CSCS Refrigeration & A/C Specialist Test
RAACRefrigeration and air conditioning engineers.
Sitting the RAAC test soon? Practise under exam conditions on our timed paper: 50 questions in 45 minutes, 20 on Refrigeration & A/C and 30 from the core.
50
questions
45
minutes
45/50
to pass (90%)
£23.50
test fee
What the Refrigeration & A/C test covers
The Specialist test combines the five core Operatives knowledge areas with questions specific to HVACR: refrigeration and air conditioning, which is what CITB calls this specialism. Expect the specialist section to focus on:
- Refrigerant handling and F-gas awareness
- Asphyxiation risk in plant rooms
- Pressure systems safety
- Electrical isolation of plant
- Working at height on external units
Practise Refrigeration & A/C questions
A practice quiz of 20, drawn fresh each time from 101 exam-style questions with worked explanations, written for the RAAC specialist section from the regulations and HSE guidance that govern this work.
Refrigeration & A/C (RAAC): 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 101 in this bank.
- About 90 seconds a question, against about 54 in the real test, so there is time to think.
10 sample Refrigeration & A/C questions and answers
These 10 come from the 101 questions the practice quiz above draws from, written out with the correct answer and the reasoning behind it. Read them through when you want to revise rather than test yourself.
1. Under the F gas rules in force in Great Britain, when is it lawful to release fluorinated refrigerant gas into the atmosphere on purpose?
Answer: Only when the release is technically necessary for the intended use
- A) When the system is being scrapped and the old refrigerant is too dirty to sell on
- B) When you are working outdoors and the refrigerant will disperse quickly
- C) Only when the release is technically necessary for the intended use (correct answer)
- D) When less than 3kg of refrigerant is left in the plant after recovery
Why: Article 3(1) of Regulation (EU) No 517/2014, which applies in Great Britain as assimilated law, prohibits the intentional release of fluorinated greenhouse gases into the atmosphere where the release is not technically necessary for the intended use. Any gas left in a system must be recovered by a certified person.
2. Under the Electricity at Work Regulations 1989, which of these is NOT one of the conditions that must be met before a person works on or near a live conductor where danger may arise?
Answer: Turning the power off would interrupt the customer's process
- A) It is unreasonable in all the circumstances for the conductor to be dead
- B) Turning the power off would interrupt the customer's process (correct answer)
- C) It is reasonable in all the circumstances for the person to be at work on or near it while it is live
- D) Suitable precautions, including suitable protective equipment where necessary, are taken to prevent injury
Why: Regulation 14 of the Electricity at Work Regulations 1989 sets three conditions, and all three must be met before live working is allowed. Commercial inconvenience, such as not wanting to interrupt a customer's process, is not one of them.
3. The maker's data plate on a liquid receiver is in the way of a new insulation jacket you are fitting. What does the law say about that plate?
Answer: It must stay on. Nobody may remove a mark or plate carrying the manufacturer's required information from a pressure vessel
- A) It must stay on. Nobody may remove a mark or plate carrying the manufacturer's required information from a pressure vessel (correct answer)
- B) You may take it off as long as you photograph it first and keep the picture with the plant records
- C) You may take it off once the receiver is more than 10 years old and has been through a written scheme examination
- D) You may take it off and copy the same details onto the receiver shell in permanent marker instead
Why: Regulation 5(5) of the Pressure Systems Safety Regulations 2000 states that no person shall remove from a pressure vessel any mark or plate containing any of the information specified in Schedule 3. Regulation 5(6) also makes it an offence for any person to falsify a mark on a pressure system relating to its design, construction, test or operation.
4. An engineer is found unconscious in a plant room after a refrigerant leak, is taken to hospital and comes round the same day. Is that reportable under RIDDOR 2013?
Answer: Yes. Loss of consciousness caused by asphyxia is a specified injury and must be reported
- A) No, because he came round again the same day and was not kept in hospital overnight for observation
- B) No, because he was not physically injured, only overcome by the refrigerant
- C) Yes. Loss of consciousness caused by asphyxia is a specified injury and must be reported (correct answer)
- D) Only if he is then off his normal work for more than seven consecutive days after the leak
Why: Regulation 4(1)(g) of the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013 lists loss of consciousness caused by head injury or asphyxia as an injury that triggers the reporting procedure. That duty stands on its own, so it does not depend on how quickly the person recovers. The over seven day rule in regulation 4(2) is a separate, additional trigger.
5. A cold store with an ammonia plant is sold and a new company takes over as user. What must the outgoing user do with the pressure system paperwork?
Answer: Give everything kept under the record keeping duty to the new user, in writing, as soon as is practicable
- A) Destroy it, because the paperwork relates to an ammonia plant that they no longer own or operate themselves
- B) Keep it for five years at the old head office, and send copies on to the new user once the new user asks for them
- C) Give everything kept under the record keeping duty to the new user, in writing, as soon as is practicable (correct answer)
- D) Send it to the enforcing authority for the site instead of passing it on to the new user
Why: Regulation 14(3) of the Pressure Systems Safety Regulations 2000 says that where the user or owner of a pressure system changes, the previous user or owner shall as soon as is practicable give to the new user or owner in writing anything kept by them under that regulation. That includes the last written scheme examination report and any postponement agreement.
6. A portable air conditioning unit is wheeled from office to office by the staff who use it. How does the F gas law in force in Great Britain classify it?
Answer: As stationary equipment, because stationary is defined to include moveable room air-conditioning appliances
- A) As mobile equipment, because the staff can move it between rooms whenever they like to use it, even while running
- B) As a technical aerosol, because the refrigerant is sealed inside a small portable casing
- C) As outside the F gas rules altogether, because it is not fixed to the fabric of the building
- D) As stationary equipment, because stationary is defined to include moveable room air-conditioning appliances (correct answer)
Why: Article 2 of Regulation (EU) No 517/2014 defines stationary as not normally in transit during operation, and says it includes moveable room air-conditioning appliances. Mobile means normally in transit during operation.
7. A leak on a chiller has been found, repaired and its cause identified as a cracked flare nut. What does the leak checking regulation say about the cause?
Answer: It must be written into the equipment records
- A) It must be written into the equipment records (correct answer)
- B) It only needs telling to the operator verbally
- C) It must be reported to HSE within 15 days
- D) It needs recording only if the leak recurs
Why: Article 2(4) of Commission Regulation (EC) No 1516/2007 says that where the cause of the leakage has been identified, it shall be indicated in the equipment records.
8. You are carrying out the follow-up check after a leak repair. Where does the leak checking regulation say you should focus?
Answer: On the areas where leaks were found and repaired, and on nearby areas that were stressed during the repair
- A) On the service valves, because that is where engineers most often find follow-up leaks after a repair
- B) On the electrical controls, because a leak repair often disturbs the wiring to the high and low pressure switches
- C) On the areas where leaks were found and repaired, and on nearby areas that were stressed during the repair (correct answer)
- D) On the parts of the system furthest from the repair, because the repaired joint has already been tested
Why: Article 9 of Commission Regulation (EC) No 1516/2007 says the follow-up check shall focus on areas where leaks were found and repaired, and on adjacent areas where stress was applied during the repair.
9. Equipment is pre-charged at the factory and more refrigerant will be added on site, so the final total is not set by the manufacturer. What must the label provide?
Answer: The factory charge, plus space to write in the quantity added on site and the resulting total
- A) The factory charge, plus space to write in the quantity added on site and the resulting total (correct answer)
- B) Only the factory charge, because anything added on site is recorded in the logbook instead
- C) Only the final total, written on by the installer once the system has been fully charged on site
- D) Nothing about quantity, because the label only names the gas when the charge is not fixed
Why: Article 2(5) of Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/2068 requires the label to show the quantity charged at the factory or designed for, and to provide space for the quantity added outside the factory and the resulting total.
10. A receiver is protected by two pressure relief valves and you need to take one off for testing while the plant stays pressurised. What does HSE's guidance in L122 say?
Answer: The relief valve that stays connected must on its own provide the full relief capacity the vessel needs
- A) The vessel can be left with no relief valve for up to an hour, provided someone watches the pressure gauge
- B) The relief valve that stays connected must be screwed down a turn to make up for the missing valve
- C) The relief valve that stays connected must on its own provide the full relief capacity the vessel needs (correct answer)
- D) Either valve can be taken off whenever convenient, because the two valves are fitted just to share out the wear
Why: L122 paragraph 158 says that when isolating any one relief device for testing or servicing, the remaining relief device or devices must provide the full capacity required. Paragraph 157 says equipment should normally be depressurised first.
How the Refrigeration & A/C 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 RAAC 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 Refrigeration & A/C: 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 Refrigeration & A/C 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 RAAC paper, 20 Refrigeration & A/C questions and 30 from the core, on the CSCS Specialist mock test.
Topic name and code verified against citb.co.uk, July 2026.