The Structural Aluminum or Screen Enclosure trade exam is open book against the state's approved reference list — one copy of each title, original editions, in the condition they were published. Highlighting and underlining are permitted; handwritten notes are not. Permanently attached tabs are allowed if they carry only ordinary chapter or page headings. Removable tabs must come off before you arrive.
What the exam actually asks of you
The trade knowledge portion is 50 scored questions in 2.5 hours, delivered daily by computer at Pearson VUE test centers. That is three minutes a question. It is enough time to confirm a number you half-remember; it is nowhere near enough to read a chapter you have never opened.
That arithmetic is the whole argument for preparing the books. An open-book exam does not reward the candidate who owns the references. It rewards the one who knows which book a fact lives in before looking. If you want to know where you stand right now, the fastest test is to answer a few screen enclosure questions with the books shut — the ones you cannot place are the tabs you are missing.
The nine approved references for 2026
The list below is valid January 2026 through December 2026. Only these titles may be brought to the test center, and the answers are keyed to these editions.
| Reference | Edition that counts |
|---|---|
| R143 — Guide to Aluminum Construction in High Wind Areas, Student Edition (Aluminum Association of Florida) | 2010 |
| R200 — Florida Building Code, Building | 2023 |
| R250 — Florida Building Code, Residential | 2023 |
| R251 — Florida Building Code, Existing Building | 2023 |
| R46 — Code of Federal Regulations (OSHA) 29 Part 1926 | July 1, 2025 |
| R38 — Walker's Building Estimator's Reference Book | 33rd Edition, 2024 |
| R5 — AIA A201, General Conditions of the Contract for Construction | 2017 |
| R50 — Contractors Manual (ABC Institute) | 2025 edition from July 1, 2026 |
| R90 — Vinyl Siding Installation Manual (VSI) | 2020 |
Two entries carry traps. The Contractors Manual changed edition on July 1, 2026 — a set bought earlier in the year has the wrong one. The Vinyl Siding Installation Manual is the one title you do not have to buy: it is allowed as a printed PDF, provided it is bound in a spiral notebook or a binder with three or more holes. Staples do not count as binding.
Editions earlier or later than those listed may be carried in, but at your own risk: the answer key follows the listed edition. A second-hand set assembled for an earlier cycle is the classic expensive mistake.
What you may mark, and what you may not
Books must remain as published. You may underline with pen and highlight, and that is genuinely worth doing — a table you have highlighted and used a dozen times is found far faster than a clean one.
You may not bring handwritten or typewritten notes of any kind. Notes in the margins, a formula copied onto a blank page, a card tucked between pages: all of it is outside the rules, and the books are inspected at the door. Existing handwriting has to be blacked out completely before you arrive.
Tabs are allowed, with one condition. They must be permanently attached and carry only ordinary chapter or page headings — not your own notes. The test is physical: if a tab can be removed without damaging the page, it counts as removable and will not be accepted. Post-it flags and pull-off labels have to come off before you get to the test center.
The line worth knowing. Once the examination starts you may not make any marks in the references at all. Beyond that sits something far more serious: copying or reproducing examination content — including writing a question into your book — is a third-degree felony under section 455.2175, Florida Statutes.
How to tab this trade specifically
Generic advice about tabbing is close to useless. Tab against the ten content areas the exam is actually built from, and tab the places this trade looks things up:
- Wind loads on enclosures live in the Florida Building Code, not in a design standard. Screen enclosure pressures come from FBC – Building Chapter 20, Section 2002.4 and Table 2002.4. That table is the single most tab-worthy page you own, and the surrounding section carries the aluminum rules with it — deflection limits, and the allowance for screen surfaces to include up to 25 percent solid flexible finishes.
- The AAF Guide is the book written for your license. Everything about spans, anchors and connections in high wind belongs tabbed by assembly, not by chapter number.
- OSHA 1926 by subpart. Fall protection and personal protective equipment carry the safety questions; both are lookups, not reasoning.
- Walker's for take-offs and waste. Estimating questions are arithmetic against a table you either find in thirty seconds or lose the question to.
- Use the tabs under time pressure before exam day. A tab you have never used in a timed run is decoration. Work the 50-question simulation with the books open beside you and the wrong tabs identify themselves fast.
Permits, notices of commencement and product approvals are worth their own tabs too — that area is 15 percent of the exam. Our permit and code questions are a quick way to find out whether you are reaching for the right book.
Verify the rules for your own exam date
Reference lists and test center rules are set by the DBPR and revised over time. The list is published at myfloridalicense.com under Construction Examinations Reference Lists, and the Candidate Information Booklet issued for your examination is the controlling document for what you may bring. Check both for the exact date you are sitting, and plan to report to the test center thirty minutes early — the fifteen-minute computer tutorial does not come out of your exam time.
None of this replaces knowing the material. See how to pass on the first attempt and the study guide for the ten content areas the questions come from.
Books confirm answers. They do not find them for you.
Three minutes a question means the references are a check, not a search. Start with the free questions and see which areas send you hunting.