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313A study planner: from your exam date to a week-by-week plan.
Enter your exam date and the hours you can give it each week. You get a plan that spends your time where the 125 questions come from, a calendar file, and a pacing card for the four hours on exam day.
Example: 12 weeks at 5 hours a week. Enter your date above for your own.
- Week 15 h
Baseline, then maintenance, service and troubleshooting
- Take the free 30-question diagnostic to see which areas cost you marks
- Read the exam format: four hours, 70% to pass, and whether your sitting is on paper or on screen
- Start F: Performs maintenance and service (28 questions on the exam)
- Week 25 h
Maintenance, service and troubleshooting
- F: Performs maintenance and service (28 questions on the exam)
- Mixed review of earlier areas and anything in your review queue
- Week 35 h
Maintenance, service and troubleshooting + Installing systems and controls
- F: Performs maintenance and service (28 questions on the exam)
- D: Performs installation (26 questions on the exam)
- Mixed review of earlier areas and anything in your review queue
- Week 45 h
Installing systems and controls
- D: Performs installation (26 questions on the exam)
- Mixed review of earlier areas and anything in your review queue
- Week 55 h
Installing systems and controls + Commissioning and start-up
- D: Performs installation (26 questions on the exam)
- E: Performs commissioning (21 questions on the exam)
- Mixed review of earlier areas and anything in your review queue
- Week 65 h
Commissioning and start-up + Tools, piping and refrigerant handling
- E: Performs commissioning (21 questions on the exam)
- B: Performs routine trade activities (19 questions on the exam)
- Mixed review of earlier areas and anything in your review queue
- Week 75 h
Tools, piping and refrigerant handling + Planning installs and retrofits
- B: Performs routine trade activities (19 questions on the exam)
- C: Plans installation (18 questions on the exam)
- Mixed review of earlier areas and anything in your review queue
- Week 85 h
Planning installs and retrofits
- C: Plans installation (18 questions on the exam)
- Mixed review of earlier areas and anything in your review queue
- Week 95 h
Planning installs and retrofits + Safety and trade practice
- C: Plans installation (18 questions on the exam)
- A: Performs common occupational skills (13 questions on the exam)
- Mixed review of earlier areas and anything in your review queue
- Week 105 h
Mixed practice at exam pace
- Timed mixed sets at the pacing card's speed
- Redo every question you missed, and read why each wrong option is wrong
- If your exam is on screen, log in to rsexam.ca once the activation email arrives and practise with the system
- Week 115 h
Close the last gaps
- Return to the two areas where your practice is still weakest
- One more timed mixed set
- Re-read the formula list Red Seal provides, so you know what's given and what isn't
- Week 125 h
Exam week
- Short mixed sets only; no new topics
- Rehearse the pacing card below once, timed
- Pack government photo ID. Phones, watches, smart glasses and hats stay out of the room
- Sleep. A tired read of a question costs more than one more hour of study
Where the area hours go
| Area | Major Work Activity | Questions | Share | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| F | Performs maintenance and service | 28 | 22% | 7.5 h |
| D | Performs installation | 26 | 21% | 7 h |
| E | Performs commissioning | 21 | 17% | 6 h |
| B | Performs routine trade activities | 19 | 15% | 5 h |
| C | Plans installation | 18 | 14% | 5 h |
| A | Performs common occupational skills | 13 | 10% | 3.5 h |
- After the diagnostic, move time toward the areas you actually miss. This plan starts from the exam's split, not from you.
Exam-day pacing card
Skilled Trades Ontario gives four hours for the exam and needs 70% to pass. Spread evenly, that is under two minutes a question. Pace a little faster on the first pass and you keep half an hour for the questions you flag.
1 min 40 s per question on the first pass
| Time used | Where you should be |
|---|---|
| 1:00 | Around question 35 |
| 2:00 | Around question 71 |
| 3:00 | Around question 107 |
| 3:30 | First pass done: all 125 answered, hard ones flagged |
| 3:30–4:00 | 30 minutes for flagged questions. Leave nothing blank |
Source for the time limit and pass mark: Skilled Trades Ontario Exam Preparation Guide (June 2026), checked 2026-09-24. The checkpoints are our arithmetic, not an official rule.
How the plan is built
- Hours follow the questions. Each work area gets study time in proportion to its share of the current exam: maintenance and service (F) has 28 of the 125 questions, so it gets the most; common occupational skills (A) has 13, so it gets the least.
- Heaviest areas first. F, D and E hold 75 of the 125 questions, so they come early, while you have the most time.
- A fifth of each week goes back over earlier areas. Material you studied a month ago fades unless you return to it.
- The last weeks are mixed and timed. The exam mixes areas and runs on a clock; the end of the plan does too.
- Week one starts with a baseline. The plan starts from the exam's split, not from you. Once you know which areas you actually miss, move time toward them.
Question counts per area: Red Seal current-exam self-assessment guide, checked 2026-09-24. How the two Red Seal standards differ is on the exam page.