawaii General Engineering Contractor (A) License Exam - the official examination titled "A - General Engineering Contractor" that corresponds to contractor classification A within Hawaii's licensing system. "HI-GEC" itself is not an acronym used by the state; it is the identifier used on this site to describe that exam clearly. If you've landed here wondering what does HI-GEC stand for, the short answer is: Hawaii, General Engineering Contractor.
It's worth pinning down early because several unrelated credentials in other industries happen to share similar-sounding abbreviations. This article, and every resource linked below, deals exclusively with the Hawaii Class A contractor exam - a construction licensing exam, not a professional engineering license and not any national certification with a different fee structure or scoring model. For a broader definitional overview, see What Is HI-GEC? and HI-GEC Meaning.
Who Administers the HI-GEC Exam
The exam is governed by the Hawaii Contractors License Board, operating under the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, Professional and Vocational Licensing Division (DCCA PVL). Actual test delivery - scheduling, proctoring, and score reporting - is handled by PSI Services LLC, a third-party testing provider used across many state licensing boards.
Candidates don't register with PSI on their own initiative; the Board must approve an applicant before that applicant becomes eligible to schedule a seat. This two-step structure (Board approval, then PSI scheduling) is a detail that trips up a lot of first-time applicants, and it's covered in more depth in HI-GEC Requirements 2026.
PSI offers two delivery formats: in-person at a physical test center, or remote-proctored from a candidate's own location. Both formats are closed-book and computer-based, and both use PSI's on-screen calculator tool as the default calculation aid.
What the Exam Actually Covers
HI-GEC content is organized into 11 domains, each representing a slice of general engineering contracting work. The official question allocations are 10, 12, 13, 12, 10, 10, 12, 6, 8, 6, and 1 - meaning some domains carry far more weight than others. Understanding this distribution matters more than most candidates realize, because time spent studying a 1-question domain the same way as a 13-question domain is time misallocated.
Domain 3: Excavation including Blasting (13 questions - largest domain)
This is the single heaviest-weighted domain on the exam, covering earthmoving, cut-and-fill operations, shoring, trenching safety, and blasting procedures.
- Understand slope stability and soil classification as they relate to excavation safety.
- Know blasting sequence, controls, and site protection requirements.
Domains 2 and 4: Sitework/Surveying and Utilities (12 questions each)
Sitework including Layout and Surveying tests grading, staking, and site preparation fundamentals. Utilities covers underground and above-ground utility installation, tie-ins, and coordination with existing infrastructure.
- Practice reading site plans and survey benchmarks.
- Review utility trenching, bedding, and backfill standards.
Domain 7: Asphalt and Concrete Pavement (12 questions)
Covers paving materials, placement, compaction, and quality control for both asphalt and concrete road surfaces.
- Know mix design basics and joint/curing requirements.
The remaining domains - Bridges/Miscellaneous Structures, Heavy Equipment and Sitework, Canals/Reservoirs/Flood Control, Estimating and Plan Reading, Steel Erecting and Welding, Safety OSHA, and Metal Barriers/Striping/Signs/Fences - round out the content map with weights ranging from 1 to 10 questions. A full breakdown of every domain, with study priorities for each, is available in the HI-GEC Exam Domains 2026 guide.
Exam Format and Scoring Mechanics
The HI-GEC exam consists of 100 scored questions plus up to 10 additional unscored experimental questions mixed in without being labeled as such. Candidates get 240 minutes total, though PSI excludes time spent on the experimental items from the stated examination time - in practice, you should still pace yourself as if every question counts, since you won't know which ones are experimental.
A passing score is 75%. That threshold applies to the scored portion only. For a full explanation of how this translates to a raw number of correct answers and what happens with borderline scores, see HI-GEC Passing Score 2026.
Because the format is closed-book and computer-based, memorization of code specifics and standard practices matters more than the ability to look things up mid-exam. PSI's on-screen calculator is provided automatically, but candidates testing at a physical center may also bring their own calculator - as long as it's silent, battery-operated, nonprogrammable, nonprinting, and has no alphabetic keyboard.
| Exam Element | Detail |
|---|---|
| Scored questions | 100 |
| Unscored experimental questions | Up to 10 (time excluded) |
| Time allowed | 240 minutes |
| Passing score | 75% |
| Exam fee | $85 per attempt |
| Delivery formats | Test center or remote-proctored via PSI |
Eligibility, Fees, and Scheduling
Before scheduling an exam, Hawaii requires Board approval of the underlying application. Sole-proprietor and RME (responsible-managing-employee) applicants must:
- Be at least 18 years old and demonstrate good character.
- Document four years of qualifying on-site supervisory experience within the preceding ten years.
- Submit at least three notarized experience certificates and a chronological project list.
RME applicants must also be employed and appointed by the contracting entity they're licensing under. Sole proprietors carry additional obligations: financial-statement review, credit checks, applicable tax-clearance documentation, and proof of required insurance.
Once approved, examination eligibility lasts six months, and candidates get unlimited attempts within that window - a meaningful cushion compared to licensing exams with hard one-attempt-per-cycle rules. There's one catch: a failed attempt cannot be rebooked the same day. A retest may become available within two business days, subject to seat availability at PSI.
Key Takeaway
The $85 per-attempt fee is separate from the $50 application fee and the $80 Business and Law exam fee that new applicants must also pass - bringing total exam-related fees to $165 before any application or preparation costs. See the full HI-GEC Certification Cost 2026 breakdown for how these stack up against renewal costs.
After licensure, renewal occurs on September 30 of even-numbered years. Active 2026 renewal fees are $338 for entities or sole proprietors and $208 for RMEs. Renewing entities and sole proprietors also need matching-name tax clearance issued within six months of renewal, and insurance coverage must stay in force throughout.
Who Needs to Pass HI-GEC
The Class A license is aimed at contractors performing heavy-civil and infrastructure work in Hawaii - think excavation firms, road and bridge builders, utility installation crews, and companies handling canal, reservoir, or flood-control projects. It's not aimed at building-trade specialists whose work falls under other classification letters, and it's not a substitute for professional engineering credentials.
Typical candidates fall into two categories defined by the application itself: sole proprietors establishing their own contracting business, and RMEs who will serve as the qualifying supervisor for an existing contracting entity. Both paths require the same four-year supervisory experience threshold and the same exam, but sole proprietors carry extra financial and insurance documentation burdens that RMEs don't.
If you're trying to determine whether this path fits your career trajectory or budget, the analysis in Is the HI-GEC Certification Worth It? and the field-specific outlook in HI-GEC Salary Guide 2026 are useful starting points. For active openings and how license holders are typically hired, see HI-GEC Jobs.
What Happens After You Pass
Passing the exam is one requirement among several for holding a Class A license - it doesn't automatically issue a license on its own. Applicants still need to satisfy the documentation requirements (experience certificates, project list, financial and insurance items) and receive final Board approval. Once licensed, the September 30 even-year renewal cycle governs ongoing compliance, including the tax-clearance and insurance conditions mentioned above.
Understanding the full arc - application, approval, exam, licensure, renewal - helps candidates avoid the common mistake of treating the exam as the finish line rather than a gate along a longer administrative process. The HI-GEC Certification overview and What Is HI-GEC Certification? walk through this full lifecycle in more detail.
How to Prepare for the Specific Content
Generic study advice rarely accounts for how lopsided HI-GEC's domain weighting is. Since Excavation including Blasting alone accounts for 13 of 100 scored questions, and Sitework/Surveying and Utilities each carry 12, over a third of the exam sits in just three domains. A study plan that spends equal time across all 11 domains is misallocating effort.
Heaviest domains first
- Excavation including Blasting (13 questions)
- Sitework including Layout and Surveying (12 questions)
- Utilities (12 questions)
Mid-weight domains
- Bridges/Miscellaneous Structures (10)
- Heavy Equipment and Sitework (10)
- Asphalt and Concrete Pavement (12)
- Canals, Reservoirs and Flood Control (10)
Lighter but still-tested domains
- Estimating and Plan Reading (8)
- Steel Erecting and Welding (6)
- Safety OSHA (6)
- Metal Barriers, Striping, Signs, and Fences (1)
Within each study block, pull directly from the listed references - the road and bridge specifications for pavement and excavation topics, the welding manual for steel erecting content, and the traffic control manual for the barriers/signs/striping domain. Since the exam is closed-book, the goal is internalizing standard values and procedures well enough to recall them without a reference in front of you.
A structured walkthrough of pacing, practice-question strategy, and common pitfalls by domain is available in the HI-GEC Study Guide 2026. If you're unsure how demanding the exam actually is relative to your background, How Hard Is the HI-GEC Exam? breaks down difficulty by content area rather than relying on vague reassurance. And for quick pre-exam review, the HI-GEC Cheat Sheet 2026 condenses must-know facts into a single page.
Running realistic practice questions against the actual domain weighting - not a generic construction quiz - is one of the more reliable ways to gauge readiness before the real 240-minute session. You can start working through domain-weighted practice questions on the main practice test site to see where your weak spots actually sit before you schedule with PSI.
Frequently Asked Questions
On this site, HI-GEC refers exclusively to the Hawaii General Engineering Contractor (A) License Exam administered through the Hawaii Contractors License Board and PSI Services LLC. Other industries may use similar-sounding abbreviations for unrelated credentials, but none of that applies here.
There are 100 scored questions plus up to 10 unscored experimental questions, with 240 minutes allotted. Time spent on experimental questions is excluded from the stated exam time, though you won't know which questions are experimental while testing.
The passing score is 75% on the scored portion of the exam. See the HI-GEC Passing Score 2026 page for more detail on how this is calculated.
No. A failed exam cannot be rebooked the same day. A retest may be available within two business days, subject to seat availability with PSI, and you have unlimited attempts within your six-month eligibility window.
Excavation including Blasting carries the most weight at 13 of the 100 scored questions, making it the single highest-priority domain, followed closely by Sitework including Layout and Surveying, Utilities, and Asphalt and Concrete Pavement at 12 questions each.