IrrigatorExam

Texas landscape irrigator test prep

The TCEQ Landscape Irrigator exam question bank that cites its sources

Every question is written from the Texas rules and statutes: 30 TAC Chapter 344, Chapters 30 and 290, the Occupations Code and the Water Code, with TCEQ's own guidance and the federal irrigation handbooks for the arithmetic. Answers link to the section they come from.

Start practicing Take the 12 question diagnostic

Closed book on exam day. You cannot look anything up in the room, so do the looking up here.

Principles of Installation · free question

Where the maker gives no depth figure, irrigation pipe needs a minimum cover of:

B 6 in

Where the manufacturer publishes no depth coverage figure, piping must have at least 6 inches of select backfill between the top of the topmost pipe and the natural grade (30 TAC 344.62(l)(1)). The 2 inch figure applies only where a utility, a structure or roots make the 6 inch cover impractical (30 TAC 344.62(l)(2)).

30 TAC 344.62(l)(1) and (l)(2)

30 TAC Chapter 344, Landscape Irrigation · Minimum Design and Installation Requirements

(1) If the manufacturer has not published specifications for depth coverage of piping, the piping must be installed to provide minimum depth coverage of six inches of select backfill, between the top of the topmost pipe and the natural grade of the topsoil. All portions of the irrigation system that fail to meet this standard must be noted on the irrigation plan/as-built drawing. If the area being irrigated has rock at a depth of six inches or less, select backfill may be mounded over the pipe. Mounding must be noted on the irrigation plan/as-built drawing and discussed with the irrigation system owner or owner's representative to address any safety issues.

What the exam looks like

Four sections, each marked and passed on its own. Practice here is split the same four ways.

TCEQ Landscape Irrigator exam · the exam

Length6 hours, all sections
Formatclosed book, multiple choice
Questions 149, as candidates report
Pass mark70 percent on each section
Sections4, each passed on its own
Resultscored at the testing center
Retakeonce the result is in

Closed book means no books or notes in the room; a non-programmable calculator and scratch paper are allowed. TCEQ publishes the six hours, the 70 percent and the rules on retakes. It does not publish how many questions each section has, so those counts are what candidates report.

  • Principles of Installation · 50 questions reported

    12 free here · 177 in the bank
    Practice

  • Principles of Backflow · 20 questions reported

    13 free here · 92 in the bank
    Practice

  • Principles of Hydraulics · 29 questions reported

    20 free here · 169 in the bank
    Practice

  • Landscape Irrigation Design · 50 questions reported

    15 free here · 215 in the bank
    Practice
Start a shuffled run, Principles of Installation

Find the section that is costing you the license

Each of the four sections has to reach 70 percent on its own. A strong score on one section does not carry a weak one on another, so one weak section is a section to sit again.

Find out now, for free: 12 scored questions on Principles of Installation, untimed, against the 70 percent line.

A retake waits for the result of the last one, and the application expires after 365 days or on failing the same section four times.

  1. Take the diagnostic

    12 scored questions, scored like the section. Free, no account.

    Take the diagnostic

  2. Drill what it names

    The readout says how far you are from the line. Practice the section from the ledger above.

    Practice a section ↑

  3. Sit the mock

    One section at full length, with the paid bank. Read the score against the line again.

    What the bank adds

Practice readout · worked example

27 of 50 correct (54%)

Below the 70 percent pass mark. Each section is marked on its own, against the same line.

Principles of Installation 27/50 · 54%

Green clears the 70 percent pass line. No section does yet. 30 TAC 30.20(b) sets that line at 70 percent, so it is the exam's own and not this site's.

Drill this first Principles of Installation

The law is on this site, not linked away

The library · 142 sources

  • The statutes 3
  • The rules 5
  • Guides 74
  • City codes 12
  • Manuals and reference documents 48

8 carry their full text here, section by section.

Older study material for this exam was written before the 2020 changes to Chapter 344. Each question about the law here names the section it rests on, and 90 of those sources have a page here. The law is on the site, section by section, so you can read the rule itself instead of somebody's summary of it.

Every citation is a chip like this one. Press it and the provision opens.

30 TAC 344, s. 344.62(l)(1)
(1) If the manufacturer has not published specifications for depth coverage of piping, the piping must be installed to provide minimum depth coverage of six inches of select backfill, between the top of the topmost pipe and the natural grade of the topsoil. All portions of the irrigation system that fail to meet this standard must be noted on the irrigation plan/as-built drawing. If the area being irrigated has rock at a depth of six inches or less, select backfill may be mounded over the pipe. Mounding must be noted on the irrigation plan/as-built drawing and discussed with the irrigation system owner or owner's representative to address any safety issues.

Read the sources

Flashcards for the parts you have to know cold

Flashcards are for the distances, pressures and deadlines you have to know from memory. 264 cards across the 4 sections, 33 of them free to read here, each one naming the provision behind it.

  1. Still learning
  2. Every day
  3. Every 2 days
  4. Every 4 days
  5. Every 8 days · mastered
  6. Every 16 days · mastered

The ladder watches your exam date. Set your sitting date and the schedule fits around it: as the day gets close, no card waits longer than the time you have left, and the last few days are one sweep of everything.

Get it right and it comes back less often. Miss it and it starts over from 10 minutes. Green is mastered.

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Questions people ask before they start

What does IrrigatorExam cost?
79 USD plus tax, once, for lifetime access. The exam itself is a separate cost, paid to the exam provider and never through this site: The application fee is $111, paid to TCEQ with the application; it is the fee for a three-year license and is nonrefundable. The computer-based testing center charges its own seat fee on top, and each center sets its own. Billed by ExamPrep; your statement will show EXAMPREP.
How many practice questions are there?
653 in the bank, 60 of them free and open to anyone, across the 4 exam sections. Most carry the provision they rest on, as a link into the law on this site. The others are written from a standard form or a published guide, which is not law and is not reproduced here, so they carry the explanation alone.
Is the TCEQ Landscape Irrigator exam exam open book?
No. TCEQ allows a pen or pencil, scratch paper from the proctor and a non-programmable calculator. Books, notes and phones are not allowed in the examination room.
What is the pass mark?
70 percent on each of the four sections, and each section is passed on its own. A section you fail is the one you sit again, which is why practice here is split the same way.
How long is the exam, and how many questions?
6 hours in all, at a computer-based testing center, in four sections: Principles of Installation, 50 questions; Principles of Backflow, 20 questions; Principles of Hydraulics, 29 questions; Landscape Irrigation Design, 50 questions. The question counts are what candidates report; TCEQ does not publish them.
Do I need an account?
Not to practice. The free questions and the diagnostic are open to anyone. An account keeps your progress, and adds unlimited 30-minute mocks and a schedule that brings the cards you missed back.
Is IrrigatorExam connected to Texas Commission on Environmental Quality?
IrrigatorExam is independent and not affiliated with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.

Two ways in

Retaking after a fail?

A fail shows you how you did in each section. Start with the diagnostic, which reports in the same shape, and work the section it points at until the meter clears the line.

Start with the diagnostic

First attempt?

Work one section at a time, since each is passed on its own, and watch its meter climb. Read the provision behind each answer you get wrong.

Read the law it is written from