CSCS Highway works Specialist Test
HIWOperatives working on roads, streets and highway maintenance.
Sitting the HIW test soon? Practise under exam conditions on our timed paper: 50 questions in 45 minutes, 20 on Highway works and 30 from the core.
50
questions
45
minutes
45/50
to pass (90%)
£23.50
test fee
What the Highway works test covers
The Highway works specialist section tests temporary traffic management under Chapter 8, cones, signing, lighting and guarding, high-visibility clothing, working near live traffic, and excavation and reinstatement in the highway. Those questions sit alongside the five core Operatives knowledge areas, and CITB calls this specialism Highway works. In detail:
- Temporary traffic management and Chapter 8
- Cones, signing, lighting and guarding
- High-visibility clothing requirements
- Working near live traffic
- Excavations and reinstatement in the highway
Practise Highway works questions
A practice quiz of 20, drawn fresh each time from 113 exam-style questions with worked explanations, drawn from our Highway Works (Specialist) bank.
Highway works (HIW): practice quiz
- 20 questions · 30 minutes · pass mark 90%
- Answers and explanations are shown at the end, with every question to review.
- A fresh 20 questions every time, drawn from all 113 in this bank.
- About 90 seconds a question, against about 54 in the real test, so there is time to think.
How the Highway works test is structured
CITB builds every Specialist test the same way: the five core knowledge areas from the Operatives test, plus questions specific to your specialism. Those core areas are working environment, occupational health, safety, high risk activities and specialist, and they account for the larger share of the 50 questions. The practical consequence is that most of your revision for the HIW test is the same revision every operative on site does, so start there and add the specialist material on top.
Same format as every HS&E test
50 questions in 45 minutes with a 45 out of 50 pass mark. Five wrong answers are allowed and a sixth fails you.
Booked as one exam
The core and specialist questions come in one 45-minute appointment costing £23.50, not as two separate sittings.
Your card decides it
The specialism follows from the CSCS card you are applying for. Confirm with the official Card Finder before booking.
Revising for Highway works: fix the core first
Because the core is shared, the fastest way to raise your score on any specialist test is to fix weaknesses in the core knowledge first. Sit a full CSCS mock test for Operatives cold, read the per-topic breakdown, then drill whichever of the CSCS test questions and answers cost you the most marks. Come back to the specialist material once the core is reliable, because a specialist section cannot rescue a weak core: the core is simply the bigger half of the paper.
When you are clearing 45 out of 50 consistently rather than once, read what ID to bring and how to book the CSCS test. Turning up without the right identification means no test and no refund, which is the commonest avoidable way to lose the £23.50.
Related specialist tests
These sit closest to Highway works in trade and in hazard. If you are unsure which specialism your card requires, compare them before you book.
Next steps
Confirm this is the right test with the official CSCS Card Finder, then book your Specialist test. Compare the other 11 specialist tests if you are unsure.
Sit a timed 50-question HIW paper, 20 Highway works questions and 30 from the core, on the CSCS Specialist mock test.
Topic name and code verified against citb.co.uk, July 2026.